Ideation Part 1 - Idea Generation
Ideation Part 1 - Idea Generation
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23:42

Ideation Part 1 - Idea Generation

2K

Ideation Part 1 - Idea Generation

2K
Scott Flanders
This lesson is all about idea generation! I run through the various pop-culture precedents that I want to draw inspiration from and use it as design shorthand.
Newest
@ircaleonius
I didn’t have wide enough sheets but I had a sketchbook almost as wide. I couldn’t settle at first on any recurring theme but towards the end got the idea of a Alien brain taking control of the vegetables with nerves and vains through the land. The pumpkin creatures are probably what I will expand on. To give you context on my experience I did a lot of homebrew monster for DnD ( by text and mechanics) for years but I just start learning drawing 6 months ago with drawabox.
@roby
1yr
Your great as an artist and storyteller!
Mustafa K
3yr
Hello @Scott Flanders I wanted to know your thoughts on gathering references. In this video you build ideas upon your knowledge. What if one's given a promt they are not familiar with. How should one proceed with research without getting too far off. Thank you.
Garry Gray
3yr
A little more of a challenge on this one but still getting a decent grasp on ideas . Brainstorming one thing leading to another. Possibilities of designs and thing to add. Trying not to get caught up into too much detail, they are thumbnails . Trying to draw small but with big ideas like Scott insists.
Garry Gray
3yr
Hey everybody ! I'm new to Proko. First post here. Did part 1 . I think I'm posting in the right section. Going to do a couple more pages of this hopefully. Maybe some different creatures or even aliens next. Played it safe with harvest man. Might even do more of him , or even with other combos.
Alec Hillman
I like the approach you took with your harvestmen. They feel very fresh looking at them and I like how you varied the size and shapes of them. Gives me vibes like they all stem from the same lineage but they have different mutations.
Garry Gray
3yr
@Scott Flanders wanted to share with you my first lesson :) Not sure if tagging is really reasonable.
Ricardo Campos
Hey @Scott Flanders, really happy I could buy your course! Do we get reviews or comments on our assignments? Thank you so much!
Scott Flanders
Hey Ricardo, thanks for participating in the course. The answer to your question is yeah! However I won't be recording another feedback video for Assignment #1: Ideation for a while. Not until we've gone through at least one entire round of critique videos for the remainder of the assignments in the course. However I will give you written feedback for your assignments here on the site. If you'd like your work to be addressed in the next video critique all you have to do is submit your work in the assignments channel when we announce that it's time to do so. The next critique video will likely be recorded sometime this month. So you have some time. Pace is pretty chill while we're ramping up. Good to have you man :)
@jacob_f
3yr
Hey @Scott Flanders great course. I'm having a ton of fun already. I plan to follow everything sequentially but was curious to know if there's a lesson in here on your digital painting technique. I'm trying to practice digital technique and would love to know how you create the look of those final pieces.
Scott Flanders
Yeah Jacob. That part is coming up later in the course, near the end :)
@sable40k
4yr
Man, this is quite challenging; I'm realizing how little I know about farms or harvests! However, here is what I have so far. I will continue trying to pull more ideas out of my brain...
Scott Flanders
You may feel challenged, but I think these are very fun. You are on the right track. I think the majority of these could benefit from a 'deep dive' on the respective themes. You explored somewhat broadly, and have laid a solid base for a number of cool directions, but each of them needs something extra to really make them pop. To make them memorable. But again, in general nice work :)
N. Yeagy
4yr
Great job, these are fantastic!
Kolja Kaehler
Ha, can totally relate to that. Not even Halloween has ever been much of a tradition over here :) I really like your cute animal characters! The plant variations go more into the monster / creature direction, though. In the context of MonsterLab, maybe you could play with modifying the animals - mutate them, combine their bodies with other animals, plants, or tools. I like the idea of a "monstrous farm animal", and would like to see that play out!
Adrian Potato
Hey there, i was wondering how much time do you usually take to produce a sheet? Do you have a minimum a maximum amount of time you set for yourself? Do you sometimes look at images that might inspire you while doing this or doing other kinds of research?
Scott Flanders
I usually take about 4-5 hours if I'm actually doing a good job and engaging in what I think of as authentic exploration.
Kolja Kaehler
Hi Adrian, I did two sessions of maybe 2h over two days, not counting the time my brain was just processing, and I kept making little notes every now and then :) Scott emphasized working in writing and from your memories at this stage, so I avoided looking up inspiration or reference.
Kolja Kaehler
Hi there, here's my collection of notes for the first assignment. I'm not quite sure how far we're expected to take the design in this week? I've mainly collected ideas, and honed in on my favorite with a few options I would now want to actually design more thoroughly, look up inspiration and references and so forth. To get to my own take on Harvestman, I felt the need to define a background, a story for the character I can build on. So this was a lot more about writing than drawing so far. In short, I went for a sort of Frankenstein background, a mad-scientist experiment to create a humanoid creature from a plant, with some mechanical addons. Designed as a farming assistant, he went rogue at some point. He still likes sowing and gardening, and you might see him doing his scarecrow routine, guarding the crops. Harvestman has a bird friend, and his relationship with humans is difficult. He lives in hiding most of the time. For some reason he likes hats, so he has a whole collection, including a pirate hat, matching his leg stump. I hope these pages make sense, I tried hard to forget about making them presentable to not stifle my thought process :) I coould provide a cleaner summary, if needed. It's been a lot of fun and a pretty intense exercise so far. Any feedback appreciated!
Andre Camargo
Hey Kolja, great to see other artist from so close to me (Augsburg) here on Proko! (BTW; I am also detouring from engineering ;) ). But you came for feedback, here it is! I couldnt take much from your first sheet, because it is a bit too small for me to decifer, but that is ok. I guess it was your thought process, and as you said, better to get it straight to paper than to loose your trail of thought. I enjoyed your backstory with the second sheet, it adds so much to it. The figures are very readable and I have a pretty good picture of him in my head. The idea with the companion is cool. Gives you a lot of room for interaction. I would like to see more of that during the development! As I understood your ideas, you went for different variations of one monster/character. Dont know if this is correct, but I assumed we "had to" do find completely different forms and variations. Looking forward to your monsters! Andre
Sonja Müller
A general idea: Would it be possible that we are not limtited to the A3 format? I think Samuel ran into the same problem I did. Including all my process thoughts alone would have filled the page half. And because it makes total sense that we should try many drawn variations I think I would need more space/turn in more pages. Maybe it is just me, but I am so used to big canvas sizes in digital drawing I was really struggeling to fit more on the A3 format. And/or give a base number of shapes we should at least try if we should stay in really basic forms without details? I think i am overthinking this :D
Scott Flanders
Yes Sonja I believe you are over thinking it! But that's alright. Its one of the things we artists do best lol. It's your super power.. and your curse! Regarding paper size, I strongly urge you to stick with the 11x17 or something very near that size. Part of the point is to be drawing on surface which both comfortable to work at, as well as being large enough to accommodate a couple dozen thumbnail iterations.
Jean-Rene Losier
I know he specified to try and do 4-5 pages on my answer. So I don't think he's necessarily expecting that you do ALL your work on just one page. I'm personally shooting for as much as I can.
Samuel Lemons
This is what I have done so far. I will do some more and post them when I'm done. I'm very excited about this course and can't wait for your critique so I can start getting better at character/monster design.
Andre Camargo
Hi Samuel, there is a broad range of ideas on this sheet! You said you would do some more - I think a nice way to continue would be to combine aspects of the different characters you did and come up with some crazy mutants. Or alternatively, use your favorite ones and push certain aspects. What tools, weapons, accessories would they use. What size are they in comparison to the farmhouse, etc. Hope that helps! Andre
Sonja Müller
I love the centipede :D That could be some awesome shapes I think.
Sonja Müller
I hope it is ok, that I attached both versions, one with the harvest theme (Army of Gobbling Apples) and Cute Eye Monster. Well both are on the cute side ^^. I tried to include the brainstorming process, but that would have been a lot of text so I left parts of it out (Monster's University, E.T. cute dragons, flower monsters, the list is endless of course). My process was mainly a list with things that make a creature cute and a list of monster's features and try to combine. I am not so sure how my ideas so far will transition into the next lessons, but well that's why it's a course I guess :D. I had so much fun, it was the first time I created something like a character design sheet and I will definitely try that more often. So much fun :D Any critique is welcome, I completely new to monsters and character design, so shoot freely.
Samuel Lemons
I like the idea of the army of gobbling apples. It reminds me of the town mob coming after Frankenstein's monster.
Scott Flanders
These are a great start Sonja. I have feedback for you, but I think I would like to include it in more detail in the coming critique video so it can be shared with everybody, including future students. In general it will suffice to say that I'd like to encourage you to explore more broadly. My hope is for each of you who take this course, to experience the attempt to 'exhaust an idea'. If we were in a classroom setting, I would ask you to go 1 or 2 more rounds on these themes. Ask yourself followup questions as you explore. "What is it about apples that I find intresting or appealing?" Etc. Push!! You can do it 💪🍎
Samuel Lemons
For this first assignment (ideation), are we suppose to design our own versions of havestman or are we suppose to design something completely different?
Scott Flanders
Good question. Thanks man. If you'd like a higher probability of being included in the critique video, please attempt to stay 'Harvestman Adjacent' you know what I'm saying? Corn-Crushers! FARMasters! Battle Beetles! Squash-Squadron! Killer Kacti! Raving Ravenettes! Muscle Mouses! I encourage you to push beyond what you think I'm expecting of you. Push where YOU want to push. Attempt to make the idea of Harvestmen your own, and reflect some of your own creative values. I'm going to be covering this exact question as the subject of the upcoming Livestream actually. June 9th.
Mike Jara
4yr
@Samuel Lemons Scott emphasizes in the Assignment video that this is about exploring your ideas. So this is about you designing something completely different.
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About instructor
Chief Creative Officer at Little Bang Inc. I'm especially passionate about character design, creature design, and sculpting.
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