Okay - first things first - and this isn't about the content of your OGR (which I'll come to in a minute). The first thing I want to say is this: "Megan! It's time to grab this course by the neck and shake it!" I think you worry too much and it's stopping you from making work - and enjoying making work. You need to stop feeling so 'at risk' or as if the whole world is getting this stuff right quicker than you. Everything is going to be okay - and everything is going to get easier and better more quickly if you simply GET ON WITH IT! :)
There - I've said that now. So, your 'visual concept' isn't a 'visual concept' in the production design sense of the word - rather it is your creative intent expressed; not the same thing. A visual concept is a visual system (shapes, colours, style, lighting etc) that underpins the design of an environment that reinforces or enriches the themes of the novel. So, for example, if The Red Room is a story about fear - an extreme psychological state - you could argue that the space could and should reflect some of that psychology; which is why I like very much the bottom left thumbnail (number your thumbnails!) in your OGR - with the spidery, distorted staircase and the hard beam of light; I like it because the mark-making and the distortion begins to feel as if it can convey the 'psychology' of the red room. It feels expressionistic - and 'expressionism' as 'visual concept' (an art style most associated with anxiety, angst and dread) might be an idea you can use to start designing spaces for The Red Room that are more than just corners of rooms or perspectival corridors. In short, I want you to be bold, Megan - I want you to really think about how, visually, you might be able to convey a sense of dread, agitation and fear - how can you show how threatening that environment is emotionally?
In regards to The Magic Shop, again, I think you need to think about what the actual duty of a concept artist is; it is not just to illustrate what's on the page, but to extrapolate a visual world from the clues on the page, so you need to get comfortable with idea of artistic licence and bringing something else to the image. For one thing, you might consider creating the world of The Magic Shop from the point-of-view of the child, which would instantly mean working with forced perspective, so that even ordinary things would appear more menacing or more mysterious or other-worldly. In this sense, the child's perspective becomes your visual concept - i.e. that the world of the shop is exaggerated and strange, because it is a world viewed through the imagination of a child. This idea of the child's perspective isn't in Wells' actual words or descriptions, but it does derive from the source material; and it does derive from the mood of the book.
So - in short, Megan, you need to give more energy and more creativity to this process: you need to work at it, push past boring and generic ideas and work out ways to bring something fresh to the page. This won't happen by worrying too much and watching everyone else (I know you're doing this!) - it will happen by you rolling up your sleeves and attacking this brief. Attack it! I want to see a flurry of bold, experimental DIGITAL paintings on here asap! And you are allowed to have fun too!
you did it, well done! Feedback will follow in the next few days :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, got there in the end! I know it's not brilliant and there's a few things missing but at least it's here and it's a start... :)
DeleteOGR 10/10/2013
ReplyDeleteHey Megan,
Okay - first things first - and this isn't about the content of your OGR (which I'll come to in a minute). The first thing I want to say is this: "Megan! It's time to grab this course by the neck and shake it!" I think you worry too much and it's stopping you from making work - and enjoying making work. You need to stop feeling so 'at risk' or as if the whole world is getting this stuff right quicker than you. Everything is going to be okay - and everything is going to get easier and better more quickly if you simply GET ON WITH IT! :)
There - I've said that now. So, your 'visual concept' isn't a 'visual concept' in the production design sense of the word - rather it is your creative intent expressed; not the same thing. A visual concept is a visual system (shapes, colours, style, lighting etc) that underpins the design of an environment that reinforces or enriches the themes of the novel. So, for example, if The Red Room is a story about fear - an extreme psychological state - you could argue that the space could and should reflect some of that psychology; which is why I like very much the bottom left thumbnail (number your thumbnails!) in your OGR - with the spidery, distorted staircase and the hard beam of light; I like it because the mark-making and the distortion begins to feel as if it can convey the 'psychology' of the red room. It feels expressionistic - and 'expressionism' as 'visual concept' (an art style most associated with anxiety, angst and dread) might be an idea you can use to start designing spaces for The Red Room that are more than just corners of rooms or perspectival corridors. In short, I want you to be bold, Megan - I want you to really think about how, visually, you might be able to convey a sense of dread, agitation and fear - how can you show how threatening that environment is emotionally?
In regards to The Magic Shop, again, I think you need to think about what the actual duty of a concept artist is; it is not just to illustrate what's on the page, but to extrapolate a visual world from the clues on the page, so you need to get comfortable with idea of artistic licence and bringing something else to the image. For one thing, you might consider creating the world of The Magic Shop from the point-of-view of the child, which would instantly mean working with forced perspective, so that even ordinary things would appear more menacing or more mysterious or other-worldly. In this sense, the child's perspective becomes your visual concept - i.e. that the world of the shop is exaggerated and strange, because it is a world viewed through the imagination of a child. This idea of the child's perspective isn't in Wells' actual words or descriptions, but it does derive from the source material; and it does derive from the mood of the book.
So - in short, Megan, you need to give more energy and more creativity to this process: you need to work at it, push past boring and generic ideas and work out ways to bring something fresh to the page. This won't happen by worrying too much and watching everyone else (I know you're doing this!) - it will happen by you rolling up your sleeves and attacking this brief. Attack it! I want to see a flurry of bold, experimental DIGITAL paintings on here asap! And you are allowed to have fun too!
Ok, thanks for this feedback Phil, I'll take everything on board and work on it!
Delete