3.1 - Establishing a Direction Through Iterative Sketching

So you've done your research, gathered your references, and now it's time to begin your concept - but where to begin? Until now we've only discussed the topic of design work in so far as it relates to the use of reference, but with these next few posts we're going to be exploring the process in greater depth, so that we can build a repertoire of useful tips and strategies, just as we did for the research process. It's important that we provide this topic adequate attention as design work does, after all, make up the bulk of a concept artist's day-to-day. With this first post, we're going to start by establishing the idea of iterative sketching, before looking at an example of its use in the early stages of a project, when still trying to establish a direction.

So What is Iterative Sketching and Why Do We Do It?

You'll often hear industry professionals saying that a good concept artist should be an 'idea factory', and alongside having ideas that are actually good (which is of course key), this also means being able to turn them out quickly. This is where iterative sketching comes in - the process by which a concept artist generates many ideas in a short space of time. You can think of it as the illustrated equivalent of a written brainstorm, the goal of which is to explore various options before narrowing in on a final direction. 

It's well known that concept art is a field in which speed is important, and when done right, iterative sketching is a great way to get a lot of mileage in very little time. So what do I mean when I say 'when done right'? Well essentially, it's important to remember that rough concept work isn't supposed to be your next artistic masterpiece. It's much better to keep things loose (but crucially still readable) and generate ten ideas than it is to spend the same amount of time worrying about cleaning up one drawing enough for it to be 'instagram worthy'. The key is to do just enough to convey what you want to convey, and no more. That way you can move onto the next idea sooner; refinement and polish can come at a later stage. This is something I personally struggle with and am working to improve on. If you struggle with this as well, you may find that exercises such as timed or undo button/eraser-less sketches can help to combat excessive worrying about 'that one line that's slightly out of place'. Ultimately, being precious with your sketching is simply detrimental as it can limit your expressiveness and freedom, so it's worth tackling the issue.

We'll be moving on to our practical demonstration shortly, but first I just want to point out that there's also no definitive/correct way that iterative sketch work should look, as long as it's clear enough. It differs from artist to artist, so it's all about finding what works best for you. Some prefer line/pencil sketches while others choose to work with silhouettes and solid shapes; I personally like to practice both as I find that my approach can differ depending on what I'm working on. The examples below showcase the different approaches of two artists: 

Iterative Character Silhouettes, Lionel Dorviler

Iterative Environment Asset Sketches, Matt Sanz

Using Iterative Sketching to Establish a Direction

Oftentimes, research and reference gathering won't suffice in providing a clear direction. This is typically the case when your brief is relatively broad and offers a lot of room for interpretation. In these instances, you'll need to do some initial sketches to explore a few directions in which you could take the subject matter, before selecting one to pursue. To provide an example of this process, we're moving away from the coral citadel project of previous posts and starting a new mini-project. The brief that I gave myself for this is as follows:

• Design a Boss-type creature and accompanying key item that is used to awaken it.
• Mesoamerican (Aztec, Mayan etc) influence/theme
• The creature is an ancient golem created by a stonemason to guard his treasury
• The item is a dagger belonging to the stonemason - it awakens the golem from its slumber when inserted like a key

Today, we're just going to look at the earliest sketches for our boss creature. From the brief above we know that it's going to be some kind of sentient stone construct, and that we're going to be looking to incorporate some Mesoamerican theming. This gives us our very general direction, but we could choose to interpret this in drastically different ways. For instance, we don't yet have an idea of the creature's scale and form. Based on the brief alone, the creature could really be anything - bipedal, quadrupedal, winged, etc. Through a first round of iterative sketching, we'll be able to establish for ourselves a slightly more defined direction than the one provided by our brief. Of course our project begins with some Mesoamerica-centred research involving things such as native animals, architectural motifs and mythological iconography, but I won't detail that here, to avoid retreading the same ground as previous posts. Instead, we're going to jump straight into the sketching, which explores potential forms and animal bases for the boss:

As you can see, all of the sketches are very different. This is because going into this initial stage I don't yet have a clear target in mind, and want to explore with as much freedom as possible. The designs vary from bipedal or quadrupedal to winged, and the base animals are different for each, varying from gorilla or armadillo to a quetzal, the famous bird of Mesoamerica, for example. As previously discussed, none of these sketches are particularly refined or laboriously presented. Rather, they each showcase a simple idea clearly, and serve as potential templates for further development. At this point, there's fairly little emphasis on micro design elements, and the focus is instead on the macro design of the creature, since the latter is more important at first. As a general rule of thumb, it's best to answer the biggest questions first, and gradually work your way down to the finest details. 

As a side note, notice how since my focus with these first sketches is on overall form, the effect of the spread would be largely the same if I had opted to work with silhouettes rather than line sketches. Hopefully this goes to show that the better sketching method simply comes down to personal preference when it comes to rough work, so don't feel pressured to do it the exact way you've seen someone else do it. As long you understand the principals behind what others are doing, you don't have to follow their precise methods if they don't suit you.

Selecting a Direction and Introducing Some Design Ideas

Following the exploration of different body types, I decided I wanted to pursue the hunched, prowling design (E), so I expanded on that design a little with some further sketch work:

As you can see I've first broken the silhouette down into simple side and front silhouettes so that I have a clear frame of reference for future design work. Next, the process from the first set of iterations has essentially been repeated, but this time looking at potential elements of the creature's front-facing frame, particularly its forelimbs, which will be a core aspect of its design as a combat encounter. Remember we're solving problems methodically from big to small, so given that we've already established the creature's overall shape, this makes sense as one of the next areas of focus. At the stage of this sheet's completion, we have not yet pinpointed the final look of the arms/gauntlets (or tried to), as design refinement is something that will come after and will be covered in our next discussion. Instead, this first look has served as more of an extension of the initial body type sketch, introducing some potential ideas to the concept before it undergoes further design iteration. 

You can see that I developed the idea of having either pauldrons or gauntlets with mouth/face carvings, so this round of sketches was successful in that it established this as a direction for further work. I favoured the idea because the aesthetic imitates the appearance of multi-headed beasts that are so common across many mythologies, including those of Mesoamerica. Also, the selected body shape is very front-heavy, leading me to imagine the combat encounter panning out as a very direct, 'square up and face-off' kind of affair, which makes the creature's front silhouette/relief all the more important. 

Summary

In this post, we first discussed the idea of iterative sketching. We then began a new project, to see how this strategy can be used to establish a more precise direction after receiving a general brief and carrying out research. If you have one key takeaway from this post, it is hopefully that you should approach design work methodically, solving the biggest questions first and working your way down to the smaller details. 

In the next post, we'll be pushing forward with this new project, reaching a more or less finalised design for both our boss and our key item, the dagger, again through the use of iterative sketching. This time, discussion will focus on the idea of iterating on a design until it is brought to a satisfying and compelling level.