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CHICAGO - JANUARY 16th, 2010

DIGITAL PAINTING & CONCEPT ART WITH
MARK GOERNER & MODELING WITH
DAVID GIRAUD

Where:
Downtown Chicago, Venue to be confirmed

Date:
January 16th, 2010, from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM

Cost:

4 classes (Digital Painting and Modeling):
$97 (US) Before January 11th, 2010
$120 (US) Starting January 11th 2010and at the door

Students:
$80 (US) Before January 11th, 2010
$120 (US) Starting January 11th 2010 and at the door

Who:

Mark Goerner (Concept artist superstar, credits include some of the hottest films ad games of the past few years) view bio.
David Giraud (Lead character modeler at Ubisoft).

Meet Mark Goerner on Youtube

Class 1: with Mark goerner (Duration: 90 minutes)

DIGITAL PAINTING & CONCEPT ART

Visualizing environments, setting the tone - defining the space

Samples of work will be shown along with an overview of Mark's philosophy to solve problems with design, focal points, and generate a mood to best articulate a space that sets the stage for bringing a story to life.

An original story will be used as the criteria to stimulate the process of conceptualizing. The "where and how to start" aspect of painting and articulating a vision will be discussed. Compositional blocking will be explored as a device to flush out the broad stokes, create gesture and define the point of view. Using reference as a starting point and as a device to sharpen the content will be explained throughout the process.

Techniques of painting with light to define space and generate flow for the image will be illustrated. Mark will demonstrate alternate strategies as a means to challenge previous directions and hone the content. One of the sketch paintings will be used to further explain the next phase of adjustments, detailing and clarity.

 

Class 2: with Mark Goerner (Duration: 90 minutes)

DIGITAL PAINTING & CONCEPT ART

Design process form, purpose and possibilities

Samples of work will be shown reflecting on the reasoning for pragmatic design, and creative expression. Principals of graphics and symbolism will be shown through the use of form massing, composition, negative space, materials, visual gestures and theming.

• Pre-visualization - how to follow through with an idea
• Techniques in breaking through painters block will be addressed by the use of varied drawing techniques, collage making, randomizing, and reference.
• The nature of conceptualizing - the dialog between the mark, medium, and maker
• Processes of self-evaluation and design analysis will be explored
• Theme making, individuality and historic contexts in design will be explained through samples of architecture, sculpture, paintings, and industrial design.

Class 3 & 4: with David giraud (Duration: 90 minutes each)

MODELING - 3D CHARACTER DESIGN
FOR GAME #1 & 2

David Giraud - Concept Sculpting in Zbrush 3

Why digitally sculpt your concepts?

Since the arrival of Zbrush 2 and 3 the digital concept sculpting have been used even more often due to the flexibility of the tool, the ability to shape and quickly move forms without the limitations of clay that used to make the process impossible, today, video games assets are created using very high-res using a technology called Normal Maps to simulate the details of a high-res object onto a low-res object, thus speeding the whole character creation process and eliminating any possible misunderstandings in the production team.

The model can then be used directly in the game cinematics, for marketing purposes and even in-game.

Lighting can either make or break a model and help convey the necessary mood. Traditional concept artists paint light directly on their canvas to establish the mood of a character and are very often confronted with possible rejection for not conveying the proper mood.

Concepting a character directly in 3D also has the added advantage of being able to quickly test out a model under different lighting conditions and convey different moods and emotions and meet the requirements of the project.

Finally, the ability to sculpt key expressions on different 3D layers will help animators get the proper emotions and expressions based on a 3D mesh rather than using a simple, two dimensional rendition.