Concept Fundamentals

Links and pages about the basics of concept drawing and painting.

Painting Fundamentals
ctrl+Paint - Digital Painting Simplified - Digital Painting 101 - by Matt Kohr "Working in the game industry under tight deadlines forced me to come up with a dependable photoshop workflow. Ctrl+Paint is my attempt to organize these findings into clear, concise videos to share with the community."

THUMB WAR : Design Iteration Combat Simulation - by Paul Richards Concept art fundamentals.

PSG Art Tutorial - by Arne Niklas Jansson Painting fundamentals.

Understanding 3D Form on Paper by Ron Lemen Understanding form via light and dark.

Elements of Perspective - by Bruce MacEvoy Perspective in depth.

Composition-101 thread from the Polycount forums Links to tutorials about Composition.

The Aesthetics of Game Art and Game Design - by Chris Solarski An examination of the psychology of shapes and dynamic composition, applying techniques of the Old Masters to create more varied and emotionally meaningful gaming experiences.

Using the Gamut mask - by Wouter Tulp How to create and use a gamut mask, which help you define a range of harmonious colors for your concept palette.

Babe Lab : Pinup Research & Development by Paul Richards and others Female caricature painting tips.

Feng Zhu's Youtube Channel teaches the fundamentals of concept design, and professional practices for a working concept artist.

The Secret Law of Page Harmony by Alexander Ross Charchar Explanation of harmonious composition.

Painting Books

 * Digital painting books by Don Seegmiller
 * Digital Art Masters How to achieve certain effects in photoshop, general skin rendering, etc.
 * Mechanika Creating Science Fiction Good techniques, covers composition and perspective as well.
 * Bold Visions Digital Painting Bible
 * 2DArtist Magazine Painting tutorials, artist galleries. Available printed or PDF.
 * ImagineFX Magazine Painting tutorials, artist galleries, monthly DVD.

Art Bibles
An Art Bible, or Style Guide is a document created by the Art Director or Lead Artist to communicate to the art team exactly what style the assets should all match.


 * Dota 2 Character Art Guide (6MB PDF) by Valve Software, from Dota 2 Workshop
 * Dota 2 Character Texture Guide (3MB PDF) by Valve Software, from Dota 2 Workshop
 * ЦЕЛЫЙ МИР - Напровляя арт Аллодов (Russian) attachment:AllodsOnline-ArtDirection.pdf (1MB PDF English translation)
 * Создание мира за 7 дней (Russian) attachment:AllodsOnline-CreatingaWorldin7Days.pdf (1MB PDF English translation)
 * The Vision behind Age of Empires Online by Robot Entertainment
 * Game Art Style Guides

More Information

 * Painting Tutorials Polycount Forum thread with links to more painting tutorials
 * TexturingTutorials tutorials for game textures
 * software for painting
 * reference images