Amsterdam conceptart workshop

[Captain N]

Ik post dit maar gewoon hier aangezien het vast niemand anders een zak kan schelen.
Dit weekend was er een workshop in Adam gehouden door de gasten van www.conceptart.org, hiers een soort van verslagje en foto's voor degene die geinteresseert zijn.
De fotos zijn een beetje crap, maar ik snapte geen fuck van die cam dus bare with it XD

Some of you might have heard of conceptart.org, the guys that run it recently held a workshop in Amsterdam, Holland.
Jason Manley, Kevin Llewelleyn aka Puddnhead, Andrew Jones aka Android (retro studio conceptartist), Coro and Marko (forgot the rest of their names >_<) were the guys to guide us through the workshop and share their knowledge with us.

First day

After I arrived in Amsterdam the first half of the day the workshop was held in 'bitterzoet', a sort of bar / theater, here the guys introduced themself and explained a bit what they did for a living and how they got started in the conceptart business.
After noon we went to the wackers academie wich wasnt far from our current location, here we were told the importance of life drawing as a fundation for you skills, and the importance of knowing perfect human anatomie and bone structure.
After a while we were to grab our sketchbook and a model came in wich we were supposed to draw.
I have never did any lifedrawing whatso ever and it isnt as easy as it looks, better yet it is fucking hard XD, the topic wasnt to create a realistic piece, but to capture the gesture of the moment, every couple a minutes the model would move and by making quick sketches we were to capture a dynamic pose on paper.

Day 2

We assembled in Bitterzoet again were Kevin went over some painting techniques and more explaining about the business.
Back at wackers it was more lifedrawing, Andrew and Jason explained a lot of stuff and gave pointers and tips and stuff.
2 different models came in and we got a bit more detailed with the gestures and poses, though Ive never did this before you get the hang of it after a while, and I found that life drawing although it used to bore the hell outtah me is actually very fun.
2 more guys came in, Bengal and Alexie, 2 awesome artists and I had no Idea they would be there too, I had a little talk with Alexie about his work and it was very cool.
After the figure drawing was done Jason and Coro went too another room and would share info and answer questions, Kevin would stay in the current room and started painting the model (see photos), there was also the oppertunity to continue sketching, but I went too the other room to hear Jason and Coro out.
At 9 I went back home, a bit depressed because of the level of professionality shown yet encouraged and motivated to work on my own skills.


Day 3

I arrived at Bitterzoet 2 hours early because of some miscommunication, though I ran into Alexie and some other guys and invited me to join them for breakfast, how the hell do you say no to something like that!
We went to this little pub and I unleashed a wave of questions towards Alexie XD, we talked about the conceptart business and he told me a lot about his experience in the game business doing concepts, told me a couple of techniques and he explained his method of working with large images and how he would progress from start to finish, it was really interesting.
By noon we were to go to Wackers and this time Jason, Andrew and Kevin would talk about lighting techniques, we went through terms as Mass light / shadow, core shadow, reflection light etc and how to use light to your advantage to create mood and atmoshphere, after that a model came in and we were to do a portrait including lights, shadows etc....it was very hard but a lot of fun to do.
Around 7 we went to Bitterzoet were Jason told us about color theories and how to look at an object and noticing that blue isnt always blue and green isnt always pure green.
Next up was environment design, we went through the rules you have to keep in mind when designing an environment, in an hour Kevin came up with an awesome environment and started to paint over it while Jason kept explaining stuff.
At 9 the workshop was done for today.

Day 4

Portfolio time!, after talking about their experiences in the game business and answering questions people could let their portfolio checked out by the crew, though I knew mine was total crap I did show it and got some helpfull pointers.
By 4 the workshop was over, it was goodbye to all and I went home satisfied and with more knowledge then I got dream of.

Conclusion:
The workshop was a major succes, you meet guys who's art youve been worshipping for years and the knowledge they shared is enough to keep me busy for at least 2 more years.
When you walk between all those pro's you come to the conclusion that you are crap in every way, all those things I thought were right, all my techniques I found out on my own, flushed down the toilet in 4 days, but instead I found out better techniques and learned more then I would learn in a whole year of selfstudie.
These guys are the top, they dont just draw to live, no these guys really live to draw and the passion they put in their work is so motivating, it honestly wont get better then this and it has been a privilige to spent those 4 days with them, if you ever get a chance to attend one of their workshops, take it without thinking, it is really a must for everyone whos just getting started in the the whole concepting thing.

Picture time!

Puddnhead



Marko, this guy is insane, he draws like he traces, so no rough sketch, he just starts somewhere like the fingernail and then goes over the paper like there is a drawing underneath...its awesome.


A closer look, as you can see theres no rough mock up.


Closer


Coro doing his thing, this guys sketchbook is stunning, fully colored pieces that look like frikking CG, but its all traditional waterpaint and oils.


Marko's finished piece, mindblowing.


Coro demontrating.


Andrew sharing some info


Kevin (puddnhead) laying down the base for a painting.






A page of Coro's sketchbook, the left one is the back of another painting.


Another one


Jason ehm...poking his eyes out XD....and explaining lighting theories.


Puddnhead


Alexie


Lightstudie


Kevin explaining different shading techniques.


The crew


Kevin starting on the environment painting, Jason explains










Last day, checking out portfolio's






Andrew




Me and Andrew ....I hate my cam.


And that rounds it up, it was truly a wonderfull experience that will affect the rest of my life as an artist.

[funest]

ziet er wel tof uit, maar ik heb een heel ander beeld van conceptkunst eigenlijk

[deadpassenger]

funest schreef op 06-04-2004 @ 00:25 :
ziet er wel tof uit, maar ik heb een heel ander beeld van conceptkunst eigenlijk

klinkt idd wel koel

[Captain N]

funest schreef op 06-04-2004 @ 00:25 :
ziet er wel tof uit, maar ik heb een heel ander beeld van conceptkunst eigenlijk

Zoals?
Concepten is gewoon een idee uitwerken, als je een game als icewind dale bekijkt barst het van de concepten en portretten ed (de schilder daarvan was ook aanwezig btw )

Oh en die dude naast mij op de laatste foto, die linkse dus, das Andrew Jones, de concepttekenaar van Metroid Prime

[konflict]

Ziet er allemaal tof uit

Helaas kan ik nog geen baksteen natekenen dus zo'n workshop is niks voor mij maar respect voor die tekenaars daar.

mmmm prachtig... die tekeningen dan. 'k denk dat ik ook maar weer eens een potlood op pak.

[Jules]

Ik zie alleen maar kruisjes :/

[Evelientjuh]

Sooz schreef op 06-04-2004 @ 14:56 :
Ik zie alleen maar kruisjes :/

[funest]

Captain N schreef op 06-04-2004 @ 00:47 :
Zoals?
Concepten is gewoon een idee uitwerken, als je een game als icewind dale bekijkt barst het van de concepten en portretten ed (de schilder daarvan was ook aanwezig btw )

Oh en die dude naast mij op de laatste foto, die linkse dus, das Andrew Jones, de concepttekenaar van Metroid Prime

nah ik doelde meer op conceptuele kunst
niet op dit soort dingen.