The best 40 minutes of my life

[Mental Sedative]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnflBERf2zM&feature=plcp

Seriously. Watch this. This will be the best 40 minutes spent of your entire life.

Discuss: The amazing tips that he discusses.

Protip: Want to do concept art for video games? Don't play video games! biggrin

[starry-egg]

I subscribe to his channel! All of his videos are insightful. I'd love to go to a workshop / class of theirs someday.

[Mental Sedative]

MichySoong

I subscribe to his channel! All of his videos are insightful. I'd love to go to a workshop / class of theirs someday.

I'm still watching them :3 And getting paid! (I'm at work o.x Not getting paid much, though)

These videos are cranked to level 11. I'm blown away.

[Syrella]

Very, very good information. It pretty much sums up a lot of what I've been feeling lately and some of my frustrations.

I spent a lot of time when I was younger absorbed in video games or busy absorbing designs that people have already made for me such as cartoons. I love fantasy stuff, but for a long time my escapist tendencies prevented me from seeing that what I was looking for was already in the "real world". Drawing a dragon or foreign landscape is impossible without a solid background in realism and what's really out there. More than anything else, finally making that connection has done me a world of good.

Though I can't hope to retroactively expand my visual library, I can continue to work from now and do my best to make up for lost time.

Thanks for posting!

[Mental Sedative]

I really enjoy how Feng explains art rationally. Like it's a science. Why can't we draw castles properly? Because we haven't seen enough castles. Not because we're "poor artists", like art is simply a talent we're either born with or not. Like he said, both students know the art fundamentals. It's just that student A has more exposure to visual ideas, which helps him/her with their designs. Student B could be just as good, he/she just needs more exposure.

I think he says in another video that one year of dedicated practice can throw you years ahead in terms of skill. I also like his emphasis on practice, practice, practice before playing. Once you have the job, you can do whatever you want. Until then, work hard for that job (alternatively, work hard to get to the point that you want to be. Then you can "draw dragons or space marines" or whatever. - Matt Kohl from ctrl+paint)

[chronos phantom]

I had a feeling it was Feng Zhu. It's is not surprising, he is one of the most inspiring and humble concept artist/designer out there. his knowledge pool is vast in the industry. hell, the guy has his own art school for goodness sake. ^^

[Shadow_kitty7511]

This guy is a genius. His works are phenomenal and he is very much right. I only saw half of it but I truly agree with what he is saying. It is pretty sad to see passionate artists not able to succeed because of the academics pushed on to them. I honestly feel that the educational system is in need of help and really is trying to take the creativity out of people.
Just as Pablo Picasso said, "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."