Digital Drawing Lecture 2- Pre-production and Ideation

Ideation and the importance of planning

This session was dedicated to understanding the importance of, and some of the ways to, use specific research methods to help you design and build your visual concept drawings believably, and if possible, outside the predictable frame of mind (built from well known, existing stereotypes, and genre conventions).

Initial Responses to 'Isaura'

Ideation- The process/stages used and recommended by American illustrator and painter, Sterling Hundley, in responding to requests efficiently and quickly, while retaining both the point of view of the artist and the client within the final image outcome.  

Ideation is the first step to help ‘determine the content or subject matter of your painting’.

The first step it calls for, is to work through the original piece of text given to you from your client. Whether it be a manuscript, story etc.

General time periods, legends or context mentioned should be researched and familiarised with. To get an idea of the context this piece will be based in, and influenced by.

Word Stack

- The process of simplifying the original text given, into a list of small sentences or single words that you feel best relates to its content, and what’s being asked.

From there, under each ‘word stack’, you're to write down any word associations that can be expanded from each topic.

You can then begin to visualise and sketch ideas from the words provided.

‘Bridges’ (connecting factors) can then be made between drawings from different ‘word-stacks’. This can be established through visual observations, (similar shapes, aesthetics), or through text (creating metaphors, analogies, ‘literal’/conceptual associations, word play, puns etc.).

Forced associations can make for more interesting ideas.

The importance of the ‘visual library’>  A wider, more diverse knowledge of art categories, processes, styles, visuals and sources from 'real-life' examples, means a greater ability to produce more diverse art that work's well (and better so than just any old idea thrown into the air at the very beginning) with the brief. 

Including an outcome that'll be strong and almost believable to whomever is viewing the piece. 

The process we went through during the lecture was more like this however:

Read through text

> 

Create 'Word Stack'

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Respond with 'Word Associations'

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Research real-life imagery and referencing

> 

Create a series of drawings

+ any further thoughts/ideas and developing tangents.

[Always keep in mind the context and reasoning behind every design decision…. Whether it be how something is formed/constructed, or how it looks visually- including the smaller textural details and colour schemes etc.]