Planning. I should probably do that!

So where do you start when you are on a new project. Do you just go with the first thing that just pops into your head and go with that all the way through? A lot of people would. But it's more than that. There is more of a plan that should be followed. You need to think methodically and in detail. You can not go into the work head over heels in what you want something to look like. I found that I did this a lot, and I wished I never did. I learnt that there is a simple step by step in which you work through. You need to evolve your work through every drawing and model you do. I follow an easy but effective plan.


First of all when given a brief I start with the internet. The internet is a wonderful place and this is where you start. It can bring some disturbing pictures but also the beautiful. I search for everything and anything, when it's completely related or it has one link between the brief and the picture. Everything counts. A lot of the time this is where you get inspiration on where you want to take the project, or you find you have multi inspirations and thus have to explore further. I find that I do an overall mood board or pictures I find. I then refine this mood board so that I have multiple boards of things that I have refined. An example would be if I am searching images for a character I would start looking at the overall character, look at the human anatomy. I'd then go onto making a mood board of hair, then make-up, clothing, body shape, scars, anything that pops to mind that fits the brief. Normally as I’m refining I find that I get inspiration from either one board or bits and pieces of boards. This normally goes into more refinement. Once this is done I move onto drawing.


Once I’ve settled into what I want to do I start with silhouettes. Silhouettes are used for exploration of different shapes, sizes, structures and more. If you are working on a project with mechs, it would normally start with something that has bulky shapes. A lot of rectangles and squares. It can include other shapes which will show the shape, the structure internally of some of the silhouettes. This is very good as showing some detail such as hydraulic pipes can give that silhouette a bit more depth. Using a variety of sized shapes also works well. It could be the same shape but different size can give it more depth and also show it's structure. If you are wanting a huge machine gun on top of the mech you would use a large square like shape. If the body was a square shape too, you would use a smaller shape. This gives it form and depth by only using two different sizes. It doesn't have to be two different sizes, it can be a variation of sizes. From the foundation of silhouettes which should vary between 10-40, I would pick those that I can refine to a crisp. This would normally consist of about 5-10 silhouettes. These silhouettes will be slightly larger in size overall and have more refined areas. Such as more in depth internal structure, more wires and pipes, body/armour shapes and more. With these it takes a lot of time and thought, but also something that you should do on a whim. Something that you should just grab and put down on paper before it's gone. All ideas are not a waste, they can be invaluable. Make every single drawing count.


Once that is done it's more of moving onto the detail in colour or black and white. It's taking your silhouettes and bringing them to life. Making them something worthy of life. Normally it's more than one silhouette that becomes alive. It does not have to be in significant detail but more suggestively detail. So you are showing where parts are but not putting every detail into it. This shows the understanding of parts and portrays to others what you know and where parts will fit together later on in the final drawing. A lot of the time you can take your silhouette into a programme such as 3DS Max and create a high poly model in which you can paint over in detail or get some orthographic renders. A lot of people work in different ways. Some may even bash kit their model to just use as a paint over and not their final poly model. These are all great ways of working especially If you are not brilliant in working on perspective.


From here it normally leads into detail or an exploded diagram of your model. This where you can show the internal structure of engines, pipes, interior, vents, hydraulics, and more. This is really where you can show off. It may not be physically seen on the outside once everything is complete but can really help in place parts that may lead to the outside.


Once the whole model is made, it is normally on to the colour pallette. This is quite vital as you wouldn't make a stealth jet bright neon pink or lime. Bit stupid really. This is where theory of the colour wheel comes in. You need to know what goes with what. Learn about the environment, and what colours there are in the world around you. You need to look at all aspects and take colours that work well. If it is for a recreational vehicle you'd use simple primary colours, maybe desaturate them a little. If it's for a 80's character, you'd include maybe some bright primary colours, some secondary and tertiary, but none that are really desaturated. If you are working on a stealth vehicle you'd go with natural environment colours such as dark greens and browns. Every colour needs to mean something and needs to work with the model you are working on.


Once that has come together from there it is the final image. The in-situation image of where you create a environment of your choice and merge your model into the image. This will give it that final push and be what you want it to be. This is where you create the world in which you think that model fits in to. This will be your final show off, of what you made. Everything that you went through should be shown in this final picture.



This is the plan that I work to. I also look for feedback when need be and maybe even go back a few steps and start again. Its all about what you are comfortable with and what you want to make your model into and how you want it to evolve around your brief.