[Spacecat]

Title says it all. I've got about $300 to spend on myself.

I'm geared towards animation/storytelling/comics, and I'd like to develop my skills at character concept & visualization. I went to school for animation and then general art, but I sidetracked into 3D modeling for flight simulators. That fell apart on me, and I've been adrift for a while. I've only recently gotten my rear back in gear and decided that art is what I want to do, and what I should be doing. I've always drawn in a cartoony way, but I'm after realism now. I'm all set for art supplies and over time I've collected good references on animation & film-making, but where I'm lacking is practical anatomy and professional production workflow for illustrating characters and scenes. Bonus points for anything that would help me get a grip on Corel Painter.

I was thinking of buying these:

1. Attending local life drawing meets I've found out about ($15 for each one).
2. Bridgman's "Constructive Anatomy" and "Complete Guide to Drawing from Life"
3. Ryan Church's Gnomon DVDs on Concept Art Workflow - Sounds exactly like what I want to know about. If you have a character or scene in your head , how do you fill in the gap between the idea in your head, and the animation planning/storyboarding/modeling stage? Historically I've had a gap between the two, going right from the rough sketch to 3D modeling on the fly. I'd like to be able to really illustrate characters and scenes in a professional way. I was also considering the new DVD by J.P. Targete, but I think Church's is more what I'm looking for.
4. Just about any of the lectures on DVD by Glenn Vilppu - I found his quick sketch book enormously helpful.

Any suggestions?

[Jabo]

Just one thought: Let someone tell you what the Gnomon DVDs are like. They all look like the same level of quality, but some are said to be really bad compared to others. Make sure to check that out. I'm getting my Scott Robertson Unique Enviros DVD next year (damn you, Amazon.com). That is said to be a good one.

[balistic]

I've got all the Vilppu DVDs, and they are definitely something that would complement a life drawing class (especially if your instructor doesn't happen to be very good). Bridgeman is good. The Gnomon DVDs are hit and miss ... I would recommend the Scott Robertson DVDs over the Ryan Church ones, only because you can tell Scott has more teaching experience.
_________________
brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[Gort]

+1 on the Vilppu and SRobertson stuff. I really like Scott as well; his fundamental perspective series are awesome and a value to any artist's - novice and pro - library. Scott is very methodical but straightforward, easy to follow.

What about Feng's DVDs? I put in a request for one of his this Christmas; anyone have any firsthand experience with his stuff?
_________________
- Tom Carter

"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf" - Jack Kornfield

[Ian Jones]

Yes Feng's dvd's are quite nice. I'd imagine a little less instructive than Scott Robertsons... as his are very practical. Feng's are a great insight into production workflow of a concept artist but he drops in a bit of theory and talks about what is going through his head as he designs. I have his 'volume 1 - design process - fighting robots' dvd and found it quite insightful. In this particular dvd Feng stresses the importance of generating lots of varied ideas, building a strong silhouette... etc.

[Max]

I bought Feng's Skeching Concept Design 2 Environments. It was very interesting to watch. He gives you the most important facts on perspective, composition, and marker rendering. His workflow is worth a look too. But the real magic happens in his head and is invisible to the viewer. The real "designing" progress is something you won't learn with any of those DVDs. You can watch them a hundred times and nothing will happen with your skills.

They are more of an inspiration for me.

[skullmonkeys]

I can vouch for the vilppu dvds as well. I recommend you get the gesture, spherical and box form dvds, attend some life drawing classes and then get the rest of the anatomy ones after you get familiar with the basics. IMO, knowledge of anatomy is more helpful if you have all the basic concepts down.

[Ranath]

get Iain McCaig's DVDs... he's talking about storytelling more, but there's so much tips about painting characters and character designing in general. He's a really great teacher, inspiring and entertaining. Scott Robertson would be the other guy to look for if you want solid foundation skills.

Most of Gnomon DVDs are just about doing drawing/painting demos, which is fine if you need pointers in workflow, too. But I have all the McCaig DVDs and they are really impressive.

[Gort]

Max, thanks - thats good to know - its the environment DVD I hope Santy brings me.
_________________
- Tom Carter

"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf" - Jack Kornfield

[Spacecat]

I was looking at the preview clips on Gnomon and, approaching it like I do buying books - that I should be able to flip to a random page and be interested in what's written - Syd Mead's videos are really attractive. Hmm.

Thanks for the tips. Does anybody have a comment on the Ryan Church intro to Corel Painter?

I was also thinking of picking up the Painter IX WOW! book. I bought the Photoshop WOW book on a whim back when PS was version 6, and I really liked it.

Thanks all... This really is the awesome-estest forum on the internet.

[Ranath]

I have matte vehicles by Church. He describes a technique and talks a bit about properties of matte surfaced objects. If you have no clue to Painter techniques, it's useful, otherwise I would get something from Scott Robertson probably.

[Naeem]

i second balistic's suggestions. vilpuu is extremely knowledgable, and i learned alot from his dvds. they're a permanent collection, and whenever i feel 'lower' then usual on anatomy/life-drawing, i stick one in and watch away. really reccomend them.

also, scott robertson; DEFINITELY. i have all 3 of his dvds. They're great. He's got lots of teaching experience, and is very thorough. You will learn a great deal from his dvds.

Ryan church is also a good one. Feng zhu, if you've got the money, does spaceships. but you can't beat scott robertson.
_________________
http://www.annisnaeem.blogspot.com/

[Jabo]

About Feng: I watched one of his traditional DVDs (the one with the jet-headed mech) and found it kinda boring. No offence meant, but he's mainly talking techniques and how to use a pencil correctly, but there's absolutely no insight into why he does things. So, I can't really recommend it. I haven't watched his first one which is called "Design Process" tho. But I'm really interested in his digital DVDs, because I like his all-digital paintings even more.

Damn, where's my Scott Robertson DVD?