Tutorial: Rapidly Brainstorming Art Concepts with Markers and Pens
Tutorial: Rapidly Brainstorming Art Concepts with Markers and Pens
Hey Friends,
As a fan of concept art from my days in the game and film industry, I still love loosely brainstorming ideas and letting imagination run wild. Restricting yourself with details too early can limit creativity. Instead, try this rapid technique: use markers for loose color swatches, then trace over with bold pens to pull out forms. It stops overthinking and quickly prototypes ideas.
Grab your market, pen, and paper, and let's start.
Start by making abstract marker color blocks without much thought. Think about the essence of what you want to create - person, animal, object? Lay down marker strokes based on that, without concern for style. Go with your gut instincts in choosing hues that feel right. I like to just use one gray hue.
Once you have organic marker colors down, take a thick black pen and start tracing over the shapes. Let the markings guide you to find forms in the abstraction - perhaps a face emerges, or animal limbs. Don't stress details, just loosely outline to extract the idea. The permanence of the pen will make concepts pop.
This process taps your subconscious to drive organic ideas forward. The mind wants to make associations between marks. By making color associations first then tracing connections, you allow ideas to emerge intuitively without over-analysis.
I'll often do quick rounds of this when I want to brainstorm multiple concepts. Using a marker and pen means not erasing or noodling endlessly. I can churn through iterations, then revisit favorites later to refine. It's all about the volume of ideas.
For example, I did a sword concept. Tracing over-defined the shape and details like the hilt and blade edge based on those initial marks. For a character, I chose darker marker tones and just went with what was happening, and what emerged when tracing in pen.
Experiment with this technique when you want to break through overthinking. The permanence forces you forward without second-guessing. You can fuel your creative engine, then circle back to refine later.
Let me know if you try it out!
Sometimes, limitations boost creativity by stopping endless pondering.
ON to the next page. Hahahha
