The Gnomon Workshop, in conjunction with Design Studio Press, introduced two new DVDs from returning artist Harald Belker, whose titles cover car and prop design for films and games. In addition, Nick Pugh joins the library this month, offering three noteworthy DVDs on design originality, creature design and environment rendering.
Belker's titles draw from his extensive experience creating innovative designs for films, videogames and toys, including MINORITY REPORT and I, ROBOT and cars for Mattel's HotWheels. He shares the techniques he uses for sketching, choosing tools and preparing a professional presentation, taking the artist through the process from design to completion.
Pugh joins the Gnomon Workshop list of talented instructors with three inspiring titles. Since graduating from the Art Center College of Design in 1990, He has created numerous designs, including creatures, vehicles and architecture. He brings his process to these three DVDs, taking the artist through the process of developing a unique form language before designing a creature, and finally placing that creature into an environment. Pugh discusses composition, historic reference, inspiration sources and uses photographic reference to ensure a complete learning experience. He is currently under contract with Rhythm & Hues studios as a concept designer and art director.
DVD Descriptions:
* THE TECHNIQUES OF HARALD BELKERVOLUME 4: CAR DESIGN AND PRESENTATIONThe ability to design a car is not something anyone can just pick up by taking a class or drawing for a few weeks. It requires a serious amount of dedication and many hours of practice. Belker will take you step-by-step through his design process and give you a look into the complexity and challenges of designing a vehicle similar to the one he designed for MINORITY REPORT. In addition, he will also introduce one of the cars he designed for Hotwheels, and take you through each step of its design process. At the end of the lecture he quickly renders a cars side-view within Adobe Photoshop, and shows some of the many tricks he uses to complete a powerful presentation of the design.
* THE TECHNIQUES OF HARALD BELKERVOLUME 5: MOVIE PROP DESIGN AND PRESENTATIONOver his long career, Belker has designed many props and products for the film and video game industries. In this lecture he will share his techniques for ideation sketching, choosing the right tools, and preparing a quick yet professional presentation. In addition, he will walk you through the process of designing a handheld device and a futuristic weapon. His personal preferences for materials, ergonomics, line quality and shape will be of help to anyone who is interested in the field of prop design.
* ORIGINALITY IN DESIGNCREATING A UNIQUE FORM LANGUAGE WITH NICK PUGHThe ultimate goal for the concept artist is to create an individual artistic design language that is unique to them. Pughs demo takes the viewer through the process he uses to get as close to this goal as possible. The ephemeral nature of this subject is discussed within the framework of historical context. Inspiration sources and methods for cleansing the mind and body are shown, and a hands-on process is demonstrated. More than 140 pages of sketches lead to six pencil rendered images that define a novel look and form that can be applied to a wide variety of designed objects.
* CREATURE DESIGN ILLUSTRATIONFORM LANGUAGE REFINEMENT WITH NICK PUGHThis demo shows the digital techniques Pugh uses to render a creature that was previously created in the ORIGINALITY IN DESIGN DVD. The lecture begins by stressing the importance of maintaining the design language established in the first phase, and follows this path through the realization of the creature in a color illustration. All the work is done in Adobe Photoshop. Over the course of this demo, Pugh discusses topics such as composition, tangencies, use of photographic reference, color and mood, as well as image focus.
* CREATURE AND ENVIRONMENT RENDERINGDIGITAL RENDERING TECHNIQUES WITH NICK PUGHThis demo shows the digital techniques Pugh uses to render a creature in an environment. The creature was previously created in the ORIGINALITY IN DESIGN DVD. The lecture stresses the importance of maintaining the design language established in the first phase, while fully realizing the surrounding environment. Over the course of this demo, he discusses topics such as the use of channels, layers, rendering foliage, water reflections, creating depth and soft foggy lighting. All of the work is done in Adobe Photoshop.
Since 2000, The Gnomon Workshop (www.thegnomonworkshop.com) has provided artists and students with the educational resources they need to succeed as artists in the entertainment industries. Whether they're interested in design, modeling, effects, animation, storytelling or matte painting, these DVDs provide a valuable educational resource for students around the world. The Gnomon Workshop is the sister company of The Gnomon School of Visual Effects, which provides professional-caliber visual effects instruction to students and professionals in Los Angeles, California.
Design Studio Press (www.designstudiopress.com) is a specialty publisher that focuses primarily on original artistic works and educational books.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
