The Gnomon Workshop of Hollywood, in collaboration with Design Studio Press, has released seven new training DVDs by concept designers Feng Zhu (STAR WARS: EPISODE III), Harald Belker (SPIDER-MAN) and Carlos Huante (VAN HELSING). These titles focus on design process, ideation, digital rendering and client presentation.
"We are thrilled to be releasing another set of amazing design education DVDs," states Alex Alvarez, founder of the Gnomon Workshop and the Gnomon School of Visual Effects. "It is great to have Feng Zhu return with two new titles. His previous DVDs on drawing and rendering techniques have inspired hundreds of artists around the world. Feng now shares his personal process for working with a client brief, using thumbnail sketching to explore ideas, and creating the final design for presentation."
"We're very excited to offer a wide range of techniques and design skills with these new DVDs," adds Scott Robertson of Design Studio Press. "I have been a big fan of these designers for a long time. Harald provides a very insightful look into his creative process for developing innovative car designs and renderings that pop. Following our recent release of MONSTRUO, THE ART OF CARLOS HUANTE, we now share with you the step-by-step creature design and rendering techniques Carlos uses on a daily basis."
Gnomon Workshop DVDs are priced at $69 and can be purchased online at www.thegnomonworkshop.com. Academic pricing is available. Each title includes 120 minutes of instruction, lecture notes and bonus material.
DVD descriptions:
* THE TECHNIQUES OF FENG ZHU, VOL. 1: DESIGN PROCESS - FIGHTING ROBOTSWhen working from a design brief, idea generation is one of the most difficult aspects of the job. This lecture has two main components, each covering an important part of the design process. First, you will see how designs are generated, by watching Feng sketch more than 40 rough thumbnails and quick silhouettes. The sketches are then critiqued in order to identify the most visually successful. The entire lecture focuses on a single client brief: melee-style gladiator fighting robots of the future.
* THE TECHNIQUES OF FENG ZHU, VOL. 2: ROBOT DESIGN REFINEMENT AND RENDERINGStarting with thumbnail silhouettes chosen from the previous lecture, two distinctive designs are drawn, refined and rendered for client presentation. See how two robots that follow the same brief can be given strong visual identities through the use of different form languages. The purpose of this process is to end up with a clear presentation of a solid design.
* THE TECHNIQUES OF HARALD BELKER, VOL. 1: INTRODUCTION TO CAR DESIGN AND DRAWINGWhen designing automobiles, the ability to sketch well is absolutely essential. The skill of showing a design on paper enables the designer to communicate with others. In a step-by-step demonstration, Harald will share his approach to quick sketching, design strategy, styling tips and the process he takes to finalize a design direction. He concludes with the execution a final line drawing that presents a dynamic view of his vehicle.
* THE TECHNIQUES OF HARALD BELKER, VOL. 2: DIGITAL AUTOMOTIVE RENDERINGThere are many ways to render an automobile. Harald will take you through the steps to render an automobile with Adobe Photoshop through the use of paths, layering colors, surfacing and highlights. You will see his strategy for layer building, shading the form in color, rendering wheels and background design. The end result of this demonstration is a quick but powerful color rendering executed with a digital medium.
* THE TECHNIQUES OF HARALD BELKER, VOL. 3: INTEGRATING A VEHICLE INTO AN ENVIRONMENTThis demo deals with the integration of a rendered vehicle into a city environment. This is a basic step-by-step of how to render a vehicle, set up a photo of a cityscape and integrate the vehicle so that it looks like it is truly in the scene. This is not a full-blown matte painting, but a quick way to show how vehicles are rendered and placed for a motion picture application...quick and powerful, with dramatic lighting.
* THE TECHNIQUES OF CARLOS HUANTE, VOL. 1: CREATURE SKETCHING AND DESIGNCarlos walks you through the step-by-step design of a dynamic creature. Watch along as he draws with a wax based pencil. He leads you through the creative design process from start to finish and demonstrates how to bring your creature drawing to life by sharing his drawing and rendering techniques.
* THE TECHNIQUES OF CARLOS HUANTE, VOL. 2: DIGITAL CREATURE PAINTINGIn this DVD, Carlos demonstrates his digital creature/character painting techniques. He walks you through the use of various tools and techniques that he has developed over the years in both Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop. Some of these include masking, color glazing, resolving design and punching up the color. The subject matter of this color painting demonstration is the creature he designed with traditional media in THE TECHNIQUES OF CARLOS HUANTE, VOL. 1.
The digital rendering DVDs assume a basic working knowledge of 2D software such as Corel Painter or Adobe Photoshop. The focus of these lectures is not on software, but on the fundamentals of design, composition, lighting, material indication, storytelling and workflow.
The Gnomon Workshop is an outgrowth of the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, a professional institute specializing in training for the high-end visual effects community. For more information on the Gnomon School, visit www.gnomon3d.com.
For more information, as well as instructor bios, galleries and DVD descriptions, visit the Gnomon Workshop Website: www.thegnomonworkshop.com.
Design Studio Press is a specialty publisher that focuses primarily on original artistic works and educational books. For more information, visit www.designstudiopress.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
