TIP 42 | How to Get Inspired to Draw: Concept Art Tips

How to Get Inspired to Draw: Concept Art Tips

Today I show you great Concept Art tips to progress faster at sketching!

It is always a magic moment to get inspired
from someone’s drawing to create something new!

Thank you Adrien Wira (my friend from Design School)
for telling me about the concept artist: Darren Quach.

You can find more about Darren’s book: INKWORKS here.

He’s an amazing concept artist
that help me to improve my drawing skills fast.

I found his Instagram account: dqsketches
and his line work really attract my attention.

These are smooth and fresh material.

I remember at school,
with my classmates we already loved drawing robots from Star Wars, getting inspired by Feng Zhu!

So, let’s the drawing game begins!

A phone is quite small to use it as a reference media.
Whatever! It’s still very convenient to carry the world’s inspiration in your pocket!

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Brainstorm

At beginning, I was wondering how to start.
I did not want to copy 100% Darren Quach’s sketches.

So I brainstormed a bit.
Ok, machines are made of:

• cables,
• motors,
• shock absorber,
• weapons.

This quick list helps me to create a sort of tool box, or a library of items I may need to import in my drawing.
Even though, that stage of brainstorming is pretty abstract, this list help me to clarify my mind.

Then I suddenly saw my blue pen cap.
And it actually looks like a piece of a mechanical aeration system. (See picture below)

So I started with that pen cap detail!
The rest followed along the way.

I repeat.

“The rest of the drawing follow along the way.”

Artist and designers do not always have a full picture in their mind before they draw.
They just start, and commit at drawing. Then, you build and add details one by one.

Absorb the “artist’s feelings”

See below,
look at the upper part of the machine.
It has been drawn with cleaner lines than the rest.

Why?

When I started, I tried to draw how I often sketch a product.

Clean.

Darren Quach style is more intricate.
So I stopped and looked at his work closer to reflect a while on HIS drawing style.

There is this kind of dirty and dark randomness within the intricacies of the engines.
That make his style so cool.

There is a mix of old and modern at the same time.
I do not only try to copy the details or the line quality, but I tried to absorb the feel.

Try to draw using that “emotional state” you feel from the original drawing.

TIP | To improve fast, get inspired by other artists

Remember,
to get inspired by other artists and designers doesn’t mean “copy and paste”.

My aim is to extract that feeling of freedom this sketching style offers.
Then, I try to retransmit it on paper through my own sensitivity.

Believe me, it’s challenging, but I took so much fun doing it!

Copy is ok

If you are a beginner,
there is nothing wrong to copy and paste other people drawing.

I even recommend to copy for studying purpose.

It’s an excellent exercise for you to train your drawing skills.
I did that a thousand times, and I still do it.

Having a great skill at copying what you see is precious,
but it shouldn’t be your ultimate goal as a Product Designer.

Instead, it should be drawing the new ideas you have developed in your own mind.
This is how you can create and bring something new to the world.

Do not copy and paste.
Instead, reinterpret, modify, fusion, blend, extract, deconstruct what inspire you.

That’s all for today.

I personally like Wall-E.

What’s your favorite robot?
Star Wars, Transformers, Terminator, Gundam…? Tell me!