Concept Art for Animation: Designing Magical Environments

Begin the course by getting to know visual development artist Tory Polska. She talks through the creative career that saw her go from starting a marketing degree to working as a designer for international studios. Discover the fellow artists that inspire the work she creates.

Dive into what visual development is and what you can expect from the course. Then see Tory’s approach to gathering references for her work and coming up with ideas. Explore basic stylization principles that will add an animated quality to your designs, before experimenting with the digital tools of Miro and Photoshop.

Learn how to read a creative brief efficiently before making reference boards filled with visual ideas using keywords. Analyze your references and add notes to them, taking into consideration what works, what doesn’t, and what they have in common.

Time to start sketching your ideas based on your research. Draw your vision loosely and in black and white before refining your sketches. Then finalize your design by bringing multiple ideas together to create a collage. Develop everything you’ve worked on so far into a concept art piece to add context to your idea, using light, color, and more. Then add the finishing touches like noise effects and textures.

Organize all of your work into a portfolio page that showcases your creative process from start to finish. Finally, Tory shares her advice for creating your own visual development portfolio, as well as how to get into the animation industry.