Thumbnail Concepts for Magic City Project
Updated: May 19, 2020
As this was my first attempt at thumbnail concepts I did a bit of research into how to make effective thumbnails that are simple, easy to understand and don't take much time.
The techniques I found were to think about composition and movement. A thumbnail is the most basic form of a concept, and therefore you don't have colour and intricate detail to aid you in delivering your idea. Instead, you have shades placement of your structures to give the onlooker a look into your world.
Branches of trees and the body of a creature or character can be used to lead the eye towards a target or just to make people see the whole image.
I had an attempt at doing a thumbnail. However, instead of making it simple I ended up putting a lot of detail into it. I hope to make simpler thumbnails in the future.
Despite that, I like the approach I had with the composition on this piece. Although there are issues and details I would correct, this is a concept i'm fond with. The main things I would alter are the central tree and the village surrounding it. The tree needs to be placed at a better angle and also needs to be more magical in appearance. The village underneath needs to have more unique buildings, some slight detail, foliage and the houses in trees that some live in.
In order to make the composition of this piece better I would introduce movement by having the branches of the tree at the front being used to point towards the centre and the roots of the central tree pointing down to the rivers which leads the eye through the city.
I also did some other basic concepts before my thumbnail research. They aren't great but with work they could be some good conceptual work for areas in a world.
This was supposed to be a drawing of the houses in the trees, but when I started drawing I got stuck making the bridge and river/waterfall that I thought of a cabin with a water wheel.
I decided to have a go at drawing a simple concept of one of the first ideas I had for the brief. The idea was having the lost city be reflected in the water, but not actually be there. This idea is basically of a mirror world.
Before I continued with my thumbnails I though it best to think of, and sketch out, what the trees would look like and how they may appear more magical than ordinary trees.
The tree here is growing on a rock that is imbued with magic, or aether. The white veins growing up the tree are sending magic around it allowing it to flow.
In my lore these trees could be how the magic is sent into the atmosphere for use by people and monsters, much like oxygen. If you're in an area with a lack of trees then magic would be lacking. Therefore this civilisation have an abundance of magic and protect the trees.
An area I need to improve in is my drawings of trees. When drawing trees I always make them go straight up and have no branches. I need to practice drawing trees from images and in person so I can get a better grasp on how they should look.
I proceeded to draw a grand looking tree to get a better grasp on how the roots and branches can be found on a tree.
If this tree was put into a piece the branches and roots can be used to point towards a key part of the image.
It definitely isn't perfect and can be improved by shading and colour.
Next I want to look at the work others to see how they draw trees and where I can get inspiration for my piece from this.
These images are concept pieces for the game Final Fantasy XIV. I've picked these images as they not only show trees, the subject matter I want to get better at drawing due to it's prominence in my piece, but also techniques and methods I want to learn to incorporate into my own style of drawing.
To keep this organised I shall analyse each piece in the order they appear, focusing mainly on how they do the trees, but also at how they compose their work.
1. The Lavender Beds - Unknown
The artist has used composition to make you look at the grand tree placed on the top of the hill as this is in the focal point. From there you begin to look down, as the roots of the tree push your gaze south, through the city on the island.
The artist also uses scale to show the size of the environment. Due to the boats in the water, we can assume the tree on the island is quite large, but then we can also tell that the trees in the background are much larger. These much larger trees in the background get smaller in parts due to their distance, this allows you to imagine a big, open area in the woods.
Through the artists use of colour they can show the trees trunk and branches without drawing in details or a original outline (this can be seen in the top left on the small trees).
The techniques I want to take from this are the use of composition and scale, as well as the use of colour to create structures that are out of focus..
2. Bridge Concept
a simple concept for an area. It appears to be made without using an outline and was just coloured in. It uses different shades perfectly to create the illusion of being 3D. The trees in this concept are not highly detailed as they're in the background and aren't the focus. In my Thumbnail concepts this will be the way to draw the trees, but also in my actual concepts this may be the best way to approach objects that are in the background.
3. Summerford Farms
I chose this piece for the tree on the hill.
4. The Black Shroud Gate
The art style in this piece and the approach towards making it is interesting to me. Looking at the top of the image and bases of the trees shows where the artist started off with a rough colour base then began to add detail on top. Another part of the work that I like is the trees in the background that are very similar in colour to the background colour, this is to imitate objects that are out of focus to a person due to the distance between them.
An interesting part of this piece is how the structures aren't placed on the focus points of the page, yet your eye is still dragged in due to the movement of the piece. The path leads you towards the gate will the curve of the trees makes you look past them.
5. Odin
This artwork of Odin in the shroud doesn't place the focal point of Odin on the focal points of the page, but it does use movement in the composition to lead your eye towards Odin and the Adventurer staring him down. The first thing you notice may be the rays of light piercing through the canopy or the trees that form it. If you notice the trees first then their trunks and branches will lead you up towards the canopy then the light will lead you to Odin who, though relatively lacking in detail, is noticeably looking at the person before him. This will lead your eye to the person who will then make you look back at Odin. The use of movement here makes you see the image and then be locked into a confrontation between two entities.
The trees in this piece give off an ominous feeling due to how they aren't flat and have branches going in many directions.
6. Unknown
The reason I have chosen this as a reference image is due to the trees and the roots hanging off the cliff. The trees go straight up without any branches but when they branch out the branches aren't straight and add more life to the drawing. The roots coming through and over the cliff go in many directions and branch off multiple times.
The artist has used one-point perspective for this piece, this helped them get a basis for the scale difference between the foreground and the background.
7. Bentbranch Meadows
The approach to the piece here is one I would love to accomplish myself. The trees are only partly drawn to allow you to see what is behind them (the main focus of the image) but they're cut off in a way to show that there are actually trees there.
The image appears to have been coloured basically then the artist has used textures to add detail to the image.
8. Il Mheg
This concept art is the high level of detail that I want to eventually be capable of making. This piece doesn't appear to follow a specific perspective technique, but it does use the rule of three so the main focus points of the image aren't in the areas of low concentration.
There isn't much in the way of trees in this image, but there are a few things I have thought of from looking at this image that would help improve my concepts. For starters, having every tree or piece of architecture be magical/unique can be a bit much and make the concept too "heavy". For example, in this concept there are trees in the top right that resemble trees that are found in the real world. Then you have the trees in the bottom left that have pink leaves that clearly don't resemble anything like what is found in real life. This contrast between fauna and architecture can add life to a concept as well as show the difference between two areas, the foreground and middle ground/background.
9. The Rak'tika Greatwood
Immediately upon looking at this concept I was filled with a sense of mystery as well as a sense of care and compassion, as it looks as though people are looking after this place even after the fall of this civilisation (this may just be because I've been there in the game and know.) The reason why I feel this sense of compassion is only discovered after a thorough inspection of the concept.
First of all, these structures or decorations hanging from the trees must have been put there after the fall of this civilisation, due to the fact the trees must have grown AFTER the fall. Secondly, the fire (red luminous objects) that can be seen lighting up the environment in many places must have been placed and maintained by someone. Last of all, the pathway towards these pyramid structures is completely clear, no rubble, tree or branch, this shows that whoever tends to this place must have a reason to get here easily without obstructions, for example transporting goods.
As for the mysterious feeling emitted, this is mainly due to the lighting in places, as well as the composition/scale. The first thing I noticed was the light penetrating the canopy, which pointed towards the bottom right focal point, when using the rule of three, where a person can be seen. The person in this concept is used as a point of scale, allowing you to be able to tell exactly how large these structures are in comparison to a person. After seeing the person you look in the direction they appear to be looking, which is towards the temples. Looking past the first one you hit a wall on the second one as it appears to face you, from here you look along the path in front of the temples then up the trees.
The concept is dark, with the light coming through the canopy used to highlight the temple. There is also the patterns on the trees that glow as well as the glowing fauna and flames. All of these elements give a magical vibe to a mysterious environment.
These are all the thumbnails I've managed and they show a wide range of ideas for the composition of the piece as well as what will actually be in the piece...
I started of by using a method that I found someone else using where they would use different shades to show foreground, background and middle ground, but this took me too long to do each idea so i switched to basic outlines which i'm more experienced with and managed to pump the ideas out easier.
The key aspects I need in my ideas is... trees, water, the sky (for the two moons) and crystals. For ideas where there is no sky visible I would have the moons reflected in the water. ideas where there is a village will have these lantern like structures which will have luminous crystals inside them as if they're lighting the path.
As these are basic ideas they would be altered multiple times until an outcome is reached, which would eventually lead to having more ideas than I currently have. Key things that I want to work on in these pieces is the position of trees and buildings as well as the details of the trees. For example, I don't want all the trees looking normal, I would like some of them to appear magical.