8 Quick Sketching Tips for Effective Concept Art

Quick sketching allows concept artists to do just that: to create solutions at a fast pace and map out many options while at the same time not being bogged down by processes.

That is where the beauty of concept art starts – sketching and its informal trace related to a spontaneous, free flow of ideas. Regardless of skill level, fast drawing for quick sketching might just be your best friend – especially if you consider yourself a professional artist.

In this guide, we’ll look at some crucial tips to become a sketch concept artist that will help enhance your creativity, develop your ideas, and enhance the flow. 

Tip #1: Break free from Straight Dividers

If you want your concept art to be natural, then any straight lines should not course through your artwork like railroad tracks. When did you find yourself surrounded by a group of straight trees, or a bush cut?

Rarely, if ever! Organic forms are much better than straight, boxed-off looks—it is not practical and uncreative. Of landscapes, experts suggest that jagged edges and low inclinations add liveliness to the sight. It oversimplifies grid-like boundaries that make the layouts appear rigid.

Concept Art Rule #1: What about those so-called horizontal or vertical dividers, you may ask? Don’t impose it, and don’t complicate it.

Tip #2: Create Impactful Focal Points

In concept art, it’s all about drawing the viewer’s eye to a specific area, but here’s a quick hack: do not use the corners to place certain details. Comers should not be crowded because they diminish focal points or make them look overly complicated.

However, the best practice for the placement of details is to locate them in the centre or middle sections of the design and use corners for frames or ledges in an effort to add dimension.

Concept Art Rule #2: Avoid cornerwork and put important information in the middle so they will not be off-balance.

Tip #3: Add Depth with Size and Distance

Do not arrange your elements in the manner of simply pasting pieces on the table; this flattens depth. For instance, when doing a scene in a forest, it is wrong to plant similar trees one beside the other.

Some sizes and placement must be varied to make the viewers feel the aspect of space. A combination of greatly enlarged objects and a small background creates that depth, which increases the extent of interaction with the piece.

Concept Art Rule #3: This work combines full-sized images with miniature ones by changing the sizes and distances of the objects in the foreground and background in a way where no ruler is needed.

Tip #4: Find the Right Balance

If a bisect provides excessive details, it can become confusing, and if a piece does not have sufficient detail, it looks bare. Keep it simple, just a basic design and add more complex features after.

Do not forget if more such components are laid on top of the main subject or if the picture looks crowded, some withdrawal may be necessary. In general, as a  sketch concept artist try to divide the composition in half, both vertically and horizontally, but make the main details shift toward or point at what is at the centre.

Concept Art Rule #4: It is desirable to add more details until the target is obscured; do not do this. Less is more, and complexity follows.

Tip #5: Identify the Foreground, Midground and Background

Foreground is depicted as the general zone closer to the viewer. It provides a lot of details; the ground acts as a bridge between the foreground and background. And finally, the background sets the environment and the general atmosphere.

If components concern you, you can either fog them or make them less complex as another layer behind them. Helpfully, your brightest colours and your fondest descriptions should be saved for the place they can shine the most: the foreground.

Concept Art Rule #5: Here, layers are placed, with the strong areas placed first and weak areas minimized in the background.

Tip #6: Keep Shapes Consistent

Depending on the design, one single and disparate form can throw off the entire look. Suppose you have a picture of a forest with hundreds of very tall trees that appear to be stretching towards the sky; then, out of the blue, you will spot a vine that is pulling only one tree downwards.

This kind of inconsistency will only disrupt the viewer. The best practice within each of your shapes is to stay consistent with the style you have chosen for your image.

Concept Art Rule #6: It is also important to maintain the shapes consistent. Organization of rhythm and pattern strikes your workplace.

Tip #7: Master Colour for Mood

Colour is extremely important in your idea drawings. Changes in the mood of a piece drastically depend on colour. This is true because, for example, hues that are transformed to grayscale look deserted and abandoned, while oversaturated hues have a fairy-tale look to them.

If adopting this idea, it is recommended that while some areas of the image explode in colour, other parts should be comparatively subtle. An integration of bright and plain colours results in eye-friendly information dissemination.

Concept Art Rule #7: Use colour to set the mood. Being bright where necessary and using less bright colours for the general backgrounds.

Tip #8: Shape is the Starting Point of Every Object

It is much easier to sketch objects when you generalise them by trying to draw them using basic geometric shapes. For instance, a tree might be composed of a series of rectangles or cones that are piled on each other.

I have also noticed that practising these basic shapes not only builds up your time but also deepens your knowledge of the topic of lighting and shading.

Concept Art Rule #8: Always draw the main form before the details are inserted adorning our design. It is quicker and less abstract in terms of how it shows different complicated objects within a design. 

Conclusion

In a nutshell, concept art is among the initial steps in bringing an imagined environment to life. It’s where ideas are conceptualised and drawn on paper, in sketches and thumbnails, as well as improvements to make them resemble scenes.

Concept art feeds the creativity and precision needed to pass those ideas from imagination to readable and tight artwork. 

The next time you find sketch concept artist profession fascinating, remember the extent of depth or the peculiarity of the attractiveness of a game character visualised.

At MAGES Institute, we help you enhance your education with a Diploma in Concept Art. Get in touch with us.