From the Studio with Patrick McEvoy.
So, you’ve learned how to draw and how to render. You’ve put together a professional portfolio. You’ve studied the market and sent your samples to likely clients and now, after all this time, you have landed a professional job. Very cool; I’m proud of you. But now comes the hard part: doing the work, doing it well, and doing it on time.
This time out, I’ll go in-depth into the process of working on a job from start to finish. From client contact to the final delivery, I’ll give you a look into the thoughts and techniques I use to take a rough idea and turn it into a completed art assignment. To do this, we’ll be following the creation of a piece of art for the Game of Thrones Collectible Card Game, from a client I’ve happily done a lot of work for, Fantasy Flight Games.
Since I’m going through MY work process, and not some generic exercise, we’ll be following along my particular work path - sketching on paper, working in Photoshop
Creating art for yourself or for a portfolio can be a journey of discovery, a chance to play around with a picture until you get it just right. You can stop and start over, or throw in whole new ideas on the spur of the moment, just because they’re cool. And most of all, you can take as long as you like.
Conversely, working for a client on a specific job is the opposite. You must plan in advance, get approval for your ideas, and most importantly MEET YOUR DEADLINES. This involves planning rather than experimenting, and focusing on your process. Each step needs to build logically into the next so that there’s no backtracking or dithering.
OK, now that I’ve scared you, I think we’re ready to start!
Job Description
Also known as the “brief”, this is the request that comes from the client. It may be very short and simple, or quite expansive and filled with details. Sometimes the clients are absolutely sure of what they want, and sometimes they want you to fill in the blanks for them.
Usually a particular style will be called for: painterly, line art, grayscale, etc. Don’t deviate from that without explicitly asking for an OK from the client. If they want a painting and you deliver a scratchboard piece, you are just asking for a rejection.
Additionally, you will be given instructions on what size the final piece of artwork will need to be, what format to deliver it in, and any other important physical characteristics required. In this case, the delivery was to be an electronic file, 800 pixels wide x 600 pixels high (yes, that’s pretty small!), in CMYK color. It is always vitally important to follow these sorts of instructions exactly, and if you are unsure of details or terminology, ASK the client to make sure. Believe me, I know from experience that nothing makes you look dumber than to mess up on this sort of thing.
Now, the client knew that I had worked within the Game of Thrones world before; I didn’t need to catch up on the feel or the setting. Also, the designer had sent out a note to the artists that on this set of cards they were looking for a bold, iconic look to bring the cards together thematically.
With this background already in place, the brief was then fairly short:
Card name: Eviscerate
An “Unsullied” draws his blade out of his victim’s gut.
Sometimes you’ll get a very long detailed description, and sometimes even less than this. Here, I was dealing with a good, economical, yet complete request. Not too much, but plenty to get me started.
