Thursday, August 27, 2015

Quick Theme Park Ideations!

Hey guys! This was a super fun series to do! This is just personal work - please excuse the super cheesy names! haha. Each one of these took about 1-1.5 hours. I spent about 1 hour sketching all the concepts. I spent about 30 minutes on research and image gathering, and another 30 minutes to an hour on the actual rendering portion. Because I'm doing a lot of photo textures - it's pretty quick in terms of execution. Nothing too tight.

One of the favorite parts were the logos! I spent a lot of time gather references, the fonts and the color effects. :)

Below is a video of my process!

New Artwork - Journey to the West Theme Park

Hey guys! It's rare that I get a chance to show my professional work - so I'm happy to post this today. Here is a concept piece I did for a "Journey to the West" theme park. This concept was for the children's play area of the park. It includes a "Fung Fu Training" area, a Ball Pit, and a "Meet and Greet" with the Peach Fairies. 

I did this back in 2014 when I was using a much more "traditional" workflow. This illustration took me about 2 weeks. Now - I use a workflow where I might get this done in... I'm not sure.. a lot quicker! lol I haven't done one of these Deluxe color illustrations in a while. :)







Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Theme Park Concept Art - Breakdown and Analysis


I've studied a lot of "meta-learning." Tim Ferris (super learner) says that you gotta deconstruct and break thing downs in order to learn it quickly and effectively.

Contrary to popular belief - theme parks are not all about RIDES! It is only one category of illustrations. In my current portfolio - my illustrations and sketches currently consist of rides. This is a research exercise to discover the gaps and develop work that I'm missing...
Here are categories of Theme Park Illustrations...
(Most of these images I've taken during the D23 Expo - they are property of Disney. This blogpost is for academic purpose only. Please don't sue me.)

Food & Beverage / Retail / Hospitality (Hotel)
Store Concept By Chris Turner

Restaurant Concept by Chris Turner

Retail and Entertainment Space by Unknown

Restaurant Concept by Unknown

Cafe Concept by Jim Shull

Restaurant Concept by Unknown
Hotel Concepts for Disney Shanghai
Harry Potter Store Concept (artist unknown)
Notice the realistic rendering style. The artist probably used a 3D model as a base, used photos for the props, and photos of people with cut out filter - to accomplish more of this illustration.
There is much artistic skill required in making it look engaging and lively. 

Next there are Shows

There are 4d shows (Artist Unknown)

Terminator 4D show by Gary Goddard Entertainment (Artist Unknown)
There are Parades... (artist unknown)
Parade Concept (Artist Unknown)
Even firework shows!

  
Some rides are part show as well! Artist: Greg Pro




RIDES
And THEN there are rides... Notice there some are drawn very cartoony, while others look very photorealistic. Some have a very light-hearted mood - while others are very serious. There is no right "style" - it just depends on what artistic style is best suited for the ride.

Most of the concept art for rides don't show an "accurate" portrayal of the ride - it is kind of impossible to show that and still make it look cool. Instead they show the feeling of the ride and the best moments all collaged together in one image. It is usually not "realistic" - but idealistic.





This show a top down view of the entire ride track. 

This concept art by Greg Pro is a more painterly approach. 

This concept art by Busch Garden aims for a more realistic approach. 


This art by Scot Drake is very video game like - fitting for a interactive shooting ride. 

Seaworld typically uses a more "realistic" (less stylized) approach to its concept art.

This is a photorealistic - but highly stylized. 

  




Next we have Aerial or Birds-eye view

This is probably the most lucrative and important view because it is used in marketing - and companies will only hire the best illustrators to do this job. Disney usually hires illustrators with a painterly style - like Greg Pro or Eric Heschong. However, some projects will use an architectural rendering style created in either 3D or 2D sketch style.

In terms of view - the view an just be a couple buildings, an entire "land," or an entire theme park!
Of course - subject matter isn't just limited to theme parks.. it can also be a casino, resort, shopping aerial etc...!

Greg Pro's New Fantasyland Illustration
Greg Pro's Paramount Illustration
Eric Heschong's tomorrowland illustration
(this painterly style is the benchmark of this aerial view illustrations) 

Fox's theme park illustration (artist unknown)
 

Architectural Rendering - 3D
Architectural Rendering style - 2D
Architectural Rendering - 2D by Artist Kirk Fromm


And there is also Storyboards for the shows and rides!

Madagascar ride by Thinkwell (Artist unknown)
Jurassic Park Storyboard by Greg Pro (gouache study by Chris Chien)
Storyboard by Kevin Farrell

There is also production artwork - which is done in the "schematic design" phase of the project. These drawings are supplied to the 3D modelers to be created in real life!

Toon Town Buildings by Don Carson 
Schematic design for hotel pool from D23 (Artist Larry Nikolai)

Schematic Design for props from D23 (Artist Larry Nikolai)

So as you can see.. there are many categories of artwork with their respective functions! It's not just about rides! :)

In terms of styles - you can see it ranges from very cartoony, to very painterly, to very photo realistic! The mood can range from being very lighthearted - to very dark and scary! :)

Well - that's a wrap! Hopefully - I'll keep updating this as I learn more and more about the industry.