Here are just a few comments I’ve gotten so far about this week’s YouTube video on thumbnail sketching:
“Watching this felt so introspective, I found myself melting away into meditative thought.”
“Super relaxing and interesting and just plain beautiful.”
“This is at the same time so beautiful and so powerful!”
For this one, I decided to get back to my traditional roots a bit and do some concept thumbnail sketching with good old fashioned pencil on paper. Add to that some epic fantasy soundtracks and a bit of a speed boost and you’ve got a recipe for a meditative and relaxing experience as you watch these ideas unfold (along with some shockingly satisfying sounds of pencil on paper).
This is an exercise I use often to generate new ideas. I find that returning to my roots with just plain pencil and paper can really help to simplify the process. It encourages creativity and innovation.
In fact, focusing on the canvas as a small element of a larger page helps to put the composition at the forefront. It allows me to plot out the most important elements of the painting in just a matter of minutes. And it allows me to generate ideas freely without worrying too much about whether they’re worth painting or not.
And if I’m lucky, I might come up with some good ones!
If you like this format of video, you should also check out this time lapse I made of the “Floating Ruins” digital painting. I find it so fascinating myself to see the entire process from start to finish in just a few minutes. Plus the music really kicks it into a whole new magical place!
Anyway, enjoy the video, and do let me know in the comments if you want to see more stuff like this.
See ya, art fans!
Cheers,
Eben