Sunday, January 23, 2011

TESV:Skyrim - Concept Art - Time Lapse Painting

Hi everyone! Here's some new stuff to show! This is an example of a paint-over, painted by yours truly. A paint-over is the process of taking a screen-shot from the game and painting directly on top of it to visualize how to improve a scene. It's a bit of the reverse of traditional concept art but it falls square within the job description and it happens more than you might think. The next time you're cruising around the different concept art sites, keep in mind that many of the pieces your seeing are not necessarily 'from scratch' but are collaborative pieces done with level designers and character artists to support the end product. It's a bit of different beast than illustration. 

I recorded this back around Christmas 2009 using Camtasia and painting in Photoshop. I'd frequently stop and start the recording to make the clips more manageable in the editor so you may see a couple of dramatic jumps where I forgot to hit the record button:)

8 comments:

Erik said...

Awesome work Ray! I must have watched that ten times, it's very engaging and inspirational. I've been working heavily on my own drawings the past six months. I'm moving into inking so coloring is just around the corner, all of the art coverage for you and Adam so far is very helpful as I'm doing much of the same things, or rather attempting. I noticed that you took your gallery down, so I look forward to seeing more Skyrim stuff from you. They should do a video with you guys and let you talk about your involvement. So far it's mostly someone else barging in and you smiling and nodding until they go away and leave you to your work, haha. I didn't realize you had updated this since August so I'll be checking in very often!

Jan said...

I really enjoyed watching the latest GameInformer video on Concept Art!

Great to see some new artworks and books about Frazetta and VIKINGS lying around. :)

I wish they'd let you speak for yourself though, it's Todd Howard or the art director doing all the talking. :/

I'd be very interested to hear how you got to work at Bethesda and all that, funny stories from development. I guess it may be too early for that though.

Ray Lederer said...

@Erik: Thanks so much and I'm humbled that you've found my stuff inspiring. If you decide to make your own blog to showcase what you've been doing I'd love to check it out. Eventually I'll be retooling my website for more current work.

@Jan: Thanks Jan! Frank is the master, no? I tried to be inspired by him but not ape him. I think as a corporation there's a certain level of message control in place so that only a few people are accountable for what is said and shown. Makes things easier for marketing the product. Still, I think I make a pretty lousy prop! :) The guy talking is the awesomely cool Matt Carofano who is the AD for Elder Scrolls.

Erik said...

I think a blog would be a great idea. I've been using DeviantArt to link people up but a blog sounds fantastic. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll start on something right now.

Also, I mailed you a drawing last summer (late July I think) to your Beth email, but I know you guys don't really check those too much, haha. My email's CommissarWest@gmail.com, so anything I send in the future you'll know who it's from.

Ray Lederer said...

I got it! Thanks again Erik! I thought I'd sent a thank you but that may have beeen around the time I was migrating to a new computer. If not, thank you for such an awesome drawing! I've got it saved on my HD. It's quite possibly the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me, so sincerely, thank you from the bottom of my heart:) Would you mind if I posted it on my blog?

Erik said...

Absolutely! I'd be honored, and no problem. You guys are very inspiring for me and if not for you I probably wouldn't have been motivated enough to really practice and learn. I personally can't believe how far I've come in the past six months. I actually just ordered a large intuos4 tablet (should be here tomorrow, yay!) after a week of inking, and at Adam's recommendation working into color! So thanks again!

Nate Simpson said...

Teach me!

Lookhappy said...

Absolutely stunning work! I love seeing the way the painting and poses progress as you go along - I love seeing the small bits getting tweaked.
I try and do artwork too but I'm a million miles away from your quality.
But you're work inspires me massively!

Here's my website: http://www.lookhappydesign.com/