Digital painting is a common way of producing concept art at the present time. It’s fast and functional in many ways. It’s easy to produce many colour variations at a time and there’s an easiness called ‘Undo’. That’s why many concept designers create their work digitally.

But digital media can’t help us in the creative process. It’s a duty of the designer to find interesting ideas and turn them into something logical. In this workshop, I’ll try to explain the creation process of a conceptual character and the techniques that I use while illustrating it. One of the most important things that we need before starting is, of course, the brief. We have only two words for this brief: cool robot.

At first it seems like a good theme and you might say: “Yeah, I’ll draw the coolest robot on earth!” But when you actually think about it, it’s not that easy. If the brief gets shorter, the number of subjects that you need to think about increases. The best way is to start developing the very first idea that comes to your mind. I’m thinking of mixing science fiction with oriental elements.

Ottoman Janissary soldiers would be interesting if I can turn them into something robotic. I’ve never seen anything like that so it could become a unique concept. Using references is a necessity. I’ll use some Janissary pictures that I found on the internet. Inspiration could be useful for ideas for the environment. I’ve already decided to illustrate the Janissary ’bot in an oriental environment. So, the first name that comes to my mind is Jean-Léon Gérôme. He’s a great painter and his works are really inspiring for me. We can use some of his paintings as references for the environments. Now, if you’re ready, let’s get started!

From issue 11.