"There is no soul, no spirit in the portfolios." This resonates with me massively. Those are the words I use with most media now when I can't quite put my finger on the problems. I am closer to 40 than 30 and am in my first semester of art school. I notice a shift in my whole body when I find a way to bend assignments into something I care about vs just doing the thing. It makes all the difference.
Feng is single handedly redefining not just the concept art / entertainment design industry but also creative jobs in general! In a time of clickbait content where everyone is just trying to be popular, focusing on the who and the why is soo valuable to so many creators out there. I miss thoughtful content that tells a story and builds a world. AI is flat and boring and these videos are getting people excited to create again. Thank you so much for these Feng, you've truly been missed and you're giving us true value with Design Cinema, cheers to you! Best, Derek
I think the first time I saw one of your videos was like 10 years ago. Someone linked it in the youtube comments on a Scyra video. I was too immature to take art seriously back then, but I never forgot about your video or channel. I'm glad I'm now at a place where I can appreciate and resonate with what you teach. Thank you sir.
"It's almost like these portfolios are for...their own industries...It's like I'm entertaining other concept designers but I don't care about the audience" You just explained all of modern entertainment & why it sucks. especially writing.
Just explained all of Art station and most of the industry. Same concepts regurgitated same orc same mech suit, same pots and pants apocalyptic character design
Feng, I just have to tell you that you were a great inspiration for me when I was a teenager. Your videos and your work were my life back then and I almost went for the path of becoming a designer. It's still what I love and seeing Design Cinema coming back is like a nostalgic portal back in time that revives my passions! Thanks for that!
You talking about the "no design" concept art, where everything is regurgitated, made me think of some of the advice and points I've received from game artists myself quite recently: 1, the skill floor to get in has risen, multiple people have said to me that with the level of work they got in a few years ago, they couldn't get hired anymore. I would imagine this would drive people to do pieces focused on technical skills just to show that they have them. 2, many artists say you need to do work in the visual style of the studios out there. More and more we see uninspired big productions and especially in the mobile world everything looks the same. In general people also prefer familiar things. When studios play it too safe with their products, it also means they want to see "safe" works that are similar to things that are already selling. 3, mobile games are a big market, and there isn't that much dedicated concept art being done there, and if there is, you are making it for the polished pieces you also need yourself to execute. Mobile industry is also especially vulnerable to the above problem of just trying to copy successful things. How do you feel about these points?
I'm very curious about this too @FZDSCHOOL I feel like people are left behind constantly by the technology and there's a desperate air of playing catch up all the time with everything. I'm glad to see that the core of design is finally mentioned again after all these years because everything you say is true but these 3 are all concerning facts that need addressing. There is no middle ground job, only a contest of absolute champions competing for the titan AAA company motherships. Design requires immense confidence a world where everywhere else some marketing team decides instead of creative directors, artists, and other individuals with an artistic vision.
yeah i heared the same thing, and when i tried to push diferent things people cut me down in studios. but i think we need to keep trying, moebius didnt started working in movies, directors started to notice him and hired him becouse of what he did. we kinda need to be our own IP in a way. but if our own IP is mediocre, dosent matter, studios will prefer playing safe than trying our stuff out with their money.
@@henrique2799 I don't know, if you just go online you'll find a lot of people doing their own thing with great skill and grace, and it's not like studios are flocking into their DMs asking them to work for them.
@@th_blck_knght those people are usually not begginers. also you have to diferentiate personal projects from works to earn a living in a studio. i draw what i wan when i draw just for me, but those drawings usually will not atract many jobs, when you play safe like the most stuff Feng jus showed in the video its easier to get jobs. this field is not art for expression but art for problem solving, Feng aways said it.
design cinema is gold I got to know FZD a long time ago and never saw anything that came close to the quality and depth of these videos regarding design. hard to believe they are freely available to anyone. thank you so much, Feng
I have learned how to render and art in 5 years but the real design was missing. You have just returned when I and most of the juniors needed you the most. Thanks master.
the message of this video hits me to my core. as an artist looking for work today, it has been an uphill battle to improve and whilst i am so proud of my work, this soul of design is something i desperately want to rekindle.
Loving this arc, such valuable information. I’m a grad student in animation in LA, and no one is teaching like this even in top level schools. Love his clarity, thank you for what you’re bringing to our craft.
this is what i want to fall in love with, the process and design when doing similar projects, drawing with he sense of 3d and what the client/viewer needs in terms of visual information , I always keep seeing the splash art stuff scattered across art station and it doesn't give me a whole lot of info, but your videos (I'm so happy your back btw because I cannot afford the fdz course as much as I really want to be there) help so much in comparison, I wanna re-ignite my passion after going through a bit of a rough time, I graduated 3 years ago during the pandemic and got put into a tough situation that hampered me improving my portfolio, tbh I still feel rough but I want my life to change and through what I love doing which is designing and concepting, making worlds, building the mindset where I live in a creative bubble that explores all facets of visual development, I'm gonna be putting all eggs in the basket cause there is nothing else i love doing more than this. just want to say thank you so much for your content, even if it isn't the full insight and course study, i soak as much information as i can to strive to improve and learn more.
professional art director here. I feel personally attacked! haha Thanks Feng for continuing to push us all regardless of skill or career progression. The self improvement never stops.
Man, you came back at the right time for me. Been through a lot of random jobs throughout my life. But my love for design, art, world creation/imagination, has always been there for me. And now that I'm coming back to this, your video are truly a blessing and pointing me into the right direction. Personally I want to get into the video game industry. Appreciate everything your doing Feng
Thanks for doing this! I just found thus change from a suggestion and I'm hooked. I'm in the indie comics industry and there is a similar problem with portfolios and art in our space. Most professionals will tell you to have portfolios of 5 page treatments to tell a story. However, a lot of newer portfolios are just individual action splash pages or tons of fan art pin-ups of trending anime/manga characters or mainstream pinups of predictable characters like Deadpool, Joker, Harley-Quinn, etc. I think the reason why actual 5 page samples are preferred is because it gives people insight in how the individual comic artist solves a storytelling problem. Social media trains us (something I personally need to unlearn) to work towards one flashy end product, mirror whats out there in the trending tab, binge watch the trending tab, do it on a tight schedule, post it, to hopefully get picked up by the computer gods. So conceptualizing in packages is discouraged by the algorithm. That being said, it means the art has less to say. Its just well done work with surface level conceptualizing, good technicals, great execution, empty. Anyone can do an amazing drawing of Spiderman. An editor is more interested in seeing a comic artist make a story about Spiderman making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich during his lunch break fun.
The rice meal wrapped in a bird-shapped leaf is SO fun! hahaha Yeah, I love the information and views you brought with this video and I 100% agree with you. It makes me rethink about some choices I made in the past in my portfolio. I was in the "I need to draw mechas, otherwise whos hiring me?" mood for such a long time. Turns out I hate drawing mechas but I love designing fun little products and props.
Thanks for speaking on this Feng. It's great to see you posting again especially after all these years learning from your videos way back in 2014. I tell my students as well, and I'm seeing this in a lot of portfolios being presented to me too as an instructor. The soul is gone from the portfolio, many of them lack storytelling which, sometimes when I ask a student what is the storyline or message of their portfolio or piece, they go blank and don't know why they're creating their piece. It's a serious issue, which I wish more artists asking for help take into account. Many beginner and intermediate artists rush straight to Blender and begin kitbashing pre made assets together from well known artists and skip over tons and tons of fundamentals, and then they ask why they're not getting work. Copying Gumroad tutorials and presenting that work in their portfolios as well. It's time for a reevaluation of why artists create what they create. There has to be meaning to the design and story pulled from personal experience and things not copied on Artstation.
'feeling' instead of 'meaning' and it's everywhere: in books, movies, and the game industry is not exception. Thank's Feng Zhu you are inspiring person!
Transitioned from mechanical engineering to architectural design just by watching your videos, Thank you Feng! will work on saving up funds to study with FZD. Back to back episodes! :D Christmas came early this year.
The part around 1:45:45 talking about wanting to see your influences in your design/art, like from our childhood, is exactly what I talk about in my new font foundry description. great to see that being taught here.
I'm a 3D guy, but I really enjoy your videos, it helps make my models more believable. It is true the fact that you ask people that make your typical scifi cyborg soldier 3d character, you ask them what any of them tubes or plates do and they just cant answer you.
Having access to content like this for free makes me genuinely grateful to even have internet access, seriously I hope I can thank you in person someday for your insights into the industry
I can imagine managing a school is a big responsability, for whatever it's worth it's great to see you sharing your knowledge on youtube again, I know it's always been focused on concept art but I've found it to be useful across the board when it comes to anything related to any creative field, a lot of us appreciate your videos, been watching since episode 1 here.
This has actually inspired me to start drawing again. I always felt bad that my technical skills weren’t great, but I love designing things. This makes me feel like I have a set of goals to go after that aren’t just “illustrate it prettier” but actually relate to what I enjoy doing.
I've been re-watching this over and over while working on my portfolio. This helps me a lot in design thinking. Thank you so much for your information. This gives me hope!
THANK YOU! i truly appreciate every single video, i have been watching this channel since 8 years ago and it helped me get my first gig!! And thank you for making videos in a longer format, i dont think there is much value to videos that are like 15 minutes long rushing to discuss a topic, the in-depth discussion in these 2-3 hour long videos is how you drive home a concept, i like to listen to them while im drawing :)
im 26 yo i just started to learn concept art for a year now after many years just trying to do my fundamental even tho its still not there yet, i think i started watching your stuff last year and i kinda almost watch all of them now since what are you giving is much much informative than anything else i watched in term of design. thank you feng! i love this episode so much
Completely agree with the points you make in these last two videos about focussing on actual design and so on. But unfortunately the industry crisis that you mention towards the end of the video and easily dismiss, it’s actually affecting tons of people in the game industry right now, even seasoned professionals and most of my collegues who have been focussing on these things for years, it’s not just “slightly less work than usual” as you said.
One of the best, if not the best video regarding AI and Design i have seen so far.. I am a long-time fan of you and your attitude Feng. Thanks for making these videos! I would love to see an episode again where you actually sketch and design more, paired with these teachings of entertainment design. Keep up the grreat work!
great video! I almost feel lucky I grew up when internet access was still hard to come by, we had no choice but to read books, and go out of our way to figure things out
Great talk, we need hope, optimism and focus on our own development and thinking skills and the art environment needs getting further reminders of the distinction between illustration and concept art. However I tried to push DALL-E to generate concept art, and the first couple of iterations were illustrations but after pushing it for a while with prompt clarification and specifications it did eventually create concept sketches that attempted to solve conceptual ideas/problems. Now it is struggling and far from perfect but saying that AI can only generate illustrations or that this is a guarantee is simply not true. I wish it were, but it's not. The meta is changing and this will become the new normal whether we like it or not and it is terrifying for our generations experiencing this historic change.
Great to have you back FZ! I don't know if you read these but for what is worth, After graduating Graphic design school, I spent 5 years in LA trying to break into the design world and in 1996 life swept me away to Nike in Oregon where I made a career creating some of Nike's most iconic sport apparel. Today, I am back at trying to break in the design world and I want to thank you for sharing with everyone how critical it is to have a story to tell and why the designers primary job is to find solutions to create the best possible consumer experience. Too bad our paths did not cross in LA (or did they?). Chers!
It's crazy thinking I was in college like 10 yrs ago watching this channel thinking what he did was magic. Then during the pandemic I picked up a drawing tablet and start to unravel the fundamentals and now I can see how useful this info is.
Hi, Feng. I'm following Design Cinema since before pandemics. Since then I've been slowly making my way to the kind of skills all those cool projects need, rewatching over and over previous episodes when I want a refresh about a topic. Doing it on my own rises the difficulty quite a lot, but those baby steps are gradually putting together and now I'm building my portfolio. I just want to thank you deeply from the deep of my heart for these gems Design Cinema episodes are. It's admirable and noble. I'll tune in for the next episodes. Regards!
its crazy, Feng I started watching your videos in 2016, back then I wanted to be a concept artist, I eventually went to uni for animation in 2018, now I'm working professionally as a VFX artist for games. Keep on inspiring artists
I'm surprised to hear this is still happening. It was really bad years ago. It was like 3 out of 4 paintings were huge pointy mountains with epic lighting and one little foreground figure. So nice to see you back, brother. Hearing you talk bring me back to a time when this was all fresh and new to me. It was magical (still is, of course).
I have seen one of your videos when i was in school and a teacher showed me this channel. I thought it wasn’t really that active, since the video were old and stuff but now that Ive seen more recent ones, i might actively watch and learn a thing or two.
man you have no idea how much i needed these new episodes, i feel like everythings going to be ok now haha! thanks feng, your the main reason i started digital painting!
The word Concept Art has 3 syllables, Con-Cept-Art. Notice that 2/3 of the term is the word Concept, the rest is Art. In other words, devote at least 66.6% of your time exploring your Idea; the two last "W's" Feng is speaking about; Who and Why? An awesome AD at Machinegames taught me this neat trick!
1:10:00 omg every point you listed for 'all you see in portfolios nowadays' each reminded me of a specific 'concept design' or 'character design' tutorial video I'd seen. It's so true haha
good god this has helped tremendously push my concept art towards the direction it actually NEEDS to go, such an eye opening resource Mr.Zhu. thanks so much!!
Man! I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again. Feng really is an inspiration . He embodies truly what the internet should be about and this is teaching for the love of it freely. All that work from his students is incredible - just left me thinking “how on earth did they do that?.” His comments on avoiding military stuff, concentrating on civilian and real world images made me laugh - yep, everyone knows a mech warrior. In fact, if you’re watching this vid and have mechs in your portfolio, I’d pretty much cast them into the bin!!!The last 20 min are telling also and I wonder if any of those tutors from the European/other schools teaching derivative AI “big small” images are watching this - I really hope so for their students sake. This is weird really since it shows that the tutors themselves, contemporaries of feng in age I’d imagine, have been caught up in the AI imagery processes and themselves don’t understand a)the market they’re sending their students into or b) more importantly, what makes good concept and entertainment design. I really love these videos and I only wished I’d had the capital and opportunity to go to FZDs school in Singapore when it was open. Keep going with these videos, man - we love you Feng!!!
Gnomon was so influential to aspiring concept designers. They were relatively accessible education especially to those outside the US or California as you put it. Thanks for following your teaching passion, Feng!
Feng, we're of a similar age and you described most of my childhood, especially with Star Wars. I too ended up in the film industry and ended up teaching Games Art - which I love. I too have seen the decline in passion and imagination. So much repetition of things like Manga etc. Nothing wrong with Manga but it seems like the students have no vision anymore or passion. A lot of focus on technique but not much design. I'm going to use your videos as inspiration to try and reignite their imaginations later in the year and get them to tell their own visions.
Wow I can't believe this was free...that tower demo was probably the best demo showcasing why most of my art looks like crap. Very powerful visual that seems to have helped open my mind more. Thanks!
Great. I think it would be good for beginners to show us an example how to transform the "Generic pipeline" example into one that covers the 5 steps of the FZD Pipeline. But maybe is asking too much. Thanks!
It's really interesting seeing how ID was approached at Art Center, at Humber in Canada we stuck to products and vehicles, 4 company sponsored projects per year where we would meet up with engineering, design and presidents of companies weekly and pitch ideas weekly utilizing sketches, renderings, scale models, protypes, 3d models and so forth. Basically everything 2 months we would have a design final design presentation for 4 years. With a thesis project were we had to find advisers and develop a completely new product in our final year. Though some of my teachers went to Art Center in the 90's and 60s including our program founder our programs focus seems a lot different than yours. Our trips were to manufacturing plants where we would sketch machinery and do reports on the manufacturing processes. Though I did go to the museum and sketch people on the bus and at the community art cenyer on my own time whenever I had a chance to. I can relate to the thirst for knowledge and learning about new things, i used to spend my mu breaks in highschool in yhe library reading about animals and civilizations, when on summer break I would read books in the book stores. Then I would take the things I learned to tru create my own worlds, characters, creatures and machinery.
Great material Feng, I so appreciate your honesty and candor. Keep demystifying this process, I can’t underscore enough, how valuable your contribution and commitment to design education and training is. Thank you Sir.
Thank you Feng! all the things you coverd, all the advice you told us and tell to us is a mine of gold!!!! Because of you is that I want to be a Concept Artist! Waiting nexts episodes!!!
Even though I'm a little bit younger, it seems our childhood was very similar. I still have one of those Eye Witness books! It's the one about knights! I worked in architectural offices for 10 years and experienced a similar thing to what you are talking about. Everyone, myself included, from a certain generation of Architect gets so swept up in the software that we simply never had time to develop essential skills.
I already have a lot of story in my head when I make something, I think I don’t show it enough in the work , just how the characters, buildings etc would look like . Thanks .
Feng thank you so much for sharing this information! this literally made it click for me, made me really excited how I’m going to approach this type of stuff.
Feng, please never apologize for long episodes, take as long as you need, we'll watch every second with a huge smile on our faces. Thank you very much ♥♥🙏🙏
"There is no soul, no spirit in the portfolios." This resonates with me massively. Those are the words I use with most media now when I can't quite put my finger on the problems. I am closer to 40 than 30 and am in my first semester of art school. I notice a shift in my whole body when I find a way to bend assignments into something I care about vs just doing the thing. It makes all the difference.
Feng is single handedly redefining not just the concept art / entertainment design industry but also creative jobs in general! In a time of clickbait content where everyone is just trying to be popular, focusing on the who and the why is soo valuable to so many creators out there. I miss thoughtful content that tells a story and builds a world. AI is flat and boring and these videos are getting people excited to create again. Thank you so much for these Feng, you've truly been missed and you're giving us true value with Design Cinema, cheers to you!
Best,
Derek
I think the first time I saw one of your videos was like 10 years ago. Someone linked it in the youtube comments on a Scyra video. I was too immature to take art seriously back then, but I never forgot about your video or channel. I'm glad I'm now at a place where I can appreciate and resonate with what you teach. Thank you sir.
Every time I watch a Feng video I’m reminded I’m not doing enough. Brutal, honest and much needed reminder to do better.
Feng brings something to the community that nobody else can. I truly appreciate every video.
Feng Zhu gave me work ethic and that’s the best thing I could have EVER asked for 🙏🏾
We love you Feng thank you for doing a immediate follow up to your last video, keep the FZD content coming!
I no longer do concept art but still love listening to FZD episodes while doing house chores and stuff
So true man. Concept art has a big place in my heart because of him.
"It's almost like these portfolios are for...their own industries...It's like I'm entertaining other concept designers but I don't care about the audience"
You just explained all of modern entertainment & why it sucks. especially writing.
Just explained all of Art station and most of the industry. Same concepts regurgitated same orc same mech suit, same pots and pants apocalyptic character design
1:25:16 thanks Feng for using randomly an homework i did when i was doing fzd many years ago, such an amazing and hard year!
I like how Feng Zhu give harsh advice, salute. Thanks for this.
Feng, I just have to tell you that you were a great inspiration for me when I was a teenager. Your videos and your work were my life back then and I almost went for the path of becoming a designer. It's still what I love and seeing Design Cinema coming back is like a nostalgic portal back in time that revives my passions! Thanks for that!
i'm still a teenager and i share the same vibes as younger you. XD
too many failed artists in the comments, I'm losing hope 😓
Regular uploads from Feng. What a blessing and privilege.
You talking about the "no design" concept art, where everything is regurgitated, made me think of some of the advice and points I've received from game artists myself quite recently: 1, the skill floor to get in has risen, multiple people have said to me that with the level of work they got in a few years ago, they couldn't get hired anymore. I would imagine this would drive people to do pieces focused on technical skills just to show that they have them.
2, many artists say you need to do work in the visual style of the studios out there. More and more we see uninspired big productions and especially in the mobile world everything looks the same. In general people also prefer familiar things. When studios play it too safe with their products, it also means they want to see "safe" works that are similar to things that are already selling.
3, mobile games are a big market, and there isn't that much dedicated concept art being done there, and if there is, you are making it for the polished pieces you also need yourself to execute. Mobile industry is also especially vulnerable to the above problem of just trying to copy successful things.
How do you feel about these points?
I'm very curious about this too @FZDSCHOOL I feel like people are left behind constantly by the technology and there's a desperate air of playing catch up all the time with everything. I'm glad to see that the core of design is finally mentioned again after all these years because everything you say is true but these 3 are all concerning facts that need addressing.
There is no middle ground job, only a contest of absolute champions competing for the titan AAA company motherships.
Design requires immense confidence a world where everywhere else some marketing team decides instead of creative directors, artists, and other individuals with an artistic vision.
how do I bump this comment? lol
yeah i heared the same thing, and when i tried to push diferent things people cut me down in studios. but i think we need to keep trying, moebius didnt started working in movies, directors started to notice him and hired him becouse of what he did. we kinda need to be our own IP in a way. but if our own IP is mediocre, dosent matter, studios will prefer playing safe than trying our stuff out with their money.
@@henrique2799 I don't know, if you just go online you'll find a lot of people doing their own thing with great skill and grace, and it's not like studios are flocking into their DMs asking them to work for them.
@@th_blck_knght those people are usually not begginers. also you have to diferentiate personal projects from works to earn a living in a studio. i draw what i wan when i draw just for me, but those drawings usually will not atract many jobs, when you play safe like the most stuff Feng jus showed in the video its easier to get jobs. this field is not art for expression but art for problem solving, Feng aways said it.
I work as a ux/ui designer and you probably wouldn’t imagine the amount of value I’ve been taking from these. Thank you, Feng!
I like the scratchy noises of the doggo. It's like you have an assistant that inspects stuff every now and then in the background.
design cinema is gold
I got to know FZD a long time ago and never saw anything that came close to the quality and depth of these videos regarding design. hard to believe they are freely available to anyone. thank you so much, Feng
I have learned how to render and art in 5 years but the real design was missing. You have just returned when I and most of the juniors needed you the most. Thanks master.
the message of this video hits me to my core. as an artist looking for work today, it has been an uphill battle to improve and whilst i am so proud of my work, this soul of design is something i desperately want to rekindle.
Loving this arc, such valuable information. I’m a grad student in animation in LA, and no one is teaching like this even in top level schools. Love his clarity, thank you for what you’re bringing to our craft.
The legend returns
it's crazy I realized all the stuff you said in the video recently. Hopefully I'll manage to build a good portfolio this year.
this is what i want to fall in love with, the process and design when doing similar projects, drawing with he sense of 3d and what the client/viewer needs in terms of visual information , I always keep seeing the splash art stuff scattered across art station and it doesn't give me a whole lot of info, but your videos (I'm so happy your back btw because I cannot afford the fdz course as much as I really want to be there) help so much in comparison, I wanna re-ignite my passion after going through a bit of a rough time, I graduated 3 years ago during the pandemic and got put into a tough situation that hampered me improving my portfolio, tbh I still feel rough but I want my life to change and through what I love doing which is designing and concepting, making worlds, building the mindset where I live in a creative bubble that explores all facets of visual development, I'm gonna be putting all eggs in the basket cause there is nothing else i love doing more than this. just want to say thank you so much for your content, even if it isn't the full insight and course study, i soak as much information as i can to strive to improve and learn more.
If u want to improve together, give me a shout. Going through a bit of a rough time myself cus of health reasons, and i could do with some art buddies
professional art director here. I feel personally attacked! haha Thanks Feng for continuing to push us all regardless of skill or career progression. The self improvement never stops.
These videos remind me why i started drawing
Same man. My focus is on sports rn, but I want to get back into it again soon. If only I had infinite time.
Man, you came back at the right time for me. Been through a lot of random jobs throughout my life. But my love for design, art, world creation/imagination, has always been there for me. And now that I'm coming back to this, your video are truly a blessing and pointing me into the right direction. Personally I want to get into the video game industry. Appreciate everything your doing Feng
Thanks for doing this! I just found thus change from a suggestion and I'm hooked.
I'm in the indie comics industry and there is a similar problem with portfolios and art in our space. Most professionals will tell you to have portfolios of 5 page treatments to tell a story. However, a lot of newer portfolios are just individual action splash pages or tons of fan art pin-ups of trending anime/manga characters or mainstream pinups of predictable characters like Deadpool, Joker, Harley-Quinn, etc. I think the reason why actual 5 page samples are preferred is because it gives people insight in how the individual comic artist solves a storytelling problem. Social media trains us (something I personally need to unlearn) to work towards one flashy end product, mirror whats out there in the trending tab, binge watch the trending tab, do it on a tight schedule, post it, to hopefully get picked up by the computer gods. So conceptualizing in packages is discouraged by the algorithm. That being said, it means the art has less to say. Its just well done work with surface level conceptualizing, good technicals, great execution, empty. Anyone can do an amazing drawing of Spiderman. An editor is more interested in seeing a comic artist make a story about Spiderman making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich during his lunch break fun.
The rice meal wrapped in a bird-shapped leaf is SO fun! hahaha Yeah, I love the information and views you brought with this video and I 100% agree with you. It makes me rethink about some choices I made in the past in my portfolio. I was in the "I need to draw mechas, otherwise whos hiring me?" mood for such a long time. Turns out I hate drawing mechas but I love designing fun little products and props.
Thanks for speaking on this Feng. It's great to see you posting again especially after all these years learning from your videos way back in 2014. I tell my students as well, and I'm seeing this in a lot of portfolios being presented to me too as an instructor. The soul is gone from the portfolio, many of them lack storytelling which, sometimes when I ask a student what is the storyline or message of their portfolio or piece, they go blank and don't know why they're creating their piece. It's a serious issue, which I wish more artists asking for help take into account. Many beginner and intermediate artists rush straight to Blender and begin kitbashing pre made assets together from well known artists and skip over tons and tons of fundamentals, and then they ask why they're not getting work. Copying Gumroad tutorials and presenting that work in their portfolios as well. It's time for a reevaluation of why artists create what they create. There has to be meaning to the design and story pulled from personal experience and things not copied on Artstation.
You have no idea how much I genuinely appreciate these videos, Feng
this episode was the realest. total legitness, i agree with everything. not all heroes wear capes. thanks for shedding light on the industry
'feeling' instead of 'meaning' and it's everywhere: in books, movies, and the game industry is not exception. Thank's Feng Zhu you are inspiring person!
Transitioned from mechanical engineering to architectural design just by watching your videos, Thank you Feng! will work on saving up funds to study with FZD.
Back to back episodes! :D Christmas came early this year.
The part around 1:45:45 talking about wanting to see your influences in your design/art, like from our childhood, is exactly what I talk about in my new font foundry description. great to see that being taught here.
I'm a 3D guy, but I really enjoy your videos, it helps make my models more believable. It is true the fact that you ask people that make your typical scifi cyborg soldier 3d character, you ask them what any of them tubes or plates do and they just cant answer you.
Having access to content like this for free makes me genuinely grateful to even have internet access, seriously I hope I can thank you in person someday for your insights into the industry
OMG ... Feng ...This is gold for us ... Please teach us more .. please sir , we cannot effort attend art school ...And thank you so much Sir
Two hours feels like a quarter of hour. Lovely video once again!
"this is not the flashiest stuff" - proceeds to show the most flashyly beautiful works ever x))
I'm so glad we're back
I can imagine managing a school is a big responsability, for whatever it's worth it's great to see you sharing your knowledge on youtube again, I know it's always been focused on concept art but I've found it to be useful across the board when it comes to anything related to any creative field, a lot of us appreciate your videos, been watching since episode 1 here.
Followed you since 2010. Always fantastic content and learning, didnt get to see you in Paris, but maybe a day in the future. Hats off as always!
This has actually inspired me to start drawing again. I always felt bad that my technical skills weren’t great, but I love designing things. This makes me feel like I have a set of goals to go after that aren’t just “illustrate it prettier” but actually relate to what I enjoy doing.
Awesome work! Very rich material always gets me to work/watch atleast 3 or 4 times. Looking forward to the rest.
I've been re-watching this over and over while working on my portfolio. This helps me a lot in design thinking. Thank you so much for your information. This gives me hope!
THANK YOU! i truly appreciate every single video, i have been watching this channel since 8 years ago and it helped me get my first gig!! And thank you for making videos in a longer format, i dont think there is much value to videos that are like 15 minutes long rushing to discuss a topic, the in-depth discussion in these 2-3 hour long videos is how you drive home a concept, i like to listen to them while im drawing :)
im 26 yo i just started to learn concept art for a year now after many years just trying to do my fundamental even tho its still not there yet, i think i started watching your stuff last year and i kinda almost watch all of them now since what are you giving is much much informative than anything else i watched in term of design.
thank you feng! i love this episode so much
Completely agree with the points you make in these last two videos about focussing on actual design and so on.
But unfortunately the industry crisis that you mention towards the end of the video and easily dismiss, it’s actually affecting tons of people in the game industry right now, even seasoned professionals and most of my collegues who have been focussing on these things for years, it’s not just “slightly less work than usual” as you said.
One of the best, if not the best video regarding AI and Design i have seen so far.. I am a long-time fan of you and your attitude Feng. Thanks for making these videos! I would love to see an episode again where you actually sketch and design more, paired with these teachings of entertainment design. Keep up the grreat work!
great video! I almost feel lucky I grew up when internet access was still hard to come by, we had no choice but to read books, and go out of our way to figure things out
This is great content! It doesn’t matter if it was long, pure gold here
Great talk, we need hope, optimism and focus on our own development and thinking skills and the art environment needs getting further reminders of the distinction between illustration and concept art.
However I tried to push DALL-E to generate concept art, and the first couple of iterations were illustrations but after pushing it for a while with prompt clarification and specifications it did eventually create concept sketches that attempted to solve conceptual ideas/problems. Now it is struggling and far from perfect but saying that AI can only generate illustrations or that this is a guarantee is simply not true. I wish it were, but it's not. The meta is changing and this will become the new normal whether we like it or not and it is terrifying for our generations experiencing this historic change.
Great to have you back FZ!
I don't know if you read these but for what is worth, After graduating Graphic design school, I spent 5 years in LA trying to break into the design world and in 1996 life swept me away to Nike in Oregon where I made a career creating some of Nike's most iconic sport apparel. Today, I am back at trying to break in the design world and I want to thank you for sharing with everyone how critical it is to have a story to tell and why the designers primary job is to find solutions to create the best possible consumer experience.
Too bad our paths did not cross in LA (or did they?). Chers!
THANK you, for putting this out into the world, Feng. It's going to help my daughter immensely to hear your real-talk. Rock on.
It's crazy thinking I was in college like 10 yrs ago watching this channel thinking what he did was magic. Then during the pandemic I picked up a drawing tablet and start to unravel the fundamentals and now I can see how useful this info is.
Hi, Feng. I'm following Design Cinema since before pandemics. Since then I've been slowly making my way to the kind of skills all those cool projects need, rewatching over and over previous episodes when I want a refresh about a topic. Doing it on my own rises the difficulty quite a lot, but those baby steps are gradually putting together and now I'm building my portfolio.
I just want to thank you deeply from the deep of my heart for these gems Design Cinema episodes are. It's admirable and noble.
I'll tune in for the next episodes.
Regards!
its crazy, Feng I started watching your videos in 2016, back then I wanted to be a concept artist, I eventually went to uni for animation in 2018, now I'm working professionally as a VFX artist for games. Keep on inspiring artists
Feng, thank you so much man, i can't stress enough how important your content is for us here, behind the monitors
I'm surprised to hear this is still happening. It was really bad years ago. It was like 3 out of 4 paintings were huge pointy mountains with epic lighting and one little foreground figure. So nice to see you back, brother. Hearing you talk bring me back to a time when this was all fresh and new to me. It was magical (still is, of course).
I have seen one of your videos when i was in school and a teacher showed me this channel. I thought it wasn’t really that active, since the video were old and stuff but now that Ive seen more recent ones, i might actively watch and learn a thing or two.
man you have no idea how much i needed these new episodes, i feel like everythings going to be ok now haha! thanks feng, your the main reason i started digital painting!
The word Concept Art has 3 syllables, Con-Cept-Art. Notice that 2/3 of the term is the word Concept, the rest is Art. In other words, devote at least 66.6% of your time exploring your Idea; the two last "W's" Feng is speaking about; Who and Why? An awesome AD at Machinegames taught me this neat trick!
This is so valuable, thank you Feng! You're the real MVP.
THank you Feng Zhu! These videos are really helpful - I'm so glad you're uploading again
1:10:00 omg every point you listed for 'all you see in portfolios nowadays' each reminded me of a specific 'concept design' or 'character design' tutorial video I'd seen. It's so true haha
good god this has helped tremendously push my concept art towards the direction it actually NEEDS to go, such an eye opening resource Mr.Zhu. thanks so much!!
Incredible. You've rewritten my designer brain yet again. Excited to go on this new adventure of crafting a new portfolio! Thank YOU!
"Tutorials doing tutorials, thannn that bicomes the looop" so fun and educative, keep making these, it's pure gold ! Thank you!
Thankyou for the last two videos Feng Zhu, you are an inspiration!
These are the kind of wake up call content I was looking for. Thanks again for the solid advice and thought process!
Man! I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again. Feng really is an inspiration . He embodies truly what the internet should be about and this is teaching for the love of it freely. All that work from his students is incredible - just left me thinking “how on earth did they do that?.” His comments on avoiding military stuff, concentrating on civilian and real world images made me laugh - yep, everyone knows a mech warrior. In fact, if you’re watching this vid and have mechs in your portfolio, I’d pretty much cast them into the bin!!!The last 20 min are telling also and I wonder if any of those tutors from the European/other schools teaching derivative AI “big small” images are watching this - I really hope so for their students sake. This is weird really since it shows that the tutors themselves, contemporaries of feng in age I’d imagine, have been caught up in the AI imagery processes and themselves don’t understand a)the market they’re sending their students into or b) more importantly, what makes good concept and entertainment design. I really love these videos and I only wished I’d had the capital and opportunity to go to FZDs school in Singapore when it was open. Keep going with these videos, man - we love you Feng!!!
Gnomon was so influential to aspiring concept designers. They were relatively accessible education especially to those outside the US or California as you put it. Thanks for following your teaching passion, Feng!
Thanks for taking the time to do this Feng. I'm gonna give this a try. This is really resonating with me.
Feng, we're of a similar age and you described most of my childhood, especially with Star Wars. I too ended up in the film industry and ended up teaching Games Art - which I love. I too have seen the decline in passion and imagination. So much repetition of things like Manga etc. Nothing wrong with Manga but it seems like the students have no vision anymore or passion. A lot of focus on technique but not much design. I'm going to use your videos as inspiration to try and reignite their imaginations later in the year and get them to tell their own visions.
27:55 exactly my classmates🤣🤣
I am only glad to have these coming back again! Thank you for the episode, mate!
mr. feng. thank you so much for everything.
Always easy to understand your videos and it’s very informative. I’m learning a lot in every video you put out. Clear and easy to absorb.
Cant wait for even longer videos, this is fr the most important information ive got so far. Cannot thank you enough❤
Thank you, Feng, this answers my prayer everyday why is hard to get a job in the industry.. this means a lot...
Wow I can't believe this was free...that tower demo was probably the best demo showcasing why most of my art looks like crap. Very powerful visual that seems to have helped open my mind more. Thanks!
Waiting for 112
Great. I think it would be good for beginners to show us an example how to transform the "Generic pipeline" example into one that covers the 5 steps of the FZD Pipeline. But maybe is asking too much. Thanks!
It's really interesting seeing how ID was approached at Art Center, at Humber in Canada we stuck to products and vehicles, 4 company sponsored projects per year where we would meet up with engineering, design and presidents of companies weekly and pitch ideas weekly utilizing sketches, renderings, scale models, protypes, 3d models and so forth. Basically everything 2 months we would have a design final design presentation for 4 years. With a thesis project were we had to find advisers and develop a completely new product in our final year. Though some of my teachers went to Art Center in the 90's and 60s including our program founder our programs focus seems a lot different than yours. Our trips were to manufacturing plants where we would sketch machinery and do reports on the manufacturing processes. Though I did go to the museum and sketch people on the bus and at the community art cenyer on my own time whenever I had a chance to.
I can relate to the thirst for knowledge and learning about new things, i used to spend my mu breaks in highschool in yhe library reading about animals and civilizations, when on summer break I would read books in the book stores. Then I would take the things I learned to tru create my own worlds, characters, creatures and machinery.
I’ve enjoyed watching students works. This video changed my vision of perfect portfolio. I’ll be waiting for new episodes. Thanks for useful content.
Thank you Feng. welcome back.
Great material Feng, I so appreciate your honesty and candor. Keep demystifying this process, I can’t underscore enough, how valuable your contribution and commitment to design education and training is. Thank you Sir.
Thanks for coming back feng, missed your content a lott
Thank you Feng! all the things you coverd, all the advice you told us and tell to us is a mine of gold!!!! Because of you is that I want to be a Concept Artist! Waiting nexts episodes!!!
Thanks for coming back!!
Glad you are getting some well deserved time off and thanks for continuing to offer your knowledge to the general public here on youtube.
Man it’s been so long since I seen these. Glad to see you’re still at it
Even though I'm a little bit younger, it seems our childhood was very similar. I still have one of those Eye Witness books! It's the one about knights!
I worked in architectural offices for 10 years and experienced a similar thing to what you are talking about. Everyone, myself included, from a certain generation of Architect gets so swept up in the software that we simply never had time to develop essential skills.
I already have a lot of story in my head when I make something, I think I don’t show it enough in the work , just how the characters, buildings etc would look like . Thanks .
yess! so happy that you are back i've been following your videos since 7 years ago. Thank you for your lessons !!
Feng thank you so much for sharing this information! this literally made it click for me, made me really excited how I’m going to approach this type of stuff.
I'm really excited to get to the Blender class coming because I recently started learning Blender and im so lost! Best teacher ever!
Fantastic! I really like those long lectures. When it is full of content is not a wasted time.
Tank you
Feng I hope you haven't gone back to your hiatus 😭 waiting for 112
Feng, please never apologize for long episodes, take as long as you need, we'll watch every second with a huge smile on our faces. Thank you very much ♥♥🙏🙏