Digital Shape Carving with Scott Flanders

Thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this video. Head to squarespace.co... to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PROKO
Scott Flanders, an artist from Riot Games, came to the Proko studio to film a series on how he develops ideas. In this first part of the series he creates digital graphic poster of Swamp Thing! He’ll take you through his process starting with simple greyscale silhouettes in photoshop and then carving them into a more complex colored piece. In the remainder of this series, he’ll develop his concepts further with a sculpture and oil painting.
Follow Scott: / shapecarver
Other spooky art vids:
Draw a Skull - Halloween Special - • Draw a Skull - Hallowe...
Drawing the Walking Dead - Zombie Halloween Special - • Drawing the Walking De...
Draw Jack Skellington - Halloween Special - • Draw Jack Skellington ...
Naked Frankenstein - Halloween Drawing with Jazza - • Naked Frankenstein - H...
Perspective Tricks that Work! Spheres & Pumpkins 🎃 - • Perspective Tricks tha...
Skull Oil Painting 💀 Still Life from Start to Finish - • Skull Oil Painting 💀 S...
#swampthing #halloween #photoshop
Subscribe to Proko: bit.ly/SubProko
Don't miss new tutorials - Hit the BELL!
Premium Videos - www.proko.com/s...
Course Package Deals - www.proko.com/p...
Pose photo sets - www.proko.com/p...
FOLLOW PROKO:
Scott Flander’s Art - / shapecarver
Email Newsletter- www.proko.com/s...
Instagram - / stanprokopenko
Twitter - / stanprokopenko
Facebook - / prokotv
Tumblr - / stanprokopenko
Pinterest - / pins
WATCH MORE PROKO:
Latest Uploads: • How to Draw the Lower ...
Figure Drawing: • How to Draw Gesture
Art of Caricature: • The Art of Caricature ...
Popular Videos: • How to Draw the Head f...
ABOUT PROKO:
Instructional How to Draw videos for artists. My drawing lessons are approachable enough for beginners and detailed enough for advanced artists. My philosophy is to teach timeless concepts in an entertaining way. I believe that when you are having fun, you learn better. I take pride in producing high quality videos that you will enjoy watching and re-watching.
Credits
Artist | Instructor - Scott Flanders ( / shapecarver )
Producer - Stan Prokopenko (www.stanprokope...)
Production Assistance - Sean Ramsey (www.peoplewhodr...), Brandon Storer, Kaitlin Jensma ( / gimmenoise , Charlie Nicholson ( / shloogorgh )
Editing - Charlie Nicholson
Music Used with Permission
Music by Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsou...)
Intro - The Freak Fandango Orchestra

[@ProkoTV]

Scott started a patreon and has mentorship slots open. If you're interested in supporting him or want to be mentored by him you can find his page here - www.patreon.com/shapecarver

[@sillymation8718]

Me: downloads thousands of photoshop brushes Scott: makes masterpiece with lasso tool Me: *cries in corner*

[@Le_Phantom]

The magic isn't in the brushes, the magic is in you

[@megatronondacounter]

@@Le_Phantom No you're the magic!

[@DannyPodcast]

At Hogwarts

[@bluethumbbuttoneek9465]

Relate

[@tak828]

Lmao you and me both

[@sinixdesign]

Yay Scott! So happy to see this!

[@veganjotaro]

Yay I'm the first internet stranger to reply to you! XD

[@shinobivice1800]

i also appreciate your video about shapes and shadow. This too looks like a fun experiment.

[@tobiasarboe5753]

Now you just need to do your video on shape design and we can *really* start getting into it xD

[@micahthieves]

as soon as he started talking about shape design i immediately thought of you :)

[@grimmbleaper9981]

Sinix Design eyy just here to tell you that video about the importance of speed was amazing

[@marvelleonline]

"Speed is cool. Confidence is nice. But thinking, I believe's the most useful thing you can do. Take some damn time and think about what you're doing." - Scott mother effin Flanders, 2019

[@kayaeki]

That spoke to me

[@nyaa2478]

15:00

[@marvelleonline]

15:27 but yeah all 🔥@@nyaa2478

[@AhmedAldoori]

Mah man Scott! He's a legend!

[@sekkataziz1644]

Ahmed Aldoori Hey Sinix: how r u

[@vloopyart]

@@bfjerky For realz

[@imtired3599]

Said the legend

[@seb1520]

No U

[@freffo3407]

Great Scott!?

[@LawnMowerLapDance]

Chill dude with some solid art wisdom.

[@grimreaper9350]

"No polished turds in my classroom." I will remember that rule, thank you.

[@guilhermefontes7608]

Damn, that was crazy! Never seen someone do so much with 'Lasso' tool!

[@GamerTuxedo]

you need to watch this then kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXSun6Nndq2jpbs

[@pablobarrios7681]

Concept artists use it a looooot, i learned it on a Chanel called tonko house

[@pablobarrios7681]

@Lara you are welcome! i´m happy to help!

[@KalinTheZola]

I use it almost exclusively at this point, so this was a very helpful video!

[@drewby4701]

I can't believe we get such amazing content like this all the time for FREE

[@bends8611]

Data harvesting pays for it

[@buttbuttyawn3280]

More people talking about shape is always appreciated!

[@jordanabbatiello]

"These big veins are useful in two ways. 1. They make him look jacked."

[@trelligan42]

Very nice, a completely different emphasis on starting a project than I'm used to. I feel my brain changing.

[@70RD]

Yeah. Same

[@asimian8500]

The lasso is such an underrated tool. It bridges the lines of pencils and shapes of brushes. It’s a great way to learn to paint as well as for painting. I use it all the time and as much as I use brushes.

[@hanzflackshnack1158]

If you have a tablet, the mobile app Infinite Painter (not to be confused with Corel Painter) has a customizable fill brush. It's a lasso tools that autofills instead of creating a selection. Few people have heard of it (small dev team. No marketing. No popular influencers use it) so most assume it's bad. I've been using Painter professionally (3V071 visual information specialist) for close to a decade. They worked out the bugs over time if the reviews concern you. I haven't sent a big report in over a year. The workflow takes a few sessions to be comfortable (their marketing campaign at launch was "we are not photoshop") but it's smooth once you force yourself to get over the fact that it's not an Adobe clone. Apologies for the long rant like I'm a salesman. I get excited when I hear people say they love lasso tools because Painter feels like a secret. They made every tool a little more user friendly than market average and the result is pretty awesome

[@ProkoTV]

You can get a print of Scott's Swamp Thing here - gum.co/iQCOm

[@jorge62142]

until you started that kind of video i had a sort of bad impression of you... its completelly different now. very good!

[@jakubskarpetowski5960]

I was using it a lot when I was designing websites. If you need a background, some quick effects or elements of UI, it's perfect to make them characteristic. And most importantly - none of my clients had an issue with it even when I was working on huge IPs because it didn't hurt their visual language. This technique is also great for texturing - you're just adding details and even if you're working on something realistic it's just matter of how much time you spend on the project, how many colors you use. It also gives you lot of control without practicing discipline of your hand a lot. For this moment I didn't really learn it as a form of making art pieces but after this video I'll will practice it a lot.

[@andrewgunter6534]

Mind Blown. I have been working with and teaching Photoshop for years. This is such a brilliant approach to illustration. Thank you for sharing!!

[@neji2401]

You single-handedly rekindled my passion for drawing. I don't know how to explain this, but the first time i used this technique it "clicked" for me - i could see shapes in the formless blobs of colour and i knew how to give them form by using light. This video flipped my art on its head. Thank you so much!

[@IronGordon]

"thinking, I believe, the most useful thing you can do" wisdom for the ages my man!

[@sadepennbrook]

First guy that has ever put into words about how I feel about flat vs rendered illustrations. Never cared about shadow rendered art. Once you’re in graphic design, it messes with your mind. You never look at art the same way again.

[@limeart8859]

"What kind of brushes do you use?" Scott: *Starts laughing

[@msunardi]

In Preston Blair’s book on animation, there is a section that talks about choosing poses, and the preferred are poses where the action is clear from the silhouette. I feel like it’s a similar concept to your “drawing by shapes” idea. Great video! I enjoyed listening as you explain your thought process 👍

[@yttrium7646]

I was recently in a very large bookstore, and the one book with silhouette cover art was the only book in the entire store that genuinely caught my attention. It's now my favorite book.

[@ryno583]

Love it Fantastic reminder of how much i love swamp thing, mike mignola, mood, swamps…and just wonderful technique

[@midgetthingers6360]

Your like the Digital Artist version of Bob Ross! You just made all of this from just a Lasso tool, wow.

[@malikkemp7617]

he was talking about "happy accidents" in the video too lol

[@guttersnipe77]

You beat me to it, I was just about to make the same comment

[@lullabi3234]

the metal Bob Ross, hell yeah.

[@kota86]

Not only was this insightful, but Scott, your chill vibe really spoke to me on a deeper level. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of your classroom.

[@BarKeegan]

I really respect the comparison to graphic design here, and the emphasis to visually communicate what your intentions are

[@KloVerdant]

This is still my all time favorite art video on youtube. I come back to this video every now and then cause it’s just so helpful for me

[@juanana2466]

Impeccable sense of making shapes.

[@ryno583]

“If you are into metal Samson is your guy” biblical bad ass dude reference….love the way your mind works Scott

[@jesselay7119]

I have a new appreciation for shapes.

[@HiNi.]

Scott Ive studied your Thumbnail Silhouettes extensively and they are simply exceptional.

[@sublimexs]

woke up at 3 am, couldn't sleep. got this recommended and i am completely blown away. this is phenomenal art and craftsmanship

[@TV-8-301]

Interesting, the lasso tool seems to get you more jagged lines than using round brush & eraser

[@Vic-Valentine]

never thought about using the lasso tool like this, cool tips man

[@MrSofazocker]

4:20 "[...] Shapes [...] are not in demand right now." *And it shows!. Honestly every mayor game release these days has really weird shape language. You cant read silhouettes at a distance and everything becomes a blur. We NEED people like you!.* (Oh and Evolve was a beautiful game. Sadly the game was a flop)

[@marc-andrerenaud1394]

Some game designers get it yet it seems that silhouette communication is a disappearing skill. Factions should be able to be differentiated from their contours alone, yet so many designers seem to get lost in colours and gribbly details that can't be processed in the thick of the action.

[@_caith]

Try the game "Typoman"

[@leosouza4693]

Holy crap man, thank you so much for the video. Proko way to go getting Scott to show his process, the way he explained made a lot of sense and for the first time I have seen someone started separating the grounds and designing the shape before heading towards the rest. Very helpful

[@poppenandy]

It's really awesome to have you narrating. I don't see a lot of these kinds of instruction vids with narration this good.

[@ocdraco]

It looks like a rad screen sprint! Very cool technique.

[@3doftom]

Excellent! Scott Flanders masterfully communicates his process and makes it really easy to understand what, why and how. Video editing was great. Very inspiring.

[@rover2923]

I was really curious about how they get such interesting shapes. Nice!

[@blackswan6386]

absolut astonished...you have to become an Oscar for your wokr ! pure Art ! thank you for sharing this !!!! wow !

[@brubrunito8630]

The greatest intro

[@chad912]

Evolve was a really cool game the environments were definitely one of its strong points so good on you man.

[@HateSonneillon]

"Speed is cool. Confidence is nice. But thinking, I believe, is the most useful thing you can do. Take some damn time to think about what you're doing." I really needed this. Too often lately I feel pressured to hurry up in my work that I've been making noob mistakes lately.

[@DarrenPeet]

I would never have thought you create something so great with the lasso tool

[@swwipple]

this guy makes it looks so easy

[@arbanafal]

This was so relaxing to watch; I hope its not taken the wrong way, because I mean it endearingly, but this felt like watching the Bob Ross of fantasy art; relaxing inspiring, and full of wonder what the painting will be, and if it will all be covered by a giant tree in the end.

[@rocky8838]

That chromatic aberration trick is great! I was doing it in a more complicated way.

[@akibahmed4251]

this was a fantastic episode, the artwork is like the old classic movie posters and there was alot of small little tips and tricks and the grey scale image was like a frank frazetta concept and using the core basics of design and shapes to tell a story, SO many things to like about this video.

[@plentiheart]

I came for the Photoshop, I stayed for your extremely insightful words. I like you a lot Scott

[@cestarianinhabitant5898]

As an artist I'm having doubts about this process... I mean it's perfect for images you want to make in profile or from the front/back but if you want something like say 3/4 or if you want to involve any kind of foreshortening I don't think this process works as well. This is essentially a different way of sketching, and it's really damn cool but it's focus is a bit more narrow than usual sketching. However as a game developer I think this is bloody genius, I can't think of a better way to plan out designs in a platformer than this. The silhouette is absolutely vital in conveying character designs and poses in a platformer like that. It's important to make everything read better, what an awesome approach :D even when you're animating and planning out the details visible in your keyframes this is indispensible.

[@plaguebearermetal]

This is fascinating! The use of the lasso tool here is amazing! I've just got into drawing in the last few months and I'm finding the digital world so challenging. I can't believe how impactful, and easy, Scott makes this look. Awesome work.

[@ochavezart]

Silhouettes, funny how the simple art forms always grab me more than the super polished realistic art. Less is more is true, and by tackling art from simple terms, what looks complicated was actually built using simple techniques. This reminds me of adobe Illustrator, have not used it for more than 6 years, same tool in Illustrator but have to remember it is a dragon of it's own.

[@pedroalves-wy2kn]

One of the best videos I have seen in a long time. thanks.

[@shay256]

wow he whipped out this super cool poster like it was nothing! makes me want to try out this technique really inspiring stuff!

[@ProkoTV]

Don't be fooled by the length of the video and seemless editing. Scott spent a full workday on this.

[@shay256]

@@ProkoTV haha thanks for clarifying that part. still gonna give 'designing with shapes' a go

[@HiNi.]

oh my god its Scott Flanders! im so happy!

[@HiNi.]

Didnt know he worked at riot now awesome

[@jimmysrandom]

Love those bold shapes.

[@PrinceDawson]

He makes it looks so simple, but I tried to follow this video and it is quite hard to accomplish what he has done so easily :O A true professional...thanks for sharing this amazing video !

[@MisterBungle]

Whoa! I've been doing this type of lasso draw and fill technique too before this video. You get some really nice hard edged vector-like shapes.

[@EnzoDraws]

"We're gonna run some chromatic aberration on this bitch" For some reason it took me by surprise to hear "bitch" on the Proko channel of all places

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

_"YOU CAN'T RUSH ART..."_ *~ Geri The Toy Repairman*

[@newatlas898]

It's incredible how one picture can encourage you to make up and tie different plots to it.

[@JohnPorsbjerg]

I've been saying this to so many newbie artists when they ask me for advice, but it didn't know it was actually a technique that pro artists use! I've always told them that the eye seeds silhouettes and shapes first, then lighting, then detail, so don't start with sketching detail, and i tell them to try and draw silhouette drawings for practice. It's cool that you can use that technique to do an actual art piece!

[@LordofSeals]

Wonderful vid, Scott is like a digital Bob Ross

[@ObscenumLoL]

This was just amazing... Knowing how to use a few tools is much better than having a thousand tools that you can't use correctly.

[@Michaelqqq]

I love his style ngl

[@briaalebleu]

Wow first video I’ve seen on this channel. I want this guy as my teacher, I’ve learned more in 2 minutes of hearing him talk than one semester of Drawing

[@KekeShawnArt]

This is extremely important for me right now since I’m trying to do a background in a fantasy setting. I got frustrated and started working on the character before truly dealing with the setting.

[@crystanubis]

Never would have thought to use the lasso tool like that. I'm stoked, now.

[@kiriappeee]

Just finished watching. More please! I'd subscribe to Scott so hard if he showed up on KZbin. In general, I've watched a lot of tutorials and practiced concepts a fair bit, so now I find that these kind of "talkthrough" demos help so much more than they used to. Really grateful that you made this happen Stan ❤

[@HoundtheVoid]

15:32 some of the wisest, common sense words ever spoken haha: “speed is cool, confidence is nice, but thinking, I believe, the most useful thing you can do, is take some damn time to think about what you’re doing” 👏👏👏

[@ColinGMBrown9727]

as somebody who studied graphic design for four years at uni, I appreciate the approach you take to creating

[@gerardmandam7458]

the intro was epic .

[@jovidepine5459]

This is legit one of the best videos I've ever seen on KZbin. Amazing

[@georgebrowne6846]

Wow! Really glad youtube led me to this page. Never really thought of shape carving as the actual artform. was always taught to use it to get quick shapes to work on. Never to develop it further. so awesome

[@AndrewJosephKeith]

I love that way of approaching the image by carving out the shadows and focusing on the silhouette. Very cool.

[@TheKidAlderman]

this video, your technique, the way you think about shapes, light and consistency, everything has been so helpful and amazing. Tank you.

[@mordecai1484]

What you do is very unique and looks amazing. Good job.

[@mlmattin]

I love this! Such a cool way to approach an image. It really forces you to think about and deal with the major shapes, composition, layout, depth, etc before you start getting caught up in details. I myself often rush to the details and in the end realize there is something not quite right about the image or I find it difficult to figure out what to do with the background. Sadly it typically results in me not putting a background in at all. I'll have to work this up-front shape carving into my process.

[@ctgooni]

I love this!! I already use the lasso tool exclusively for shading. This really helps me see the true potential of my toolkits! Thank you, Scott and Proko!

[@Guez_art]

Right on Scott! Making the Illustration Department proud!

[@Zurdovik]

Dude this is brilliant work

[@JesseTurner]

The Evolve art team was absolutely out of control with skilled people. really glad that they landed somewhere cool. Stephen Oakley was another one from there that ended up on the God of War team. Great pick ups from studios.

[@TheArtofKAS]

This is absolutely awesome. This came together very quickly with the lasso tool. I'll have to try shaping like this in the future.

[@jdfleblanc]

Love this. A hundred times better than any drawing class I ever took in college.

[@FlameForgedSoul]

Reminescent of the Framed Ink books(We highly recommend them), very nice. As an aside from a looong time fan of the Funny Books, Swamp Thing with a weapon is _not_ the move, for a multitude of reasons.

[@aaronchrusniak1169]

i really like this guy

[@adam551982]

I cant draw worth a shit. Got into 3d sculpting 4 years ago, i think i want this dude to mentor me. This is amazingly cool.

[@lisaselzer6025]

This was amazing!! I was looking at posters in this style on pinterest for ages and always felt so inspired without really knowing how to tackle this.. now I know. Thanks so much

[@nirmansarkar]

That's how practice pays off. This was so amazing and helpful to watch.

[@bronkula]

Noticed you use the paint bucket tool a lot. CTRL+backspace or ALT+backspace can fill an area with foreground or background color. It also completely fills, so it ignores any edges except selections.

[@ghostpaper]

*this was insane!!! You're a master Proko* - subscribed!

[@geeezzzberger]

Love this tutorial - thanksyou so much Scott.

[@joshuaizly5502]

It's great to see a master doing something so good with a basic exercice, and I feel like he knows the rough shape of a kangourou too!

[@WillCalwell]

Very impressive.

[@skydyleyw0037]

really dope and in depth composition

[@LarsVision]

Great line drawing, and color

[@ozgezeynepaksoy5412]

Throughout the whole video I felt like I'm watching a new version of Bob Ross, amazing video. Thank you!🎉

[@makswell1234]

BIG FACTS

[@AlfredBaudischCreations]

The music makes this great video even greater.