Environment Design Week01 Demo: Notan and Composition Design

Week 01 demo for the Environment Design Rocks! course.
This class was running on the Crimson Daggers forum from September 22 - November 22 2015.
The class thread and all critiques and student submissions on the EDRocks site are still available and completely free to view. (Links below)
If you got some value out of this free class and would like to show some appreciation you can like share and subscribe (though I don't make much at all from YT ads, $100 a year if I'm lucky)
You can donate via Paypal:
Links
EDRocks Site: sites.google.com/site/edrocks...
Class thread: crimsondaggers.com/forum/threa...

[@EirromNat]

I find the way you do your thumbnails very helpful because I always struggle with coming up with compositions etc, but all I want to do is draw something. This exercise really takes away the stress regarding creating something. THANK YOU!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

artgapelove Thanks for the appreciation! Keep rocking dose thumbs :)

[@Dakobah20]

Wow this is 3 years old but I like I can still get value from this video. Instant sub, looking forward to learning from you.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

My pleasure. They are indeed quite old but I hope the information is fundamental enough to be relevant ☺

[@sprainedankleable]

This vid just lit a fire under my behind to get out of this funk I've been in for nearly a month! I'm a novice and environmental composition has been such a struggle for me. But after watching this vid I'm so excited to go at it again! Thanks!!!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Butt fires are the best! I am honoured to be the accellerant. 😬😄 You got this! Have fun

[@FunLion]

I'm so happy when I find hidden gems like your videos on youtube. Best of luck to you and your channel. I''m going to share this with my class mates. Thanks a lot. =)

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

+FunLion You're welcome! Thank you for sharing and caring! I hope it helps all of you out in some way :)

[@kimikoraven887]

finally a detailed tutorial for free! Thank you so much for posting videos like this.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

You're welcome! More on the way I hope soon!

[@MelvilleG]

Yes. That is a real warmup! Thanks for showing what the preparatory work truly looks like. Because sometimes the artists are too humble making a 3-4day drawing and calling it a "warmup".

[@demiurg999]

Such a great help for novice like me. Thank you for sharing your skill with other, and this video is VERY helpful for me.

[@lara76540]

I love that you use krita, I mean it's a good tool and it's total free! I wonder why people don't talk about Krita, sometimes it's easier than Photoshop for an artist

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

I think because people are slow to explore alternatives when everyone and their dog seems to use PS. Adobe as a for profit company are also heavily marketing the whole 'industry standard' thing especially since PS is one of longest running digi painting software. I personally love the Open Source model on principle over the corporate one but there weren't actually that many that could compete 7 years ago. I used to use GIMP as the best solution then! Now there are many good alternatives! I also started using using Autodesk sketchbook pro as a simple intuitive sketching tool which is free but not open source and nowhere near as powerful as Krita but good for certain things. The best example for the potential of Open Source that is actually getting more widespread industry use is Blender for 3D. Amazing tool. I used it from the beginning...and it is amazing how far it has come. Krita will continue to gain support and do well too I feel, because their dev team is fantastic

[@lara76540]

@@MonkeyBreadMagic So true, well I hope that people in the future can see the potencial of another tools, and not just use PS because "everyone uses and it's older so it's more trustable". Anyway thanks for the reply!

[@marcozaha8709]

So much value in this. Just the perfect video. I like that these are actual exercises that I know will help me if I keep doing them. Thank you Amit!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thanks Marco! Glad they are helping.

[@kullenberg]

Not really, just two values...Ha ha... :P

[@kelvin4960]

Awesome tutorial. Thank you very much! Edited (Just read the thread): The critques of others will do too! I'll be watching those after doing the assignments.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Kelvin Klexvier Thanks dude! if you like you can post your work in the EDRocks thread on the crimson daggers forum. There are a few people still posting work, and i occasionally jump in to give a quick crit here and there...no guarantees you'll get one though i do try when i have some time

[@lakeke1157]

I learn so much from you then going to university, this is a great video i subscribed !

[@alishamahapatra5651]

Thanks a lot for this video. It definitely cleared out a lot of confusion from my head !

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thanks Alisha! Glad it helped you :)

[@TheENDAmac]

I practise concept art and arch ... great share and time .... very well presented priliminary to value thumbs .... nice man ... thanks for all who see ...

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thanks Enda! Glad you enjoyed it and found it useful.

[@hArtyTruffle]

Thanks Amit. I’ll try this. 👍🏼

[@rachaelblessing5510]

I always put so much pressure on myself to make something perfect and representational. It's a relief to here someone else talk about this. You have inspired me to do more terrible non-representational doodles :) Thank you so much for this video.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

I'm glad to hear that! Yes we all tend to get caught up in the wanting of control not just in art but in our lives. It's a great balm to take a break from this need to control everything for a bit...as long as possible as far as I'm concerned ;)

[@dragonaicolosocastro1328]

Gracias por el contenido. Saludos desde Honduras

[@iamamazingbarleyph]

thank you for this. i've always been drawing, but this is the first exercise i've really come to like and enjoy. im having more fun drawing now. thank you so much:)

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

You're welcome. Glad to hear it helped you! We can always be reminded to ease the critical stress off ourselves in the creative process, without losing honesty when things go off. Enjoy! 😁

[@iamamazingbarleyph]

@@MonkeyBreadMagic yayy, thank you. you're one of my favorite art youtubers! im going to share this playlist with my friends:) Also, I have a question. Where do you get those custom brushes? Do you make them? As a beginner its really difficult for me to make/identify the kind of brushes i need and your brushes are really cool. do you have a link? so amazing

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

@@iamamazingbarleyph Thank you for such kind words! My brushes change quite a lot over time. I usually use other people's brush packs or some basic presets in krita and then tweak them to my own preferences. I'm fairly sure the ones I would use now are different to when I made these videos. My insta is @i_a_mit which is the only place I post my art atm. You'll see that I don't really even do much digitally painted art in the last 2 years but I will see if I can gather my favourite brushes and save them somewhere.

[@iamamazingbarleyph]

@@MonkeyBreadMagic waaaa thank youuuu! how will i know that you have save your brushes? will u upload it on your insta? thank you so much 💓💓💓

[@cyrilcost]

thanks so much asesome video and principle to start with ! great tips!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thanks for your feedback! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@goku21youtub]

thank you man ! this is really gold

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Cheers!

[@tabassumjahan7789]

Amazing bro. You need to do more videos and build your legacy man. Why so few videos? Big fan from Pakistan. Love you for this!

[@JaspreetSinghArtist]

really awesome

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thank You!

[@Moneyaddthenmultiply]

I love KZbin. This is what I was looking for. I am making a short cartoony (think Tim Burton) film and making it all from scratch (except for my client's script) and I am new to environments and especially thumbnailing. The first few days have been disastrous but this and other videos are helping. I've broken the films needed environments into three areas and their sub locations. Anyway thanks for the tutorial. I really need to practice these thumbnails to get inspired and get a good composition. Subscribed!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thanks!! Glad you got something out of the videos. No way to upskill quickly in comps except doing crap loads of comps :)

[@Moneyaddthenmultiply]

Amit Dutta question, what brushes are you using?

[@Moneyaddthenmultiply]

Amit Dutta another question... since I'm looking to find compositions for my film should I stick to the same panel size for each Notan?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Mostly the standard brushes built into krita, but tweaked to my own preferences. I use Jaime Jones and Sergey Kolesov's brush tips the most. Sergey's particularly. digitalbrushes.tumblr.com/post/57903649910/pelengsergey-kolesov-photoshop-brushes-download digitalbrushes.tumblr.com/post/57864168135/jaime-jones-photoshop-brushes-download-link I always experiment with brushes to get them to do what I want for specific reasons, than just take what someone else put together.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

If you want to do comps specifically for your film, then yes stick to the aspect ratio in the film. If you are just practicing then go wild with the aspect ratio and even frame shape. If you haven't read it already, I recommend Framed Ink and the 5 C's of cinematography for understanding the choices to be made of camera shot and composition.

[@Aziz00747]

Really Amazing! make more! thanks for sharing!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@shereenty]

thanks

[@ilikethepixies]

I, think I love you. great assignment good job!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

haha Thanks! glad you enjoyed it

[@chiakimamiya8034]

thanks for tutorial..

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

You're welcome!

[@pixelglade]

I love Japanese art as well. I was wondering where you first heard about Notan as it's an unfamiliar term to me but I love the concept. The word Notan even has two syllables which I'm not sure if intentional but nicely fits the theme! Your video is really great, I really like the break down into 2 values first before progressing to something more complex. I'll definitely be trying it! Thank you.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

I first heard the term from a book by Arthur Wesley Dow called Composition Understanding Line, Notan and Color Someone told me in the comments it was based on an older Chinese idea. The European chiarascurro is relatively similar in idea as well. It doesn't really matter to me who came first, as much as whether it's a useful tool to try and use, and it certainly is that! Good luck on your learning adventure 😊

[@pixelglade]

@@MonkeyBreadMagic Thanks for the informative reply. ☺ I actually finished a few of the Notan exercises recently. I find it difficult to objectively evaluate my own work, though, especially for something so subjective as this - so can you recommend ways of checking you've done the exercise correctly or are 'improving'? For example, would focusing too much on certain shapes be a bad thing? Should I refer to reference images of different kinds of shapes or would that defeat the point of the exercise? ☺

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

@@pixelglade This, as presented in the video is simply a warmup exercise that wasn't focused on specifically evaluating or "improving" specific issues you may have. You can be observant of where and what kind of struggle you had While doing them. You can look at them all and see what patterns and shapes you may use consistently without really realising. Perhaps they all feel "unbalanced" or you use more white than black usually or whatever it is. If you begin to use this process to actually study other compositions or develop your own for your work, then you have actual problems you are trying to solve and may be able to judge things more concretely. Look at the design principles I talked about in an earlier video. These are all reference points to how to look and think about arranging shapes and using patterns (repetition, scale, contrast... etc)

[@pixelglade]

@@MonkeyBreadMagic Thank you again!

[@EirromNat]

How do I identify rhythm, movement, balance and harmony etc??

[@shazarjavaid7838]

Thank You man! Well this is the best and easiest free tutorial i have found on YT on this topic. And do u make a living out of your art too?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

You're welcome. Not full time anymore no. I gave up freelancing for the most part and don't work in a studio or anything. I found attaching my passion to trying to make money consistently from clients not an enjoyable balance for me. At the moment I'm just diving into traditional work for enjoyment. Occasionally I sell paintings /drawings and the occasional freelance gig if it's unique or fun in some way

[@ksaw0726]

Hi Amit, im a new dagger just found ur course. Great class and thank you for sharing it! I just start doing this first assignment. btw, there's a little mistake in the beginning, the Chinese/Japanese characters in the brackets are placed in wrong direction, they should be rotated 90degree CW, unless you mean to design it like that.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

+ksaw0726 Hey thanks hope you get a lot out of them. Damn, sorry I f'd that up. I just copy pasted it from a book or article online, so they must have got it wrong!

[@foxfire1345]

wooooo first comment woooooO! srsly good stuff learnt a ton!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

+Jeremy Kurt Ha. Great!

[@tiagosousa5278]

uauu!! thank you thank you!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Waaaaouwww welcome welcome 😊🙏

[@raghukamath]

Thanks for sharing this, nice exercise! P.S. i think you are missing some textures for your brushes with (X)mark.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

+Raghavendra kamath Thanks, enjoy it!

[@mehmeturkmen]

Great tutorials. Thank you for your generosity. Considering that the video was published in 2015, i would like to ask.. can we still submit assignment and get crits?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thanks Mehmet. I am not running the course actively anymore,. What you can do is post your assignments into the forum thread and I will see them. I won't be able to do video crits, but I might be able to give you some quick pointers here and there. This is the class thread: crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-6851.html I do make myself available for paid personal mentorships if you want dedicated paintovers and live crits on your stuff.

[@gamedino6339]

Thanks for the vid ! Is there any logic or any target behind these shapes ? do you actually picture something before you go at it, or you simply "let it flow" ?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thank you for your comment! At 6:09 i talk a little bit about setting some intention prior to each one if you find that you end up making a jumbled mess or do the same thing all the time (very common at first) Mostly I'm letting it flow in these but at times i will think...ok triangles...and shove out some triangles. When i did these ones if I saw some interesting landscape or scene or anything developing in the marks as i went I explored that a bit but wasn't too worried about it. One looks like large rocks and a river and waterfall...that was intentional after i saw that in there :) Really the things you are practicing in this kind of exercise are some of those basic Pictorial design principles like repetition emphasis etc...shown here in this vid but not really discussed at all. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpmTnKp4frxlftk If you want to learn more about composition read at some point: Picture This by Molly Bang.(shape design approach) Framed Ink (more cinematic approach) I first read about Notan from: Composition by Arthur Wesley Dow.

[@cutelittletiger]

Thank you so much your videos. They are very informative. I'm interested in doing the assignments but can I still post on the forums?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

cutelittletiger yep you can do assignments and post on the forum. i might not be able to crit but i do when i get spare time

[@pixelCarver]

Awesome man thanks for sharing the knowledge, are you planning to make more videos in the near future?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thank you Leonardo! Yeah I definitely have a list of stuff I want to publish, just too busy with work atm :)

[@pixelCarver]

+Amit Dutta cool!, I will wait patiently then :)

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

+leonardo peñaranda Hopefully not too long!

[@leallan69]

I would like to know where can I download your brush tool?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

I use default brushes in Krita that I tweak settings of. I have imported the photoshop .abr brushes of Jamie Jones, Peleng and Shaddy Safadi into Krita. You can do a search online to try find them since it has been so long since I downliaded them. The only issue with using .abr packs is krita doesn't support the ps brush settings themselves, only the brush tip image, so you would have to tweak the settings in Krita to have similar properties as the original brush. Hope that makes sense?

[@neochanyl]

Nice video ! Btw I believe The Japanese word in 0:22 is 90% rotated . Should be 濃淡. Haha

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Yep, I fucked up 😅 Although to be fair, I copy pasted it from somewhere else, but I didn't know enough to fix the mistake 😂

[@joel_the_ai]

Damn I wish you still made videos

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Me too bro, me too 😭

[@valleyd5363]

Great explanation! But should we take into consideration the source of light or we can play around with the patterns and shapes without having that in mind?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

In terms of this excercise as a loosening-up excercise and for practising basic design principles in compositions, keeping it simple and focusing on basic shape arrangement and rhythms is key. If you feel you see a scene that you wish to explore and do lighting on that scene, then sure go for it. One other factor I was thinking about here was to practice being less critical with ourselves in trying to come up with something brilliant or good all the time. If you can do that with lighting or without, then by all means go for it! Eventually these can be starts for thumbnails and then built up into finished pieces if you enjoy this way of starting. :)

[@valleyd5363]

Great! Thank you so much for your reply!Appreciate the knowledge your spreading,and I really hope we have more of these confidence booster videos because they're much needed for people like me who tend to obsess over perfecting every single detail in an artwork to an extent we lose the pleasure and enjoyment in the making process.Thanks again!♥️

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

@@valleyd5363 My pleasure! It is a lesson we all need to learn and be reminded of from time to time 😊 Enjoy! Also watch this brilliant talk by Kenny Werner. Starts at 13 mins. He basically talks about everything on the mental side I've learned over the last 10 years or so of my art journey. kzbin.info/www/bejne/haqzlXeefqqNi6c

[@valleyd5363]

Overwhelmed by your generous advices!!thank you so much!! ♥️

[@mastersong2446]

Hello, I just found this video. If it a bit late but still useful for me. I really want to be a pro at artist with starting digital painting. But the question is, can i start with no other basic of painting? On the other hand I still don't have tablet (is pen pressure) really needed to do the better shape of sketch up? Could you give me some idea to be a right starter? Thank in advance!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Hello! You don't need to start with digital right away. In fact, I would argue it is better to start with pencil and paper and work on the basic fundamentals of drawing; Do exercises such as the ones on drawabox.com these are a solid start. When you are ready to get into digital, I highly recommend getting a digital tablet, and yes pen pressure is essential. You can buy the cheapest smallest version of a Wacom or other brand and in fact this is what I still use for all my work. When you are ready to practice in digital, check out www.ctrlpaint.com/ for free lessons on getting up to speed with the basics. You should also consider joining up on the art forum Crimson Daggers (//crimsondaggers.com/forum/member.php?action=register&referrer=691) . I am a mod on this forum and it is a great place to start a sketchbook and post your work to get feedback and critique and also see what others are doing to improve their work. There are also many many others like you on this forum working towards the same goal of serious improvement and disciplined work. Good luck and I hope that helps!

[@mastersong2446]

I've check it and red it. And now I've start to learn the lesson what you said in website (link you've sent). After read that it really match me for what you've said :). I'll try my best on every step. Thank you for guiding me. But another question, how long will make you learn the basic of drawing after you go on digital painting? And if I talented of drawing how long can make me become a good artist (not professional but acceptable)?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Great no problem! The time it takes is not important at all. What is important is that you enjoy the process of learning and developing and doing art. This is the key. There are no one-size-fits-all answers. However, once you have a good grounding in some fundamentals and you feel that you want to try digital, then by all means try it. Just be aware to not try and run too fast before you can walk in order to shortcut the time. This will hurt you in the long run. Be honest about your skill, and be disciplined and consistent with your practice, and ALWAYS HAVE FUN!

[@zlovredniyTip]

+Amit Dutta is there still any way to get critique on hw assignments? PS thank you very much for these videos they are very helpful.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thanks! If you want to post your work in the class thread that is in the video description above, I will definitely see it and might pop in some quick thoughts here and there. There are a couple of people still doing the assignments, so you won't be alone. I'm not formally doing video crits, but you can check out previous crits when the thing was running. The link to those are in the EDrocks site link posted in the video description above. If you want dedicated vid crits I am open to doing them for a small fee for each one, just for the time taken to do them. :)

[@zlovredniyTip]

Seems like my previous post did not register which is weird. I saw that there is some critique for wks 4-7 but I cant find any related material, is there any or is just practice? )

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

ZloTip ah yeah sorry about that. i talked about the last 3 to 4 weeks on my livestream on sywork. they shut down and made all my content unavailable which is really annoying. basically the brief was to do a mini project for of your own choosing with the aim of coming up with a final finished environment piece or two at the end week 4 was about choosing an idea and creating a reference mood board. week 5 was to do a minimum of 4 fleshed out thumbnail ideas. either value only or colour if you can. week 6 is starting on final piece and beginning rendering. week 7 is more rendering and finishing techniques. so yeah unfortunately that stuff got sucked up into the void.

[@zlovredniyTip]

Thats indeed very unfortunate. Well at least there is a brief outline. The finishing techniques could been helpful. Just wandering if you know any resources which i could use? (ie would how to render by Scott R. and color and light cover it or you would suggest other resources too?). Thanks a lot for answering in such detail, I guess now I have no choice but to actually do the work ;)

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

How to render is a very good resource for understanding the principles in being able to render anything realistically, so by all means go through that. Color and Light is also a brilliant resource for covering different lighting conditions so that's great. I guess what I was showing was mostly talking about tips and tricks that I use in the finishing process and how to approach balancing the level of detail in your paintings in general. These are mostly just the additional bling that bring everything to life. Really the fundamentals of developing the base image are the most important. I can maybe give you some specific feedback in the thread on your rendering, once I see how you get on! I'll expect to see your posts in the thread soon then. :)

[@nuevostitanes2]

this is great, i just met the channel It is too late to join the game? to upload exercicies to the blog? thanks a lot i really like this video!!

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Thanks pedro! You can do the assignments and pop them in the thread crimsondaggers.com/forum/thread-6851.html There are still people submitting. I can't guarantee crit on every one, but I try and drop in when I have time to help.

[@MegaDobrich]

Dude, what software is that. It looks like you can to both vector and raster in that? :O

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

It's Krita. It can do vector, but it's not as powerful as something like Inkscape or Illustrator. I love that it combines tools like Alchemy and mirroring tools and a whole bunch of other really good stuff.

[@MegaDobrich]

You are an absolute king. I installed it and I will never use photoshop again. This thing can paint normal maps for my 3D models too. No lags on strokes, direction filter works here, everything goes smoother and easier than in Ps. And, you, actually recorded critiques with valuable tips for 30+ artist. You got a new subscriber, I cannot thank you enough for this.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Haha, Yuss, another convert to Krita!!. Yep I haven't used PS for 4 years, and since I moved to Krita, been VERY happy with it. Welcome brother, thanks for subbing! ;)

[@MegaDobrich]

I mean I can actually DRAW something in Krita, swithced attention to creativity, and not to technicality of software. Keep it up bro. I'll get straight onto notan. So far only Vilppy and you helped me feel better about my art

[@bluebeardman4745]

Greetings, I know it is 4 years later since you have given this assignment out, but is it too late too submit mine and get some feedback on it? Thanks in advance.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Actually, you caught me on a good day. Sure. Send me an email at [e-mail] I'll provide some quick thoughts for you

[@GoBIGclan]

you changed your profile picture?

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

haha, yeah , I got sick of seeing my own smarmy face staring back at me during hangouts...ugh. This self portrait is much prettier :P

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

+colby Not that often, but I might stream on Twitch occasionally, and I can always be found on the CD forums!

[@myopyaesone1062]

my brain really hurts during the thumbnailing xD

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Myo Pyae Sone Good! It means you're working hard :)

[@ilikepuns3090]

POV: youre here from the e lecture material

[@lynxylisa]

Just so you know Notan is not a concept exclusive to Japanese painting. In fact the fundamental concepts of Japanese landscape painting came from Southern China during the 4th-6th century. Notan is a Chinese word meaning the juxtaposition of saturation. Good tutorial though.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

thanks for the info, glad you enjoyed the tutorial.

[@ashleyez2022]

ye iv done about 200 and all of them look like nothing whilst i can see something in all the ones you did

[@TheDr3amWeaver]

Great you succeeded in just thinking about negative and positive shapes and balancing the comps so all good! :) But more seriously, if you are actually trying to see more things in abstract patterns you draw, you could practice this by actually looking at things that are more chaotic in nature first....example, moving clouds, or seeing things in the patterns in marble or concrete. It's actually a great exercise to do.

[@ashleyez2022]

Thanks for the advice! I'll give that a try.

[@jimmyrochette7536]

it because you need to be actively think also about principle of composition if you don't know them it just scribble on a page.

[@chaoscience6429]

...I think, yeah, have to say, obviously, which I believe undoubtedly, swear to my muse, that should be from Chinese --NongDan浓淡

[@p1cklesproductions]

everything i drew looked uninteresting.

[@MonkeyBreadMagic]

Pickle's Productions that's ok. it takes time to build up enough of a visual library and experience to come up with interesting things easily. use reference and things around you that inspire you to study and learn from