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- Design Team RPG - Part 3/3
Hey Past-me,
Last week I talked about 3 design roles in an Animation Design Team.
I got my start here in this department: Color.
…My portfolio at the time was 💩.
But my AD would take a chance on me. I was a blank canvas ready to be molded and trained. I was just starting my journey on figuring out what kind of artist I was going to be.
She said, “You’re not a painter, but you can paint!”
I didn’t have the mindset yet, but I had an eye for it and just enough guts to give it a shot.
I wish I had a clue on what I could’ve been learning or who or what to even learn from. I thought school was supposed to prepare me for this! But there I was, starin at the screen sayin, “awww sh*t…I don’t know how to paint this”.
🫠
I was lucky enough to get through the door and have some kind folks show me how to get started. But some things (a lot of things) you have to figure out on your own.
So, in the interest of giving myself a headstart, here’s a letter I wish I had waiting for me at my desk.
Heads up for today:
Wrapping up the Design Team RPG Cheatsheet
Bringing you backstage toward a potential future with some options to get started in the right direction
3 color focused roles: Background Painting, Concept Painting, and Color Design
Design Team RPG: Part 3
The painters and colorists are masters of the chromatic realm.
They weave together form and material, color and texture, light and shadow.
You’ll hear it often on the art team.
The designers lay down the foundation, while the painters make it sing. Make it come alive and set the stage for what we’ll see on screen.
Here are 3 more roles you can play in a Design Team:
Concept Painter (Dimension Weaver)
Full Metal Alchemist
The one who layers reality with imagination, weaving together the threads of visual elements in three dimensions.
Mindset: A bridge between the idea and the creation, painting the details of their existence.
Skillset: Translating and deconstructing visual concepts in 3D space, defining the materials that bring them to life, with clear instructions on how to build them.
Skill Tree: Drawing, Composition, Graphic Design Digital Painting, Color Theory and Psychology, Lighting, Perspective, 3D Modeling Basics, Texture and Materials
Responsibilities:
Render detailed images of characters, environments, props, and effects that align with the project’s visual style.
Provide comprehensive design packets for each element, including multiple views, textures, shader references, and color palettes to guide the production of the final assets for modeling, texturing, and compositing.
Iterate on designs based on team feedback to refine and evolve concepts ensuring they meet production requirements.
Manage artwork files and layers carefully, organizing them for efficient use throughout departments from modeling to final compositing.
Resources
Videos: How to Paint Material Textures, Getting Started with Digital Painting, Digital Painting for Beginners, Why Color Studies Are So Powerful, Texturelabs
Books: How to Render, Color and Light, Imaginative Realism, The Noble Approach, Dream Worlds, Graphic Design: The New Basics
Courses: Foundation Skills, Digital Realism Starter Kit, Understanding Textures, Fundamentals of Lighting, Painting Light 101
Examples: Concept Paint Pinterest Board
Practice: Material Swaps
Select an object or character and reimagine them with different textures or materials. Swap color palettes, add graphics, change lighting reflectivity, add dirt and grime, or wipe it clean to change its story. This exercise will strengthen your ability to create the many possibilities of the visual spectrum.
Concept Paintings by Nikita Chan and Yuki Dehmers
Background Painter (Soul Singer)
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
The one who captures the essence of scenes with their brush, setting the stage where characters' tales unfold. Through their art, viewers feel the warmth of a cozy village, the eeriness of a forgotten alley, or the bustling energy of a cityscape. They are the composers of visual symphonies that underscore every moment of the narrative.
Mindset: Harmonizes the world's essence into canvases that resonate with emotions and deep storytelling.
Skillset: Breathing life into 2D space, sculpting the story’s backdrop with color, light, shadow, and texture.
Skill Tree: Drawing, Composition, Color Theory and Psychology, Lighting, Perspective, Graphic Design, Environmental Design, Digital and Traditional Painting, Architectural and Nature Studies, Visual Storytelling, Texture and Materials
Responsibilities:
Work closely with the director and production designer to understand the visual style and emotional tone of the project.
Paint key background elements for scenes, including establishing shots, hook-ups, pans, and overlays, ensuring consistency and continuity across frames.
Create mood and lighting that enhance the emotion and direction of the scene, working in harmony with the character’s actions and the overall storyline.
Adjust and refine backgrounds based on feedback from directors, ensuring seamless integration with the foreground and characters.
Manage artwork files and layers carefully, organizing them for efficient use by the animation and compositing teams.
Resources
Videos: Painting Backgrounds for TV Animation, Learn to see like a painter … with edges!, Power In The Grays Essential Values for Painting, The Evolution of Impressionism, 10 Minutes to Better Painting Series, How To Avoid Flat Lighting In Your Art
Books: Alla Prima II: Everything I Know About Painting—and More, How to Render, Color and Light, Imaginative Realism, The Noble Approach, Dream Worlds, Vision: Color and Composition for Film, Graphic Design: The New Basics, Framed Ink
Courses: Digital Background Painting for Animation, Plein Air Painting With Procreate, Painting with Colored Squares, Painting a Traditional Approach in a Digital World
Examples: Background Painting Pinterest Board
Practice: Scene Swaps
Select a single location and paint it in four different settings like seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter), could be time of day (sunrise, sunset, twilight, etc.) Focus on changing elements such as color palettes, lighting, atmosphere, and how nature’s alterations affect the mood and visual storytelling of the scene. This exercise sharpens your ability to manipulate environmental elements to convey the passage of time and evoke different emotions, a crucial skill for a background painter.
Designs and Paintings from Bill Wray, Dan Krall and Scott Wills.
Color Designer (Chroma Cleric)
Sailor Moon
The one who wields the spectrum to breathe life into the canvas, orchestrating a symphony of hues that define the visual heartbeat of animation. Through their intuitive grasp of color, they ensure that each frame pulsates with the right emotions and atmospheres, harmonizing every element into a cohesive visual narrative.
Mindset: A color savant, weaving moods, symbolism, and unity into narratives with a story specific palette.
Skillset: Harmonizing hues across backgrounds and foreground elements, making sure nothing gets lost and what needs to take the forefront is clear.
Skill Tree: Color Theory and Psychology, Lighting, Digital Painting, Visual Communication, Cinematography, Color Scripting, Palette Development, Texture and Materials
Responsibilities:
Develop and maintain the color palette for the animation project, ensuring it aligns with the story's emotional tone and visual style.
Collaborate with directors, background painters, and character designers to create a cohesive color strategy that supports the narrative.
Paint color onto animated elements, including characters, props, effects, and graphics, ensuring consistency and adherence to the established palette.
Create color scripts for key scenes, illustrating how color choices evolve to reflect the progression of the story and its emotional arc.
Provide guidance on lighting and shadow based on color choices, working closely with the lighting team to achieve the desired effects.
Continuously revise and adapt color choices based on feedback from the creative team, ensuring the final product meets the project's aesthetic and emotional objectives.
Resources
Videos: Understanding Color, How to Make Colors Vibrate, How to Pick Colours for Your Art, Coloring Characters the Industry Way!, Color Theory
Books: Color and Light, The Noble Approach, Dream Worlds, Vision: Color and Composition for Film
Courses: Color and Light for Visual Storytelling, Color Starter Kit, Color for Creatives
Examples: Color Design Pinterest Board Example
Practice: Mood Ring Challenge
Choose an emotion and create a color palette that evokes that feeling. Apply this palette to a simple scene or character design, focusing on how the colors influence the viewer's emotional response. Experiment with variations in shade, saturation, and light to amplify or subtlety convey the chosen emotion. This exercise will refine your ability to use color as a powerful tool in storytelling and emotional expression, enhancing your skills as a color designer.
Designs by Aleth Romanillos, Colors by Efrain Farias
So that wraps it up for the Design Team RPG series.
But…keep in mind, these are just starting points. The roles will evolve over time, but these skills are being practiced right now. You can specialize in one or mix and match to design your unique career.
You can choose your own path…
See where it leads you.
See what story you end up telling.
I’d love to hear it.
Talk to you soon,
Future-you
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