Consider that if a cool original design were easy to develop, you would see a lot more successful artists and creative products than there are. In the field of anime/comics/sci-fi entertainment, superb quality is maybe 1 in a 100, if that, and every one of the other 99 tried hard to be the 1. Larger is the disparity between individuals who have an idea and want to get published, and those who actually do. What all this means is the ingredients to come up with something cool and original are rare. The plus side to this however, is that with any rare commodity, the value is increased, and glory greater for achieving it.

INGREDIENTS

- Inspiration: the works of others; something you love.
- Research: studying previous works to learn techniques and get ideas.
- Thought Planning: Time spent thinking through the idea
- Concept, or Groundwork: sketching out various parts, discarding unwanted attributes, refining chosen elements (Most likely pencil sketching)
- Error Processing: Checking for problems such as: being too close in design to an existing work, (perhaps your inspiration); checking for weaknesses by comparison (look at your design and an existing professional design, and make a list of the differences.)
- Dramatic Planning: How are you going to make sure your design looks totally awesome? Consider pose, human expression, camera angle, setting, - BEFORE you begin final assembly

WHAT CAN GO WRONG

In my experience with amateur artists, or artist that will never create that “WOW!” work, they are missing one main ingredient: enough work.

CAUSES OF FAILURE

- Not seeing the idea in one’s head before starting concept sketches
- Thinking it can be designed perfectly the first try
- Skipping concept sketching altogether
- Neglecting error check
- Lacking basic sketching skills
- Lack of time put into the work
- Pride: Not realizing time put into a design is not a success, and need to start over
- Lack of Daring: courage to push the envelope, something we have not seen before

CREATION SECRETS

- See the idea in head first, THEN start drawing
- Immediately sketch out any idea you have during the day
- Trace or copy existing works you admire
- Make a list of elements you want, and put them beside you while sketching
- Mix and match different strengths from existing works, to create a new work
- Remember the human element: One of the biggest secrets experts expound and amateurs miss is the need to add emotion
- Use recognizable elements to bring realism to your subject: i.e. Use an existing fighter jet feature on your ultra modern space fighter
- Don’t be too concerned with practicality: It is proven that successful entertainment design often requires departure from real world practicality. Do whatever it takes to make your subject look wild, dramatic, emotional, have character.

Left: A copy holder is a simple yet powerful tool for artists.

Right: I just had this idea for a cool looking battloid hinge, so I sketched it real quick with a pen.

To understand the principals of excellent design, we’ll now study a Japanese master. The below image is the completed sketch work for a Mobilesuit mech, "TR-eX". A common misconception would be that the artist just sat down and sketched out that one picture, without any other drawings that led to it. The red obviously is my notes.

Above and Right: The fat lower leg pieces give the mech character, as well as the arm shields and rear jet. This artist took a chance and made the connection between the chest and shoulder area thin, which might be perceived as a weakness. Observe that thin area might accentuate or make more dramatic another area, or allow for another design feature to be used without a problem. (One problem I found is that if the chest area is too large, the shoulders will look too wide.) See here how the smaller chest area makes room for those shield pieces on the side. Imagine the mech without those arm shields, and the chest area would seem too small.

Next observe the fat lower leg area, and excellent feet design. Consider how the mass adds a sense of sturdiness to the humanoid figure, and again, consider the balance created by the long arm shields; the legs might seem too large were it not for the large shapes of the shields above. Along the same lines, the waist of the figure is noticeably thinner than both the chest and hip area, thus defining these body parts to the observer. We don’t know why that center hip piece protrudes like that, but it looks cool and mechanical thanks to those two little rectangular indentations on the side.