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Designing a Transforming Super Mecha

Drawing & Rendering Robots Using Clip Studio Paint & Photoshop With Léo Chiola

Description

Learn how to master inking in Clip Studio Paint and level up your lasso game in Photoshop with this concept design workshop by Léo Chiola. In this 3-hour video tutorial, Léo walks through his process for designing a Super Mecha and reveals how he approaches a vehicle-transformation design, based on his creative experience working on Transformers: Cyberverse.


This workshop covers all aspects of character design, from an initial brief through to the final piece, and includes his thinking process throughout the workflow. The first half of the tutorial focuses on the exploration of various designs, using rough lines and colors. From those initial sketches, one is chosen and pushed forward, with clean line art taken care of in Clip Studio Paint before the final rendering is tackled in Photoshop.


Léo shares his favorite inking brush in Clip Studio and demonstrates how to properly set up your brush to work properly at any resolution. Discover how to effectively add color variation for subtle details and final effects for the final render, ready for final presentation in a production environment. Further areas of discussion include shape language, the importance of silhouette, how to analyze a brief, how to convey the right emotion through design, and the use of references.


This workshop is suitable for any artist level, from beginners looking to understand the thought process to skilled professionals looking to improve their character design skills. Project files provided with this workshop include his layered Photoshop files for his initial designs as well as the Mecha and Vehicle Mode finals for subscribers to reference.


Duration: 3h 04m

Format: HD 1920x1080

Leo Chiola

Senior Freelance Storyboard Artist & Illustrator

Léo Chiola is a Senior Storyboard Artist at Gearbox Entertainment, contributing to Borderlands 4 and other unannounced projects, while also working as a freelance illustrator. He began his career at age 20 as a freelance comic artist and illustrator, building a strong foundation in visual storytelling.


In 2017, Léo joined Boulder Media (owned by Hasbro) as a Character Designer on the animated TV series Transformers: Cyberverse. After relocating to Canada in 2019, he continued expanding his portfolio, with credits on projects including Marvel Rivals, Marvel Snap, Chase & Catch, Aiko & the Masters of Time, and Spellcasters: Major League Magic.

  • If you like stylized mecha and giant robots, do yourself a favor and learn from a great character designer how to create solid shapes and dynamic poses in Léo's own unique style.

    - Serge Birault
    Senior Concept Artist at Epic Games

  • Léo has a great understanding of shape language and knows how to create awesome designs that look both functional and fun. Having worked in video games, animation, and also as a comic book artist, Léo has extensive knowledge of stylized character design. I highly recommend his workshop.

    - Edward Delandre
    Concept Artist at Gameloft Montreal

  • Léo is a hell of a comic artist, and has great experience in mechanical character design; while working on Transformers he provided a lot of concept sketches and technical drawings for robots and vehicles, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he will come up with for this workshop.

    - Marco Caradonna
    Freelance Art Direction / Visual Development