For People With Experience

[LadyMedusa]

I'm not really that experienced, but I whant ot try to help you anyway.

Personally I usually skip the conceptual part when doing a larger illustration, in some cases I do concept designs for it aswell.
When I design a creature I tend to look at pictures of animals living in the same type of area, or terrain or even conditions as my creature, just to see what they got in common. If I find something in common I'd check out why.
For example; I find out a black snake restores energy faster, therfore are black scales ideal for a reptilian that would go under cold water or in cold caves, or even live in cold areas whit not all that much sun.
A realistic winter dragon, fit for our world, would therfore most likely (going from my current studies) be black or incredibly lazy and fat. It would have to have an efficent defence mechanism, because the lack of camoflauge. Snow can get incredibly sharp in the sun, so it's pupils would have to be fit for those conditions- I'd check it out (if I didn't know) and choose between elliptical pupils or triangular ones... and so on)

To find out something I'd simply google it, and study from there. I'd probably go trough several pages before getting happy though.

I should have asked this in the start but I'm too lazy to eraze all I said up there...
What sort of recources are you looking for?

[Lunatique]

If you're talking about coming up with ideas, then it's just a matter of having a story to tell, an emotion to express, or a statement to make. Illustration is all about visual storytelling, and classic illustration are the perfect example of "A picture is worth a thousand words." If you don't have stories/ideas of your own, then try illustrating scenes from your favorite books or poems or songs. I personally love to write, so I never have any shortage of ideas to illustrate.

If you're talking about concept design (the appearance/function of things), then it's mostly common sense. Good design is one that is not only visually interesting/attractive to look at, but is also functional, practical, and efficient. You have to think about the purpose of the item/building/vehicle/device/clothing..etc that you're designing, and try not to let "style over substance" take over too much. Some designs require realism, so you have to treat those designs as if they have to be able to function in real life (would you actually want to use something like that, or would it be too impractical?), and some designs only need to look good--those you have more freedom to go wild with (for example, designing some strange alien phatom spirit for a sci-fi story--it could look like anything).

[damontana]

Thanxs Lunatique

that's a good answer, and thanks for you help.

yes i have many ideas always because my mind is always creating stories about the thing that happen day by day, and i also want to say that the purpose of this topic was also a help in the conceptualization (if you can call it that way, it's the conceptual part of the illustration) i mean you may not be too obvious and draw the text, you have to link ideas and re interpret again the text. i wanted to touch this topic because we talk too much about the beauty of an image but not too much the concept that the author had.

comments about are welcome.

[Lunatique]

I tend to think of images as either straightforward storytelling, or abstract ideas. Abstract ideas is tyically what we associate with fine art--using metaphors, symbols, and other not so obvious ways to express something. So if you want to express an idea or tell a story without being too direct, then try using a more abstract approach.

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