Hello, everyone!
This one's a casual chat post. I want to talk about something I saw happen again and again on production floors when it comes to visual development. One of the most common things I witnessed was teams jumping straight into production using only image boards or concept art as their guide.
(Image board example ↓)
Image boards, concept art, key visuals. You've probably heard these terms before. They're typically prepared at the start of a project to communicate the overall direction and atmosphere of a work. And that's the key point: an image board exists to convey direction and mood. It is not a production instruction manual.
The reason I bring this up is that I've seen many cases where image boards were handed directly to character artists or background artists with something like "make it feel like this." And almost every time, things start falling apart midway through.
The vibe is kind of clear, but then the questions start piling up. What's the texture supposed to look like? What are the exact shapes and proportions of the details? Who's responsible for what? All these unclear areas bubble up at once. And when everything is finally put together, the result often lacks consistency.
Then comes the revision phase, but now there's a new problem: "What exactly are we supposed to align things to?" Without a clear standard, no one can make confident decisions. If the director happens to be someone who communicates loosely through image boards, it usually means they haven't worked out the finer details in their own head either, so their feedback stays vague.
And just like that, you've got yourself a project in crisis!
To avoid getting into that situation, it's really important to prepare what I'd call "visual image materials": proper reference documents specifically made for production purposes. It might not be an official industry term, but the idea is straightforward.
First, you decide on the art style. Is the project going for a realistic look? Photorealistic? Anime-style? You pin down the stylistic direction, and this should cover not just characters but also the overall feel of the environments and spaces.
Once the style direction is set, that still doesn't mean you jump straight into production. You also put together working reference materials: documents that include reference images and written explanations covering things like shapes, proportions, and surface textures.
In practice, these materials go into even more detail, but the general idea is to fill in all the gaps that an image board leaves behind. The specific details, the production guidelines, the things that would otherwise cause confusion down the line.
Having this kind of documentation in place does a few things. It makes the target outcome concrete and clear, so artists don't have to guess. When evaluating work in progress, everyone can compare against the same goal, which makes the feedback process much smoother and faster.
Preparing proper reference materials takes time, and because you're not directly "making" anything yet, it can feel like you're not making progress. But in reality, it leads to a much more efficient production process overall, so I'd strongly recommend takin
Final Thoughts
You simply can't create something great without a clear image of what you're aiming for. When starting any creative project, resist the urge to jump straight into production. Take the time to build out your visual reference materials first, then get to work.
Vague direction leads to vague results. Prepare properly, and make something worth making!