Chapter 1: Thumbnails & Silhouette Banks

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Thumbnails & Silhouette Banks: From Brief to Package (Vehicle Concept Pipeline)

Why Thumbnails Matter

Thumbnails are the cheapest place to be wrong. They condense intent, mechanics, and world logic into a few decisive shapes long before detail or rendering can distract. For vehicle concept artists, thumbnails and silhouette banks form the backbone of an efficient pipeline that moves from brief → ideation → iteration → finals → handoff without losing readability or production viability. Good thumbnails don’t just look plausible; they teach the team what the vehicle does.

The Brief: Turning Words Into Shape Questions

Before drawing, extract shape questions from the brief. Identify the vehicle’s role (transport, assault, recon, racing class), primary mechanic (lift, traction, recoil, cooling), camera distances, genre dials (racing/military/sci‑fi/cyberpunk/fantasy/post‑apoc), and world hooks (docking, refuel, weapon mount logic). Translate each into silhouette beats: “Does this need a protected core?” “Where is the thrust/drive mass?” “Which affordances must be legible at 64 px?” Write a short Intent Paragraph that will accompany every thumbnail sheet.

Ideation: Building a Silhouette Bank

A silhouette bank is a curated library of flat black shapes that encode class and genre. It lets you explore broadly without context switching into detail.

Bank Setup

Start with a 5×4 grid per sheet. Lock aspect ratios (top, side, three‑quarter) and scale so silhouettes compare fairly. Prepare anchor shapes from real archetypes (F1 wedge, MBT slab, delivery van, catamaran hull, shunting locomotive, forklift) plus 4–6 genre‑specific anchors (hard‑sci radiator wing, cyberpunk cage scooter, fantasy wagon, post‑apoc ram truck). Label each row by role hypothesis (e.g., Interceptor, Hauler, Recon, Support, Heavy).

Shape Grammar

Use three levels of beats: Primary beats (2–4 big masses): hull, canopy/crew pod, powerpack, payload. Secondary beats (3–6 accents): intakes, fenders, turrets, pods, radiators, masts. Tertiary beats (small landmarks): hooks, sensors, steps. Design negative space deliberately (wheel arches, turret arcs, docking gaps). Avoid internal linework—if the read needs interior lines, the silhouette is weak.

Quantity & Timing

Aim for 40–60 silhouettes in the first pass (90–120 minutes). Work in timed bursts: 10–12 silhouettes per 15 minutes, then a 5‑minute cull. Keep the pen moving; forbid yourself from zooming.

Genre Dials in Silhouette

— Racing: forward wedge, low greenhouse, strong wheel cutouts, ground‑hugging keels. — Military: protected core, turret or mast height, armor skirts, service access blocks. — Hard Sci‑Fi: radiator planes, mass tanks, docking collars, truss logic. — Soft Sci‑Fi: petaled or chalice massing, luminous apertures implied as large negative spaces. — Cyberpunk: compact donor shapes, cage add‑ons, asymmetry with obvious attach logic. — Fantasy: coachwork cabins, figurehead prows, wheel/harness geometry, pennant masts. — Post‑Apocalyptic: donor chassis plus ram/cage accretion, load overhangs, counterweights.

Culling & Clustering: Turning Noise Into Options

Print or shrink to 64 px and do a blind read test (0.5 s glances). Star silhouettes that communicate role instantly. Cluster keepers by mechanic (airflow, recoil, loading), stance (predatory forward rake vs defensive rear bias), and risk profile (safe, spicy, wild). Remove near‑duplicates; keep one per cluster as the representative.

Iteration: A/B/C Sets and 30% Deltas

Pick 3–5 silhouettes and spin A/B/C families with 30% meaningful changes. Change only one pillar per set to learn: — Massing Move: shift powerpack, shorten wheelbase, invert keel. — Affordance Move: enlarge intake mouths, change turret height, open docking gap. — Genre Move: dial guest genre up or down while anchor stays readable. Annotate what changed and why. Keep contrast between sets obvious at thumbnail scale. For each set, produce three value passes (two‑tone only) to prove lighting readability.

From Silhouette to Readable Block‑In

Evolve the winning silhouette into a value block‑in with 3–4 tones: exterior mass, recess, glass/energy, and darkest cavities. Add only the minimum number of cut lines required to explain separations and moving parts. Test against hostile lighting (backlit, fog, colored fill, night with emissive caps). If legibility fails, roll back to silhouette and fix big shapes instead of adding detail.

Mechanics Reads: Embedding Function Early

Overlay function glyphs onto the block‑in: — Flow: arrows for intake → exhaust; radiator exposure; ballast. — Force: recoil path, suspension travel, center of mass. — Access: ladders, hatches, maintenance panels. — Safety: traverse arcs, blast cones, egress lanes. These annotations become callouts for production and a sanity check that silhouette supports gameplay.

Silhouette QA: Tests You Shouldn’t Skip

— 64‑px Test: shrink and pan; class must read. — 2‑Value Test: crush to black/white; still readable? — Motion Test: fake a 3‑frame motion blur; does the headline survive? — Family Cohesion Test: place with siblings; do silhouettes rhyme without cloning? — Faction Test: apply light livery bands or roundels; do they land on clean fields? If any fail, change the silhouette—not the paint.

Banking for the Team: Versioning, Tags, and Reuse

Treat silhouettes as assets. Name files with role, genre, and date. Tag with keywords (e.g., “Interceptor; Military; Radiator‑Top; Twin‑Pod; Short‑WB”). Store in a shared library with previews. Create calibration sheets for each project—a row of approved silhouettes per role. Future designers kitbash from these banks to maintain world cohesion.

Collaboration: Concept ↔ Production Feedback Loop

Invite production early. Share silhouettes with rigging and level design to catch stance, ground clearance, and hitbox concerns. Ask for no‑shrink zones around signature beats (intake mouths, turret crowns). Production can also flag thin elements that won’t survive LOD. Adjust silhouettes before committing to detail. This saves weeks.

Detailing Without Losing the Read

When moving beyond block‑ins, add detail in service to silhouette: — Promote edges that reinforce flow or armor steps; — Suppress edges that create noise near the contour; — Group greeble into macro panels; — Use material blockers (gloss body, matte aero/armor, ceramic, glass) to keep value zoning clear; — Place decals/number plates on flat islands reserved during silhouette planning.

Finals: Orthos, Hero Views, and Value Specs

Deliver hero three‑quarter plus orthos (top/side/front/rear) with contour control lines that match the silhouette beats. Include a value spec: a small inset showing the vehicle at gameplay distance in two tones + emissive so downstream teams know what must survive. Add class silhouette at 64 px on every plate as a permanent QA stamp.

Handoff: What Production Needs to Preserve Silhouette

  1. Proportion Lock: numeric dims, wheelbase, track, hull height, canopy size.
  2. No‑Shrink Zones: protected contour areas around signature beats.
  3. LOD Plan: which thin elements collapse into billboards or disappear; signed impostors for crowds.
  4. Material Blockers: shader families + roughness bands to protect value zoning.
  5. Decal Placement Maps: reserved fields for numbers, emblems, hazard marks that do not fight contour.
  6. Animation Ranges: suspension, turret traverse, radiator deploys—ensure silhouette identity persists during motion.

Case Notes by Genre

Racing: Protect nose wedge and wheel‑arch circles; splitters/diffusers convert to planar reads at low LOD. Keep mirror caps and number plates on silhouette anchors. Military: Hull slab and turret crown define class; armor skirts become stepped bands when simplified. Keep optic “eyes” legible. Hard Sci‑Fi: Radiator wings and tank volumes read class; truss reduces to ribbed shells; docking collar negative space must remain open. Soft Sci‑Fi: Petal/halo forms flatten easily—bound emissives and keep solid mass under light shapes. Cyberpunk: Cage and cargo pods drive read; asymmetry must be intentional and balanced by a clear donor hull. Fantasy: Prow figure and cabin crown silhouette carry identity; pennants and lanterns need amplitude caps to avoid contour chaos. Post‑Apocalyptic: Ram, cage, and load overhangs sell story; maintain donor chassis contour for hitbox clarity.

Pitfalls & Fixes

— Busy edges at contour → Pull detail inward; enlarge negative spaces. — Silhouette drift across variants → Re‑calibrate against the bank; enforce panel pitch and fastener family. — Paint trying to fix shape → Re‑do silhouette; livery cannot rescue unclear massing. — LOD shimmer → Replace micro‑greeble with macro bands; use SDF signs for numbers/icons. — FX washout → Cap emissives; place in recesses; never let glow erase the headline.

Documentation Templates (Include in Your Kit)

— Intent Paragraph (1–3 sentences). — Role & Mechanic Tags (checkboxes). — Silhouette Sheet Template (grid with 64‑px thumbnails baked). — Culling Worksheet (keep/kill with reasons). — A/B/C Iteration Sheet (annotated 30% deltas). — Value Spec Inset (two‑tone + emissive at gameplay distance). — Handoff Checklist (proportions, no‑shrink zones, LOD, blockers, decals, animation ranges).

Closing: Shape First, Always

Thumbnails and silhouette banks let a team align around function and class before detail seduces anyone off course. Respect the brief, move fast, test hard, and bank your wins. Concept sets the headline; production protects it. When the silhouette sings at thumbnail scale, everything that follows becomes easier—and your vehicles will read from the noisiest scene to the quietest orthographic plate.