What is the purpose of concept art for games?
Concept art is a way of designing and developing an idea of something without creating the final design of it. Usually there will be many design drawing of the thing they are creating until the designer/designers are happy with the artwork. Concept art is a must in the development of a game or even films. It allows the artists to design multiple ideas of a character, landscape etc to develop their original idea.
-Nick Gindraux (http://ngindraux.blogspot.com.au/)
This concept artist is Nick Gindruax he done some of the concept art for a game called the last of us. His work is amazing, the amount of detail he has included makes his work look very realistic. This allows the viewer to feel as if its a real place, like they could visite there. The first picture thats above is concept art for the 'Last of Us', this game is about the human race becoming almost extinct and over run by this virus which causes people to mutate. The concept art is about how mankind have left the citys and nature have started to take over. His work shows it well because the depth and detail of the landscape, buildings and vehicles allow the viewer to understand that something is wrong. The environment has been designed very well, the shadow thats had been included and the lighting affects makes the image feel very real. His art work is similar to some renaissance artists, this is because their art work is all based around realism, depth and shading included is very detailed. This is similar to how Nick has designed his artwork.
-Phroilan Gardner (http://conceptartworld.com/?p=15800)
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This artwork is by an artist called Phroilan Gardner, he has done concept art for games like League of Legends. A lot of his work is designed for games and tend to have a lot of detail and focuses on character design. He does not focus too much on the background however its allows the person viewing to understand something about the character, like on the first image above shows a man stood infront of death and destruction. Also the detail he puts into the main character allows them to be the main focus of the images and and by adding depth to the image makes it more appealing to the eye. The artist uses photoshop finalise the images after many and many design drawing and changes to the original until he is happy with the outcome. He then spends many hours of adding colour to finalise the image.
His art work is similar in ways to the renaissance artists, for example the detail and shading they include is similar to how he draws. Also he focuses on people in his work, and the renaissance art work tends to focus on people. However the overal art style is completely different from one another, the renaissance art style is very realistic, and his artwork tends to focus on fantasy things.
-Donglu Yu (http://conceptartworld.com/?p=22631)
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The artwork above is done by Donglu Yu, this artist out of the ones i have chosen is probably the most realistic. This is because in the first image I have chosen uses amazing shading to create to create a lot of depth in the image.
-Jen Zee (http://conceptartworld.com/?p=11572)
The next artist that I like the work of is Jen Zee, the art style that he draws in is surreal. I like this art style a lot because the artists has got the freedom to design what ever they want how they want and everything is unusual. The colours he used make the game look friendly and happy and this makes it appeal to more the younger audience.
-Mike Hill (http://conceptartworld.com/?p=3257)
An example of a concept artist that shows the first development stages of an idea is Mike Hill (see above for artwork). His artwork shows the first development stages of concept art without all of the colouring and extra detail. The images above are probably selected work for a final design because the design appears to be finalised and ready for colour to be added, but to get to this stage the artist would have been through many sketches and many changes just to get to this stage. I like his work because there is a lot of detail put into it and the way he has lightened the lines behind the glass to add more depth to the image to make it feel more real.
Harmonious and Dissonance
Harmonious Landscape Art
http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2014/01/22/no-mans-sky-concept-art-pieces-released/70971/
Development
Before I started designing my idea I looked at different perspectives. The reason why I done this was because I wanted to include some sort of perspective into my final design in some way. This design is a room and I was really happy on how it turned out.
This is one of my first design that I have done. I wanted to have it so that you will be looking from someone's perspective up towards the gap in the earth. Passing over the gap I want some sort of plane with the light breaking through the trees. In front of the people I want there to be a pyramid surrounded by city building to show how they have adapted to this environment. This design I really like a lot because of how the perspective is used.
This next design will be from above looking down. I like the idea of being above looking down at a lost civilization seeing all of the buildings and people walking around in there. However I did not like this design so much because I just does not look very good. One thing that I did like about was being able to see the scale of the city and how they have developed.
This next design is similar to the previous one, but instead from being directly above, there will be a person stood on a overhang looking down towards the city. I like this one more because this just looks more appealing to the eye then the other idea. Also I am able to get the perspective design in well with this because of the building below and the cliff edges. Another thing that I like is that there is a person on view.
This next design has not got as much detail but what I want to happen is that a person from the city below is climbing the cliff face. I want it so that the angle of the poster is blow him as he is climbing about to reach the top. Above him there will be trees and the sunlight breaking through shining over his face.
After designing my ideas of what I could do I chose two that I though was the best. This design really like a lot because it shows how big the city is and how it has developed. Also what im planning on doing which I did not include into the sketch is to have more trees and bushes surrounding the person to give it more of a hidden feel. Also I like how the person is on an overhang and you can see the ground surrounding the city. Another thing I like is how the building will look with the one point perspective, I chose this because it will not look right with two point perspective and this allows the building to have more depth.
This next design is slightly hard to see on here. This is my second design that I also really like. The reason why I picked this is because it shows how isolated the people are and also it can show how the people are mutated from lack of sunlight etc. Another thing that I like about this is how the sunlight will be breaking through the trees and bushes from above. While designing this I realised that I will need to combine the perspectives for this to look good. I will need two point perspective for the building and the people and then one for looking up towards the hole.
After looking back at the two designs that I think is the best I settled with the first one. This is because I really like how the person is stood on the overhang, and personal I just prefer how it looks overall.
Now that I have decided what to design, I needed to do I need to do some character development. So I started of by designing a head and changing the hair and other features until I was happy with the look. This is going to be the face of the person stood on the over-hang. I then decided to draw a side on view of his head because in the design its not going to be a front on view of him.
I decided to experiment with different colours and I settled with a dark shade of green. I then started adding multiple effects to it causing it to have a weird patchy effect making multiple shades of green appear over it allowing it to look more like grass. I still was not happy with it because it did not look good enough for grass. I then put another effect multiple times over the top called wind, this allowed the edges to look more like grass by making the edges sharp like grass is over hanging. I also then added the mud below the grass. Just looking at the grass im still not happy with how it looks because I still think I can make it look more grass by adding textures, shading and other things.
After I decided to add shadow onto the grass to make it look like the overhang is surrounded by trees and bushes. To do this I made several circles and clumped them together, the then reduced the opacity of it and then added a blur to it and it allowed it to look like a shadow.
I then started to work cliff side. First decided to set the colour to brown, I then went onto the burn tool and started to burn away at the edges and under the overhang to give it more depth. I still need to burn further down the cliff and for the edges to add more dept, but at the moment i am starting to like it.
Next I started to add more shadow to the cliff, I used the burn tool more to try and add more depth to the image. I think that it does work and add more depth to the image, but I can not make it look to good. But overall I am starting to like how it is turning out.
The next thing that I did was outline the opposite side of the image so I can start to colour it in. I then filled it in using the same colour brown, then went over the edges with the brush tool to smooth it out. At the moment it does not look very good, this is because there is no depth on that side of the image. To add depth I need to use the burn tool to make parts of the image darker, this tool slowly makes the colour you selected darker, this is good for adding shading and shadows.
I really like how this part turned out. I used the burn tool to increase the colour of the cliff to add more depth to it. It took a while to because getting the colour right was hard to do. I still think I can make it better by adding more of another colour to give it more of a verity.
The next thing that I did was select the last part of the page that was not filled in and change the colour to grey. I then applied an effect over the top to make it look more like the ground. After I used the burn tool again to apply a shadow effect over the top of the ground. This allows the area where I want the city to be to feel like its trapped. What I need to do next is add the buildings into the place and then finally add the character.
Overall, even tho I did not finish the image, I think that it was starting to look good. As you can see from my development I would not have been able to develop my final design without some sort of concept art. This is because I would not have had a clear idea on what it was that I wanted to design, so I would have struggled to produce anything. From the design I did on paper I was able to use it as a guide line to start to create it, which allowed me to make it faster and have and overall idea of what it was I wanted to make. I had a clear idea from the start what it was that I wanted to produce, but if someone else was producing the final design they would have struggle to make it if there was no concept are to work from. They would have had no idea what it was they were making, meaning an unfinished, or even different idea all together. So concept art overall is an important part for the development of a game and is why it is usually one of the processes they spend most time on.
Drawing the human form
The sketches above are of the human form. I went to a dance studio and started to sketch the human form of the dancers performing. I found it difficult to start sketching this because the dancers where moving fast so it was hard to capture a pose in my head and start to draw it. By the end of the session I picked up the speed and I managed to draw more poses. The reason why I think I found it difficult was because I have never done something like that before, so it took some time to get use to it. I picked up the speed by following the sketching style my teacher showed me, it looks a lot more sketchy and rough but you can see the motion more in the image and it allows me to complete more of them in a shorter period of time.
Harmonious and Dissonance
The difference between harmonious and dissonance is that harmonious makes you feel happy. This is done by using more friendly and bright colours, also the lines and edges are usually very smooth. Comparing it to dissonance it is the complete opposite. The colours are very dark and shadowy, the lines and edges are very sharp. This makes the viewer feel uncomfortable or scared.
Harmonious Landscape Art
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14128061
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php/259140-Lillian-Lai-s-Sketchblog
http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2014/01/22/no-mans-sky-concept-art-pieces-released/70971/
Syra House
by Keltainen
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Syra-house-415609427
(NEXT IMAGE)
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Heterotopia-1-334222092
All of the images above are all harmonious. This is because in all of them the colours are very colourful, also the lines used to design it are all very smooth or curved. The feeling you get from these are that they make you ether feel happy and relaxed. Harmonious is used in several games as well to make the player feel good about them self and it is often used when you start off. An example of a game that uses this theme a lot is Mario, the game is very bright and colourful through out most of the game.
Dissonance Landscape Art
http://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/how-to-make-a-scary-game/
Dragon age Kirkwall
http://leviathyn.com/opinion/2013/01/02/the-10-dos-and-donts-of-dragon-age-3/
Stephen Daly
http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/21705/article/star-wars-1313-concept-art-shows-what-might-have-been/
Jeremy Love - skrull_mothership-23
http://jeremylove.com/?p=676
The images above are all dissonance, the reason why this is is becuase all of the images uses similar colour scheme. The colour scheme mainly consists of dark colours and very shadowy environments. The things in the scene are very sharp and tall. This makes the viewer feel uncomfortable or scared by making them feel small and unknown of what around.
Before I started designing my idea I looked at different perspectives. The reason why I done this was because I wanted to include some sort of perspective into my final design in some way. This design is a room and I was really happy on how it turned out.
This next design is two point perspective, I thought I might as well try it because I needed to experiment with different perspectives to find out what would go best with my final idea. I decided not to do isometric because I don't think it will suit the overall style of how I wanted it to look. I like the idea of two point perspective and I think ill chose it for the final design because it allows the image to have more depth in it.
Once I finished with the perspective work, I then started working with what I wanted to include into my final design. What I come up with was that I wanted to have a piece of the ground that has fallen down being surrounded by the rest of the ground of the earth. The piece of that will have like city building and other things on it, but I want it so that the place has been forgotten with people still living there. Above the city it will be covered with trees and bushes blocking most of the light coming through apart from gaps where the sunlight breaks through. That will make it hard to notice it. I also want to people who live there to be mutated in some way because of lack of sunlight and things, and them to start there own culture. The people who live there believe that god put them there, so they started their own religion and made building them self like pyramids.
This is one of my first design that I have done. I wanted to have it so that you will be looking from someone's perspective up towards the gap in the earth. Passing over the gap I want some sort of plane with the light breaking through the trees. In front of the people I want there to be a pyramid surrounded by city building to show how they have adapted to this environment. This design I really like a lot because of how the perspective is used.
This next design will be from above looking down. I like the idea of being above looking down at a lost civilization seeing all of the buildings and people walking around in there. However I did not like this design so much because I just does not look very good. One thing that I did like about was being able to see the scale of the city and how they have developed.
This next design is similar to the previous one, but instead from being directly above, there will be a person stood on a overhang looking down towards the city. I like this one more because this just looks more appealing to the eye then the other idea. Also I am able to get the perspective design in well with this because of the building below and the cliff edges. Another thing that I like is that there is a person on view.
This next design has not got as much detail but what I want to happen is that a person from the city below is climbing the cliff face. I want it so that the angle of the poster is blow him as he is climbing about to reach the top. Above him there will be trees and the sunlight breaking through shining over his face.
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After designing my ideas of what I could do I chose two that I though was the best. This design really like a lot because it shows how big the city is and how it has developed. Also what im planning on doing which I did not include into the sketch is to have more trees and bushes surrounding the person to give it more of a hidden feel. Also I like how the person is on an overhang and you can see the ground surrounding the city. Another thing I like is how the building will look with the one point perspective, I chose this because it will not look right with two point perspective and this allows the building to have more depth.
This next design is slightly hard to see on here. This is my second design that I also really like. The reason why I picked this is because it shows how isolated the people are and also it can show how the people are mutated from lack of sunlight etc. Another thing that I like about this is how the sunlight will be breaking through the trees and bushes from above. While designing this I realised that I will need to combine the perspectives for this to look good. I will need two point perspective for the building and the people and then one for looking up towards the hole.
After looking back at the two designs that I think is the best I settled with the first one. This is because I really like how the person is stood on the overhang, and personal I just prefer how it looks overall.
Now that I have decided what to design, I needed to do I need to do some character development. So I started of by designing a head and changing the hair and other features until I was happy with the look. This is going to be the face of the person stood on the over-hang. I then decided to draw a side on view of his head because in the design its not going to be a front on view of him.
This next few design is the out line of the person standing in the position I want him to be in. Using the technique from the dance studio that I learned where I started with just with just structure of the person. So what I did first was look at how I designed the first sketch and I did a line drawing of where I want the limbs to be. I then started to flesh it out. To do this I redesigned the same line drawing again and then I went around the them to give it more shape. I then redesigned it again and added more detail again. I did not complete the head because I can add that in in more detail on the computer.
The next thing that I need to do is start designing the design on Photoshop.
The next thing that I need to do is start designing the design on Photoshop.
The first thing that I did was Import the photo that I have taken of my work to Photoshop. This is so I can get a basic Idea of where I want everything to go. After, the first thing I did was put the one point perspective mark in the part of the page where I wanted it. Then I started to outline the area that I wanted to work on first and this was the grass and the cliff.
I decided to experiment with different colours and I settled with a dark shade of green. I then started adding multiple effects to it causing it to have a weird patchy effect making multiple shades of green appear over it allowing it to look more like grass. I still was not happy with it because it did not look good enough for grass. I then put another effect multiple times over the top called wind, this allowed the edges to look more like grass by making the edges sharp like grass is over hanging. I also then added the mud below the grass. Just looking at the grass im still not happy with how it looks because I still think I can make it look more grass by adding textures, shading and other things.
After I decided to add shadow onto the grass to make it look like the overhang is surrounded by trees and bushes. To do this I made several circles and clumped them together, the then reduced the opacity of it and then added a blur to it and it allowed it to look like a shadow.I then started to work cliff side. First decided to set the colour to brown, I then went onto the burn tool and started to burn away at the edges and under the overhang to give it more depth. I still need to burn further down the cliff and for the edges to add more dept, but at the moment i am starting to like it.
Next I started to add more shadow to the cliff, I used the burn tool more to try and add more depth to the image. I think that it does work and add more depth to the image, but I can not make it look to good. But overall I am starting to like how it is turning out.
The next thing that I did was outline the opposite side of the image so I can start to colour it in. I then filled it in using the same colour brown, then went over the edges with the brush tool to smooth it out. At the moment it does not look very good, this is because there is no depth on that side of the image. To add depth I need to use the burn tool to make parts of the image darker, this tool slowly makes the colour you selected darker, this is good for adding shading and shadows.
I really like how this part turned out. I used the burn tool to increase the colour of the cliff to add more depth to it. It took a while to because getting the colour right was hard to do. I still think I can make it better by adding more of another colour to give it more of a verity.
The next thing that I did was select the last part of the page that was not filled in and change the colour to grey. I then applied an effect over the top to make it look more like the ground. After I used the burn tool again to apply a shadow effect over the top of the ground. This allows the area where I want the city to be to feel like its trapped. What I need to do next is add the buildings into the place and then finally add the character.
Overall, even tho I did not finish the image, I think that it was starting to look good. As you can see from my development I would not have been able to develop my final design without some sort of concept art. This is because I would not have had a clear idea on what it was that I wanted to design, so I would have struggled to produce anything. From the design I did on paper I was able to use it as a guide line to start to create it, which allowed me to make it faster and have and overall idea of what it was I wanted to make. I had a clear idea from the start what it was that I wanted to produce, but if someone else was producing the final design they would have struggle to make it if there was no concept are to work from. They would have had no idea what it was they were making, meaning an unfinished, or even different idea all together. So concept art overall is an important part for the development of a game and is why it is usually one of the processes they spend most time on.
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