Concept Art in Games

Unit 69 - Drawing concept art for computer games

Assignment 1 - Concept art for games

Concept Art

• Purpose of Concept Art

Concept art is a very useful technique used by pretty much every artist with a project in mind. It helps displaying their art concepts to other people (hence the name, concept art) who may be their bosses, clients, colleagues or fans, in order to communicate on what needs to be changed so that the final project comes out right.

In games, concept art is heavily used by, mainly, the artist team as well as the design team. Artists work closely with modellers by creating multiple pieces of concept art and coming to an agreement as to which ones they will develop further. Artists may also work with level designers, in order to help them develop the game scene/area.

Concluding, in computer games, concept art is used to further develop characters, places, props, colours, ambience, and sometimes even game flow.

Below are some examples of concept art, which I will talk about:

#1

made by: Andreas Rocha - andreasrocha.com

Lets start with this image. Right off the bat we can tell it has a somewhat of a futuristic style because of the train, man in a suit, lights and buildings in general. It sets the futuristic urban area mood, as well as the dull, downtown feel, since there isn't much going on and it's a pretty tight China(?)town street. The colour scheme also helps with displaying the feelings, since it's quite dark, with no vibrant lights or colours. The image gives me a feeling of futuristic pre/post-apocalyptic type of game scenario, personally, and it also reminds me of the game Jak 2, for some reason. In a game, this image would be the final concept of the level design.

#2

made by: Andreas Rocha - andreasrocha.com

This is a much different piece of art, even though it is made by the same person. In this one, you can immediately spot the more realistic style. We see more of the adventure mood and the feeling of 'yet to explore'. The image has a very distinctive set of colours, with strong tones of blue and also some green which gives us a fresh feeling of peace. I feel like this scene would be good for a story-based game in the east. In a game, this image would be either the final concept or an advanced sketch of a possible level in the game, since more could be added to it.

#3

made by: viko

League of Legends is known for having a huge collection of characters - with well over 100 and counting - all with different concepts and looks. Before releasing a new character, a lot of time (and by that I mean months) is spent into designing its looks, abilities, how it plays (whether or not it's good for competitive play) and overall feel of the character. This image has early concepts as well as a final concept of the marksman, Lucian. We can see the powerful stances as well as the reckless look on his face. He wears smooth colours which fit perfectly with his style. In a game, this image contains both sketches as well as a final concept for the character.

#4

made by: Dzu Nguyen, taken from conceptartworld.com

This one is more similar to the first image, but yet very different. We can see the very futuristic style straight away and the crowded mood, with all the lights, buildings and "vehicles" drifting through the air. It gives me the feeling of a new, huge, maybe post-apocalyptic world, very far in the future, because of the colour-scheme, being kind of dull although there being a lot of lights. This could maybe be in a futuristic, sci-fi, maybe action type of game. In a game, this image would be the final concept of the level design.

#5

made by: Gilles Ketting, taken from conceptartworld.com

The last image was given more of a horror style. The lack of sun-light and colour, fog and leafless trees set the spooky mood. We get the feeling that something bad is about to happen, since we're being watched by some bizarre, scary looking figures, who give us the feeling of intimidation, unknown and isolation. This forest is quite colourless, which enhances the mood and makes us feel the true spook. In a game, this image would be the final concept of the level design.

• Stages of Concept Art

In the games industry, concept art goes through 4 different stages:

• Sketching

First, you have to transfer your ideas to paper (or a computer screen, or a tablet screen, you get the point...), and you're going to sketch them. You can create multiple sketches of the same or different concepts. The drawing does not need to be a masterpiece, but it has to generally display the ideas and features that you want to see in the final product. Sketching is also used to communicate with your colleagues on what you have to change about whatever it's being produced.

• Final Concept

As soon as you and your team have come to an agreement on what has been accepted, you can then go on to draw the final concept of the product. This will be a 2D drawing with the colour of the textures included. From this point, the only changes you are going to make to the concept are very minimal, for example, your boss might ask you to slightly change the shape of something, or you may have to adapt the concept because otherwise it will interfere with the flow of the game, etc.

• Modelling

The third step is modelling your product with the help of software such as Maya or 3ds Max. By using two images of the front and side views of your product concept as guidelines, you can turn it into a 3D model. The model needs to be a very accurate representation of what the final product shape will look like, although, in the next step you will be able to also sculpt and tweak the model to make it perfect.
This 3D model will not have any textures, which leads to the next step...

• Texturing and animating

The last step is texturing, animating and making the final tweaks to the model. Here is when you finally your product, giving life to your ideas and concepts. Texturing is normally done with UV mapping, and animating depends on the engine/software.

Sources:

conceptartworld.com

http://blessedwrench.tumblr.com/post/146180497511

https://www.behance.net/gallery/40666785/Wrench-Watch-Dog-2-FanArt

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/character-people/man/biker-next-gen-3d-character

http://watchdogs.wikia.com/wiki/Wrench_(character)

http://polycount.com/discussion/143861/riot-art-contest-lucian-viko

Disclaimer:

I DO NOT own any of the images used in this article.