Research
VTS
- illustrations of silhouettes of characters from a high fantasy setting – This can be assumed by the unorthodox items being held by the figures such as marital weapons like a sword or spear, (The attire that the characters appear to wear are also highly unconventional. They resemble a medieval aesthetic like robes and armour which further highlights and adheres to the fantasy genre)
- multiple variations of characters – in order to explore and develop ideas, concept art often displays multiple instances of the same character with modifications and adjustments in order to provide variety but also to further achieve the objectives of a brief/description (the shapes are very basic and very rough, indicating that they are a very rough draft of potential appearances of ideas and concepts)
- Multiple poses of characters – some characters in the reference images are displayed to be in various poses, these are attempts to capture the dynamic poses and the potential personality that could be conveyed through gesture. (entire themes and backstories can be generated just from a character’s pose. It conveys their personality and attitude visually towards audiences and potentially say a thousand words with a pose/gesture)
- Rough sketches – the application of using rough sketches to to come up and communicate a lot of ideas in a short amount of time which is why concept artists do not spend a great deal of time worrying about unnecessary details. They must churn out various ideas in a short amount of time in order for efficient production within design studios. (the use of values and using less than three tones of colour effectively conveys the appearance of the character profile against the white background, increasing its clarity to audiences)
- illustrations of various background elements – as stated above with the character poses, there are a various amount of trees and rocks in the above image as it clarifies the theme of the universe it is situated in (and also can communicate the theme/atmosphere in a game as novels often use the environment as a metaphor to describe the scene)
- some of the concept drawings conform to reality in that they are of similar colour and mimic the real world – this is used to familiarise and communicate to the audience by referencing objects they are familiar with possibly due to their somewhat unnatural shapes. (again there is a lot of variety within these concept drawings and they are made more lifelike by being copied from references of organic entities such as trees and rocks)
- these drawings are more refined than character ones – with these concept pieces, the quality of illustration is more refined than character ones because it is very difficult to capture a dynamic gesture of an inanimate object because they are not assumed to have back stories or behaviours in a human sense. (They are stationary object in the world and are used to paint a scene, not dominate it)
- contrasting colours – the colourful illustrations strike a stark contrast against the background. The colours are allowed to pop out towards the audience which immediately catches their eye and makes them hard to miss yet pleasant to look at. (These are in a similar manner to the character silhouette profiles yet in colour which suggests that they are are further along the development process as they have had colour added to them)
- Simple shapes – The shapes of the trees and rocks above are simple and do not include a lot of detail, detail would waste a lot of time during the conceptual stage of development as studios would require a general idea of what they want the piece to look like and leave the details to the final renditions. (The shapes are blocky and easy to distinguish through the talent of the artist)
- Three tone colour palette – Because environment art is on a larger scale in terms of elements on the page, it is important for artists to create a general shape of the environment (Artists use a maximum of three tones in order to convey shape light and shadow to provide the illusion of depth and detail in order to five a clearer image of space within the environment)
- against a white background – similarly to the character concepts, there thumbnails are drawn against a white background in order to contrast between the darker ink to make the vision of the environment look clearer to the audience (Shapes are able to convey a lot of things with the right skills and using them they are able to create a sense of space and atmosphere within the thumbnail environments)
- Variations of locations – not one location is the same or looks similar whilst keep keeping with the themes and styles of the illustrations. (the variety and clarity of the pieces are consistent which display the style of the artist making each set unique)
- Composition leads the eye towards the middle – using the environment and terrain like the mountains and architecture, the composition is able to lead the audience’s eye towards the middle of the illustration. (This could indicate that the composition is well balanced and pleasing to look at but symmetry is not always strictly required)
- swords and shields which are similar to those used during the medieval period – the absence of firearms will be appropriate to my concept art because it is based within the genre of high fantasy. (martial weapons such as swords and shields are an absolute stable in this genre and hypothetical combat with them will seem more tactile than using firearms)
- based on western design – within the genre of fantasy, it is usually common for weaponry and armour to be inspired by medieval Europe as shown by the above images. It could be due to that time period giving rise to folk lore and legends involving aspects that would be considered fantasy within the modern age, such as dragons, fairies and magic. (medieval equipment usually offered little room for decoration and accessories which where unnecessary for combat, however the fantasy genre turn these features up to 11 sometimes with sword hilts and shoulder armour being noticeably more prominent.
- equipment accompanies a gritty and worn aesthetic – the bottom three swords are displayed against a natural environment with dark and dull colours like stone or rock. This emphasises its fantasy flavour as the genre usually focuses on exploring the world and having their audiences roam the open world or have the majority of zones take place outdoors amongst nature. (the gritty and worn aesthetic also highlight the medieval influences and inspirations because audiences are provided a glimpse of what the times where like during that period of history)
- the use of metal in equipment – during the medieval period, metal armour was usually reserved for knights and common folk would find it difficult to access armour made from metal at all. This would often indicate that the knights came from distinguished background or where people of importance/skill who are able to prove themselves in combat.
- shields are relatively large – the function of a shield is to protect its user so in that case it must be able to protect a large surface area which naturally results in their size. At the same time, they are required to be useable and carried with one arm so the shield smith must strike a balance between function and form. (shields were also used as blunt weapons as well as protective barriers if they were small enough and shields like the buckler were made for such purposes)
- different materials and shapes depending on the geography – other than metal, other materials were used as shields depending on the location. African tribes would construct shields made of animal hide as they did not have the means to craft with metals, the vikings favoured circular shields and kite shields where also prominent within medieval Europe. (Decorations would also differ depending on the origin of the shield, knights would have crests adorned on their shield, vikings mythical creatures such as dragons and animal patterns in the example of the animal hide shield from Africa).
- various sheets of video game characters showcasing their abilities – characters are conceptualised so they are roughly drawn yet easily distinguishable and their abilities are usually highlighted using large shapes to indicate a swing or casting a spell. (These abilities also fit the theme of the characters so the top left set of abilities belong to a wizard who specialises in ice magic because the colours the illustrator uses is communicate as being ice)
- gestures are more exaggerated to give life – unlike the static drawings of characters mentioned at the top, the illustrated sets of characters directly above are not static and display the character in motion, giving audiences further insight on how they would move and so communicate more personality and attitude to them. (The ability colours also reflect that character’s personality, for example: fire could reflect their temper or black may signify their sinister nature).
- variety of potential skills – although not final, these sets open doorways for game developers to see what kind of skills they will like to finalise within the game. (The image on the bottom left is Illaoi from League of Legends; a MOBA game. None of her illustrated abilities here are in the actual game but it is possible to see where the final implementations came from by looking at these images).
- sometimes environments are needed to supplement the image sets – Within some of the images, environments are loosely depicted in order to allow the audience to visualise how these concept move sets would interact with an environment in order to increase clarity and also allows for game developers to see if it can be done and adjust accordingly.
Video Research
During my time on the project, I had to consult various video research on learning how to draw and create concept art. I learned from various Youtube channels and practiced their methods and applied them to my drawings.
Concept Art Bootcamp – Kienan Lafferty
Concept Art Bootcamp 5 – Kienan Lafferty
The Fundamentals of Landscapes – Team Bradley
Development
I have uploaded some of the concept art I was able to capture a recording of to Youtube displaying my design process. Because concept art falls under development and these pieces are my final pieces the sections have been grouped together.
For the drawings, I studied references similar to the research images above and copied their style/layout. The background colour was whitewashed and strong silhouettes were drawn in order to convey the figures and shapes audiences would see. By studying and learning from various resources, pieced together works which conformed to the practices seen within the concept art industry by providing strong shapes, gestures and compositions.
Rock and Stone Concept Process
As with modern games in the industry and from what I found within my research, games and their titles which are currently in development are given code names. In this case, I chose the name “Defender Noir” as a work in progress name. My general, non fleshed out idea for the premise of the game was about a detective in a high fantasy setting. In this fantasy world detectives are only permitted shields as issued equipment which is where the theme and heavy inclusion of shields came in.
My thought process was that detectives were employed to ‘defend’ the truth and were not aggressive or ones to attack so giving them weapons like a sword would feel too aggressive. However, they would require a means to defend themselves should the need arise, hence the shield.
From my research and video tutorials, I learned about the concept of 3 being the magic number. To create and evolve a concept, artists would begin with a standard item, in this case and axe and make it as realistic and as practical as possible. Then they would duplicate the item and make over the top modifications to it with regards to the theme of the universe they create. To then finally find a mid point between the two extremes to display a form of progression or increase the variety of items.
Evaluations and Improvements
From the feedback I received there were a few improvements and adjustments that could have been made to the project.
I could have compiled all the elements within the drawings together into a final composition to show how things such as character, clothing and environment would look within the hypothetical confines of the game. I could have had a character dressed in armour holding a weapon within the environment performing some skill set. I did not think to do this as I did not come across such drawings in the research I conducted but I agree that it would have been a good idea to tie everything together to make it complete.
A personal improvement I thought I could have implemented was to not worry about figure drawing which I consider my weak point in drawing. It was suggested to me by my tutor to trace over a figure reference instead of spending hours trying to draw a human. I agreed with this because I forgot that the most important part of concept art was speed and time as industry professionals would not spend long amounts of time like I did drawing one character from memory.
I set out to capture a game through the lens of concept art. In this case, it appeared to me that quantity was more important that quality which is a different approach from what I would normally take towards previous projects I have conducted. I have to the best of my ability, conformed to the forms and conventions of the industry with the help of the research I have conducted. It was a very interesting project for me to work on because I would usually conduct and write a development stage section yet the project itself was development throughout which was very convenient.
Feedback I received from this design was positive and my peers felt like I successfully captured the essence of the mana potion and an image of a crystal. However, my friends who voiced their opinions also understood what the context was behind the design and are familiar with such games they are involved in. People who were not so familiar commented that it looked like a candle with a purple flame and since I am trying to mostly appeal to the entirety of Generation Z I would not want them thinking they are drinking from a candle.
