Planning and Concepting

Compared to other courses, Game Art Design at DeMontfort has a heavy influence of 2d traditional artwork built into the course. The idea is that being a successful painter/sculptor will consequently make us a better Game Artist/modeller.

Also the guys at Blitz think having a strong traditional background is essential.

A games finished product is as result of a series of processes ultimately beginning with ideas and concepts. Concept art isn’t there to look pretty and make you go wooow it’s so beautiful, it serves a vital process in creating the overall feel and atmosphere of the game and ultimately, decides how well it sells

The important thing about concept art also is that we, as the consumers don’t get to see everything that is produced, just the finished painting. Despite how I (try too) digital paint, professional piartists spend a lot of time on planning things such as composition, subject and colour palet etc. so that they can create the best piece of work possible, everything is thought out.

Every brush stroke isn’t there by chance, it looks amazing because it’s been developed and fully planned out.

I think in the future ill have to start putting a little more thought into my digital paintings, I normally just go for it and hope for the best ! Probably not the greatest of ideas.

I guess it’s alright to do this as a digi paint for the scene we’ve been to in Visual Design, but when we have to create something from scratch ill have to do more research and development.

So what exactly is concept art ? well it’s defined as an idea, plan or an intention. It generally shapes the appearance of the game. Certain messages are conveyed in concept art through, use of colour and different tones used effectively convey an atmosphere or mood. For example you wouldn’t use bright primary colours if you wanted to create a post-apocalyptic landscape. Bit of an extreme example, but an example none the less.

viewpoints on the scene also depict and idea of what is happening. If something is needed to be portrayed as dominant & powerful then a low angle will be used. Looking up makes the viewer feel small compared to what is in front of them.

I think the concept art from Guild Wars 2 is stunning. LOOK AT IT, ITS SO BEAUTIFUL !!! I mean, from these images I can really tell that guild wars 2 will be really good ?

I really don’t know, never actually been a fan of the game, only heard good things though.

All the artwork carries a similar rolling theme. When immediately seeing a paint, the colour palet appears very simple, using just 2 colours accompanied with shadows and highlights.

Particularly in this piece where a strong sense of orange and blue are used. This also helps to separate up the image, using orange in the foreground and blue on the crane in the middle to identify different points of interest. 

One thing I noticed is that all of the painting has a strong light source, throughout the paintings there is always a strong contrast between light and dark .

Keeping the concept art in a similar theme and style helps to shape the game and ultimately giving it its unique appearance.

So yeah planning and concept art, its ruddy important !