Personal Study v2 – Sam J 13T1

A visual concept can be defined as the graphical elements that come

together to bring an idea from the imagination into reality.
In the videogame industry, this begins with an idea that, once pitched,
needs a strong visual concept. In AAA game development studios, the
game designers collaborate with art directors and a team of concept
artists to develop the aesthetics, look, and feel.
This information, along with sketches and concept art, is all assembled
into one ‘Game Design Document’ for the whole studio to work from.

As part of my project, which involves creating art and branding for

my concept futuristic videogame, I will need to study all of the elements
that make up successful concept art, and then work to master each one
of them. They all must be done successfully to result in a successful final
design. I have decided to break up this concept making process into its
key elements, these are:
Painting a setting; adding context and realism; designing characters; and
putting them together with a narrative.

One of the most important elements of good concept art is the

setting. I have chosen my videogame to be set in the future, and I want it
to include utopian and dystopian interpretations of the future. This
means that some environments in my game will reflect the colourful
aspirations that we have for the future, while I will also explore what the
future could look like if our fears for the future come true, for example
apocalyptic events, climate change, or oppressive government.
This type of contrast really helps to create a captivating setting, and
there is no concept artist who shows this contrast better than Syd Mead.
 Syd Mead was an industrial designer and futurist concept artist, who
is best known for his concept art for the classic futuristic film Blade
Runner. Here I have chosen two of his paintings that best depict the
contrasting views of the future. The piece of the left was created for a
special 1988 edition of the Los Angeles Times, which suggested what LA
highways would look like in 2013. The contrasting example was used as
concept art for Blade Runner’s dystopian setting: Downtown LA in 2019.

In this painting I can see
that Mead has represented
his utopian view of the
future using lots of shades
of light blue, and white,
colours that connote
tranquillity, and purity. He
uses mainly straight lines
and clean curves to further
emphasise his perfect
looking future. I particularly
like the reflections he has
painted in the road, giving
the composition a new
layer of depth.
In this painting I can see Mead has used a
vastly different colour palette to represent
his vision of a dystopian future. He uses
lots of dark shades to paint his night-time,
and then harsh yellow and green lights that
appear unpleasant in contrast to his
previous palette. The message here is
clear: this shadowy setting is one that you
wouldn’t like to find yourself lost in. He
uses lots of straight lines here, interestingly
he repeats his idea of a reflective floor, but
instead of a shiny silvery road, he paints
the neon streetlights reflected in the wet
ground. This painting focuses your
attention down towards the centre of the
street, to the pedestrians walking away
from the audience.
 Another thing to note is the atmosphere difference between the two
visual concepts. The utopian view takes place during the daytime,
where everything is brightly lit and is visible in high detail, while the
dystopian painting uses multiple layers of night-time fog in the
background, with shadows painted over the buildings. With average
colour sampling I am able to see the average colour of each painting,
which makes the difference in saturation and brightness more clear.

Syd Mead made all of his painting manually, but was then able to use
photo editing software to alter colours digitally. Syd Mead was limited
by the technology of his time, having to spend more time painting
minute details manually. He was incredibly skilled as an artist, but his
ideas had far greater impact.
 The setting must then be further developed with context. Shapes
and colours convey the mood of the project, but further detail and
extensive research into the context of the setting is what really brings
the setting to life. I will need to research technology and how peoples’
lives will be different in the cities of the future, in order to create a
future that is grounded in realism.
I have researched aesthetics, colour, technology and architecture of the
future, as well as typography, in order to bring my setting to life.

Here are some examples of my own work.

 One of the other important elements for strong concept art is to
have strong character design.
I need to be able to create interesting character designs to help bring my
game concept to life. To do this I have researched graphic designers
Tomislav Jagnjic, Carlos Grangel and Walt Disney.
Styling and shapes are very important to these character designers, they
begin with sketching out shapes and slowly work in more detail. It is
important to give human characteristics and expressions even to human
or alien characters, as it helps a human audience empathise with and
better understand the moods of the characters.

Examples of character design in the

videogame industry: Overwatch.
The process for designing characters in 3-dimensions is a little
different, however the preliminary stages are still completed in 2
dimensions first. When the development team have come up with
an interesting character concept, the art team will start with
sketching out basic shapes and colours from their description.

Once the preliminary sketches have been approved, the concept

artists block in colours and some finer details.
The next step for the concept artists is iteration and variation. The
artists must try lots of different variations of the same character, and
present them to the rest of the team until one definitive idea is settled
on. This can then be painted in full detail.

Lastly, the character designs are passed on to a separate 3D modelling

team, who create high-poly renders of the characters for a 3
dimensional videogame environment.
 Narrative is another important aspect of videogame concept art.
A good visual concept tells a story in each image. Here I have studied
famous sci-fi concept art, such as for Disney’s ‘The Mandalorian’ and
Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ for how to create futuristic concept
art that has narrative.

All of these examples clearly convey narrative. In the first example,

taken from The Mandalorian concept art, the mood of the piece is more
thoughtful, whereas in the second example, taken from Guardians of the
Galaxy concept art, the use of blur, lights, and the positioning of the
spaceships clearly conveys urgent movement.

In the examples from The Mandalorian, the designs all focus your
attention towards what the Mandalorian hero is looking at. An
interesting part of the character is his helmet, which he wears at all
times. This means that the character’s head is always pointed directly at
what he is looking at/ who he is speaking to. This helps to direct the
audience’s attention towards the focus of the story at that time.
 This piece is particularly strong, it also appears to use the ’golden
ratio’ or ‘Fibonacci ratio’ to guide the attention of the audience into the
centre. First you take in the whole scene, then you zoom in on the
smaller details like the fallen soldier, the Mandalorian protagonist, and
then the tiny hand of the child he has saved. The backdrop here is left
fairly empty in order to keep the mood of the piece more reflective.
While other scenes in the Mandalorian are action packed and fast paced,
this scene comes at the aftermath of conflict, and allows for the
audience some room to think.

The contrast between these two scenes is particularly striking to me.

 The posing of the characters is important for conveying the narrative.
Here in this first example, the character is posed in a relaxed position,
whereas in the second piece, the posing of the character conveys
movement, with the limbs at rigid positions. I have experimented with
posing photography mannequins in order to practice conveying emotion
and narrative through the way that characters are positioned in the
piece.
 All of these elements are needed to create a successful visual
concept. I need to develop my digital painting skills further in order to
create more compelling backdrops for my scene, but it is just as
important for me to create compelling character design, and to research
futurism to create a setting that is grounded in realism.