|
|
|
|
“Ask a Concept Artist”
1. What is your kind of relationship with the rest of the development team when creating or being asked to create new (or revamping) conceptual art? As in what is the process involved in creating it?
DeliriumFlux - Planet TR
In general, I discuss long-range plans with the art director and other members of the team long before we plan to work on a particular concept. I will receive lists of assets that are required for a certain milestone, generated by the design team, and then I’ll try to manage the time to create those things as well as possible. Often, this means touching base with lots of different parts of the team from animators to designers to world builders. The creation process itself can vary a bit depending on what’s asked for, but usually I’ll sketch several ideas out on paper or in Photoshop first. I often do image research or reference some ideas related to technology or architecture, and then re-work and concentrate on the best idea so that I can paint it digitally in color– lather, rinse, repeat until satisfied.
2. Do you create artwork based on a certain theme, or do you just see where your hands take you? If the former then is this theme given to you by the devs or do they let you pick a theme you like as long as you stay within the guidelines of the game. If the latter, did concept artists pitch a few samples of the sci-fi concept while the game was still fantasy based?
Taelic - Planet TR
The thematic guidelines and functional style of the work have evolved from a very long process of work and re-work over the length of the project. We’ve established a vocabulary of forms, materials and relationships that define each of the environments and factions within the game, so what I do at this point is use that language as well as possible to translate and expand on the ideas of the designers and world-builders. I was just coming into the project when it was being re-imagined a couple of years ago, and so yes, I helped to take the existing art into new directions. My background and education are heavily influenced by industrial design and that’s one of the reasons they asked me to work on TR.
3. Here in TR does the Concept design process try to give each planet a unique conceptual "feel" (not in just the "helpful races", but the type of fauna present, what sort of native animals we'll see dodging bullets... variability in the terrain in general)....and if so, how much of a hand does the actual art team have in crafting those concepts?
Ghost-Hack Stratics
We do try to create a very different feel for each environment, and often little vignettes or points of interest within the environment are designed to give you a sense of one particular culture or place. We have to balance the far-reaching ideas with the pragmatic goals of a working game, but Richard G. has always been a proponent of a “living world” where we design the entire biosphere and think of the web of interactions that circulate underneath the plainly visible. I’m a huge fan of that philosophy, and I’m looking forward to what the players will think of the art team’s efforts.
4. How much time (in hours) do you spend researching a project and how do you research it? Do you read much about the topic? Look for relavent research material on the internet? Watch pertinent movies and documentaries? Reading novels? Do you write it all down as you go, forming a world in your mind and then putting it onto paper? In some cases do you have to continue your education to learn about certain factors? ie: taking physics classes, etc?
Gen. Maximus Stratics
Concept art, to me, is a kind of bridge-profession. I have to live in both sides of my brain, being a creative generator and a technical problem solver at the same time. I read just about everything I can get my hands on, from history to science to philosophy and yes, physics too. Some of my favorite books and shows are things like Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, Mythbusters, and lately, I’ve been reading a book on the development of civilization called Guns, Germs and Steel as well as reading Charles Stross’ sci-fi book about the human technological singularity, Accelerando. I’ll never be able to assimilate as much information as I want, so I do have to tailor that research to the nature of what I’m doing for the concept process though. My favorite research tool is Google Image Search, which is great for on-the-spot inspiration and association.
5. Do you use any outside ideas to influence creation of mosters/parts of story? By that i mean other ideas from games/movies/whatever and just use that as a 'starting point'?
Kidkidd - Planet TR
6. What is the "oddest" thing you've gained creative inspiration from? As in... what is the craziest thing that has led you to make "cool" things?
DeepShadow - Stratics
Oddly enough, I’ve gotten direct inspiration from things as strange as instant coffee smeared into heavy water-color paper, and photos of a co-worker’s cancerous intestine. Don’t worry, he’s fine now!
7. Out of the number of items/designs you come up with how many are actually used?
Skycapp - Stratics
Most of the concept process is iterative, so maybe 20 percent? Of course, the trick is to figure out which ideas are good ones as early as possible, and then evolve those in the right direction. That percentage of useful art has increased as we’ve solidified the art styles though.
8. What is the office environment like? Is it more of an uptight atmosphere with suits, ties, and work, work work, or more of a laid back atmosphere?
Mad Cow - Stratics
We are driven to work each day by the company chauffeurs, and then rose petals are strewn about our feet as we make our way to fur-lined offices with champagne fountains and truffle sandwiches. Oh, wait, that’s not it at all. It’s very casual, really, and the company dress code allows for everything from pajamas to giant robot costumes. Everyone on the dev team is expected to be there from 9am to 6pm, but we’re also expected to go as far beyond that as needed to finish our schedule. The atmosphere is very laid back, and we try to have fun even while we’re very aware of the pressure to develop as well as we can.
9. "Is there any advice you can give an aspiring newbie (in the conceptual art and design field) about where to start, what to look for, and what to watch out for?"
Harlequin - Planet TR
Draw! All the time. Take things apart and find out how they work. The most important single piece of advice I can give a person starting in concept art is to be honest with your self, and to know your strengths and weaknesses. The most common mistake I see in beginners is to concentrate so much on illustration techniques that the design and thought processes are left behind. I’m of the opinion that a well-constructed idea is much more important than a well-rendered image. It is your ideas, your original thoughts and your consistent style that makes you a valuable concept artist. Illustration is immediately important of course, and gets you noticed, but that can be a very temporary satisfaction for your client. Ideas are the long-term payoff that really keeps you interested and lets you believe in a world, story or character .
|
|
|
|
|
|
