But what is Concept Art exactly? Here's a brief explanation: any project pertaining to the fields I just mentioned, from the smallest and simplest to the largest and most complicated, starts off with an idea: what the film or animation or game will be about. This idea is then polished into what will be the "script" for the entire creation. And since it's the visual medium, no matter what the "script" is about, it will need to contain elements which must be seen: characters, environments, objects and so on. And the people involved in making the project will need to know what all these things should look like. This is where a concept artist comes in: creating illustrations to help translate the elements of the original idea into images which will serve as "blueprints" for the finished work. So that even if you are making an abstract animation about some moving rectangles, you'll know what size and colour they should be, and what the backdrop looks like.
So you could say that Concept Art is about communicating ideas. And like any other form of communication, Concept Art has its own "language", with its own principles. And it would seem that these principles transcend cultural barriers, such that they can be readily interpreted by most people, even without necessarily being aware of it. But what makes this so? The artist Robert Henri said: "Evaluation (of a person or thing) is based on the sensations which their presence and existence stirs within us"[1], and these sensations are based on our own mental associations, formed naturally throughout our lives. This of course implies a degree of subjectivity, since different people will have formed different associations, but the reason this "visual language" works is because there is a foundation of these associations which is shared. For example: if two people see the same picture of a little house in a meadow at night, with a warm light issuing from a window, they might have differing feelings about the house, based on their experiences, but they will both agree that there must be a light source within the house, casting beams through the window. They will know this immediately, without seeing said source, and without being told of its existence. The idea will have been based upon prior associations, yet it will appear as self-evident.
This "visual language" can then be used to communicate ideas as simple as something being large, or as complicated as something being malevolent. In his article "How the Human Brain Developed and How the Human Mind Works", researcher Manfred Davidmann states: "The right hemisphere of the human brain is able to communicate by using images with the brain's older and more primitive component organs which have no verbal skills"[2]. But this language also generate certain tropes through common use of certain elements to transmit certain concepts. Eventually, these enter into a sort of cycle of self-perpetuation: they are stereotypes because they work well, and they work well because they are stereotypes.
So you could say that Concept Art is about communicating ideas. And like any other form of communication, Concept Art has its own "language", with its own principles. And it would seem that these principles transcend cultural barriers, such that they can be readily interpreted by most people, even without necessarily being aware of it. But what makes this so? The artist Robert Henri said: "Evaluation (of a person or thing) is based on the sensations which their presence and existence stirs within us"[1], and these sensations are based on our own mental associations, formed naturally throughout our lives. This of course implies a degree of subjectivity, since different people will have formed different associations, but the reason this "visual language" works is because there is a foundation of these associations which is shared. For example: if two people see the same picture of a little house in a meadow at night, with a warm light issuing from a window, they might have differing feelings about the house, based on their experiences, but they will both agree that there must be a light source within the house, casting beams through the window. They will know this immediately, without seeing said source, and without being told of its existence. The idea will have been based upon prior associations, yet it will appear as self-evident.
This "visual language" can then be used to communicate ideas as simple as something being large, or as complicated as something being malevolent. In his article "How the Human Brain Developed and How the Human Mind Works", researcher Manfred Davidmann states: "The right hemisphere of the human brain is able to communicate by using images with the brain's older and more primitive component organs which have no verbal skills"[2]. But this language also generate certain tropes through common use of certain elements to transmit certain concepts. Eventually, these enter into a sort of cycle of self-perpetuation: they are stereotypes because they work well, and they work well because they are stereotypes.
Which brings us to this project: I believe that a good concept artist needs to have a working knowledge of these principles of communication in the same way that a writer needs to have a good vocabulary. It is for this reason that I chose to study and research this language - not only so that I might understand it myself (as something I hope to be doing professionally), but also as a tool for anyone else who might be interested in learning a little about the basics of Concept Art or visual-language in general. The visual language in general has been studied by some of the world's preeminent thinkers, from philosophers such as Hegel - who, writing about symbols states: "The nature of the Symbol is that of an image. For this reason it is intuitive and instantly-perceptible"[3] - to the cutting-edge contemporary researchers who have founded Neuroaesthetics as a new branch of Science, which has received its formal definition in 2002 as "the scientific study of the neural basis for the contemplation and creation of a work of art".
Of course, since we are, after all, talking about an entire language, as vast as any other, it wouldn't be possible for a masters student to perform an exhaustive study. Instead, my project seeks to serve as a proof-of-concept, and perhaps even as a starting point for a larger and more in-depth research of the Concept Art language.
To this end, I have chosen to imagine a fictional assignment to create the concept art for characters to be used in a video-game titled "Sovereigns of Hadaara". The game would be fantasy-themed (in the style of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" novels[4] or Gary Gygax's "Dungeons and Dragons"[5] series of tabletop games), and would feature a colourful and vibrant world in which four factions strive for survival and dominance. The character designs in question would therefore need - both visually and in terms of functionality - to fit into this context, as well as into the game's "mechanical infrastructure", namely a Role-Playing or M.O.B.A. (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre, featuring an isometric view of the game world, in which the player controls the actions of a minimum of one and a maximum of three characters, struggling to help their faction gain control of the titular world of Hadaara. The game would feature four teams of three characters, each group representing the theme of one major, fundamental physical or mental attribute, and each character serving as a "research subject" for at least one of Concept Art's visual-language principles.
In creating these illustrations, I have attempted to study and to present these principles, and it is my hope that I have done so well, as I believe that only a good understanding of these rules would allow for a convincing rendition under the aforementioned requirements.
Of course, since we are, after all, talking about an entire language, as vast as any other, it wouldn't be possible for a masters student to perform an exhaustive study. Instead, my project seeks to serve as a proof-of-concept, and perhaps even as a starting point for a larger and more in-depth research of the Concept Art language.
To this end, I have chosen to imagine a fictional assignment to create the concept art for characters to be used in a video-game titled "Sovereigns of Hadaara". The game would be fantasy-themed (in the style of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" novels[4] or Gary Gygax's "Dungeons and Dragons"[5] series of tabletop games), and would feature a colourful and vibrant world in which four factions strive for survival and dominance. The character designs in question would therefore need - both visually and in terms of functionality - to fit into this context, as well as into the game's "mechanical infrastructure", namely a Role-Playing or M.O.B.A. (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre, featuring an isometric view of the game world, in which the player controls the actions of a minimum of one and a maximum of three characters, struggling to help their faction gain control of the titular world of Hadaara. The game would feature four teams of three characters, each group representing the theme of one major, fundamental physical or mental attribute, and each character serving as a "research subject" for at least one of Concept Art's visual-language principles.
In creating these illustrations, I have attempted to study and to present these principles, and it is my hope that I have done so well, as I believe that only a good understanding of these rules would allow for a convincing rendition under the aforementioned requirements.
By clicking "Next Page", you will see a
presentation of each group in turn, starting with an overview of the respective
team and the attribute it represents, followed by a character-by-character
explanation. Each will feature a study of the visual-language component in
question, a brief fictional insert which would be part of the finished game, as
well as a look into the creative process.