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.