Introducing My MA Project: Pep Talks For The Beginner Concept Artist

  Introduction

The world of concept art is a daunting one, and one that can prove very difficult to break into - or even know where to start. My name is Laurie and this summer I'll be graduating in MA Games Design, with my specialism being concept art. This term, I will be moving away from my Near Eastern concept project (which you can check out over on my other blog at https://lauriegamedesign.blogspot.com/). I will instead be starting this new blog to create a platform through which aspiring concept artists like myself can hopefully learn a thing or two about the big, bad world of concept art in the games industry. My aim is to disseminate to other beginners the knowledge that I have acquired throughout my MA course, in a clear and digestible way. 

Why?

I came into this course completely fresh - I had just finished a degree in Ancient History and really had no actual understanding of concept art, other than knowing I had an interest in trying it. Given where I started, I do feel that I've learnt a lot over the course of this last year (though it's still early days). The reason that I want to start this project is that I want to help other beginners to reach the point I'm currently at (and hopefully beyond) faster than I have, by providing them with information that will steer them away from the pitfalls that I have fallen into so far in my journey, guiding them instead towards progression.

So, why even listen to me?

Clearly, I'm no veteran of the field - I have no professional experience and I'm only now coming up on a year since I first picked up a digital pen to begin my concept art journey. That's why I want to be clear that this platform is aimed at people in the early stages of their development, or even those that haven't yet taken the first step. If you think you're at a stage where you're ready to start looking for professional concept work, then this probably isn't the platform for you. However, if like me, you're a student from a totally different background with an interest in giving games design/concept art a go, or perhaps you work an unrelated job and want to start building a concept art portfolio on the side with a view to making the switch down the line, then you might be interested in sticking around.

What to expect from subsequent posts?

 If you want to do concept art but feel like an 'outsider', then rest assured that's exactly how I have felt, and my goal is to give you a clearer understanding of what concept art is, what the relevant tasks can look like, and how best to approach them. There's a lot of misconception out there about what concept art really is, largely due to platforms that showcase a lot of high polish illustration such as instagram, artstation, and promotional material. Many professional concept artists that I have spoken to are keen to point out that in fact this kind of work might be as little as 5-10% of the job, and my hope is that through this platform I might be able to clarify what the rest of it looks like.

I intend to break down the content that I'll be covering on this platform into five parts, which should end up looking something like this:

  1. Introduction to Concept Art
  2. Research and Referencing
  3. Design Work
  4. Becoming a Collaborator
  5. Wrap Up

As you can see, I'll be starting from the most introductory of levels, with part one providing a discussion of what exactly concept art is (and isn't), so don't worry if you are coming in absolutely fresh. Later sections will look to become more technical, exploring specific processes and mindsets that aspiring concept artists should look to adopt, such as the importance of research and referencing, or the process of idea generation and iteration.

I should also point out that my tutorials probably won't focus much on covering actual painting/rendering technique, as there are thousands of content creators out there that are significantly more experienced/skilled than me, and you'd be better off going to them for this. Again, my platform will be more focused on the idea of building an effective mindset/understanding as a beginner, rather than providing tutorials of how to effectively render rocks or trees, as an example. You'll have a wide range of both free content (youtube, etc) and paid courses (CGMA, etc) to choose from for that, so it's definitely worth having a look around. Some youtube channels that I find very useful and would recommend checking out include those of Trent Kaniuga, Tyler Edlin, Jordan Grimmer and Victor Staris.

See you in my next post, on the clarification of concept art!

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