Concept art masterclass

A senior concept artist in the video game industry, presents her tips for generating visually striking environment concepts

efore I reveal how to create strong environments art, perhaps I should explain what I mean by strong art. These are paintings that are easy to read, quickly conveying clear designs or stories to the viewer.

There can be few artists who haven’t spent hours working on a piece, attempting to add details that end up

1 Establish a silhouette

Bbeing unnecessary. My tips should help you to avoid falling into such a situation. You’ll learn how to construct your images by building up a solid foundation and composition, design a lighting scheme that can help to sell your idea, before finally applying the detailing layer.

These tips will also help your conversation with the art directors when you work in a professional environment. A silhouette is the outline of an object against a unique colour background. It helps the viewer to quickly recognise the subject matter, such as robots, cityscapes or characters. A strong silhouette will ensure your designs have greater visual impact. It’s a great way to capture the essence of your subject, and you can do it with a simple black pen or marker. Sometimes, the art directors will just tell you that the piece doesn’t feel right to them, but won’t give you specific reasons. This situation is also likely to occur with clients who don’t have an artistic background. The topics and visual advice that I’ll be covering in this workshop will help you find out exactly what the art director and your potential clients are looking for.