Build a world with concept art

Follow Anthony Macbain’s process for creating entire worlds through illustration.

Anthony Macbain, an artist with over a decade of experience in the video game industry, demonstrates the process of creating entire worlds through illustration

World-building encompasses storytelling. To build a world is to create a believable set of parameters for multiple stories to exist, taking into account geology, technology, language, economics, art, culture, history and religion. As a world builder, you need to provide enough content through extensive brainstorming, sketching and research to give storytellers or games masters a boundary and direction, but without being so broad as to leave them with too many options.

For this workshop, I’m creating an illustration of a character from a world I’m helping to build called Dawn of the Paladin. The story takes place tens of thousands of years in the future where a small group of peacekeepers called the Paladin are the protectors of a remote threeplanet colony. They’ve developed a fighting style that utilises skills only mastered by accessing dormant areas of the human brain.

Unbeknownst to the Paladin, the powers they’re harnessing from within their brains are being heightened by their proximity to an alien ore under the ground called Ouj (pronounced “weej”).

A new wave of organised crime has hit the colony’s inhabitants, led by a character named Mogul, a mysterious and vicious warlord from a distant planet and part of an alien race called the Bawn. In this illustration, Mogul has sent a messenger to retrieve his estranged, yet even more powerful and diabolical mother, the evil intergalactic villain, Madrak. Due to Madrak’s telepathic powers, the terrified messenger is expected, and she beckons him toward her.

Madrak is well aware of the properties ouj has to enhance her physical and mental powers, going so far as to create an entire chamber and throne made from the ore, so its energy continually fuels her.

1 Preliminary character concept

Before starting an illustration, I produce a development sketch for each character in the story to ensure that they all feel part of the same world. The sketch should show off the character’s costume, but also convey a bit of personality in their stance and facial expression. If you’ve never read the story, you could still tell a bit about what kind of person this is. I pull references from a variety of sources including films, art and real life to inspire the vibe I’m aiming for.

2 Pencil sketch of the composition

Now let’s create a narrative illustration of Madrak! I start using pencil on paper for a loose thumbnail of the composition. I like working on paper at this early stage, because there are fewer distractions than when on my computer. I’m just thinking about basic shapes and what will be the focal point of the image. I’m not worried about doing a bad drawing, just focusing on telling the story through the image.

3 Digital sketch with value

Once I’m happy with the overall composition, I scan the pencil sketch and add values and lighting in Photoshop. By keeping the pencil drawing on a layer set to Multiply at the top, I can paint in greyscale underneath it without disturbing the original.

4 Refining the design

With the values set, I start painting above the pencil sketch to refine the design. An excellent way to make your worlds believable is to reference things that exist in real life, and then alter or combine them with new ideas that leave the viewer with a feeling of familiarity. For Madrak’s chamber, I’m inspired by things ancient and modern. The throne is influenced by Inca ruins I visited in Peru, while the chamber inspiration comes from the modern installation artist, James Turrell.

5 Taking photo reference

If you’re on a budget, you can achieve a lot without the use of elaborate costumes or paid models. In this case, a friend posed for me to provide a general anatomical reference with lighting. I’m using a hanging bulb for the shaft of light and whatever costume articles are close at hand. I’ll take dozens of photos at slight variations of angles to capture the perfect gesture.

6 Selecting photo reference and adjusting proportions

Choosing the perfect photo can be tricky when looking at 100 options. I start narrowing them down by discarding the ones that don’t work. Then I look for that perfect gesture, sometimes combining multiple photos. Good acting is important when shooting reference. In this case, the pose the model struck was even better than what I had sketched. When I think I’ve got it, I plop it into my composition to see how it sits.

7 Produce a line drawing

I size the sketch to the final image resolution at 300dpi and begin working directly into it. Then I create a new layer, filling it with white and reducing the Opacity so I can still see the photo, but my line is more visible – like a sheet of tracing paper. Then, in a new layer above the white, I do a clean line tracing, while at the same time making modifications and including costume details.

8 Filling in flat shapes

Next I create flat shapes under my line drawing for all the different forms that make up her costume. I use contrasting colours so I can see what I’m delineating. The real colours will go in later, but I usually keep this “wacky colour” version throughout so that I can quickly select parts as a mask using the Magic Wand.