what do concept artists do?

[insignificantly]

what exactly do concept artists do?
before reading some stuff about it, i always thought they just made some drawings that had to do with the game, just to promote it, to put it on the site and attract buyers. but i understand that this isn't true?
so what do they do exactly?

[origin]

They really do exactly what their title says. They take an idea for something, a character, a location, an enemy, a weapon, etc. and sketch it out, color it, and just make it look good in many different positions.

They take what the game designers write down, and serve as a mediator between the designers and the 3d artists. They show the 3D artists exactly how they want that particular game asset to look like. Also, they communicate with other leads at the company to ensure that their design is what the designers wanted.

For a good reference of concept art, I suggest looking for some video game books, There is the art of Halo, The art of World of Warcraft,etc. there are many final fantasy books, and books made specifically by their artists, both very good.

a great example is from gears of war, Gears of Art This is actual work, from basic words on a game document that this industry proffessional created. The 3D artists did a good job ( if you've played the game ) of keeping close to this art style and design.

Really, they give the first visual representations of their game. While many concept artists do help with some box art, posters, etc. their main job is doing the art that the rest of the game is based off of.

[ronnoc10]

www.sonsofthestorm.com

Not really adding anything to the topic, but I do love Samwise

[h2osmack]

Are their different types of concept artists? Or are they all called the same thing but just do different areas of work? I knew a guy who did concept art for GarageGames and he was into characterisations but like insignificantly said, I always thought there were promotional concept artists, like a whole different areaor something

[ronnoc10]

Originally Posted by h2osmack

Are their different types of concept artists? Or are they all called the same thing but just do different areas of work? I knew a guy who did concept art for GarageGames and he was into characterisations but like insignificantly said, I always thought there were promotional concept artists, like a whole different areaor something

As far as I know, promotional concept art is just concept art that has been shown to the public, but I have seen breakdowns between character artists, landscape, weapons, and stuff like that.

[origin]

like ronnoc10 said, there is a breakdown between concept artists for landscape, characters, etc. However, some artists do concepts for everything, so sometimes, they just take the general label and draw what the leads and directors tell them to draw.

However, some companies have the funding to have truly dedicated artists, some purely for landscape, some purely for characters, both main and NPC's (which is usually where most effort is spent). A good example of separation is the concept art for Fable 2. The characters have a unique look, one artists work, and the landscapes another, a good separation of what many artists who do what their good at can produce.

[sinofhearts]

As far as becoming a concept artist, how high would you need to go? Like, would you make it with just an associates in art? I'd like to know what's the least you need, and would you go more towards graphic art, general art, animation, or computer art to become a concept artist?

[Red_5]

ConceptArt.org is a great place to see the stuff professionals do

[Thumper_34]

As far as the associates thing goes,

As of right now, studio's care more about your portfolio than what degree you carry in your belt.

Practice drawing real things like your hands your hat, your shoe. Then start working on proportioning out characters and getting there bodies to have the correct anatomy, then start digitally painting your artwork.

I would suggest getting a digital tablet, they are so awesome(got one myself)

[jillduffy]

Originally Posted by insignificantly

what exactly do concept artists do?
before reading some stuff about it, i always thought they just made some drawings that had to do with the game, just to promote it, to put it on the site and attract buyers. but i understand that this isn't true?
so what do they do exactly?

Does this article help a little? See the part where Matt talks about not running out of ideas because the designer supplies them.
http://gamecareerguide.com/features/...e_concept_.php