Entry 4 - Concept Art Comparison

Hi, David Bush here. This is my fourth entry into my Games Art & Design blog. In this post I will be discussing two pieces of concept art created for Assassins Creed II and Gears of War.

Concept Art 1: Assassins Creed II Square

This first piece of concept art is of Piazza San in Assassins Creed II. The media used is digital and was most likely created in Adobe Photoshop as that is the industry standard for creating digital concept art.

 The piece of concept art is trying to communicate the towering scale and the militant style of control over this certain area in Venice. The concept art is making me think that there is a high level of diplomatic control over the area hence there are nearly a dozen armed soldiers standing guard over the area and the large amount of regime based banners draped over buildings and mounted onto flagpoles and with very prescribed (possibly commissioned) artwork and architectural design in the entire plaza. There is also a stage for hanging criminals and this could be telling me that this is a very important area used for possibly corrupt control of the citizens of Venice by using this Plaza as a form of staging to scare and preach citizens into believing that potentially innocent citizens are the enemy in order for whoever is controlling this area or possibly all of Venice to maintain their control. The area appears to be very wealthy due to the prominence of a strict design on the buildings and the size of them compared to just a simple house in Venice. This wealth is also seen in the design of the streets with artistically designed tiling and expensive set pieces through the form of street lamps and the inherent amount of open space enclosed by these buildings. There is also a spectators stand from what I can tell where I can imagine figures of power and importance in this environments regime watch the hangings. The civilians are all dressed in what appears to be very upper class clothing. Overall this environment that is depicted in this concept art comes across as a rich but corrupt area.

The colour palette of this piece is very stale and can be summed but to variations of white, brown, blue, red and black. There are complementary colours to be seen such as greens, oranges and purples to highlight particular details to make them stand out within the piece. The composition of this piece is good as everything seems to have been placed and designed into the concept art so that it does not obscure the view of many set pieces. The piece displays a lot of visual information through the buildings, objects and people and this allows the viewer to create a good picture of what is occurring in this environment. All of the buildings lines point directly towards the bell tower which shows that that particular building is the focal point of this piece. The lighting has been thought over so that it highlights the bell tower which is as I described the focal point of the piece. You can also note that the light on the buildings as you move further along from the bell tower fades and gets gradually darker to lessen the importance of other surrounding buildings.

The style of this concept art is photorealistic. Photorealistic concept art is used to portray realistic and detailed games environments, buildings, objects and characters such as Gran Turismo, Rainbow Six Vegas, Crysis, Deadrising, The Elder Scrolls, and Final Fantasy VII. The style is used to make all game assets such as characters, objects, and environments as realistic and life like as possible.

I would not be happy to use this piece of concept art to work from to create 3D models. There are evidence of scale in this piece in regards to people, street objects and the buildings themselves and since these are all in the piece near each other you know how big things should be. This would only be used as a fall back image to gain an idea of what to model in 3D for this environment. A more appropriate idea would be to get the concept artist to redraw any elements you wish to create in 3D through an orthographic drawing with actual measurements of the chosen object.

I would like to note my criticisms. It is unsuitable for further development into a 3D model. The colour palette is very bland and does not excite the viewer of the concept art. Unfortunately most of Assassins Creed II is similar to this and is very boring to look at other than the sense of scale in the games world. Other than this it is a very good piece of concept art.

Concept Art 2: Gears of War Conservatory

This second piece of concept art is of the Conservatory level in Gears of War. The media used is digital and was most likely created in Adobe Photoshop as that is the industry standard for creating digital concept art.

The piece of concept art is trying to communicate the alien feel and atmosphere of the conservatory. The concept art is making me believe that the area is derelict due to the overgrowth of the trees and dirty textures present on the buildings structure and objects. The architecture itself makes me think that this was once some form of greenhouse or possibly an area for scientific experimentation on plant growth and this is due to the industrial feel given by the piping and electrical equipment leading towards the trees. The elevated runways supported by pillars make me believe that they could have been used for observation, but they are also fortified with barriers along the sides which could mean that creatures could have been roaming free in the area below around the trees and pillars. There is quite a lot of natural light entering the conservatory but this was probably only done to allow photosynthesis and make it a lot easier to observe the trees and structure surrounding them.

The colour palette used in this piece is fairly cool with a little bit of warmth. The colours consist of green, brown and desaturated yellows. There are complementary colours to be seen such as reds, grays and blacks to add extra detail and variation to the piece. The composition of this piece works as the lines coming across the buildings and pipe work make the trees the focal point of the piece and they are placed within the rule of thirds on the canvas. Nothing placed within the concept art obstructs any of the other important bits of visual information. Considering how close the viewer of the concept art is brought in towards the environment captured there is quite a lot of objects and design to look at and that give the viewer thought on the area. The lighting has been designed to bring depth into the piece and it also brings the trees out towards the viewer due to the contrasting difference which is better than the light being thrown onto the trees. The artist has also decided to make the objects closer darker than those further away which is what I would expect from a professional concept artist.

The style of this concept art is photorealistic. Photorealistic concept art is used to portray realistic and detailed games environments, buildings, objects and characters such as Gran Turismo, Rainbow Six Vegas, Crysis, Deadrising, The Elder Scrolls, and Final Fantasy VII. The style is used to make all game assets such as characters, objects, and environments as realistic and life like as possible.

I would not be happy to use this piece of concept art to work from to create 3D models. There is no evidence of scale in this piece in regards to objects and the buildings themselves. This would only be used as a fall back image to gain an idea of what to model in 3D for this environment. A more appropriate idea would be to get the concept artist to redraw any elements you wish to create in 3D through an orthographic drawing with actual measurements of the chosen object.

I would like to note one criticism about this piece of concept art and that is that it looks unfinished due to their being pipes that have nearly no texturing on them and instead just a flat colour with a gradient going across it.

Concept Art and the Artist

Concept Artists are responsible for creating art and textures that match the games tone, story, world and character design, and this means that they have to work to the lead artists specifications for the how all characters and objects look within the game. The specification that the lead artist gives them is first discussed and agreed upon the teams of artists in the development studio so that the best and most effective visual design can be agreed upon before the artists start creating the character designs, textures, and environments.  Artists are also used within the development team to create designs for the games website and promotional material that is used for advertising and marketing the game. Artists also have to manage and evaluate their own work so that it meets the high quality design that the producers and designers expect so that all the art assets can be implemented into the game for its playable state otherwise there will be a game with 3d models but no textures because a single artist could not produce their work in time to the rest of the development team. Concept artists have to be incredibly dynamic within the industry to complete their work. They have to always report to their lead concept artist or director within the department they are placed within to be able stay on top of what is expected of them.

Concept art is needed within the game and film industry to visualise, finalise and distribute visual ideas and details to members within a production team. Without concept art present unfortunately all you can use instead is words and the problem with communicating ideas this way is everyone can create a different interpretation of what is needed to complete the job at hand. The concept art could be used as a guide to create a visual effect, 3D model, film set or even to figure out how an actor needs to look or dress to be perceived in a particular way.

The first example above could be used for a 3D character model in a game or film or could be used to give an idea for the physique that is needed for a character role in a film and the type of clothing that would be worn by that actor.

The second example above could be used to create a miniature model for film, 3D model, choose a filming location to build set pieces on top of or just to give an inspirational idea of what kind of concept art should be made for a certain production.

The third example above could be used to create a 3D visual effect and texture for a game or film.

There are many issues with concept art though but these can be corrected with enough skill and experience. All concept artists have their own artistic styles even within the realms of photorealism, cell shaded and abstract. If the artists inherited style starts flowing into the concept art work they have been set it can detract away from the visual style that whoever created the design the concept art was created from has intended and this can be problematic during production. The amount of visual information that needs to be inside a piece of concept art is all down to the design that it is constructed from. A concept artist (unless instructed not to based on the design) should always strive to build as big a picture and vast amount of detail into any piece of concept art they create particularly landscapes, cities and architecture so that people can get an idea of all the types of items, architecture and other details that need to be covered whether for a game level or film set. Other pieces of concept art like an orthographic design of an item, vehicle or character should include all the necessary details so that someone who needs to create it can understand the physical size and scale of it or aesthetic elements big and small.

Thanks for reading and take care. I'll be adding a new entry on Colour Theory soon.