If you have watched “Avengers Endgame,” you should remember the jaw-ripping alien planets, technology, and civilizations far beyond man’s wildest dreams. Next time you watch a film with great CGI and character design, be thankful to the concept artist. It is only because of him that you are enjoying your movie in the first place.
So, hooked up yet? Are you interested in making some cool fantasy worlds? You are in the right place if you are thinking of becoming one. In this article, we will deal with everything you are going to need to know to become a concept artist.
What is a Concept Artist?
Concept artist is a prevalent profession of the modern century. His job is to design, visualize, and create art for characters, creatures, vehicles, and other creative assets. They play a significant role since it is their creation that the animators and the VFX production team work with. Their ideas determine whether the project they are working on will be hit or not.
The concept artist needs to use their ideas to make the project come to life. They need to be unique and proficient in creating a design that blends well with any creative project.
Concept artists work together with animators, CGI and VFX professionals, graphics designers, storyboard artists, and many more people in the production company.
What is Concept Art?
Concept art is a visual representation that expresses a message or story through visual interpretation. It is commonly used in film and video games to convey a vision and set the tone for an entire game or movie. Concept artists use concept art to produce characters, weapons, vehicles, buildings, and locations.
Why is Concept Art Influential?
Everyone loves to play games and watch immensely vivid VFX scenes. These projects usually have many different roles coming together and collaborating to create the final product.
The concept artist provides his designs and artwork first before the rest of the team can carry on working. At the end of the day, how the project will progress depends on the concept art the artist draws.
Materials a Concept Artist Works with
In the past, artists, including concept artists, worked with traditional pens, pencils, and markers. The advent of technology has changed ad lot of things. Concept artists, nowadays, have become heavily influenced by technology and use digital tools to draw.
Concept artists have picked up the use of graphics tablets due to their editing speed and efficiency. Aside from the hardware, they also need to have painting software. Most of these soft-wares come together with built-in painting canvases and blenders. Other popular programs for painting include Photoshop, Corel Painter, etc.
Proficiency in these digital platforms is highly paramount to being a successful artist. These digital devices help meet the tight deadlines that concept artists need to follow through. Highly polished pieces are produced in a short time before the deadline.
What Does a Concept Artist Make?
Concept artists are specialized roles that deal with the artwork of almost all media. They draft the design, sketch it and do the final blending and painting using digital methods before submitting it to the production team.
- Character
- Equipment
- World Building
- Technologies
- Background Items
How to Become a Concept Artist
Now that we are done explaining the role and work of a concept artist, it is time to present how to become one. There is a long winding path before you can become a successful artist. However, these general steps should help you get started.
Formal Education
To become a concept artist, you need to study art subjects during your senior high school years. You also need to know about graphics designing and digital paint. A good computer science degree is considered a plus point.
Most concept artists come out after taking a Graphics Designing or other Art degrees from renowned art schools. Even though you can go into the workforce after finishing senior high school, university degrees will help you become a more successful concept artist. Even if you didn’t become a concept artist, you would enjoy some other art-related career.
Portfolio
For any specific art student, having a portfolio is considered essential. When you get a job, your employers will assess you based on the samples included in your portfolio. Your portfolio should have been carefully chosen, and the most refined samples that you have had.
Having an internship experience or some other similar opportunities will be used to increase your worth.
Networking
Every concept artists need to build up their networks. As a fresh graduate looking for work, you will have competitors. However, if you have your network, you will get employed faster than your rival.
One way to build up your connections is to work under a more professional artist for a few years. If you manage to leave a favorable impression on their minds, that artist will help you later. The artist will also act as your tutor and help you improve in points or places that need progress.
You could also post your artwork on social media. This would help you gain a dedicated fan base whose comments and criticisms would help in your growth. This is also a great way to attract art directors prowling to recruit talents.
Some Skills You Should Have
While you are working on studying to become a concept worker, you need to have the following skills under your grasp:
- Be able to draw in different art styles.
- Be able to interact with co-workers and other people in the development team.
- Be creative
- Have a passion for playing games and game development
- Know about graphics designing.
Conclusion
Being a concept artist is not as easy and colorful as it seems. However, with enough resolution and determination, it would be possible to make it past the hurdle and become a successful concept artist in the future.
