As well as research, it’s important to see
inspiration. For concept art this can come
from anywhere or anything you can imagine:
music, real people, a book you’re currently
reading or even a poem. “My grandfather
used to say that if you want your head to
bear ideas, you’ve got to feed it ideas in the
first place,” muses Marek. “I think these are
words to live by if you want to be a concept
artist and you should really open your eyes to
everything around you. That’s why I’m always
on the lookout for inspiration wherever I go.
For example, had I never come across Pieter
Bruegel’s Beekeepers [painting], who knows
how Brewess from The Witcher 3 would’ve
turned out - perhaps she wouldn’t have
turned out at all.”
Most people know little about the world of
concept art, and even then what you know
may be riddled with misconceptions. “I think
a pretty common one is that concept art is
all pretty looking,” says Call Of Duty: Modern
Warfare senior concept artist Jessica Cheng.
“In reality a lot of the stuff that you do on the
job tends to be production art and callouts for
clarity, smaller concepts and things like that.
When there’s a chance to do a big, polished
painting, you grab it!
“I feel like the biggest misconception,
though, is that artists are born talented and
that we draw everything out of our heads.
Both are not true,” continues Cheng. “Artists
work very hard for the skills they have, and
they’re always learning. Using references and
other visual help is important because there’s
no way to know how everything looks at any
given time, although I think we all wish we
had that ability!”Blood, sweat and tears
Working in concept art isn’t all sunshine and
rainbows, either. Finding inspiration day after
day is tough, especially when an artist may be
require to work on something far outside their
areas of interest. Sometimes that may even
be graphic or disturbing in nature – such as
a gory finishing move or a horrific monster –
requiring unpleasant research that would give
anyone nightmares. Every artist has their own
way of approaching challenges like these.
“It might sound obvious, maybe even trivial,
but I just do it. It’s part of the job,” says“Considering the broad range of
themes, I’d say a typical day for a
concept artist just doesn’t exist”
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More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 063CONCEPT ART