In this post, I’ll be going through concept art, sketches and general pre-production such as storyboards for my creative project, as well as the accompanying research.

 

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Concept Art

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What is Concept Art?

 

Many people have the misconception that concept art is finalized, polished illustrations used to promote forthcoming films and games. Although that is a part of the process, this is incorrect as an overall definition. The main goal of concept art is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in films, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. The artwork does not specify everything in exact terms at the start, but rather creates an overall design vision and then irons out any visual kinks that could be problematic down the line.

 

 

Examples like the ones above are usually the finalized designs for a character, but have undergone hours of tweaking and have been built up with many drafts beforehand, which lay the foundation of the design. Character model sheets like these are especially important for animation projects because they act as a point of reference for illustrators and animators throughout the entire creative process. Concept art is much more than just what a character looks like however. It can range from ethereal mood shots and full environmental scenes to more detailed schematics of a prop, all with the main goal of reducing the margin for error, therefore the time and the cost. It’s not just the art; it’s like showing your workings for a maths equation.

 

 

What Does a Concept Artist Do?

 

A concept artist draws up illustrations and designs for a particular element in the project, which act as a blueprint for other designers to use throughout the project.  For every quality image that can be seen in ‘art of books’, tens, sometimes hundreds of images have all played a part in that scene, from inspiration to sketches, to final model sheets that have been scratched and restarted. Everything is important because even discarded work brings the artist one step closer to the final design. It can be extremely difficult to create something from a few descriptions and rough ideas, especially if these are in someone else’s vision. Concept artists bring ideas to life through their artwork, and the iterative process means hitting the bull’s eye first time is rare.

 

 

A concept artist needs to have a certain skill set in order to keep pace with the requirements of their job. Fundamental art skills like anatomy and perspective need to be honed to perfection in order to even begin creating initial designs, but the artist’s creativity and attention to detail are what lets them design many varying styles of characters and creatures, which is what is needed for efficient production.

It is also quite important to build a strong visual library that acts as a database of ideas, shapes, fabrics, textures, and other similar concepts to draw from, usually with specific ideas based on the creative brief. Artists frequently come up with new ideas and generally use thumbnailing, to note rough visualisations. They can create from 2 to 200 of these depending on the scale of the project, but they are essential since they allow you to go from a blank page to something. After some cool ideas are chosen, the artist will go on to digitally paint them, usually including different angles and shots of the subject along with a final piece. These go to the art director to be critiqued and may be returned for adjustments to be updated accordingly. Once a design is finalized it’ll be used as a reference for everyone else in the creative pipeline, and this process is repeated for:

• Characters
• Animals
• Scenery
• Props
• Specific elements such as a tree or part of a weapon

 

 

Concept Art is not Illustration

 

Following onwards from the popular misconception, concept art and illustration are not the same thing.  The quality and techniques of the two are closer than ever and there is a considerable amount of overlap but there is one key intrinsic difference, which is the word ‘concept’. The very definition of concept shows that the purpose is not to produce one perfect piece of artwork for the entire project but to explore ideas and communicate them effectively as possible. It would be a considerable waste of time to produce a finely finished piece of work that offers little new in terms of design, mood and feel. Instead, a rougher, looser sketch that sparks interest and promotes discussion is preferred, despite any artistic flaws which can be overlooked. The artwork is a part of a bigger production process as opposed to being its own entity such as illustration for a book or editorial.

 

 

 

Concept art is not the same as illustration. It’s about creating a single artistic vision that can power a franchise.

– Video games industry veteran James Pickthall

 

This blog post clearly explains the information I have researched, along with extra facts and interesting tips in getting prepared for this route as a career. I found out that making connections is important even for this role, which shouldn’t have been surprising to me, knowing the level of creativity and artistic ability that need to be met with legends like Feng Zhu setting standards through their work.

 

– – – >>> Skillshare Concept Art Blog  <<< – – –

 

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Pre – Vis

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What is Pre-vis?

 

When producing and directing a successful project, you need to have resources that communicate your vision to your cast, crew, client and yourself! Whether it’s a film, commercial, or music video, a visual battle plan is essential and this is where pre-vis comes in. Previsualization (known as pre-vis, previs or previz) is the process of visually mapping out scenes in a movie, commercial, or music video before principal photography but is also used in the pre-production of other types of work such as games and animated media. The main goal is to devise a plan that expresses the director’s intent, or the vision of the creator, which is something that everyone needs to see and understand in order to create it.

 

 

The five most common types of pre-vis are:

1.  Photography
2.  Storyboards
3.  Animatics
4.  Shot lists
5.  Storyboard software

However, a combination of any of these can be utilized. The renderings can range from simple sketches, most drawings and stick figures to more detailed, illustrative depictions that can be said to border on fine art. What matters most is that everyone involved in the production of the movie has a shared vision and a good grasp of complex scenes to weed out any complications or possible issues before any money is spent on actual filming. Oftentimes, the way we imagine something is rather different to how it actually unfolds when it becomes a reality, which is why pre-vis is used all of the time – the artistic vision has to be refined.  The camera direction, shot compositions, and edit of a scene all need to make sense, be achievable and laid out beforehand in order to do so and help the Director, Director of Photography, some crew, and even the Editor understand exactly what is supposed to happen.

 

 

Why is it Important?

 

The uses of pre-vis extend beyond that of helping others understand and saving money. It goes a long way in condensing a broad idea with multiple segments into a cohesive vision, which can be done largely through experimentation. Things like testing out different camera angles, playing around with the script and doing various illustrations all add up to the final result. It also acts as a vital foundation for the final product, helping you work on it from the ground up and devising a realistic timescale. With thumbnail images and detailed information on each shot, the entire team, if there is such, can wrap their heads around what is expected of them. The story can also then be integrated perfectly with the visuals, giving everyone the opportunity to see whether the story makes sense in a particular setting or not and allowing time for any possible tweaks without jeopardizing the budget. It’s all about staying ahead and saving as much time and money as possible. Even certain logistics rely on pre-vis, such as specific scenes which may need to be short first because of location, timing or other factors. These important details can make or break the schedule and need to be ironed out as early as possible.

It’s no wonder that directors, animation artists and graphic designers all use previs to determine how their vision will evolve into a movie. Let’s take the film Alita: Battle Angel as an example, a film packed with action scenes, creative characters, and sci-fi cityscapes.

 

 

How did the previs help inform the visual action?

Given the number of CG visuals, previs was useful to understand what the virtual characters would be doing in the virtual environments. It was important to work out the action, as well as some of the core technical requirements of the shoot. There were also a number of complex shots using timelapse treatment or stunts that were explored ahead of shooting and visual effects.

 

For me personally, the two most useful pre-visualisation methods that I have found for animation are storyboarding and animatics. The first is a time-tested process that involves drawings panels of a scene in shot order in order to demonstrate how that part of the story looks and flows. Film language, camera movements and shot descriptions are mapped out in a visual format and the technique can be a powerful way to plan out a narrative as well.

 

 

Animatics are basically like the following stage and elevate storyboards to the next level through editing. Adding some camera movements, voiceover, scratch dialogue and music to a simple edit of the boards can really help bring them to life. You can also define the timing and get a sense of the finished piece, which is why they are at the heart of pre-production within animation. By stitching together images in a sequence and rendering out the video, possibly, with some soundtrack, you can effectively plan an animation and create a guide for animators working on the final piece. Animatics are relatively quick to produce, allow you to make quick changes and create consensus so the creative team and/or client can share their thoughts on the visual proposal.

 

 

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My Concepts

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For my own concept art, I knew that I had a large bulk of work ahead, almost as much as production. As always, with so many possibilities and things that could be done, I needed to organise myself and make sure I was clear on what exactly I needed to do.  So in Notion, I listed all of the pieces of concept art that I wanted to create, keeping in mind what was necessary and how much I could realistically achieve in the time slot that I had for pre-production.

 

 

 

 

All of these help flesh out the world and also keep me aligned with my goal to experiment within the genre of surrealism which, I have established, opens up a whole new realm of creative and fantastical artistic scope. I wanted to have more pieces than usual in order to explore this which is why for some of the characters, the final design sheet doesn’t consist of the usual selection of poses and character-relevant objects but instead, a scene with merges an environment with the character and can be established as an illustration for my project.

I split up my list into two main categories, one for characters and one for environments, making each main aspect of my animation a toggle heading so that I could add individual pieces underneath, e.g ‘turnaround sheet’. I started out with the elf character. When creating a design, I believe that it is an absolute must to have some inspiration. I didn’t feel prepared to face the blank canvas without some images to draw ideas from either, which is why I whipped up a quick character mood board by collecting images from Pinterest.

 

 

After scrolling through tons of beautiful artwork, I felt that I had enough creative ideas on elves that were bouncing about in my brain and waiting to be realised on the canvas. I began sketching out thumbnail designs of my elf, keeping in mind what I wanted the character to represent and how they fit in the bigger picture of my animation overall. The elf is a symbol of our affinity to overexploitation and hunting irresponsibly and is, therefore, a cold-hearted killer who doesn’t understand the balance of life and death or how that circle works within nature. I knew that I wanted the elf to stand out against the background and that the outer appearance would reflect these themes, however, I also wanted to bring in some surrealism to the design.

 

 

For this reason, I allowed myself to experiment and deviate from a singular design format, bringing in different shapes and using juxtaposition within the form. I enjoyed this process greatly, however, I struggled to settle on any one design. I found myself liking certain aspects of multiple of my sketches but always finding a good reason to not choose them, such as too much detail. To help organise my thoughts, I highlighted parts that I liked by going around the designs with a thick, grey, slightly transparent line. That way, I could refer back to my best ideas with a glance and quickly pick out what I need.

For a hand-drawn animation, the more detailed the character, the longer it will take to complete even one frame, which is something I knew I had to avoid. Once again, I found myself balancing on the fine edge between a simplistic, easy-to-draw design and one that looks appealing and interesting enough to serve the purpose of the animation.

 

 

I filled a second page, hoping to get closer to the design by drawing one of the key poses of the elf but this proved even more difficult without a reference and my desire to add a cloak. The cloak is something I had in mind back when I created the aesthetic mood boards for my world and named the elven species as the ‘Moon Cloaked’. Because of this, the cloak and moon elements were almost guaranteed to be included right from the start and it is why I added them in my idea sketches. I decided to take a step back and try and figure out how the elf would look overall since I had started with just the head and mid-riff and jumped into details before having established any base shape.

 

 

This third thumbnail sheet is where I got closest to the design that I wanted and once again, I used my highlight method to bring attention to my favourite shapes. I love the way the cloak swishes and especially in the right sketch, the mask really compliments the character’s silhouette and makes the elf more mysterious. You’ll also notice that some of the sketches have arrows sticking out from the character’s back. I did this because I knew that it would be another part of the elf’s design in the animation; after shooting down the deer, we see the metaphorical/surrealistic representation of how those actions are directly hurting the elf – in the back, without them realising. It is another way of saying that every action we take matters and every animal killed is another wound inflicted on ourselves, if not done responsibly.

I felt ready to finalise the design of the elf now that I had the overall form in mind as well as two pages full of interesting details I could mix and match. The next piece on the list was chosen design and colour experimentation and it is where I can lay down the groundwork for the character’s final look. I used my sketch from the third thumbnail sheet as a template and drew what I had in mind, tweaking proportions until I was satisfied. Using the power of duplication, I then made a second version with arrows sticking out of his back instead of the bow and copied and pasted the set multiple times to apply different colour palettes.

 

 

I chose this design because it is simple enough for my animation but also serves the character’s purpose. A plain dark cloak makes the viewer think that the character is hiding something and it gives them an air of ambiguity. The elf would be distant, detached and focused on his prey so this matches his personality well. I also wanted the colours to reflect this, so most of the palettes are quite muted and involve cold colours that showcase solemnity and create a sense that the character is devoid of emotion which, because of his environmental representation within the animation, he is. Whenever I struggle to think up a combination of colours, I use a super handy site called Coolors, which generates palettes for you that you can quickly change and easily customize. I stuck with just three colours which is one of the best ways to make sure the palette is effective and attention-grabbing. It also made it much easier to create balance in the design – it truly is a golden rule.

I was most drawn to the bottom two versions on the left because they had the most contrast, although both felt like they had something missing. In the end, I decided to merge them! The one with the black cloak is most dramatic because of the dark colour, which is what I am looking for, however, it is a little monotone and needs some colour, which is why I used the purple skin tone from the other design to replace the blue-ish grey. It is important not to have too much darkness or grey otherwise the character looks lifeless but I also wanted to maintain the dark aesthetic, which wasn’t coming through with the white-cloaked one. The elf is supposed to be a feared hunter who kills with no remorse and by using black, I can create that link to death in the viewer’s eyes. The icy, bright white is a stark contrast to this and so compliments the cloak perfectly, almost making the accent objects glow with an eerie moonlight. Finally, the purple adds a hint of surrealism, fantasy and life, reminding the viewer that the elf is still, after all, part of the same world as the animals around him.

 

 

Next, I moved on to the turnaround sheet. I knew that I would need to have one of these because the elf would be showcased from more than one angle in the animation and I would need to know how to draw him from all of the key perspectives. As seen above, the sketch of the body started as so, when I decided that I would make two different turnarounds: one with the cloak and secondary elements and one without. This was so that I could have a base to work on and I understood the mechanisms of the body better, which helps a lot with moving images.

 

 

His form is quite slim to show that he does not need to exert much power to hunt, nor does he need to build much muscle thanks to his precision, silent, deadly and skilful approach and expert sight. This was my affirmation that the purple worked for the skin tone, and contrasted beautifully with the pale blue, bringing attention to the eyes and dots underneath. The dots are something I took from one of the images in my moldboard, of the elves with white hair and glowing blue face markings. I felt that the design showcased power, elegance and beauty, which is what I established the ‘Moon Cloaked’ elven race would be like in my world. I don’t think that I got the feet correct but they wouldn’t be shown anyway so I didn’t pay much mind to this. On top, the hair is slightly uneven to add some visual interest and make the character feel less perfect and more like a living thing since even fantastical beings need to feel somewhat familiar and relatable to the audience.

 

 

I followed pretty much the same process for all the pieces but I am going to add explanations and justifications anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extra Thoughts on World

I love this poem because it is a very direct reflection of Earth and how humanity is a part of nature, rather than being against it which is a very common theme within poetry and literature. It has always been man vs nature, but Ammon’s beautiful, clear and simple writing opens up another perspective – one that pushes the idea that we are a part of the circle, we are the animals living in the eco-system, thriving off of mother nature.

Or at least, that is how it should be. The use of a ‘small world’ – a cove of water between the rocks – as a metaphor for Earth, showcases how simple things really are and how we tend to forget that life and death are a gift, one that we can appreciate thanks to mother nature. There are frequent mentions of the waves and periods of drought because the surrounding environment is in control, not us. Mother nature holds the power of what lives or dies and there is no use trying to change this or fight against it because it is as it should be. When the miracle of life occurs, it should be seen as just that, instead of being overly complicated. The fish do not try to change the cove by adding more rocks, expanding or looking for a bigger pool (they are also unable to) but just live as they can, moving and breathing in their small world. Similarly, we should aim to be more harmonious with our home instead of trying to change its foundation and then suffering the consequences of our actions through the next drought.

I chose to analyse this poem not only for its subtle but powerful environmental themes but also for the structure and chosen narrative. Ammon has used the principle that I plan to apply through fantasy and surrealism: using another world, of some kind, as a mirror to the viewer so that they better understand their own existence. Whilst he is a little underwater system, mine will be an imaginary fantastical planet but will follow the same idea. The underlying ideas and tone of his words are what makes the poem so beautiful and inspiring to me since he reaches the heart of the reader without relying on face-value or explicit ideas.

 

Other Poems

I read quite a few different environmental poems in order to gather inspiration. There are elements of each that I really like and feel reflect my project idea, so I am going to be noting them here for context and future reference. I chose to look at one more in-depth since I feel that it most closely resembles the main idea behind ADDOED.

 

• Fire-Flowers – Emily Pauline Johnson
• Earth Evanescent – Maxwell Anderson
• Water Devil – Jamaal May
• Elm – Sylvia Plath
• Goodbye, Goldeneye – May Swenson
• There Will Come Soft Rains – Sara Teasdale

 

Poem Breakdown

Scene 1 :

Theme – Overexploitation

Main Message – The importance of animals in our ecosystem, how we are more alike than we seem. By killing them irresponsibly, we hurt ourselves. We shouldn’t be so prideful, arrogant and oblivious and should instead understand our place in the food chain and respect it.

Scene 2:

Theme – Overpopulation

Message – Our egoism and disregard for our environment will be our downfall. Instead of blindly chasing pleasure and joy all the time, we should be more aware of the consequences of our actions and how this affects our home, which we cannot leave.

Scene 3:

Theme – Pollution (Air & Sea)

Message – We have more power and influence over the world than we realise. However, even when trying to help, we are so focused on particular things that we can be oblivious to the bigger picture. A lot of big corporations direct their power to something that can be seen by everyone for popularity all whilst ignoring the real problem (aquatic pollution and time running out).

Scene 4:

Theme – Death

Main Message – We have certain expectations about what awaits us on the other side, even if we don’t know exactly what. It would benefit us to be more humble as our mistakes could be the ones to greet us. We simply do not know and shouldn’t act as if we are stronger than death or that it doesn’t affect us.

Scene 5:

Theme – Death

Main Message – Similar to the one above but more blatant in the fact that we act as if we know death. We use it as an excuse to do whatever we like because we have to live our short lives to the fullest, but in the process only destroy our surroundings and hurt each other. Ignorance is not the key and only leads to more suffering – we shouldn’t rely on the escapism of the end.

Scene 6:

Theme – Our Power, Responsibility & Time

Main Message – We hold the future of the planet in our hands, whether we like it or not and have proven our power even over Mother nature. In the bigger picture, the current rate of things points to our decent. Time is running out and it links back to all of the themes in the previous scenes (cyclical ending which also showcases the cycle of life & death).

 

Poem

Perhaps

If the sky could blink

You would finally admit that you hunt

 

Yourself

 

You chase the euphoria that flits

In pure cloud joy

On top of the world

Oh what a broken throne

 

So comfortable

 

You do not see the tidal arms

That ache to pull you in

 

Pull you under

 

Little by little the blindfold is shed

Here there is no certainty in the dancing suns

And mirror sin

Do not act as if you know death

…

Your shadow leaves fingerprints

On the stars

But they might tremble and fall

As a blazing letter from the universe

Which will blink in the sky

 

 

 

Animatic 1 – https://app.boords.com/s/j64xd4/player

Animatic 2 – https://app.boords.com/s/xr7637/player