Learning Outcome 2_Demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of concepts, information and techniques at the forefront of Concept Art.

I use a variety of techniques for ideation (definition: to create various ideas) as can be seen in the below examples. They are all commonly used techniques in the industry:  

 

Learning Outcome 1_Demonstrate a critical understanding of business aspects of working as a concept artist including copyright issues pricing, and the rights of an artist.

In the uk all artists own the rights to their own Intellectual properties automatically (Personal art, character designs, stories, etc), what this means is that unless you specifically give permission another party cannot use your work commercially or otherwise.

One of the ways you can insure that there is proof you own your I.P is to take the initial information document with all of the information pertaining to the I.P and mail it to yourself via registered post without opening it. This ensures you have proof of ownership for the future if any issues should ever arise. This information was confirmed by Microsoft Soho Art Director Lee Brown when he gave a lecture with us.

The cost of a junior concept artist differs widely Between companies, on average though it appears most companies in the uk offer anything between £16k and £18k a year for artists with less than a years experience. The majority of Concept art jobs also are on a per contract basis with anything from £120 - £150 a day. £150 is a common price for a junior concept artist for on a contract basis for the most part, its the amount I was paid whilst working for Warner Brothers entertainment on a short contract for my first job as well.

It should be noted that for the most part you have no choice in how much you get paid, especially when starting off as a freelance artist. Most of the time a client has a very specific amount they pay artists for work and then depending on your experience you can negotiate a bit around this prize.

 

Assassins Creed:Aztec

Exploration designs for the jewellery.

Aztec Temple Complex final design

Building design sketches

Assassins Creed: Aztec

This is all of my work for the Ubisoft Assassins Creed brief. I decided to go with an Aztec version of the design as I havent explored that culture in my art before and the culture is very different from previous Assassin Creed games therefore I felt it would be the most challenging one to do.

Initial Assassin Sketches

Further exploration of designs

Final exploration of designs

Assassin Model sheet, back and front view

3/4 Final Assassin Design sketch

We had to design a weapon or mechanical object as part of the brief. I decided to create an AtlAtl which is a traditional Aztec weapon used to throw darts. I kept it simple by having a bladed weapon which has an extension to throw the darts, and then rotates to be used as a blade.

Initial Weapon ideas

Final weapon design

Final Atomhawk work

Heres a slightly more refined version of my clearing scene. I added a few changes to help with the composition such as adding elements that point towards the centre of the picture, and changing the placement of the rocks.

I didnt really like my previous shadow creature design so I did another one that I believe is closer to the style of the game, it is based off of one of the thumbnails from my initial sheet of thumbnails.

The Clearing Version 2

Here is my final version of The Clearing scene, I improved based on some feedback from Jack Couvella who is an Art Director for Ubisoft Reflections. He pointed out a bunch of perspective problems I needed to solve, and suggested I try to push the depth and scale. Hopefully it looks much better now. I also changed the forground significantly, to make a more interesting composition. As well as using the rocks to point to the central Greys Monument.

Edit: Heres my final final version haha Ive nitpicked this illustration to death now. For the most part I am just trying to fix the dramatic change in contrast between the bottom left and the rest of the painting. And I've tried to make the lighting a bit more contrasty - who knew contrasty is actually a word.

Atomhawk 'The Realm' Brief

These are the location sketches for the Atomhawk Games brief. They are all based on photographs that I took whilst I was in Newcastle. Before I did any of these I did a lot of research into how nature reclaims structures, and also spent some time watch the 'Life after Humans' documentary series in order to better judge how to illustrate this I.P. setting. (1000 years in the future, nature has reclaimed the world, event has helped to destroy it etc)

I then went on to choose 3 places to do the black and white building studies which had to include greys monument. I decided to go with the shops surrounding greys monument, and the train bridge near grey street.

Next I went on to do two designs which featured the event which has destroyed the world. I felt that some kind of organic alien spaceship crash would help to explain how the world could change so much and bring back 'magic' as well as bringing plants to life etc.

For the clearing scene that had to be built around the pedestrianised area of greys monument. I felt a combination of the 3 areas that I liked from my location sketches would fit best. I liked the idea of a leaning/collapsed greys monument which was close to the old shops with trees and swamps growing around it. Cropped by the overhanging roof of the left hand street entry as you initially walk into greys monument are area in New Castle.

Of course they are not all this close together in real life but I felt it made for a more compelling concept by combining all 3 into an interesting composition and possible area to explore in the game.

I could of stopped the project here as I only had to do the environment section however I wanted to challenge myself so I tried to do the shadow as well. To start with I did 2 A3 sized pages full of thumbnails, a cross between sillouettes and value sketches. I tried to sketch them more naturally rather than in lines if that makes sense, in order to come up with more interesting ideas.

For the pose I decided to do a combination of thubnails 4/15/18 to create a dynamic character whic his made up of roots, moss, rocks, basically a loose collection of terrain in order for the creature to blend in with its surroundings. Sort of a elemental character whom controls the vines and 'lamphead' creatures in the game.

Lastly for the colour version I took my model sheet and rendered it as much as I could. I wanted to echo the colourful saturated nature of my final environment piece in the design to keep it part of the same world. As well as hopefully have a mix between creepy and scary in the design but still pg13, due to age group for the game.


I really enjoyed doing this project, creating the world and all of the ways nature has integrated with the city. However I dont think I was very successful in matching the style of the game set by Atomhawk due to the way I have illustrated the world. Instead I have tried to illustrate the world in the same vein as what has been set but as my own take.

In that respect I believe I would be unsuccessful if this was an actual art test as it would not fit in with the established team. In forethought I should of tried to really simplify my work similar to the reference given in order to better match the set style of the game rather than to do work similar to what I enjoy doing (stylised realism I guess).