From Sketch to Screen: The Role of Concept Art in Creative Industries
- Fanny NA
- Apr 2
- 6 min read
Concept art is a step in laying out the groundwork to help shape the project’s visual identity, consistency, and mood. The artistic concepts vary from environments, characters, vehicles, and even the entire game universe. That being said, concept art constantly evolves in response to new ideas, directions, or technical limitations.
What is Concept Art?
Concept art is the visualisation of a piece of media’s concept, from sketchy mock-ups or elaborate displays before the final design. Whether it be films, television shows, or video games, concept art is usually a vital part of a project’s execution, and it's usually handled by concept artists.
It’s a process before anything is fully implemented to help the rest of a creative team envisage the world a piece is set in, from its inhabitants, architecture, objects, or scene compositions. Essentially, concept artists create a solid foundation for the executive artists to build and realise the final pieces of a project.
That being said, concept art can change and evolve throughout a project. It can be altered and tweaked accordingly—the art form is not the end-all; it’s a foundation for the project’s vision and spirit.
The Origins of Concept Art
Interestingly, there is speculation about where exactly the term was first used. Many consider the answer to be in the vehicular industry when designing cars. However, what’s much more certain is how it was popularised.
Animation pioneers like Walt Disney started using and executing concept art in their animations. Well-loved classic Disney films like Snow White and Cinderella had hand-drawn sketches of concepts that preceded their productions.
Soon after, other movies, shows, and even early arcade games followed suit in this practice. As digital tools got more advanced, so did the art form, with software like Photoshop and Blender becoming industry staples to help concept artists define concept art.
4 Types of Concept Art an Artist can Create
1. Character design
Bringing out a character in animated movies or games starts with concept art. All the characters you see on the screen, from heroes to villains, the concept artists are the ones who explore and are responsible for the costume details to their facial expressions. The goal is to make them unique and memorable to resonate with the users or audience.
2. Environment design
World-building or background art is the core of many creative projects. Before coming to level and map development, concept design is used to depict the world in movies or games. They design the whole background from landscapes, cityscapes, and properties’ interiors to set the atmosphere of the story.
3. Prop design and vehicle concept art
From weapons and vehicles to gadgets you see on the screen, all is carefully planned by the concept artists to blend naturally into the story and not feel out of place. These elements need to be functional and look visually appealing to users as well. Hence, deep research is needed.
4. Creature concept art
If you are thinking of fantasy and sci-fi types of projects, you must be thinking about how the imaginative creatures were designed. Concept artists build and develop everything from mystical beasts to some alien species.
5 Concept Art Examples
Movie: Alien
Release date: November 15, 1979
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror, Action
Country of Origin: US
Director: Ridley Scott
Alien is a sci-fi horror classic—even if you aren’t a fan of the genre, the name surely rings a bell. It follows the crew of a spacecraft named Nostromo, who catches wind of a distress signal. As part of their company policy to do so, they set out to investigate the transmission. They land on a dark planet, tracing the signal back to a crashed ship—and it didn’t take very long to find out what had caused it.
The concept artist was the missing piece of Alien. H.R. Giger, an artist who creates airbrushed, biomechanical art pieces, fits right into the vision of the movie. The Xenomorph, as we know it, was just one part of his contributions to Alien, and the culmination of his work in the film earned him an Academy Award.
TV Shows: The Wheel of Time
Release date: November 19, 2021
Genre: High Fantasy, Adventure, Action
Country of Origin: US
Producer: Rosamund Pike
This high-fantasy TV adaptation of the novel series follows the Aes Sedai, Moirane. She arrives at a remote village and warns the people of an oncoming horde of vicious monsters—but soon reveals her true identity and the purpose of her arrival. She seeks a group of five individuals, where one of them has the power to either save or ruin the world.
Much like the main cast of The Wheel of Time, the members of the concept artists’ team totalled up to five. Jonas Hassibi, Sergey Musin, David Jones, Filip Štorch, and Giovanni Silva worked on the show’s concept, visualising the fictional equivalent of the Age of Enlightenment in a fantastical form.
Animated TV Show: Gravity Falls
Release date: June 15, 2012
Genre: Mystery, Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Action
Country of Origin: US
Directors: Alex Hirsch
Gravity Falls is a mystery comedy that surrounds twins, Dipper and Mabel, who are sent off to spend their summer with their Grunkle Stan. Alongside Stan and two other employees, the twins help run the Mystery Shack—a menagerie of monsters and other peculiarities. While the shack is ultimately a tourist trap, the town they’re situated in is shrouded in mystery.
This is easily a good example of how illustrations in concept art can slowly evolve or develop. The picture above depicts Dipper and Mabel, and while their personalities, quirks, and defining features are intact, they do look substantially different from the show’s end result.
Animated Movies: Blame!
Release date: May 20, 2017
Genre: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Biopunk, Action, Adventure
Country of Origin: Japan
Director: Hiroyuki Seshita
Blame! is an animated movie adaptation of the manga of the same name. Much like the manga, the movie is a biopunk sci-fi piece set in The City—a megastructure with intricate networks and architecture. Humanity is deemed illegal and The City is overrun by hostile robots. The movie surrounds Killy, a wanderer who possesses a destructive weapon, and Zuru, a starving girl from a starved village. Together, they alter mankind’s future.
The concept art of Blame! stays true to the artwork concept ideas of the original manga. It ensures that the movie is faithful to the main artistic themes of the manga—resulting in a film that has engaging world-building, gorgeous machinery, and grand structures.
Video Games: Bioshock
Initial release date: August 21, 2007
Genre: Survival Horror, Science Fiction, FPS, RPG
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac OS X, iOS
Developers: 2K
This video game has earned a place in the FPS Hall of Fame. It’s a retro-futuristic, arguably speculative, survival horror that takes place in the underwater city Rapture. In its current state, Rapture is flooded, run-down, and riddled with verdigris.
However, in its prime, the city was supposed to be an isolated utopia for the elite—but it didn’t take long for class disparities to escalate. War broke out, and Rapture quickly became a dystopia. You play as Jack, a crash survivor who stumbles across the secret entrance to the Rapture. He aims to save his family, by any means possible.
Renowned concept artist Craig Mullins has captured the spirit of Bioshock in his iteration of the “utopic” Rapture. The piece has obvious Art Deco inspirations, alongside a nod to the Statue of Atlas, much like how the director intended Bioshock to be. Upon seeing the game’s overall art direction, there’s no denying it deserves the plentiful awards it received.
Conclusion
Concept art is more than just pretty sketches of creative works; it acts as a guideline and backbone for the whole creative team to guide creatives, refine visions, and bring rough ideas closer to reality.
Concept art plays a significant role in the development of media in the creative industry. Even after a show or a movie’s release, comparing the final product to its juvenile form can provide insight into the evolution of a project—giving us a peek into the minds of creative professionals across industries.
Author Bio
From Malaysia, Leia Emeera is a writer at TESSR and a published author. She has been putting pen to paper ever since she learned how to, and has an anthology to her name, titled 'Ten'. Leia loves music, games and her beloved labrador retriever, George. She aims to further her studies in English Literature and Creative Writing the moment her gap year ends. 'Till then, you will find her sitting behind a desk, writing with TESSR.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Leia Emeera
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