From script to the scene

A rt for art’s sake seems to be passe and commercialisation of art has become the order of the day. There is an increasing number of artists taking up concept art these days.

   Concept art is a form wherein the artist concentrates on the look, design and feel of an idea or concept. This branch of art is gaining wide popularity, especially in the film and gaming industry. Start-ups, animation schools and independent film studios have been giving opportunities to these artists.

Illustrator and concept artist Sahil explains that increasing number of game lounges and design start-ups have nourished the growth of such artists. “Take a game like ‘Dark Artistes’, for instance, which revolves around the concept of ‘End Of Days’. Concept artistes are required to look for the themes and colour combinations for this game. They take an inspirational piece and create a story board or the mood for the game and then translate them to visual imagery,” he says. He goes on to explain that two kinds of concept art exist – in the digital and the non-virtual world. While the digital world can include artists for cartoons and characters for different games; the realistic realm can include industrial designers and mechanics who look to redesign existing concepts.

Avik, a concept visualiser and a senior game artist, adds that while concept artists work with sketches; game artists convert these sketches into 3D models. The high demand for a game artist, inevitably calls for a concept artist to be on board. And this is not just with the game industry! Film and animation require concept artists as well and Avik cites the growth of independent film makers and animated schools and studios as the reason for the growth of concept artists.

     “The high demand of the visual effects industry has led to the growth of concept artists. They translate sketches from scenes and story boards.” He also adds that since short films and the internet have given rise to independent film makers, the number of concept artists have grown as the former refer to concept artists.

Vishakh, a concept artist for Xentrix, feels that concept artists will always be in demand.
    He explains, “There is always a need in film and animation and game industries to analyse the environment, levels, props, characters and contexts. It’s a big field in the West and has been growing in Bengaluru. A major chunk of movie-making and pre-production was earlier outsourced but now studios in the City look at their own TV series and in turn, require home-grown concept artistes.”

   Though animation schools offer basics in concept art, Vishakh feels that a wealth of online courses and specialisations within concept art itself have led to people studying such courses on their own.

He says that concept art requires skill while Sahil feels that the idea, eye for detail and the direction that artistes take to steer through the idea are important.

    “This form of art will keep growing because it’s more inclined to commercial value rather than art as a personal preference,” says Sahil.