Semester 1 Project: Idea Draft

• Breaking down the process of creating concept art and use the process to create something new.

• Developing ideas / transcribing ideas into concept art.

• Ideas inspired by folk tales / fairy tales (visually, contextually)

• Adaptability with my art style 

• The concept of charm and creating art that conveys charm

• What themes of charm do I use in my art? Why do I use them? and where did they originate?

• Using my style to create concept art for projects that my style would not be used for

• Document the process of concept art. 

• The idea, the prompt or the brief

• The research (visual and historical research of culture, outfits, settings and stories that may be required)  

• The concepts - discuss decisions and what you are trying to depict in these concepts, the functions and details 

Idea 1 

Breaking down the process of creating concept art by taking a pre-existing game and creating a new look for the game with this process. I will render the story and themes of the game into a description that will be an informative brief so I can fully re-invent the style from my own visual interpretation and from the research I have gathered. 

I will analyse the games art style and research into why they chose this style - why was this style chosen? is it culturally influenced or significant to the themes and feel they wanted to convey? 

Idea 2

Look at how concept art depicts both known and unknown folk tales / fairy tales and use this as influence for creating concept art for a video game based on a known or unknown folk tale / fairy tale - possibly interpret it in a way that would suit a video game.

By searching for media that depicts known and unknown folk tales / fairy tales; i will research the history behind these tales so I can analyse how they have been depicted and why they have been depicted in this particular way - is the depiction influenced by imagery we are familiar with?, where has this imagery come from? Has the creator made something new and their own unique take on it and if so why? Is the creator trying to contextualise a different aspect of folk tale / fairy tale? 

Idea 3 

Look at how concept art takes elements from old fairy tales / folk tales in order to replicate the look and feel we are familiar with when it comes to these tales to create a brand new fairy tale / folk tale. I will follow a similar route. I will create concept art for a video game that is not particularly influenced by any fairy tale / folk tale but will use those elements in order to create a new story.

I will search for different pieces of media that have been influenced by fairy tales / folk tales; I will research what new media was created from this and by both highlighting and analysing these influences I will be able to identify why it was used and if it has been able to effectively capture the look and feel it was trying to convey. 

The methodology of concept art 

Another part of my project will be researching further into the industry side of concept art and the practices used, i had trouble understanding where to look to find these practices in my previous project and how to research the idea concept art methodologies so i will take a different approach. I will...

• Research the methods of concept art and how these methods inform my decisions 

• Look at different concept artists methods to see what works - review and reflect

• Compare these methods to how concept art used to be created from previous research - is there something missing? Or that has been lost along the way from what concept art was and is now? 

• Attempt to contact concept artists / studios and ask them…

• How do you start the process of concept art?

• What advice would you give about the industry practices of concept art?

4 Week Project: Final Reflection

What i found in this project is that i learnt about how the practice of gaining new knowledge can change the process of your concept art, these seem to be a recurring practice in the industry and when creating concept art i have always liked their to be a reason behind why i have added a certain thing; whether it’s historical accuracy to an outfit or the cultural context of an image - which is why the depiction of fairy tales and folk tales has always interested me along with the type of research concept artists will delve into in order to expand their work both visually and contextually. This is the kind of practice I would be interested in exploring further in my masters.

4 Week Project: Creating Concept Art

Before starting my concept I felt it was important to break down the artstyle of Year Walk so i can follow my briefs requirement. I collected some images in order to analyse the key components of the art.

The Church Grim, Simon Flesser, Year Walk, 2013

Art Style Breakdown:

The art is made from broad, angular shapes and rounded curves are rarely used.

The art comes across as very minimal and that individual parts are crafted by pieces of old stained paper.

The arms of characters and creatures are a different shade (somewhat darker) to the rest of the body.

There is a slight vertical gradient fade on the characters and creatures bodies  

Concept Art, Initial Idea 1

Concept Art, Initial Idea 2

As a design choice i decided not to use the Fly Agaric mushrooms for the concept art and instead use the brown mushrooms similar to the ones i found in Faerie Rings and the mushrooms i encountered on my walk - i feel the common occurrence of these mushrooms makes the concept more unsettling as Faeries can easily hide among them. 

Concept Art, Texture Experimentation

Concept Art, Texture Before and After

Concept Art, Texture Breakdown

4 Week Project: Compiling Research for Creating Concept Art

To start my research I looked into different British Folktales; I initially had an idea for Redcaps - a murderous goblin, or sometimes known as a Fae that will kill those who enter old castles where it resides and soak it’s hat in the blood of it’s victim. 

I feel my inventober concept art has helped me think of what I will do for this as looking at ideas for mushroom themed items for my fantasy inventory has led me to a lot of information about the folklore involving mushrooms and Faeries.

With my concept art I want to explore and depict the true nature of Faeries - malevolent creatures known for trickery and causing harm, even terms as innocent as ‘Away with the Faeries’ holds a more nefarious meaning of someone going mad. As early as the 17th century it is believed that Faeries were the cause of many misdeeds, from something as harmless as missing shoes to the more macabre cases of kidnapped children; we have always been wary of these creatures and many old tales foretold how we would ward them off.

One of the most common associations with Faeries and mushrooms is that of Faerie Rings, a formation of mushrooms that grow in a circle found in wooded areas. In British folklore the formation of Faerie Rings is believed to have magical properties, created by Faeries dancing in a circle and if a human were to witness and join in with the dancing they would be punished by the Faeries. 

I wanted to see for myself if i could find any Faerie Rings in local wooded areas but sadly did not find any. 

The mushrooms I did find are photographed as a possible future reference for my concept art; these mushrooms were common among the wooded trail. 

   

Photographs taken of mushrooms out in the wild, Claudia Short, 2020

Another type and the most popular of mushrooms that we tend to see associated with Faeries is the red capped and white spotted variety known as the Fly Agaric; it’s toxic properties are known to be psychoactive and cause hallucinations and delirium to those who consume it. It has been noted back in medieval times that those who consumed these hallucinogens described seeing goblins and Faeries.   

Research Reference:

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/08/what-is-a-fairy-ring/

https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/away-faeries

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/away-with-the-fairies.html 

https://oldmooresalmanac.com/the-mysterious-and-lost-magic-mushroom-rituals-of-the-ancient-celts/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redcap

4 Week Project: Creating the Brief

Brief i have written myself as though it was given to me by a member of the studio Simogo,

“In our newest game we will be exploring the British countryside and woods, similar to game Year Walk in which we used Swedish folklore we are familiar with. We would like you to create concept art for a creature that comes from British folklore. We want to see the concept art of your idea resembling the style of Year Walk.”

4 Week Project: Compiling Research by Looking into the Methodology of Concept Art

Looking into the more methodical process of concept art has been fairly difficult - many concept artists i have looked into have discussed what they wanted to convey and mentioned what inspired them in passing.

For my research i also looked at various blogs and articles directed towards creating art; many of these are written by those who have worked as concept artists and so have insight on the practices in their respective industries. 

Research Reference:

https://www.illustrationhistory.org/genres/moving-image-concept-art

https://conceptartempire.com/what-is-concept-artist/ 

https://www.architecturelab.net/what-a-concept-artist-does-and-types-of-concept-art/

https://www.creativebloq.com/career/what-concept-art-11121155 

https://80.lv/articles/concept-art-for-clients-from-brief-to-delivery/

4 Week Project: What's Next?

My research has shown me the early practices of concept art within an animation studio and a video game studio along with how these artists produced concept art from the ideas with the influence of visuals/ context derived from past materials but I feel like it is lacking the methodical side of creating concept art.

4 Week Project: Compiling Research for Video Game Concept Art

From my research I found that concept art can be inspired by not only the visual properties of folk tales and fairy tales but also the contextual properties of folk tales and fairy tales. Moving away from animation I would like to see how this can apply to video games.

One game that comes to mind that uses both visual and contextual properties of folk tales and fairy tales is ‘Child of Light’ - while not directly following any particular folk tale or fairy tale ‘Child of Light’ borrows elements from those properties with its watercolour picture book art style and story of a young princess fighting an evil queen.

In an interview with Serge Merinho the concept artist of the game stated he had a lot of creative freedom with the concept art however struggled with creating the protagonist Aurora - her design underwent various iterations until the creative director Patrick Plourde revisited his pitch early in the games development that revolved around a painting by Swedish illustrator John Bauer, the painting depicted a small girl in the woods.

Aurora Early Version, Serge Merinho, Child of Light, 2014

While I could not find what particular painting Patrick Ploured referenced you can certainly see the influence this had on the character's concept art in many different pieces of John Bauer’s art.

Innocents Journey, John Bauer, 1912

She Kissed the Bear on the Nose, John Bauer, 1910 

John Bauer was a Swedish illustrator whose work has influenced and inspired generations of children and artists with his depiction of characters and creatures from Swedish folk tales and fairy tales, giving him the title ‘the grandfather of trolls’. 

The Princess and the Troll Sons, John Bauer, 1915

The Child and the Stone Troll, John Bauer, ???

John Bauer was inspired by the deep woods with mushrooms and mossy boulders he lived by growing up in jonkoping, a region filled with myths and legends which were told to him by his superstitious grandmother. When creating his fairytale illustrations he would often study historic costumes and buildings. His first commissioned work was while he was a student in which he illustrated anna wahlenberg’s fairy tale book ‘Lange, lange sedan’ and then he went on to illustrate the yearly annual ‘Bland tomar och troll’ for several years and was beloved by the Swedish for the depiction of the many stories they had grown up with brought to life with art.

The depiction of fairy tales and folk tales or more so the influence of these depictions in concept art has been a running theme in my research so far; i would of never imagined any of this being so connected to concept art but it shows how much these old tales invoke a certain look and feel many concept artists want to transcribe into their work.

While ‘Child of Light’ has concept art indirectly inspired by the themes of fairy tales and folk tales I wanted to find a game that concept art was directly inspired by the themes of these tales.

‘Year Walk’ is a video game developed by a Swedish indie studio Simogo, the term ‘Year Walk’ or in Swedish ‘Arsgang’ is a pagan ritual undertaken by Swedish people from medieval time - the point of the ritual was for the walker to either have a vision of their future or death.

On Simogo’s blog they detail many aspects of the games development and the ideas they thought through, scrapped and refined - this can be seen in the concept art they posted when creating the creatures that the player encounters in the game.

In ‘Year Walk’ all the creatures are derived from old Swedish folk tales; the concept art does not shy away from the sinister undertones and origins of these folk tales - like with the Mylings, spirits of unwanted or sick babies left in the woods to die and are desperate to be properly buried or the Brook Horse, a white horse that would appear out of rivers and lure people to the river where it would drown them. The concept art for the Huldra is the one i found the most interesting to look at as she had the most drastic change from her original design; the Huldra in Swedish folklore is often described as a dangerous seductress who lives in the forest, with her appearance being that of a beautiful woman with a cow tail and her back resembling a hollow tree, her otherworldly beauty and charm allows her to lure men into the forest to an unknown fate.

Myling Concept Art, Simon Flesser, Year Walk, 2013

Brook Horse Concept Art, Simon Flesser, Year Walk, 2013

Huldra Concept Art, Simon Flesser, Year Walk, 2013

From reading Simogo’s blog and looking into an interview with the two members of the studio they knew what kind of look and feel they wanted for the game and how to represent it in the concept art - with many of the creatures they had no intention of making them look scary or evil but instead tragic and unsettling, which is something i feel they achieved. 

Research Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st7giW3wqwM 

https://childoflightgame.tumblr.com/post/84240405800/serge-meirinho-concept-artist

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KvBJy 

https://www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/1/4546026/simogo-year-walk

https://simogo.com/2013/03/15/year-walk-the-early-days/

https://simogo.com/2013/03/21/year-walk-character-evolution/ 

An illustrated treasury of Swedish folk and fairy tales by John Bauer, Polly Lawson, Holger Lundburgh, 2019

Inventober Day 3: Tableware

4 Week Project: Compiling Research for Concept Art

To start my research into understanding concept art and its practices within the games industry I first wanted to understand what concept art is in its broadest definition.

I felt that this would be a good way to approach the topic of research as there often seems to be conflicting opinions on what is considered concept art and I find myself not understanding what is required to create concept art.

One of the repeating themes of defining what is concept art that I have found is that concept art is used to ‘convey’ the ‘look and feel’ of a project along with the goal for that concept art to be a ‘visual representation’ of an ‘idea’ rather than a final polished art piece. 

In its earliest form concept art was a term used by the Walt Disney Animation Studio in the 1930’s, my research led me to find out how Walt Disney had plans to make his first animated feature film and so travelled around europe collecting illustrated books of fairy tales to inspire him, it was then he hired artists to work at the Walt Disney Animation Studio with the task to ‘draw as they pleased’ and to inspire the studios animators by taking them in unexpected visual directions with ‘inspirational art’ which was the name for concept art at the time - artists were free to let their imagination roam. Their ideas manifested into these drawings and paintings which would lead into the next stage of pinning down the story in the form of storyboards.

As an avid actor and storyteller Walt Disney had the ability to bring a story to life; which he would convey through his own talents - often acting out scenes and dialogue and so I believe he wanted this dedication of conveying in the work of the artists he hired.

It was through animation historian Dider Ghez’s book series ‘They Drew as They Pleased’ I was able to find out about these artists; one artist in particular I wanted to research more into was Gustaff Tenggren.

They Drew as They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney's Golden Age: The 1930's, Didier Ghez, 2015

Gustaff Tenggren was a Swedish-American artist who created early concept art for the animated film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, he could be considered one of the earliest prominent concept artists and the first to work on a large production feature animated film.

Snow White and The Seven Dwarves concept art, Gustaff Tenggen, ???

Before working at Disney, Gustaff started off as an illustrator for books and newspapers, mostly going unnoticed until he was contacted to illustrate the Swedish folklore and fairy tale anthology ‘Bland tomtar och troll’; this led his art to be more recognised and as the successor of John Bauer he went on to illustrate ten volumes along with being commissioned to create 32 illustrations for Grimm’s fairy tales by a Danish publisher in 1923.  

Unknown illustration from Bland Tomtar och Troll annual, Gustaff Tenggren, ???

Winter Trolls by Candle, Gustaff Tenggern, ???

Looking into the making of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ I found that it was Gustaff’s concept art that heavily influenced the overall look and feel of the film; shifting from a cartoony style taken from the studios previous animation productions such as ‘Silly Symphony’ to a european storybook-esque style much like the fairy tales Gustaff had illustrated before.

I feel with a shift in context there was a shift in the art style and reflecting on older material played a role in this.

Research Reference: 

https://www.illustrationhistory.org/genres/moving-image-concept-art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7X8u-EjADw 

https://d23.com/they-drew-as-they-pleased-book/ 

https://www.societyillustrators.org/gustaf-tenggren

https://www.millesgarden.se/files/other/pdf/TenggrenVaggtexterUtstallningen2020Engelska.pdf

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2017/05/tenggrens-concept-art.html 

They Drew as They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney’s Golden Age: The 1930’s, Didier Ghez, Pete Doctor, 2015 

Inventober Day 2: Monster Bits

Inventober Day 1: Spellbook

 

Inventober 'Spellbook' concept sketches 

For the first day of the challenge I wanted to approach the theme of fantasy in a way that has me looking at magic from the earth and that more intune with nature, I looked at imagery and designs of wiccan spellbooks and cookbooks.

I wanted to capture that ethereal feel of wiccan imagery and for the book to look like it had be lost in a forest so i looked at old decaying books where i came across books that had mushrooms growing out of them, i thought this would be the perfect thing to reference my concept art around. 

 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Igor Siwanowicz, 2017

I used my concepts to also experiment with the positioning of the books and how this may affect how the mushrooms would grow out of the book and the different types of mushrooms I could show growing from the book. 

Another source of inspiration was an image of mushrooms releasing spores into the air; I felt this had a very magical feel so I tried to implement that into the concept.

I think for the rest of my inventober concepts I will carry on with the theme of mushrooms to see what I can create and possibly use this to influence my 4 week project with any research or imagery I come across.