Concept Art is a
profession that focuses on creating images to visualise a concept, idea or
design for use in media before the thing itself is put into production. It has
many different applications from film and animation to architecture and product
design and forms one of the initial stages of production. Concept Art is not as
restrictive as finished illustrations set to a one off brief as it is dealing
with raw emotions and ideas that can be adapted and developed as the project
progresses. In the concept artwork a feel for space, characters and atmosphere
must be created and stylised so that it can inform later production. Most of
what is created comes from ideas and objects that are intangible and don’t
really exist such as in fantasy art, so concept artists must find a real basis
for their work so that their work can be understood and is as realistically
accurate as possible. Some artists such as digital artist Kirsi Salonen look
back to artists such as the classical masters John Collier, Rembrandt Caspar
David Friedrich and Rubens to inspire her work1 so that the work is
informed by figurative studies and she has an established body of work to refer
back to.
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| Two Satyrs’ (1618-1619) Peter Paul Rubens, oil on wood, 76 x 66cm |
Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish painter who worked in the
Baroque style producing work with greatly exaggerated movements colour gesture
and expression. Here the shadowing on the face gives an expression of
malevolence and this is further exaggerated in the dark background and black
fur of the pelt the foreground satyr wears. The figure is powerful and dominates
the painting and with all these elements combined gives the impression of a
stereotypically ‘evil’ character. The art depicts fantastical beings which is
good reference for concept artist as a
lot of what they produce , especially in the field of game design, deals with
fantasy or imagined creatures. Concept artists also need a good knowledge of
form and anatomy which they can gain by studying the old masters.
 |
| ‘Necronom IV’ H.R Giger |
H.R Giger is known for his work on the
‘Alien’ films where he designed the ‘xenomorph’ creature using his
‘biomechanics’ style. The film producers contacting him after seeing his
‘Necronom’ series of paintings in his ‘Necronomicon’ book and knew this was the
creature they wanted. 2This style combines elements of man and
machine the organic and the mechanic coming together in an unnerving style.
‘He gives us the elements of the shark, the
spider, the scorpion, insects, worms, crocodiles, teeth, crushing limbs, wombs,
razor surfaces across and down which we slide unable to get a hand hold,
bottomless depths, malevolent eyes, the death rictus and sybaritic leer. This
man knows what we fear’2 The writer Harlan Ellison described Giger’s
style in this way to explain how Giger creates his biomechanics style and how
he takes elements of different things we fear and view as obscene, which made
his style perfect for producing a classic sci-fi horror creature such as the
Xenomorph. His work has such a definite style and uses motifs of skulls bones,
spinal cords, genitalia, feminine forms,
curves, pipes and cords that combine in industrial and repetitive compositions that are like the inside of some
living machinery.
Giger’s style has many applications in
concept art and he has also produced concepts for interior design and furniture
design.
Giger’s furniture concept designs are an
extension of his artistic practice and he sees this as a practical application ‘we
have no room for sculptures, which take up a lot of space,we try to make usable
works of art’3, this is another combination of practical and
aesthetic which fits with his ‘biomechanicism’ ideas. The chairs share the
aesthetics of his paintings and other designs incorporating skulls, spinal bone
designs and more industrial elements. The ‘Harkonnen’ chair and other furniture
was designed for the film ‘Dune’ but the project was not realised and Giger
worked with Conny deFries later to physically create the furniture. After this
it became influence for the furniture and interiors in the series of Giger Bars.
This shows how the concept was designed for a purpose and then altered and changed
to fit another one which is something concept artists must be prepared to do as
the project they are working on will change throughout production.
Concept art is not a profession that has
been taught and many digital concept artists just have to teach themselves, it
is a new profession in terms of digital applications but the artists need a
strong classical base in having strong drawing skills in areas like figure
drawing. Also because of the mainly digital platform there is not a known base
of resources and artists that can influence concept art so maybe to teach it
the knowledge and inspiration should come from the works of the classical
masters and organic real life forms.
References
1.
Kirsi Salonen
2.
Harlan Ellison
3.
HR Giger
Bibliography
Ellison Harlan . (1996). H.R. GIGER'S BIOMECHANICS INTRODUCTION (excerpt1990.Available: http://www.hrgiger.com/frame.htm. Last
accessed 8th Dec 2014.
HR Giger (2013). HR GIGER.
Cologne: Taschen. p45-60.
Salonen Kirsi. Interview with Kirsi Salonen
. Available:
http://www.itsartmag.com/features/kirsisalonen/. Last accessed 08th Dec 2014.
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