Concept Art for Portfolio Pieces - Advice Requested
polycounter lvl 14
I aspire to be an environment artist in games. My portfolio ... it doesn't show it. Most pieces are high res models done from references requiring little conceptualizing that are years old. So why don't I have game environment pieces to show? I've come to terms with how I am not a concept artist. I don't envision great compositions, I model well from good references. It hasn't worked. I've asked similar questions before and received a few answers suggesting that I use other people's concepts to work from. Here are a few of my concerns with this:
1) Don't I need permission to do that? Is it wise to use a concept that already has been done well for a real game?
2) Most great environment paintings I've seen in my searches focus on large scale environments, settings that paint an entire world and don't really lend to a player walking through anything in terms of my copying the actual composition (which is the greater need ... I can come up with ideas that I like but can't compose them well or think of good details)
3) I asked a lighting artist at Pixar this question recently at a presentation about his portfolio. He said he always knew a lot of people of Concetart.org and DeviantArt. I wish I knew the details of what he meant. Did he commission them for illustrations? Do an art trade? I know other modelers have the same problems and I want to know how they solve them.
4) I believe my work needs to stand out from the crowd and express myself. Making models of already known objects I can find references for won't cut it. Neither will doing what everyone else is doing. I believe I can do this entirely, if I can get past this major hump.
All comments welcome. Thanks!
1) Don't I need permission to do that? Is it wise to use a concept that already has been done well for a real game?
2) Most great environment paintings I've seen in my searches focus on large scale environments, settings that paint an entire world and don't really lend to a player walking through anything in terms of my copying the actual composition (which is the greater need ... I can come up with ideas that I like but can't compose them well or think of good details)
3) I asked a lighting artist at Pixar this question recently at a presentation about his portfolio. He said he always knew a lot of people of Concetart.org and DeviantArt. I wish I knew the details of what he meant. Did he commission them for illustrations? Do an art trade? I know other modelers have the same problems and I want to know how they solve them.
4) I believe my work needs to stand out from the crowd and express myself. Making models of already known objects I can find references for won't cut it. Neither will doing what everyone else is doing. I believe I can do this entirely, if I can get past this major hump.
All comments welcome. Thanks!
Replies
The polite thing to do is to ask permission, if it is for a real game, you can't really ask for permission, but it should be okay if you just label it as fan art using concepts from the game.
I don't really understand what you are trying to say? Games often set up certain views in game to create vistas for the players that are very fixed in their composition. Halo and Uncharted do this.
I don't know what you are asking here either, he probably asked permission to use their art as reference.
If you can model an AK47 better than anyone else, it will stand out. You don't need to make unique or memorable content as long as the quality of the content is memorable. Although it would help a bit to avoid over done themes, like AK47's, Scifi hallways, etc.