Using others' concept art for portfolio pieces
polycounter lvl 14
I used to be a character modeler but have been out of the game for a long time now. I want to get going again and my first thought was to collect 2d concept art I liked, on Artstation for example, and create 3d portfolio pieces from them (as I just want to get to modeling as quickly as possible). Is it considered ok to use concept art found on Artstation, as long as you credit the concept artist?
Replies
On thing that might help would be for you to show the artist an example of your absolute best work, so that they can get an idea of what the end result might look like.
That said, an even safer bet would be to simply do fanart from established franchise, as this would market you as someone who can follow/replicate a popular art style.
But if you plan to show it in public, online or otherwise (like you print them out), best to ask permission or include artist credit.
You wanna avoid a backlash in case your source for ref is an artist with thousands of social media followers who might be confused (because of lack of attribution) or jump to conclusion that you're a design thief.
I have no problem with it, as long as credit is given where credit is do, and that it made clear what work is yours.
just giving credit is not enough.
(I did search, but the terms I wanted to search for is used in a lot of unrelated discussions, I got hundreds of hits.)
True. I mean, what better could happen than a 2D artist´s work being transferred into 3D?
Sadly I´ve seen people doing someone´s concepts without giving credit and they even did not say at all that the original design was not theirs. That sucks.
What about ... someone putting hours/weeks/months into an illustration or a design, only to see it recreated in 3d with subpar qualities and a lack of understanding of anatomy for instance ?
(the argument of "it's on the internet, therefore so be it" is of course invalid
Of course things can go fantastically well and lead to great collaborations. But the result can also be terrible.
edit: what I wanted to say: afaik 2D artists really like to see their work translated into 3D. I´ve recently used a concept and contacted the concept artist and it was very cool to ask him how he imagined several parts I was unsure about. Great fun : )
It's not only very polite and considerate, it might be the start of a great collaboration / professional relationship with the artist.
I believe all artist would greatly appreciate you took the time and reach out to ask for permission.
If you ask that also mean that they CAN decline and in that case you SHOULD comply to their request for you not to use their work. Doing otherwise would be highly unprofessional.
Obviously full credit and link to the artist page is a must.
In a few interviews I had, a common question was "what/why did you change that from the concept". If you can show that the changes you made were beneficial to the design as a whole, it will look great to art directors / leads. For example, if you're working off of a gun concept and the bullet travel doesn't make sense (mag > eject port), maybe it makes sense to change up the design slightly. When a art director asks, you can explain that in order to make the gun feel more grounded in reality and to support semi-realistic animation, the ejection port was pulled closer to the magazine. Stuff like that looks great in my opinion. This is the kind of interpretation that you will be expected to preform on a regular basis in many studio positions.
Someone used my own work recently in some huge FPS gun article. They didn't ask permission, but I couldn't care less. Free marketing for me and it enriches the community in general. As long as you're actually contributing and you're clear about who is responsible for what, and it's not commercial work, you'll be fine.