What is Concept Art?

We spoke with concept artist and artistic director Jean Fraisse to learn more about concept art

Experienced illustrator, graphic designer and concept artist, recognized for creating worlds in various audiovisual projects and video games such as Elixir, Jean Fraisse (@jbfraisse) is an art director at HuevoCartoon and teaches several courses at Domestika on stage design, character design for animation and video games, and art direction for concept art. He focuses on learning the theoretical method to define a visual style and tell a story, find memorable characters, and create incredible worlds.

That's why we decided to talk to him and clear up any doubts about concept art: what it is, what is the first known example of it in the industry, and the differences that exist with respect to illustration.

What is concept art?

It's a branch of visual art. Its purest definition is: the resolution of narrative and aesthetic problems with visual elements. In other words, concept art is the discipline that creates images and designs to respond to the different problems of a story. It would be a representation of the shape of the elements. If we are talking about a film, it would be the designs, either of characters, locations or props.

If the conceptual artist does their job well, the viewer receives the visual information as a subtext of the story, which gives depth to the world we create and provides a memorable multisensory experience.

It is a type of art that can reveal a project's potential, from the wonderful thing that is going to be seen, to the impact of its history.

What is the difference between illustration and concept art?

In itself, concept art is illustration, but its function is different. The aim of an illustration is to tell a story with characters, color, environments, and even purely stylistic resources such as lines, patterns, cut paper, etc. An illustration can work alone, or accompanied by a text as in children's literature.

A concept art does not exist alone; it is inserted in a production pipeline. It is the visual translation of a vision and serves to inform others about how things should be seen. The practice of concept art is very good for illustrators since it trains them to work with restrictions and within a collaborative machinery that brings various ideas together to improve the final result.

Where can you see it applied?

Audiovisual media require concept art to elaborate visual worlds and, in turn, their story. A lot of art is required to give the create worlds that are in tune with the story and immerse the viewer or player in the experience.

What forms can concept art take?

From a black and white sketch to a detailed color illustration, concept art can be anything. Michel Gondry was able to explain the character designs of "Around the World" by Daft Punk, with a very limited but understandable drawings, that's already concept art.

What tools are needed to make it?

A brain, a pencil, and paper. However, modern-day tools allow us to produce more sophisticated images. Technology allows us to make hyper-realistic effects and designs for movies and video games mainly. Consequently, the conceptual artist has to be familiar with 3D tools, such as Maya and ZBrush, and composition and rendering tools such as Keyshot and Nuke, to adapt to the new production standards.

What is the first known example of concept art?

The first example goes back to the first person who made a sketch, asking themselves: "How can I represent this visually?" That would probably take us to the caves of Lascaux in France. However, in more conventional terms, the oldest concept art probably came from the early days of cinema, with the sketches of Georges Méliès when he was devising the effects of the man in the moon, for example, or the drawings made by the people who designed the costume and mask of Nosferatu.

More recently, Syd Mead's concepts for the first Blade Runner film are a marvel that shows us that it only takes paper, pencil, a lot of imagination and technique to create an unforgettable world.

How did you start making concept art?

Every illustrator does it without knowing it. They need to think about what story they want to tell first, make visual tests, and finally find a solution. I started doing it professionally, and consciously, when I entered the animation industry when I was hired by Huevocartoon in 2015, but I have done it without knowing it since I started my career as an illustrator.

What is your favorite example of concept art?

In concept art, many different types of images are produced, from posed or generic character design, architectural elevation, to color script with very simplified designs... but the one I like the most, since it's the most complete exercise at a narrative level, is the keyframe.

It's the illustration that can almost resolve both the story and the aesthetic, as if it were the final images of a film because it includes camera position (cinematography), characters and backgrounds (design), as well as color and light (lighting and dev look), all in a visually attractive and emotionally powerful image.

Who can make concept art?

It requires artistic and narrative skills. The concept art artist has to have a good grasp of artistic theory and technique in order to design attractive shapes, represent them in perspective, add volume using light and textures, and know how to combine colors harmoniously. In addition, they must know how to -and want to- tell stories, understand how the language of form, color, and light helps to give an emotional emphasis to the images; and how the point of view from which the scene is shown (the cinematography and the camera angle) determines the perception of the scene.

It needs to be done by someone with a deep interest in all these branches of art. Not with natural talent, but with a lot of passion, time, and dedication.

Where do you think concept art is headed?

Concept art is a gear in a big mechanism that builds audiovisual media like movies or video games. This discipline is going to evolve with the means of production. In fact, it has already happened. When the industry went into 3D, the concept artist had to learn to integrate photographs and renders into their images.

What is going to happen with virtual reality? When will this medium reach maturity so that people will only want to consume content with VR lenses? Concept art will undergo another revolution where the artists will have to adapt to be able to continue bringing stories to the people, independently of the medium.

You may also like these courses by Jean Fraisse:

- Introduction to Design of Characters for Animation and Video Games, a course by Jean Fraisse
- Concept Art: Introduction to Set Design, a course by Jean Fraisse
- Illustration for Animation Projects and Video Games, a course by Jean Fraisse