The Big Bad World Of Concept Art For Video Games

Are you ready to begin your career as a concept artist in the video game industry but don't know where to start? The Big Bad World of Concept Art for Video Games: How to Start Your Career as a Concept Artist is book two in the Big Bad series, delving deeper into the subjects and topics explored previously in An Insider's Guide for Students. Going beyond the amateur level, this guide prepares the upcoming professional, or any other artist, for a future in the entertainment industry. Whether you are a graduating student joining the workforce, a young professional who has just broken into the job market, or even an existing professional frustrated with your current situation, receive help figuring out what comes next for a fulfilling career. Eliott Lilly is a highly sought-after concept artist with nearly a decade of experience in the video game industry. He has worked for such prominent game companies as id Software, Treyarch, and Activision. He has contributed to several popular franchises, including Rage, Doom, and Call of Duty. Also an educator, Eliott teaches introductory concept art classes to university students. With his firsthand knowledge of the ins and outs of the video game industry, Eliott Lilly is an exceptional guide who can help prepare you for the rewarding journey toward realizing your ambitions.

This is a comprehensive book that gives aspiring artists an honest, informative, and concise look at what it takes to become a concept artist in the video game industry. Author Eliott Lilly uses his own student work as a teaching tool along with personal experiences to help you on your journey. From finding the right school and getting the most out of your education, to preparing your portfolio and landing your first job, the advice and strategies Eliott offers are organized for easy reference and review. The book also features an extensive list of resources that students will find useful, as well as interviews with renowned concept artists David Levy, Sparth, Stephan Martiniere, Ben Mauro, and Farzad Varahramyan, all offering their own invaluable advice.

Game Art is a collection of breathtaking concept art and behind-the-scenes interviews from videogame developers, including major players like Square Enix, Bioware, and Ubisoft as well as independent but influential studios like Tale of Tales and Compulsion Games. Immerse yourself in fantastic artwork and explore the creative thinking behind over 40 console, mobile, and PC games. A lone independent developer on a tiny budget can create an experience as powerful and compelling as a triple-A blockbuster built by a team of 1,000. But like all works of art, every game begins with a spark of inspiration and a passion to create. Let Game Art take you on a visual journey through these beautiful worlds, as told by the minds that brought them to life.

Become a Player in the Business of Video Game Art Every year video games generate billions of dollars and some of the most dynamic and engaging artwork today. It’s an ever-growing field that holds great professional opportunity, but you need the right skills and savvy if you want to stake your claim. In How to Become a Video Game Artist, veteran video game designer Sam R. Kennedy provides the inside track on everything you need to forge a career in the world of video game art. Starting with the basics of game creation and a look at the artistic skills necessary to get started, Kennedy spotlights specific, key roles for creators—from concept artists to character animators to marketing artists and beyond. Each chapter features screenshots from popular video games like Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and World of Warcraft; interviews with video game art professionals who’ve worked for top gaming companies like BioWare, Blizzard, and Ubisoft; step-by-step examples of actual game art; and detailed breakdowns of the training and portfolio samples you’ll need to make these jobs your own. For anyone who wants to go from gamer to game designer, this book contains all the secrets you’ll need to rise to the top of one of the most exciting industries of our time.

An extensive guide to developing an exciting concept art career featuring advice and insights from top industry professionals and studios.

Design and build cutting-edge video games with help from video game expert Scott Rogers! If you want to design and build cutting-edge video games but aren’t sure where to start, then this is the book for you. Written by leading video game expert Scott Rogers, who has designed the hits Pac Man World, Maxim vs. Army of Zin, and SpongeBob Squarepants, this book is full of Rogers's wit and imaginative style that demonstrates everything you need to know about designing great video games. Features an approachable writing style that considers game designers from all levels of expertise and experience Covers the entire video game creation process, including developing marketable ideas, understanding what gamers want, working with player actions, and more Offers techniques for creating non-human characters and using the camera as a character Shares helpful insight on the business of design and how to create design documents So, put your game face on and start creating memorable, creative, and unique video games with this book!

Featuring hundreds of carefully hand-crafted illustrations by the internationally renowned production designer Hans Bacher, Sketchbook - Composition Studies for Film is a unique journey through the mind and creative process of one of the artistic legends in animation film design. Having shaped such films as The Lion King, Mulan and Beauty and the Beast to name a few, Hans's work is a part of the very cultural fabric of our age. Here the artist puts on display the rarely discussed first part of image making for film, the conceptual thumbnail. Exquisitely beautiful in themselves, these small illustrations represent the birth of what eventually becomes the iconic images we experience on the silver screen. Essential to anyone interested in understanding the skeletal structure that exists underneath stunning imagery in all forms of media, this book is especially relevant today with the dramatic increase of interest in film and game design. Although students today have ready access to and an understanding of technical aspects of the craft using associated software, the area most lacking in accessible information is this quintessential first part of thumb-nailing an image. This unique book will provide the student and professional with the fundamentals of conceptualizing images, and how these can be used in composition in the related fields of illustration, graphic novels, 2D animation, 3D animation, photography and cinematography.

"This book supports my own 30-year crusade to demonstrate that games are an art form that undeniably rivals traditional arts. It gives detailed explanations of game art techniques and their importance, while also highlighting their dependence on artistic aspects of game design and programming.” — John Romero, co-founder of id Software and CEO of Loot Drop, Inc. "Solarski’s methodology here is to show us the artistic techniques that every artist should know, and then he transposes them to the realm of video games to show how they should be used to create a far more artful gaming experience ... if I were an artist planning to do video game work, I’d have a copy of this on my shelf." — Marc Mason, Comics Waiting Room Video games are not a revolution in art history, but an evolution. Whether the medium is paper or canvas—or a computer screen—the artist’s challenge is to make something without depth seem like a window into a living, breathing world. Video game art is no different. Drawing Basics and Video Game Art is first to examine the connections between classical art and video games, enabling developers to create more expressive and varied emotional experiences in games. Artist game designer Chris Solarski gives readers a comprehensive introduction to basic and advanced drawing and design skills—light, value, color, anatomy, concept development—as well as detailed instruction for using these methods to design complex characters, worlds, and gameplay experiences. Artwork by the likes of Michelangelo, Titian, and Rubens are studied alongside AAA games like BioShock, Journey, the Mario series, and Portal 2, to demonstrate perpetual theories of depth, composition, movement, artistic anatomy, and expression. Although Drawing Basics and Video Game Art is primarily a practical reference for artists and designers working in the video games industry, it’s equally accessible for those interested to learn about gaming’s future, and potential as an artistic medium. Also available as an eBook

In the first book of this full-color fantasy graphic novel series filled with humor and hijinks, the fate of the land of Nothing hinges on Nathan and an unlikely team of magical beings to save the day—perfect for fans of Amulet and Estranged. Welcome to Nothing! Despite its name, this is a fantastic land where humans and magical volken coexist peacefully—at least they try . . . This is the tale of Nathan, an ordinary human (or so he thinks) living an ordinary life (or so he wishes). Everything changes when he meets Haven, a mysterious creature who is neither human nor volken. Oh, and the two of them are being chased by volken mercenaries—a grumpy wolf named Bardou and a delightful crow named Sina. Nathan soon learns he has mysterious powers, even though humans aren’t supposed to have magic. But there’s no time to dwell on that because this discovery sets the group on a perilous quest across windswept terrain, through haunted forests, and in ancient tombs. Nathan and his unlikely friends must prevent an impending war and defeat a dark evil to save their land. No pressure, of course. If they fail, everything will turn into, well . . . nothing.

"This book is a faithful translation of the book originally published in Japan on September 29, 2006."--Colophon.