M+E Daily

Concept art plays a crucial role in various creative industries, including film, TV and video games, according to Soumyadipta Roy, trainer at Technicolor Creative Studios Academy.

On Sept. 26, during the 12th episode of the “Learn, Create & Grow” webinar series, on “Concept Art,” Roy discussed concept art, its significance, the various types of concept art that can be created, such as character design, environment design, and prop design, as well as how they contribute to the overall creative process.

Roy also explained how design aesthetics and visual storytelling play an important role, and how to use digital tools and techniques to create concept art and to bring ideas to life.

The webinar provided viewers with guidance on selecting and presenting your works, organizing your portfolio, and tailoring it to the specific needs of the industry that you will be working in, as well as how to communicate ideas visually and bring them to life.

Introducing Roy,  Annabelle Catherine Pais, training coordinator at Technicolor Creative Studios Academy, said he has more than 13 years of industry experience. His portfolio has featured contributions to Hollywood projects including Man of Steel and Disney’s John Carter, she pointed out. Roy is also an accomplished illustrator for Stan Lee’s Chakra: The Invincible comic book, and has also “played a key role” in the Canadian TV series, Guardian’s Evolution.

“Currently, Roy collaborates with talents worldwide while overseeing the Academy graduates,” she said.

“Concept art. What is it really? What is it used for? Where do we need it? Here is the answer: Pretty much everywhere,” Roy said, noting it is used in movies, video games architecture and more.

“Teams across departments will need to know what kind of designs the director is looking for,” Roy pointed out. “How else would they know what it should look like Be it with AI, or be it with traditional methods, a design can guide teams across departments, regions [and] topics. This is why concept art is called ‘The Bible’ of movies and games.”

Concept art also cuts down on creative blocks, which he noted “hits every one of us.” One of the “most common problems in making a design is navigating a creative block,” he said, explaining a good formula is to break a project up in steps. Like, how you’re going to collect references. “Do some scribbles and, finally, polish it and you’ll see the concept starts to appear.”

The webinar followed an entry in the “Learn, Create & Grow” webinar series in August focused on rotoscoping and one in July focused on layout and previsualization (previs), which play a major role in creativity today in the world of film production.

Viewers of that 10th webinar in August were able to gain a comprehensive understanding of layout and previs concepts as Technicolor explored their definitions and their significance within various industries, including film, animation and game development, as well as their essential role in the production process.