VIDEO GAME CONCEPTS (TOMB RAIDER – MY LITTLE PONY)
I had to make some space in my studio. I throw a load of boxes out and one box fell apart and these spilled out. Most of this is video game work, some of it for toy companies. Mostly designs for pack covers.
Back in the late 90’s through to 2005 I worked quite heavily in the gaming industry, creating concept art for new characters or landscapes, producing layouts and designs for game packs and storyboards for the footage between gameplay. Most of what you see are A4 and A5 rough scribbles produced during the creative process. When I am working out layouts for pack covers , book covers, comic art or toy designs, I begin by producing loads of small, rough sketches.The thing is, when I start any project, I usually have loads of ideas fighting to get out and if I were to draw them up big and do a nice job on each one, it would take forever and a client would never pay for that extravagance, therefore I would loose money for not prioritising my time properly. If I begin a project by producing small, rough scribbles (thumbnails), I can get all these ideas down on paper and then decide which is worth following up and which are not. More often than not, this will be a process carried out between myself and the Art Director of the company I am working for. Then produce a 2nd design process, where I take my favourite ideas and work them up a bit tighter. Not so tight that they look finished but enough that the art director gets a much clearer idea of what the finished product will look like. number of concepts are then selected and I set about working these up to a more presentable standard..
First and foremost, I am an illustrator and a storyboard artist, I never saw my self as a designer or even wanted design work but I was asked again and again to produce concept imagery that would package a game or design a toy. Sometimes I got paid a lot of money just to push an idea as far as it would go, when often , there would be no intention of the client ever going with the more outlandish or even the coolest ideas. Often the client played safe and opted for a safe and very pedestrian design. It’s just a process that has be worked through and I can’t get too precious about my work. Have pride in it , yes, but I mustn’t lose sight of the fact that I am supplying a service.Usually, my personal favourite idea is not always the one that gets chosen, it can sometimes be the idea I last like but the client loves.
I’ve posted these for any gamers who might find this stuff interesting, and any art students who may be thinking of a career in the industry .
