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Concept art: Research
In the world of animated films, live action films and video games there is one element in the movie making process that helps it become a reality, this is the field of concept art. In film preproduction the film starts with a simple screen play or a written script then it is down to the concept artists in the art department, to begin visually developing the story in characters, locations, vehicles, buildings or creatures in the film. The screenplay that the concept artists receive is essentially acting as a guide for the artists to draw out whats being described to them and create it with their skills in art and what they visualise in their minds. When doing their work they work with researchers that help to supply them with the needed information for their work. This was used in many of Disney’s feature films such as Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, the Lion king, Big Hero 6, Ratatouille and Moana where they went to the locations that the films were set in to gain ideas, research and experience the environment of the location to develop the artwork for the film.
In some of these films the artists and directors alike needed to be accurate in their designs if they were doing a film based on a true story or even the historical significance of the location or story being told in the films. The research they conducted would then be used in their work and depict what they learned in their research, which some members of the films audience could recognise in the film such as how the artists captured the elements of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame or Dreamworks The Prince of Egypt based on an original story from the bible itself.
In character design in concept art the human figure is captured in a cartoon like style. This was an element that I found interesting in animated films and when looking in The Art of Big Hero 6 in the character design chapter it depicted that they studied from life drawing artwork poses and simplified them into their own style whilst maintaining the human figure as quoted from production designer Paul Felix “We’re not making a live-action film. And what animation is good at is caricature.” (Paul Felix, 2014, 76)
What I found interesting in Hans Bachers Dreamworld production design for animation is that the artists work in the influence of unique art styles “ a mixture of Orientalist paintings and the cartoony style used for Peter and the Wolf” (Hans Bacher 2008 54) This was an element used in Disney's Aladdin when painting the India landscapes for the film which were later simplified into natural animated backgrounds. There are many concept artists working on their own area in the production but ultimately worked as a team to get their work completed before the designated deadline. From watching different films from Disney and other animation companies it seemed that each film had their own unique style of art in their characters and backgrounds when fully animated the style of Disney’s animated classics was kept consistent in films such as Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid, however styles do change within a films setting such as the style used in Mulan and the style of Sleeping Beauty.
In concept art artists take their own approaches to designing the characters and are then presented to the director or supervising animator to see which would be the best design for the film or for combining designs, as Marc Davis put it “one of my duties as a supervising animator was to determine how the princess would be drawn. This involved combining the best features and suggestions of the many artists who worked on this character.” (Marc Davis 1958 ). Each artists has the right to work in their own style instead of copying another style unless they are studying from it to develop their own style. This is found in the work of Lois Van Baarle aka Loish who developed her style of art from looking at the inspirational work of manga and comic artists and working on a simple drawing program, then soon after studying animation and using photoshop developed a better understanding even remaking some of her work.
What inspired me about her work was that she followed a similar journey to me when working in digital artwork, looking at the characters and styles of others, and how she developed her style which lead to her concept artwork within doing old channel 4 documentaries.
Another example of an artist using their own style is in that of Political cartoonist, illustrator, designer and animator Gerald Searfe. In his work he communicated feelings such as mood, attitude and intentions of his work which as he would describe “ The most important thing is to build up a mood which is productive in liberating your imagination further.” (Gerald Scarfe 2006, 30) In the field of concept art artists can draw inspiration from many elements be it in landscape, paintings or feelings that they had but some sources can be derived from work that they produced at a very young age. Concept artists such as Ryan Lang an artist who worked on Disney’s Big Hero 6 illustrating the ideas, possible scenes and illustrative elements for the movie such as possible outcomes or alternative ideas for the final battle sequence or of characters that didn’t make the final production in the movie, such as how the movie originally had Yokai working with other criminals in the movie but it was later decided in the films development to have him working alone.
These concept art pieces are then moved to the development team to be used in the film and translated into the animation media that they would be using be it 3D,2D or live action movies so that the artists can see their work come together into the iconic masterpieces that we see today.
One of these films is named Klaus which is due for its debut in the very far future of the year 2019 two years from now created by Sergio Pablos who was a co creator of the animated film Despicable Me and one thing that captivated me about this article was what he thought about animated films as he said “ And, if your intention is to put something that feels hand-crafted on the screen, there’s no shorter path than starting from a hand crafted medium.” This is what describes concept art in animated films which starts with a written element to hand drawn and crafted elements to then be developed and finalised into a final film production.
Personal Response:
When I first started watching animated movies made by Disney, Pixar, Dreamwork's and Warner Bros, I have always been captivated by the art styles and cartoon like elements of the characters and the backgrounds very art and texture and since getting into the element of digital artwork I’ve long studied methods to replicate and stylise the art for my future work in animations. This research module and months spent looking in art books from films and even concept artist blogs from video games along with the concept art behind comic books, its given me a clear sight into what area of the animation industry that I would personally like to enter when the time comes.
Bibliography:
Walt Disney (1958) Disneyland-4.25-An Adventure in art [Video]
Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAl9P4T12Rs
(accessed
Baarle.V.L (2016) The Art of Loish a look behind the scenes, United Kingdom:
3dtotal publishing.
Creative skill set (undated)Concept Artist. Available from http://creativeskillset.org/job_roles/3072_concept_artist
Bacher.H (2008) Dreamworlds Production Design for Animation, USA:Elsevier Ltd.
Julius. J (2014) The Art of Big Hero 6. San Francisco: Chronicle Books: San Francisco.
Wells.P (2006) The Fundamentals of Animation,AVA Publishing SA [ebook] Available from https://www-dawsonera-com.salford.idm.oclc.org/readonline/9782940439898
Toon Boom and The SPA Studios Sign Technology Collaboration Agreement to Push the Limits of Animation, Design and Concept Art." GlobeNewswire, 19 Nov. 2015. General OneFile
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