Concept Art

Concept Art Images

Age of Empires: Age of Mythology Concept Art

Posted on 26. Jun, 2011 by Jason Collins Tag: Concept Art, PC Gaming
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Age of Mythology Concept Art Medusa

An all time favourite franchise of many RTS (Real Time Strategy) game players, the Age of Empires series has spawned some classic titles, among them Age of Mythology. Featuring mythical creatures and heroes from ancient civilisations like the Atlanteans, Egyptians and Norse it had a range of fantastic characters and objects which make an excellent study of concept art.  Representing such iconic figures as gods like Zeus, creatures like Minotaurs and heroes like Bellerophon, it’s associated concept art is excellent.

These excellent pieces of early-stage concept art from Age of Mythology show pre-computerised images of some of the key mythical characters and beings in the game.  Coming right from the pen of the artists these images show some of the earliest representations available and when contrasted to the final in-game assets show a remarkable similarity as well as themes that have changed as the game develops.

Notice in particular how medusa has a much more glamourous and attractive appearance than is typical and to that which made it into the game.  The Kamos (minotaur-like creature) was selected to display because of the detail in the drawing showing how scale is determined and calculated for different characters even in the early design stages of a game’s creation.  You’ll see also the contrasting and uncertain concept designs for the minion character.

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World of Warcraft Concept Art 1

Posted on 26. Jun, 2011 by Jason Collins Tag: Concept Art, MMORPG, PC Gaming
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World of Warcraft Concept Art 1

Warcraft is the most successful 3D fantasy MMORPG and has taken the fantasy art style as it’s own and used it to great effect in creating a successful persistent world.  It’s artists have recreated in excellent detail the landscapes, venues, objects and characters of fantasy literature and has met such success that it is now the most successful fantasy online game with millions of people across the world playing it every month. It’s art style is taken from the classic fantasty literature and art, but has been taken to the next level as a fully 3D explorable world.  Blizzard has recently opened up a relatively large archive of concept art at it’s official website with warcraft concept art, starcraft concept art and diablo concept art all being shown.  The selected items in this post show some of the most iconic characters that have gone on to front the websites, boxes and marketing of World of Warcraft as well as specially selected items which demonstrate the artists’ work and method all the way back to sketchings which show important notes in the margins on how the characters or objects will be deployed.  This kind of detail and depth to the art work is just one of the reasons why this world of warcraft concept art has gone on to become the leading video game of the last few years.  In many ways, art of this quality is enjoyable in itself and framing and hanging some of the pieces wouldn’t look out of place.

See the full collection of World of Warcraft concept art by visiting the official Blizzard website.

Fallout 3 Concept Art

Posted on 26. Jun, 2011 by Jason Collins Tag: Concept Art
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Fallout 3 Concept Art 1

Fallout 3 fuses a number of art styles and concepts to create not only a memorable game and story, but a memorable art style too.  Its combination of a futuristic setting with 50′s and 60′s style locations, and it’s juxtaposition of futuristic items with the post-nuclear setting to create battered, rusty and old, but ultimately futuristic objects, creates one of the most visually interesting games to ever be released.

Bethesda has a fantastic set of Fallout 3 concept art at their official website and this post has 10 selected images to view here.  The selected images show a range of key features and themes from the game, including the power armour and image that became the lead visual for the game’s marketing and box.  Early concepts on wasteland mutated creatures which look more evil and viscious than made it into the game, especially the bramin.  In game NPC’s are shown modelled out as are a range of weapons, the Nuka Cola vending machine and a range of large in-game in the machines.  A large range of robots appear in the artwork which look largely the same as appear in the game.  Super Mutants, similar to the wasteland mutated creatures, appear more evil looking and mean that is memorable from the game and the Vault suits look basically the same, if anything with a little more detail.  The Pip Boy image shows the number of design and concept variations considered for the crucial in-game item, though apparently it was always conceived as an item on the wrist.  The final piece of art is a glorious-looking shot of some of the key areas of the game, including the ship, which sums up the post-nuclear style of much of the landscape.

View the full set of Fallout 3 concept art at the bethesda website.

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