What People Get Wrong About Concept Art

What exactly is Concept Art? I find a lot of people misunderstand what it means to be a Concept Artist. So maybe I can clear up some things about concept art and talk about this art book a little bit as well. Is Space Battleship Yamato any good?
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Chapters:
Intro: 0:00
Some Context: 3:33
A Misunderstanding: 5:10
What Concept Art Isn't: 6:30
What Concept Art Is: 8:26
Some Bias is Involved: 12:08

[@karabii]

Thank you for making this. I was starting to feel discouraged when i glanced at my portfolio and all i saw was.... vertical slices and almost scientific illustration of how mechanisms worked. I loved making them, but i got scared because they werent illustrations.

[@ChromaMoma]

Keep it up! It's always worth it :)

[@Yamshabass]

"almost scientific illustration of how mechanisms work" is perfect for a concept art portfolio.

[@emd5492]

So to put it shortly, "concept" art is more like "process" art? Work created in the process of creating a finished work that fleshes out and figures out the mechanics of certain assets (in this case machinery, aircrafts, etc). It's a behind-the-scenes look not necessarily made me to be pretty.

[@colbyr.adamson4427]

Nope it is concept art, your using visuals to convey an idea rather than tell a story the way illustrations do. Concept art is more about design of worlds or things, etc.

[@None38389]

Concept art is basically pre-production blueprints for creating the assets needed for production, it could be anything depending on what the production needs. The core objective of concept art is problem solving. Making things looks pretty is nice but not essential, however it is essential to make things read clearly and easy to understand since they are blueprints.

[@nicsos]

@@colbyr.adamson4427 Illustrations and mood pieces are often made during the blue sky and preproduction phases of a pipeline.

[@royalecrafts6252]

concept art = using art methods to convey a design / idea which can be palpable or not

[@xandercorp6175]

"Reference Art" probably comes closest to describing its function exactly and without embellishment.

[@bemlok]

The problem is that a lot of people think that art has to have perfect rendering, needs to be pretty, but it doesn't. I can make an art with a super realistic face but not rendered body, still art. Other thing is, technical drawing IS ART. Publicity illustration for example still art. Is technical, you have a clear objective, and still art. Concept art is to make the art of the concept, the art of the idea. If is going to be detailed or not, it depends of the objective.

[@crowofcainhurst]

I think the idea of concept art between westren and japan is kinda different. Whenever I buy a concept art book of westren games it's always just pages and pages of fully rederred hyper realistic illustration with so little text to explain what's going on in the design. While the japanese game concept art book always just full of sketches and drafts and bunch of texts that explain the idea behind the design.

[@OhSick_]

this is honestly so true, I have all of the Miyazaki art books and they personally take you through every thought process from character design to how they integrate 3D effects into the animation and you learn so much more from it - i know this happened a year ago soz :/

[@MM-dw5ir]

The only art book I have is the The Illustrated World of Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve and Jeremy Levitt. The series is all about giant moving cities, and there’s a looot of machinery, huge cities, and science fiction-y illustrations and concepts, as well as characters!

[@NM-wd7kx]

I loved the books, I recommend the first half of the film if you haven't seen it.

[@perevision]

Half my books are artbooks hahaha. But being in production and illustration I do need to get a good handle on my settings and characters before drawing the story, so I’m grateful there are so many masters to learn from! My favourite concept art books are Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind and Mad Max Fury Road - it’s amazing when the director is the one drawing the majority of the concept art because their vision is so clear. Miyazaki and Miller do beautiful machines that look like they’ve really seen some use. The Lord of the Rings artbooks are also wonderful because the main concept artists Alan Lee and John Howe have had a lifetime as professional fantasy illustrators, so the way they approach the work is so different from most artists in the industry. James Gurney’s Color and Light and Imaginative Realism are basically bibles for me. My favourite non-concept art book is Joseph Cornell: Wanderlust because the shadow boxes full of fantastic things make my imagination go crazy. Sorry for the long answer but this is kind of my passion! I loved the original Yamato series and didn’t know there was a remake, so thank you for sharing this great book with us!

[@denyspohomii8291]

It may sound ridiculous. But these drawings have so much common with architectural sketches. All in this book serves the main purpose - explain to others (and even to yourself) how things should work. From space as a whole to bolts and knots in the end. As a person who studied in architecture school I'm really surprised to see such similarities. This reminds me of the days where we made tons of pencil drawings and talked to each other not with words but with ideas. Yes, you are right, it's pure design.

[@uhhwhateverdude9463]

Exactly! I was thinking this is basically design! Which is found in so many fields like automotive, aerospace, everyday products.

[@meirosama]

Concept art is what its called concept, its a attempt of visualizing a idea onto paper or the screen.

[@mf--]

Star Wars Art Ralph McQuarie is among the best (big wide hardcovers with two volumes with around 800 total pages of his art). So much of the artworks are sketches working out the problems before moving to more rendered illustrations that prop, set, lighting, and costume designers would use later in production. Probably the most undermentioned part is how much work does not get on screen.

[@enrikwolf8875]

It's like you read my mind then you post a video I've been researching on this for a couple of days and you conveniently post the video on the topic

[@Reefflux]

Wow that artbook is beautiful! My favourite artbooks currently are the splatoon ones, partly because the aesthetics of splatoon really speak to me, but also because there's a lot of character design, and finalised designs for all the different gear in detail you don't see in game. They're also SUPER CHUNKY books which is fun.

[@MilesanVictor]

As a working designer and concept artist I see a shift in the younger and less experienced generation. Concept, storyboard or a wireframe that was more than sufficient 5-10 years ago to start a production, now is not enough. Instead I'm asked to do full renders and illustrations (still called concepts). It seems to me that due to the cultural changes and sort of symbol illiteracy people stop to understand visual/logical shortcuts and arches (ie. in my last task arrows on schematic did not explain the movement despite being an exact motion path, with exact text description. And only animated asset made it go through).

[@Isabel-lc4hl]

I have 4 art books I think my favorite is still the ” Spider-Man into the spiderverse Art of the movie” it was such an epic piece

[@gracie_l_lee]

I’ve never got an art book, I’ve always wanted to, but I never know what one to get

[@rockystanding]

The one he has looked really cool. I am thinking about buying " Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life"

[@yeeoze]

howls moving castle art book!!! i havent been all the way through it but i find it delightful

[@weeshaakh]

I have always found myself moving towards turning my sketches into illustrations before giving it multiple revisions. For the past few days I’ve been trying hard to break away from that habit and this video was really helpful.

[@ryufromleupus]

My favourite art book is The Art of Howl's Moving Castle! Mainly because I love how much fleshed out the mechanical parts of the castle was in the book and the combination of watercolour and pencil was so effectively communicating the ideas but at the same time really vibrant to look at. For a more character design heavy one, I liked the Guilty Gear (2000-2004) Collection and Gadgetry-Miwa Shirow Character Archives! I'm a pretty japanese leaning since i grew up with a lot of illustrators from there but please check them out if you can!

[@KanashiAtisuto]

Love this, thank you 😭 Perfectly shows why I've always loved concept art so much (more) 🔥 I definitely got fooled into thinking concept art was pretty (digital) paintings etc. as a teenager which ultimately really affected how I viewed my art & myself as an artist. Whether it was my own drawings or at school: I always much prefered the idea design process over making an illustration. Even when I watch videos or look at art online or in books, the concepts speak much more to me than the "pretty drawings". Your words here encourage me to stick to what I enjoy & not try & bend myself just because "generally", "full" illustrations, sculpts, costumes etc. are considered "better" & I guess "harder" to do. Each piece has its place & is valuable 💕 I have two "Art of" books: one from the game with my favourite costume designs, Horizon Zero Dawn & the other from my favourite game, God of War- I freaking love how they got to the Valkyries' designs 💙

[@pixelcat4187]

i want to thank you for this video, you examining and voicing your thoughts really unclogged my brain about concept art and gave me back some of my drive about creating keep doing what your doing man, and thanks again

[@dareimagine7219]

Starblazers, which was the American English dub version of Space Battleship Yamato, was the first anime I was introduced to way back in the 1980s. It had/had the very best theme song of any cartoon.

[@divinesolstice3744]

My favorite art book is "The Drawings of Henrich Kley" I love sketchy rough looking art. looove seeing the process more than the finished piece most of the time. love line art.

[@ChromaMoma]

Thanks for sharing!!

[@blakecharlessims]

excellent audio mixing on this video! Really enjoyed it :))

[@TurtleTreehouse]

An excellent overview of the topic/what concept art really is! Very well articulated 👍

[@stella-hg7gl]

thank you for this insightful video !! i love ur channel :)

[@xample6642]

the best videos are thw ones that you can watch over 2 days and still know what is going on. well this is one of those

[@_curcan1109]

amazing video, i've been a fan of SBBY 2199 for years and i might have to burn some savings to get these books myself, its really cool to see all the intricate detail and toughts behind the workings of things that only get background apperances or less than a minute of screentime. also regarding some of the things you mentioned, 2199 is a remake of the original TV series, it has 26 episodes, and there is a spin-off movie (oddesy of the star voyaging ark), a compillation movie, and at sequel series (2202), and yes, it is worth we watch

[@rasamasala]

Great video! Whenever people ask me what I'm studying to be, I always tell them that I'm studying Entertainment Design--the creation of conceptual designs for TV, Video Games, and Movies. It gets the point across fairly well and its not misidentifying them.

[@sublis939]

The way I described ‘concept art’ was by saying it was the ideas before the final piece.

[@davidradecky5399]

The art of Star Wars is pretty much what got me into being an artist. Weather its illustration, concept art, comic art, painting and print making, graphic design etc etc it all has one thing in common and that is its visual communication. Put me in a studio and I can put on all hats and do all roles of different types of artists. It was the art of Ralph McQuarrie which got me into being an artist.

[@patrickbell3481]

Thx fr learnt alot

[@wakeful1710]

Haven’t seen it gotta see it now!

[@Zino_blade]

My favorite Artbook gotta be the "Neon Genesis Evangelion TV animation production art collection" It is a lot like the book you showed of, just with a lot more character Art. 127 pages of character art, 103 pages about the evas and the angels, 160 pages about the mechanic and locations and the last 30 pages only focusing on the movie.

[@zuzu.soltys]

Why do I feel like concept artists are underrated???

[@violetta2964]

I think so too. They are underrated.

[@wmurd]

In a what universe

[@royalecrafts6252]

it is underrated

[@Ali-rl2up]

They’re not.. it’s overrated

[@Ali-rl2up]

Everything is conceptually driven in art now…. You can’t just draw something you like and then promote that…. There has to be a concept behind it for why you chose to draw it… like a story behind it ….

[@satellachannel6423]

My fav artbook is the Rockman Zero artbook, but it's totally one of those pretty "final artworks" collection. The layout and colors are super nice!

[@jessicapatchett6161]

Very informative video! Thank you. My favorite “art of” book is the Art of Tangled.

[@tiagopintoart]

I love those, Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Metropolis and Steamboy have really great technical design, as well as Evangelion.

[@legomyego420]

I recently bought some of Takato Yamamoto's books. Their line work is so detailed also the books feel/look expensive that it makes me too afraid to carry them around.

[@dickieohanovici6919]

Hey man, cool video as always. My favourite artbooks are "The Art of Ooo" and "The Illustrated Star Wars Universe" by Ralph McQuarrie and Kevin Anderson. I found the latter in our public library many years ago and it immediately had me hooked on the art.

[@gracie_l_lee]

I really want the art of ooo but they’re out of print and cost like $500! It looks so cool!!

[@dickieohanovici6919]

@@gracie_l_lee woah when I picked it up it was around 25 bcuks. That's insane!

[@Roman-ey3yi]

I really like non fiction illustrated plates like those in the osprey series of books.

[@soupbonep]

This makes me think of the time I saw an exhibition of Edward Hopper and they had his sketchbook on display and there were sketches of the paintings in the exhibit. The sketches were the concept. People use the term thumbnail or framework to talk about the same thing, but like you said, when the word "art" is used, people interpret it different.

[@jasonpoon3345]

Its like what one of my professor said to me in fashion school, "You're solving problems more than just making pretty clothes. Thats where the money is."

[@Mangoekaki]

As I’ve gotten further into my career, I’ve started noticing the difference between concept art vs marketing art as well…which in turn made me kinda sad when I pick up an Art Of book of a favorite movie because I Want to see those messy sketchy ideations in hopes of getting inspired by and maybe also adopting some of those ideas into my own work. Love your videos btw I’ve been on a marathon while doing work to keep me sane 😂

[@MansourAliz1]

i was looking for the meaning of concept art for month, and keep telling me it is not the idea and how it can feet in the story.. it is the story a sifi story. i was thinking i will never make it become my drawing sucks, but thank to you. also thanks for showing this lovely book. I may buy one

[@inklinedecline]

Alright this is the thing and please never forget about it. As a concept artist you're paid to come up with novelty solutions to problems. That's. It. What happens is drawing and painting are the best way to transmit the solutions on your head to other people. This is how you sell your vision. You don't do artsy pictures most of the time, you illustrate your ideas and get paid for it. The more skilled you are, the more accurate you can be at transmitting your vision. The problem is when people get super skilled, but have little to actually transmit. That's the situation the industry is facing right now TBH. Many (not all, mind you) newcomers don't read books, don't know anything about science nor history, etc. No research at all. No hunger for knowledge. All those topics are fuel for ideas and if you skip them then I'm afraid you have less CONCEPT ideas to provide. To do concept art you have to be inquisitive and absolutely must love researching subjects. The video is absolutely right so listen to that guy. Also, let me know if you have any questions. I know how hard this whole business is at the beginning of your career. Good luck guys. It's a jungle out there.

[@elteho51]

My favorite artbook is "the arrival" by shaun tan

[@salrachel5349]

that was so nice :')

[@ErickShocks]

Studio Ghibli's artbooks are amazing! Currently I only have the Art of my Neighbor Totoro, but I really like it since it has from concept art made by Miyazaki himself to finished background paintings (which are infamously beautiful xD) plus some insights of what the production of the movie was like

[@fr_01]

i bought the How to draw SF Mecha Leiji Matsumoto Katsumi Itabashi Art Book and the line work is amazing the digital painting and the interior props of the spacship are very detailed. the book contains perspective knowledge explained in order to create one of the coolest space ships and mechanical parts

[@PemaMendez990]

"concept art is making reference for the next guy" I love this. Always knew it was defined as "figuring stuff out" but never thought of it this way, hence I would get sucked into the technicalities/making everything pretty rather than well, figuring stuff out. good stuff.

[@schonkigplavuis8850]

I've worked as an intern in a gamecompany. Let me tell you honestly, concept art is one of the hardest stuff to do. There are no general guides out there, just a few tips. It's just you and your raw imaginative prowess. Where an intern can be MUCH better than the lead artist. Lots of people are too cocky in their design and not experimental enough. I got promoted to do both the concept art and the 2D and 2D animation pipiline. It was tough, but the actual making part was easy. Just DOING stuff that was planned out and everything i didn't knew, i could just youtube.

[@jablesek450]

I found this quite interesting for the sole fact that I didn't realise that there was this misconception to begin with. I'm not an artist and can't draw to save life but I've always thought of concept art books as original design ideas and had never even considered that anyone would think differently. Maybe it's my lack of immersion in an artist's world that brought me to this conclusion as the only concept art books I own are for games I've really enjoyed that show a lot of pre production designs and cut content ideas

[@kotonakaishi]

Did you always have earrings?? My favorite art books that I have are both the Slam Dunk art books, Noko’s Inn, and both Old Xian art books. They’re all quite different from each other, but I like using them as reference for practice and just overall enjoyment. I do have other art books as well, mainly anime ones, but they’re always nice to have 😀

[@yenshuliao1524]

The Art of Epic is the closest to concept art for an animated film as I have seen. Love that one

[@TheBlackCatCompany]

wow what a awesome artbook. I was just wondering how do you record your overhead shots ?

[@KarelChytilArt]

You are right

[@savagefoxdesigns6692]

In a nutshell concept art is basically sketching engineering blueprints for the rest of the production team to use as a base for the finished product.

[@h7aunos]

I’m gonna use concept design or something similar more often as a word. The ‘art’ part does corrupt what people see it, yeah. It’s supposed to be a concept. Not a finished piece. It’s a sketch for something bigger.

[@helpimrebelling]

This kinda blew my mind

[@WonderfulArgos]

Idea design for sure

[@AndreasWilfer]

I only have one "Art of" book: The Art of Makoto Shinkai ~a sky longing for memories~ It's not so much concept art/design, but it's very informative and inspiring nonetheless.

[@SeaSerpentLevi]

Lets goooo

[@kaioforte8761]

I came to this video thinking "maybe I misunderstood and concept art is not really what I wanna work on" and left thinking "oh, no, yes, that's literally exactly what I wanna work on"

[@lovingtruth8157]

MA.K anything MA.K hands down the dopest shit you will ever see. Yokoyama San's art and models all the way.

[@Azami0001]

I always thought of concept art as conceptualizing an idea or topic or style of what the finished product is supposed to look like.

[@Snowmouse]

My favourite art book is probably the art of Rogue One. It’s kind of a weird choice, hell, Rogue One is a movie that tons of people like and tons of people don’t, but I just really like that book. It was the first art book I ever got so I’m probably a little biased, but I just love the gritty aesthetics of rebellion era Star Wars. It felt really neat to see a lot of Star Wars fans revisiting an era of the franchise that is so beloved and was so important to them in the past, but now as the artists and designers themselves. The mechanics of designing new things for a pre-existing universe are so interesting and it was also very cool to learn about the design requirements for designing ships and what things they referenced for certain designs and settings, like for example Second World War occupied France. Dude, I have no idea if any of that made any sense

[@karmendog5891]

♥️

[@lastnightat218amiateachees9]

Not gonna lie I like this kind of more line drawing or simple sketches over full colour cover art.

[@juangalton999]

There's a really good book for the concept art for thw original LOTR trilogy. Some really neat variations on character design and structures we never see in the movies.

[@bakemono4927]

I can totally see myself being a concept artist. I've always been more interested in the "figuring out" part of my drawings. Of course I want them to look good, but what would be a cool design for a character? etc.

[@thejakobistable]

Any similiar recommendations of concept art books that showcase a lot of the art?

[@KRUSH-R]

you can find a huge amount of "the art of" books about a bunch of different franchises on Amazon

[@Lucas-tg6jz]

I recommend the art of metal gear solid I-IV, because you got two big books in there, one for marketing and illustrations art, and the other is just pure studio works, only with lineart like this one !

[@stratovolcano7813]

My favourite artbook is assassins creed valhalla, I can’t paint like that but I sure appreciate the pretty pictures. I love their backgrounds and the concepts for female eivor.

[@vaishali0.o252]

I like redrawing manga panels and I copy a lot, I try my best to recreat the exact drawing or painting I see with the available material I have and I'm pretty proud of how they turn out in the end hehe :3

[@addictstatic]

My favorite art book is The art of drawing women by Terry Moore. He is an independent comic creator tgat started his career with Strangers In Paradise and the book itself delves in how to capture emotion and yet make it timeless like Katchoo and Francine.

[@Nightfire99201]

This was my first introduction to anime as a kid way back in the late 70s early 80s when Space Battleship Yamato was known in the US as Starblazers. God I loved that show as a 6 year old and now I am 48.

[@azatshakenov195]

My favourite is Ichigo Mashimaro anime's art book, because i never saw so much content made for simple slice of life comedy anime as in this art book. There are pretty much every territory has it's own biews from above, from the sides and there are a looot of clothes and also something like emotion character sheets made for nearly every episode.

[@brendanknight9821]

You'd love the art of Metal Gear then! Nice video.

[@YoshiyaMakina]

My technical drawings are abundant with thorough research, journalism, and applied engineering to the point that my works can't be called "art" anymore but rather a sort of innovation. So basically, thesis plays a vital role in my designs. 50% of my portfolio are writings and the other 50% are drawings.

[@sylvestercracker1355]

have you ever tried the rotring rapidograph? I have the rapidograph for half a year or so and i just got curious about your opinion...

[@hiro702]

art of book c:

[@E2KTE]

I enjoy the "Soulsborne" art books the most. Dark Souls 1, 3, Bloodborne. Also, DmC: Devil May Cry has an amazing art book as well.

[@carlkligerman1981]

Art book envy is real and the bane of my financial existence.

[@sickbreast]

My favourite artbook is Art of Halo 4, many design of spaceships, Spartans, Enviro, really love especially landscapes of Requiem planet. A lot works of Sparth, Robogabo etc Thanks for this video, it's good to know how concept art really is. It's not making beatifull illustrations, it's solving problems.

[@Sky_TEC_Illustraition_Systems]

Drawing Cutting Edge Comics "Went everywhere with that one" And the Overwatch Artbook For the Gesturing. (Edit) Oh! & The Dark Knite by David Finch Unwrapped. The pencils in this thing. smh. 😳Man. Coincidentally this too went outta print almost a year after I bought it.

[@danielrosas653]

a favorite artbook does says a lot about an artist but... here in mexico artbooks costing a week worth of meals... the only thing that says a bout me its that im poor jajaja but srsly tho, my favorite would be "The art of invader zim" it´s just a beautiful compilation of early sketches and illustracions. tottally worth not eating for a week.

[@valeriofiorettiart]

Try to watch the Rebuild of Evangelion artbook, expecially the second book of 2.22 film

[@satellachannel6423]

I am wondering what concept art look like for characters and creatures? Is that various tries on the same concept? Is the name concept art even right for character design?

[@Aryan-yg2qq]

Concept idea design art. Understood.

[@tabuena.fineart]

interesting

[@uhhwhateverdude9463]

Ever thought of becoming an Aerospace Engineer?!

[@peacefulcreativity444]

i really love the concept/bonus art that can be unlocked on the video game fahrenheit: indigo prophecy.

[@men_del12]

I think I watch too much TwoSet that I thought you're Brett

[@surfmora]

This video made me subscribe to you.

[@dareimagine7219]

Transformers: A Visual History by Jim Sorensen is a fantastic book of nothing but pictures.

[@pancho5209]

Buen video hermano que te digo XD

[@trinityclay8732]

My favorite art book is probably the art of Princess Mononoke or the Art of Adventure time!!

[@ChromaMoma]

Yes! I love the art of Ooo

[@alizhear9014]

In more clear way Concept art is the art of represent an a idea in visual way, this visual way must be feed the mind of the Animator, Developer... to produce the idea in final form.

[@ferretart]

I find it funny that literally every concept artist always brings up the "what is concept art" topic and has to say, in a nutshell, it's not illustration or the pretty paintings you see on Artstation (or at least that only takes up a small amount of the work) and still, Concept Artists will seemingly forever have to explain this 😂And yeah, a lot of artists just refer to it as concept design, or I think even more accurately, "Problem solving" because that's what it really is. Okay we need a way for the character/player to travel, that's a problem, here are solutions, what do they wear? That's a problem, here's a solution. And that does include the prettier stuff like marketing art because that can help solve problems like "what will it look like in game/the show/movie or what's the mood" etc, but that's like 10% of the overall work, or less and usually only dealt with by more senior artists (obviously depends on the production, how many artists they have, the level of each artist etc)

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

never, ever heard of this...so there

[@valenzuelabasurtoalec6585]

yeiiii

[@Fxnarji]

does anyone know the ISBN of the book?