Concept Art for Game Production

Concept art is the visual design work done before production: deciding what characters, environments, weapons and props look like, and documenting those decisions clearly enough that a team can build from them. It is design work with an illustration output, not illustration work with a design side effect.

Concept art typically covers:

- Exploration — thumbnails and silhouettes to settle a direction cheaply
- Refinement — the approved design resolved to production fidelity
- Documentation — orthographics, callouts, scale references, turnarounds
- Style definition — the rules an entire project follows

Characters, environments and levels, weapons, props, vehicles, and style exploration or full art bibles. Realistic and stylized, for PC, console and mobile. We work on single concepts and on complete pre-production packages.

Common requests:

- Character concepts with proportion sheets and gear breakdowns
- Environment and level concepts with modular and scale logic
- Weapon and prop concepts with orthographics and mechanical detail
- Vehicle concepts covering exteriors and interiors
- Art bibles defining the rules for an entire project

Both exist, and they are different products. A pitch image sells a direction to stakeholders. A production concept lets a modeller build without asking questions. We ask which one you need at the brief, because the scope and the price differ.

A production concept set usually includes:

- The refined design at the required fidelity
- Orthographic views and turnarounds
- Material and colour callouts
- Scale references against your existing assets
- Cross-sections where a mechanism has to work

Yes. Realistic concepts are reference-driven with accurate proportion, material behaviour and mechanical logic. Stylized concepts follow a defined shape language with readability carried by silhouette and colour. Most projects need us to match an established look rather than invent one.

The practical difference:

- Realistic — reference-heavy, plausibility matters, detail carried by form
- Stylized — simplified shapes, deliberate colour, readability at small scale
- Either way — your existing assets and art bible are the brief

Yes, and it is our most common assignment. Send your art bible or a few finished assets and we reverse-engineer the rules: proportion system, shape language, material treatment, colour logic, level of stylization. New concepts then belong to your world instead of sitting beside it.

What we ask for:

- Your art bible, if one exists
- Two or three approved concepts or finished assets
- Screenshots in your actual in-game presentation
- Any rules you have already written down, however informally

That is the standard we build to. Concepts leave us with the angles resolved, materials named and scale established — the three things that most often send a modeller back with questions. Where the design will be modelled in the round, we include turnarounds rather than a single view.

What makes a concept buildable:

- Orthographic coverage, not one flattering angle
- Explicit material callouts instead of implied surfaces
- Scale established against a known reference
- Mechanical logic that resolves rather than suggests
- Availability from the concept artist while the asset is being built

Revisions are agreed at the brief rather than left open, because unbounded revision is the most common way a concept budget disappears. We structure the process so most changes happen at the thumbnail stage, where they cost hours instead of days.

How we keep revisions contained:

- Multiple directions presented early, before detail exists
- An explicit direction lock — after it, refinement only
- Feedback consolidated per stage instead of arriving continuously

Cost is driven less by the drawing than by the scope around it: how much exploration you want, and how much production documentation the concept has to carry. A single pitch image and a fully documented modelling sheet differ by a wide margin. We quote per project after a brief.

What moves the number most:

- Pitch image versus production-ready documentation
- Concept type — prop, character, environment, vehicle
- How many directions you want explored before locking one
- Whether an art bible exists or has to be created
- Revision rounds your approval process realistically needs

Yes — extending an existing direction is usually easier than starting one, because the hardest decisions are already made. We read your bible and approved assets, deliver one calibration concept, and scale up only once that first piece matches what your team already has.

How the handover works:

- We review your art bible, approved concepts and finished assets
- One calibration concept is delivered and reviewed first
- Your naming, file structure and presentation format are adopted
- Throughput ramps only after that first piece is approved