Concept

Okay, I apologize. I know I said I was going to be discussing the topic of storyboarding, but I'm gunna hold that off a little longer because what I really want to focus on right now is the illustration part of animation. Illustration covers a lot in the business so I'll go ahead and start with concept art. Concept art was something I never looked into before I came to college, but it's a very beautiful profession not only in the film industry but video games, comic books, etc. A friend of mine is an illustration major and wants to go into concept art; her artwork is amazing so I have no doubt she'll make it there.
What does a concept artist do? Well, they create designs for specific things that do not exist yet. These things could be characters, props, or places. When the industry needs something added in the film, such as weapons for an upcoming scene, they turn to the concept designers to create the look. If, say, they were designing the weapons for a battle in outer space, then they would draw up a few cool looking space guns and show it to the director. If they were pleased with the look, then the concept artist would color, shade, and render the drawing to their pleasing and once again show it to the director. As soon as everything was set then they would send the drawing off to the modelers or animators.
A lot of concept artists use digital paint to draw up their imaginative image. A concept artists has to be very creative and imaginative to take on a job like this because they're not drawing something off of the director's specific ideas, but are drawing specific looks off a director's non descriptive words. The director could say, "We need props in this scene." What kind of props? Doesn't matter. The concept artist will create many different props that may fit into that scene until everyone is satisfied with the outcome. The same thing goes for background characters and settings.
Since I'm not focusing in illustration, I don't know much about concept artists. However, I do know is that they have to be quick on their feet and have extreme creativity. Hopefully I'll be seeing them in action soon enough. Anyone seen The Good Dinosaur yet? I haven't, but I heard it was good! I'm gunna try seeing it this weekend. Next topic: Layout!