WHAT IS CONCEPT ART & ILLUSTRATION?

A Concept Artist is a professional category that primarily exists within Entertainment Arts, i.e. art that is used in various parts of production within the entertainment industry, such as games, feature films, animated films, series, illustration, etc. A Concept Artist often works in the pre-production phase for games and films, designing and visualizing ideas (concepts) of how something should look, for example: a character, object, vehicle, creature, or environment. Concept Artists usually work completely digitally both with 2D and 3D, as part of a team in the studio but can also work freelance.

Illustration: In this industry (games and movies) the word Illustration means more elaborately painted pictures. These images can be part of a larger production in order to convey a sense of the project to a team during the course of the development, so-called ”key art”. Illustrations can also be images used for marketing purposes as promotional art, before a pitch or when the finished product, such as a game, is to be marketed. It can also mean splash art, matte painting, art for board games (card art), full-page illustrations for books, graphic novels, etc. An illustrator works freelance more often than concept artists do.

Concept Art & Illustration

Concept Art & Illustration is an artistic and professionally oriented course created for those who want to work with design and image making in the game or film industry in particular. Concept Art & Illustration consists of two academic years that you apply for separately. Year 1 is focused on developing basic artistic skills – so-called fundamentals. Year 2 is focused on working with design and image making aimed at entertainment arts. Year 2 is divided into two paths, the one called Year 2 + Portfolio is more focused on creating a portfolio with the aim of applying for work, internships or further education. Therefore it is possible to study up to three years with us if you decide to pursue both paths in Year 2.

OVERVIEW OF OUR COURSES

1. The fundamentals

Focuses on building up the basic artistic skills such as drawing, light and shadow, perspective, painting, anatomy, composition – the so-called fundamentals of art.

2. Design & Image making

Focuses on the ability to design and make concept art based on prompts, such as character design, environment design, prop design, etc. Also focuses on being able to create whole and more elaborate images from the imagination, i.e. illustrations.

2 + Portfolio Year

Focuses on creating a portfolio in order to apply for work within the entertainment arts or further vocational training.

OUR HISTORY

Our Concept Art & Illustration course was started in 2016 as a response to a gap in the educational system as we see it. An artistic course that focuses on preparing students to work within the entertainment industry rather than within fine arts had been missing in Sweden. We wanted to create an on-site art course and meeting place here in Sweden for like-minded people who are specifically interested in concept art and illustration. In 2016, we started with 15 participants and one course. Today, approximately 50 participants attend the three Concept Art & Illustration courses that we offer. There are participants from all corners of Sweden and almost all of them live in the school’s student residence. This creates a fantastic community here where the opportunity to meet so many people with a burning interest for this growing field greatly contributes to the learning experience and development of our students. Today it is still the only course of its kind in Sweden, as well as Scandinavia.

OUR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE

Our purpose with these courses is to, above all, help our students develop the best tools for realizing their visions when creating from the imagination. We believe what is needed is having a strong foundation in the fundamentals of art, something we continually focus on and are very passionate about.
We focus more on the principles behind image creation rather than on artistic mediums. We want the student to develop a comprehension of these principles and a skill base that is applicable regardless of style, technique and medium.
We also strive to offer effective learning techniques and a common language around what we do, making the image creation process more concrete and manageable. The common language is based on the technical language used in relation to the fundamentals, designing and working within the entertainment industry as a whole. This also contributes to a sense of professionalism and competence in the student.
We want to offer a solid education to our students with clear and well thought-out curriculums where each exercise builds upon the other in a logical sequence. The majors subjects and all the assignments are thoughtfully chosen and put together to maximize your learning. Many of our students have tried to study via online courses but often drown in all of the available resources. We have noticed that many have had a hard time figuring out exactly what to study, in what way and in what order. We see our curriculum as a solution to this.

WHAT DIFFERENTIATES CONCEPT ART & ILLUSTRATION AGAINST OTHER ART COURSES?

The focus of these courses is to teach you how to work with projects in the entertainment industry in which you usually don’t work with your own ideas, but more so with shaping the ideas of others. This differs from foundational courses in fine art where the aims are to develop one’s own artistic expression and shape one’s own ideas.
We have very task-oriented courses. Above all, Years 1 and 2 are very exercise-oriented with longer and shorter tasks. Before each assignment, theory is reviewed and the objectives of the assignment are clearly explained. When the assignment is complete, it is submitted digitally, even when the exercise is done in non-digital media.
We study the foundations of art in a more traditional way compared to other art courses. For example, we study perspective techniques, anatomy, drawing and the study of light and shadow with the goal of representing objects in a realistic way when we draw and paint, as opposed to a more artistic representation, as is often the goal in fine art.
We consider it of great importance that our participants become good at their craft and technically skilled as well as accomplished in their ability to design with good form language in order to successfully create strong images.
We work with both construction and observation. In many other foundation art courses you mostly work on observation in order to learn about the outside world and how to draw things. We work a lot with construction drawing, which involves drawing objects so they look 3-dimensional using simple geometric shapes. This is absolutely essential to learn when drawing from the imagination and we practice this a great deal when we draw buildings, complex objects as well as the figure.
The primary media in our courses is digital media – that is to say, we draw and paint in programs like Photoshop – however, Year 1- The Fundamentals is primarily an analog course, where we work in traditional media like pencil, charcoal and acrylic paint. Year 2 and 2+ are primarily digital painting courses including some work in 3-D programs.
Our guest teachers and lecturers are active professionals, experienced in the game and film industry as well as illustration and freelance work. Field trips that we make are centered around visiting gaming studios, fx studios, vocational schools for 3D art, concept art and animation as well as visiting art museums.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTERWARDS?

Since Concept Art & Illustration started in 2016, many of our students choose to continue their education in game development. Of those who have applied to higher vocational schools such as The Game Assemble and Futuregames, approximately 95% have been accepted on their first attempt. Many of our former students are now working in Entertainment Arts in one way or another. Several now work in the gaming industry and others have chosen to work freelance with concept art and illustration.

We have good contact with our alumni and some of them are now working at: