[FAQ] The Concept Art department: How we work

Place where art is developed for our game.

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Myzel
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[FAQ] The Concept Art department: How we work

Post by Myzel »

A new FAQ topic, to clarify a few things that many new members seem to be confused about.


Who can contribute?

Everyone. Concept Art is one of the few areas where regular members can contribute. You don’t have to be promoted to draw stuff. Contributing artists will eventually deserve such a promotion, but since we don’t work with the same claims system used for modeling, questmaking, and regular modding, the promotion isn't required.

What kind of art can I post here?
Anything. Within our frame of work (currently Morrowind,) artists can draw anything they like, and we encourage them to. Even off-topic art is welcome in the appropriate threads, since it helps keep the forum active.

I want my art to be useful; how do I find out what you need?
We are working on Morrowind, so any useful art is related to that province. Look at the work of other artists and try to continue or improve on their work, or find something that hasn't been done yet. However, don't worry yourself too much about your concepts 'being used.' There are generally way more concepts than modelers could possibly process. Even if a concept is not modeled, it is always useful for inspiration and to help define and visualize the lands and cultures we create.

There is also a certain degree of directing going on from above. This happens mainly through the Focused Concept Group (FCG).

What is a Focused Concept Group?
The Focused Concept Groups are held within the concept art forum and are essentially assignments from modelers to artists. As always, anyone can contribute. FCG threads will stay at the top of the forum until the requests are fulfilled. Because conceptual artwork needs to help the 3D modeller to make specifically what you're thinking, clear, functional work is a must. See our [url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=15316]Concept Art Guidelines[/url] for a better understanding of 2D drawings.

What do you expect from aspiring artists?
When it comes to functional art, we have certain quality standards to make them useful for modelers. They are not really demanding though, and no artist should have a problem with them. See this thread for guidelines: [url]http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=15316[/url]

Aside from that, there is one important trait we seek in dedicated artists: independence. The FCGs don’t cover everything. In no small part this is because we often only realize we need something after someone’s made a concept of it. That’s why it’s important that an artist can work independently. To find his/her own projects, things we missed or can be improved or added to. This may be difficult at first, so it takes some dedication and persistence from the artist to really get going. However, the concept art forum is a welcoming place. We encourage artists to try it, stick around, don't be shy and don’t give up.


Added per june 2010: What does it take to get promoted for CA?

Any member who follows the above points and draws some useful concept art for us will be added to the artists group. To be promoted solely for concept art, we expect a little more from the artist though.
We want to either be blown away by awesome concepts, or a steady stream of decent and useful work over a longer period of time (3/4 months, maybe more) to make sure of the artist's dedication. This makes promotion for art harder than for, say, interiors, but it ensures that promoted artists do actually contribute something useful to the mod (hence deserving the promotion).

Any questions can always be directed to the Head of Concept Art, [url=http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=10289]Myzel[/url].
Myzel's Art gallery: [url]http://themyzel.deviantart.com/[/url]
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