Concept Art Services for Games

Looking for the concept art? Our team works with various graphics styles and game settings. Having a wide range of skills, diverse experience, and a distributed team of specialists in different styles, our concept art services cover most of the existing requests for game graphics development. An in-house concept art outsourcing studio will lay a strong visual foundation for your project.

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What we do

We create game concept art, promotional assets, motion graphics, mobile, desktop and non-digital projects. And produce concept art for mobile games: iOS and Android, concept art for video games including PC, Mac, Apple TV and various consoles, as well as illustration and concept art for board games.

Concept art services at every step of the game production pipeline

A wide range of game assets including characters, environments, game objects (buildings, land, water or air transport, other small and large objects) require detailed development at the early stages of a game project. As a rule, concept art is a step in the game pipeline that is necessary for the initial visualization of game assets, building a visual story, style and combining everything into a single visual setting. At this stage, the team of video game concept artists of Fgfactory performs all the necessary work on branding, creating moodboards, and developing a visual style for game assets.

  • Characters

    We create game character concept art consequently allowing it to be 2d rendered or 3d modeled. Depending on project requirements, our artist team creates characters of various styles including realistic, cartoon, casual etc. If a character is animated then we create game character concept art for face emotions, poses and movements like idle, walk, run, jump, attack etc.

    Game character concept art creation
  • Environments

    Environment concept art is useful for 3d or 2d games that are built in big worlds, locations, areas where players explore the game, locate new objects, connect with other players and always engage with the game. Concept art and game design are performed in parallel at this stage.

    Game Environment Concept Art Design
  • Other assets

    Most of our projects require the creation of concept art for games and for various objects filling the game world, game vehicles, buildings and other objects. Such work always involves creating many small details that are often not visible to users, but play an important role in forming the integrity of the gameplay.

    Game Assets Concept Design
  • Illustrations

    Our concept art studio performs style search and concept art for static in-game images that are used for game loading, menu screens, in-game shop promotions and sales. Also static illustrations are designed for game advertising and promotion in markets.

    Concept Art for Static In-game Images

Design Tools

Fgfactory video game concept artists use a wide range of tools, software and techniques in the process of creating visual content for game projects. The main software used to develop concept art includes Photoshop and Illustrator for 2D concept art, Substance for developing textures for 3D models and XD and Figma software for developing concepts for in-game interfaces.

ILLUSTRATOR
ILLUSTRATOR
PHOTOSHOP
PHOTOSHOP
SUBSTANCE
SUBSTANCE
XD
XD
FIGMA
FIGMA

Defining the Concept Art Style of a Game

To determine the style of graphics and visually describe how the game will look in the future, it is necessary to develop concept art of the main game elements and compose them into a single gameplay concept. The more game elements that are drawn during the visual style definition stage, put together, or tested in the game engine, the clearer the final goal will be.

Character concept art from idea to finalized concepts

In most of our projects we provide concept art services as the initial stage of graphics development. This is done to finalize the graphic style, agree on requirements, understand the deadlines for implementation and the necessary team to create the target graphic style. Whether it's casual graphics, semi-realism or realistic gaming experiences, concept art is always an integral part of the process.

Concept Art Services for Game Projects

Illustration concept art for various game purposes

We create concept art of game illustrations for various purposes, from static game locations and background illustrations of game levels, to images for key art, game screenshots and other promotional materials. Depending on the final game graphics, 2D or 3D, the approved concept art illustrations are either rendered in 2D to the final state, or created as 3D models for integration into the game engine.

Illustration Concept Art for Various Game Purposes

Props and other assets concept art

We create concept art of game illustrations for various purposes, from static game locations and background illustrations of game levels, to images for key art, game screenshots and other promotional materials. Depending on the final game graphics, 2D or 3D, the approved concept art illustrations are either rendered in 2D to the final state, or created as 3D models for integration into the game engine.

Props and other Assets Concept Art design

Who’s involved in concept art creation pipelines

When starting work on concept art, the project team includes specialists to solve all the necessary tasks related to the development of the game concept. In addition to the Concept Artist, the Game Designer, Art Lead, and Project Manager are involved in the process. Coordinated work solves the problems of developing a visual style, combining the visual style with the game concept and details of the game design. Fgfactory concept art outsourcing studio cares about the high quality of concept art and compliance with project deadlines, so the Art Lead and Project Manager are also involved in the process.

Concept Artist

A concept artist specializes in designing the basic vision of a game. By laying the foundation for the visual style, the concept artist determines the vector of development of the graphic component.

The team of concept artists at Fgfactory has deep expertise in developing various game assets including characters, environments, objects of content, and also concept art for static illustrations and key art.

Game Designer

A game designer works on the gameplay and semantic concept of the in-game world. Therefore, the participation of a game designer in the concept art team is often extremely important.

For example, game locations should be interesting and passable, while the difficulty of passing should be controllable. Here, the game designer tells the concept artists how and what should be planned in the game levels. The same applies to other components of the game.

Art Lead

Art Lead participates in every project where game graphics are developed. Participating in the development pipeline from the very beginning to the completion of the project, the Art Lead supervises the work of game concept artists, monitors the quality of work, makes adjustments, and approves the final results.

Art Lead at Fgfactory is an experienced specialist who has broad expertise in working with various types of projects, many graphic styles and various working conditions.

Project Manager

Each project in Fgfactory is carried out with the participation of a manager who helps the internal team and the client to synchronize the work process to achieve the necessary results at the proper level and within the agreed time frame.

The project manager is the client's assistant in communicating his tasks and goals to the team on the one hand, and the beacon of the project team to move in the right direction on the other hand.

Case Studies

Featured Cases

The Fgfactory team of artists, together with the art director, always looks for an individual approach to each project. This creates a unique graphic experience, memorable images and delicious graphic content. Some of them are mentioned below:

Assets design for a mobile game with a huge in-game world - NFT Islands

Multiple concept art works done for the NFT Islands game where our team designed characters, environments, buildings, weapons and armors, and other props.

In addition to the in-game concept art, our design team created 10,000 character designs for NFT assets, which were first designed piecemeal and then generated using our own asset generation software.

CHECK THE CASE STUDY

Concept art for a desktop 3d racing game - Racer Club

To create the game world in the racing metaverse, the Fgfactory team created concept art for game assets - game environments, characters, racing cars and other objects filling the game world.

In addition, Fgfactory was responsible for the full cycle of game development, starting from game design and development of 3D and 2D game assets, ending with the development of a game engine based on Unreal Engine, a multiplayer for online racing and a server for storing and exchanging data.

CHECK THE CASE STUDY

Characters and open-world environment concept art - I'm Jesus Christ

Working on a huge game project based on the wanderings of Jesus Christ around the Sea of ​​Galilee, the Fgfactory team created a huge open world and filled it with villages, events, characters and a diverse landscape.

Fgfactory concept artists created images of the main characters, secondary characters and NPCs, and also developed concept art for the landscape, which was later created in 3D and integrated into the Unity engine.

CHECK THE CASE STUDY

Concept Art Case Studies

In most of our projects we do concept art as the initial stage of graphics development. This is done to finalize the graphic style, agree on requirements, understand the deadlines for implementation and the necessary team to create the target graphic style. Whether it's casual graphics, semi-realism or realistic gaming experiences, concept art is always an integral part of the process.

VIEW MORE CASE STUDIES

What our clients say

When creating projects for businesses in various niches, concept art is a key stage in creating the visual style of most projects. We are happy to share feedback from companies we have helped with their projects, including those related to concept art design.

CMO at
IT / Digital Marketing Company
Metidia
Oswald Bernard
Co-Founder, Metidia

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    How we design concept art for 2d and 3d games

    Our team of 2d artists covers major areas of concept art design creating ideas for game characters, environments, illustrations, pros, storyboards and more for further 2d and 3d art production.

    High level concept art

    Starting with high-level concept art, the Fgfactory team of artists forms the general concept of the visual style of the game project. We form moodboards using the provided art references and prepare initial drafts based on them. As a rule, 2-3 different options are prepared to choose the vector of further movement. After which further development of the selected option takes place.

    Scenes concept art

    Further development of game scenes, locations and levels is based on the chosen style, type of graphics (2D or 3D) and game mechanics. Concept artists together with game designers are engaged in the development of the game world, creating a visual story based on technical requirements and details of game design documentation.

    Props and other details concept art

    During the entire development stage of game graphics, small objects and details can be refined, as their necessity for filling the game world can appear and be adjusted in the process of work. For example, to improve the level design, it may be necessary to create a new set of props or other objects.

    Resources

    Latest from the blog

    Check out the latest news and reviews on the topic of concept art. We also regularly publish our case studies and tips on working with concept art. In addition, our blog has a lot of useful basic information about design, creating characters and environments, visual styles and other topics related to creating concept art.

    Concept Art FAQ

    Here we have collected the basic things that interest everyone who encounters the topic of creating game art. Check out even more useful information about concept art. If you still have questions, just write to us!

    Video game concept art is the visual representation of ideas and elements that define the overall look and feel of a video game. It includes sketches, illustrations, and digital paintings that depict characters, environments, props, and other key elements of the game world. Concept artists use their creativity and imagination to bring concepts to life, exploring different designs, styles, and compositions to convey the game's themes, atmosphere, and gameplay mechanics.

    Game concept art serves as a guide for the development team, providing a holistic view of the game's visual direction and helping to align the team's vision with the project goals.
    Concept art for games is a complex task and a large stage in most game projects. The game often contains various assets including characters, environments, game backgrounds, props and other objects. Thus, in order to perform game concept art, it is necessary to understand the full list of game assets, form the time of work for each of them, and plan the sequence of their creation - from larger and high-level parts to smaller ones.

    Concept art of game characters is the formation of the visual style of living objects in the game, which are usually points of attraction for users. Therefore, when developing characters, in addition to stylization, their character, emotions, poses and other components are created.

    Concept art of game environments includes the design of the game world, the locations in which the user finds in the game. Synchronization and joint work of concept artists with game designers is important here. Since the visualization of the game world depends on the level design, and directly affects the game balance.

    Other objects in the game are usually the filling of the game world and gameplay. Most additional objects only indirectly affect the gameplay and are created to fill the game world with a lot of details, variety and points of interest. However, props and other objects can also affect the gameplay. Here again, close interaction between the concept artist team and game designers is necessary to fill the objects with meaning, as well as their correct use in the gameplay.

    Other components of the game, such as key art, background images and other static illustrations also require the work of concept artists. These assets complement the game, adding more attractiveness to potential users.
    Developing video game concept art saves project resources: budget and time. If a game project contains a lot of graphics, especially 3D, which takes a lot of time to create, it is necessary to make concept art for future assets at the initial stages of development.

    Visualization of the game world, even in the form of drafts, gives an understanding of the chosen style and allows you to make adjustments at the initial stages of the project plan. 2D concept art is created and adjusted faster than final 2D renders or 3D models. Therefore, in case of errors, inconsistencies or other problems, 2D drafts can be changed, redone, corrected or finalized faster.

    However, the fundamental task of concept art is to build a visual style for the game. By making concept art for a game project, the development team puts together a visual puzzle and forms a vision. Therefore, it is extremely important to take care of high-quality concept art and select a qualified team with a large background that can implement this stage for future development.
    Transferring work on concept art to another team or a freelancer, in other words, outsourcing the work, should be done in several cases:

    1. Lack of internal (own) resources for creating game concept art. This is a fairly common case when a team specializes only in a certain type of work. In this case, it is worth finding specialists, such as Fgfactory, with extensive experience and diverse expertise in developing concept art for games.

    2. The need to speed up the game development process. In the case of tight deadlines or a large amount of work, you risk encountering problems associated with not meeting the agreed deadlines for the project. This is where outsourcing teams come to the rescue, for example, Fgfactory concept art outsourcing studio, which can take on all the work on concept art or part of it to help the development team complete the required amount of work on time.

    3. Finding qualified specialists to strengthen the current team. In this case, you select a team with relevant work experience, namely past projects that fit the style of what you are developing. Often in such a case, the participation of the Art Lead of the contractor's team is also necessary to adjust the work of the current team. Here, Fgfactory can also help by providing an experienced Art Lead to manage the team of artists, set the right vector in the work on concept art, regular reviews and final approval of the results of the work.
    The cost of concept art should be calculated based on the time required to create one asset and should take into account the following factors:

    - asset type (character, environment, illustration, transport, or other object);
    - graphic style in which the asset must be completed (cartoon, some type of stylization, semi-realistic, realistic, and others);
    - intended purpose of the asset and its size in the project;
    - number of options and iterations that need be completed;
    - additional individual requirements.

    Taking these details into account, the working time for completing one asset is formed. Also, knowing the details for all assets, the total time of work on concept art is formed.

    Each concept art studio and freelancer estimates working hours in their own way based on possible resources, skills and features of the work. In addition, each performer has their own hourly rate for this type of work. Thus, knowing the estimate of working time and the hourly rate of the performer, the cost of work on creating concept art is formed.
    The time for creating concept art is formed from individual concept art tasks and the time of their completion. Each concept art task is individual and there are no uniform time standards for evaluating concept art works. Individuality lies in the following factors:

    - the scope of the task (from small objects or small characters to huge locations or complex characters with a history, personalities and all sorts of behavior options);
    - visual style (from simple forms to complex and detailed realistic visualizations);
    - requirements for the final result and the degree of necessary detailing of the concept art.

    In general, the time for a concept art task starts from several hours and reaches weeks or even more.

    To summarize, a team of concept artists, such as those at Fgfactory, will be able to evaluate your individual concept art task and provide a detailed estimate of the work time based on the requirements provided.
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