Building a Concept Art Portfolio
Concept Art Generalist Portfolio
A concept art generalist portfolio showcases a wide range of technical and design skills, which allows artists to cast a wider net when looking for work. This type of portfolio shows off broader skillsets and is valued by smaller teams that require artists to wear many hats, common in indie or AA game studios. It may be a risky choice if you are a junior looking to get into a AAA studio, as the subject matter is broad and it can be challenging to get your work to a high enough quality unless you have many years to practice.
Why Your Portfolio Matters
Your concept art portfolio is your professional identity; it demonstrates your ability to solve visual design problems and meet specific requirements that a game studio needs. As a concept artist, you're not just creating art for aesthetic purposes, but you're designing functional, believable worlds that serve a studio's gameplay and narrative.
Concept Art Generalist Responsibilities:
Character Design: Creating believable characters and/or creatures.
Environment Design: Establishing locations that support gameplay and tell stories.
Prop Design: Designing functional weapons, tools, objects and vehicles.
World Building: Ensuring all visual elements work together cohesively.
Essential Skills For This Role:
Structuring Your Portfolio
For your portfolio, aim to have at least 2 Projects with 8-10 Pages of work that revolve around a narrative.
The most effective portfolios are often built around narratives rather than random standalone pieces. A narrative better reflects critical thinking and world building, and influences every decision made in the design and game play.
These projects should show your design process and ability to maintain visual consistency across multiple pieces. While it's valuable to include some standalone pieces that showcase different skills, your narrative projects should form the core of your portfolio.
Narrative Provides:
Design Logic: A framework for making consistent visual choices.
Storytelling Through Visuals: Proves you can communicate narrative elements through your artwork.
Problem-Solving Context: Shows how you approach real design challenges.
Professional Relevance: Mirrors how actual game development works.
Design Process Documentation: Shows your iteration methods, from initial concepts through refined final designs.
Choosing Your Story Foundation
You can build your narrative projects by either adapting existing stories with your own visual interpretations or developing original stories from scratch. Adaptations let you focus on visual development while originals can give you more control over the work you create. Note that creating an original story will require more time and work as you are also taking on the role of a writer. Both approaches are effective at demonstrating your concept design abilities.
Below is a break down of pros & cons for these two approaches:
Option 1
Re-Imagine An Existing Narrative
Adapt classic literature, mythology, or old films.
Add unique twists (e.g., What if The Wizard of Oz was a Sci-Fi?)
Avoid recent popular games or movies narratives (reduces direct comparison)
Pros & Cons
Viewers are already familiar with the subject so it's easier to understand at a glance.
Less upfront work so you can focus on the art.
May have less originality.
Option 2
Create An Original Narrative
Write down your story (or at least the big story beats) before doing the artwork so you have a solid roadmap to follow.
Pros & Cons
Gives you complete creative control.
Shows original thinking and world-building skills.
Shows you have design and narrative skills.
Requires story development time which may take away focus from your art.
May be harder to understand for new viewers
Building A Portfolio Project
Below is a guide for structuring concept art projects in your portfolio. Again, I recommend having at least 2 of these projects in your professional portfolio.
Use this guide as a starting framework, but let your career goals and project scope guide the final direction.
Your portfolio directly influences the type of work opportunities you'll receive, so ensure it aligns with where you want to work and what you want to create!
