Louis Michael: The magic of concept art

So I’ve just started collecting concept art books. For those of you who know what concept art books are, why did you not tell me about them earlier?! For those of you who don’t know what concept art books are they are collections of early artwork from the initial stages of any creative projects that require visuals: games, films, series and so on. They’re put together with written commentary about the development of the different subjects and detail how the characters and scenes we know and love (from the film we loved enough to buy the accompanying concept art book for) started out as completely unrecognisable, and explain all the steps taken in between to get to their familiar form.

See the world of art behind the explosions and CGI

The main beauty of concept art books is that they are essentially backstage passes. For a film and game enthusiast such as myself any extra behind the scenes information is always a treat, so a book full of them is a veritable holy tome. There is an undeniable magic in seeing faces and places you recognise so well sketched in rough pencil. In those initial pencil sketches we see a fragment of the artist’s vision that is too well hidden to see in the audience-ready polished final product. We are able to glean some insight into what it must have been like to create beloved characters and can almost imagine what it must have been like to imagine these faces and figures for the first time. Concept art allows us to peer behind the screen and see the world of art going on behind the explosions and CGI.

To those who are satisfied with a finished product (who aren’t interested in anything less than the cohesive whole of a completed project) I can understand that sifting through fragmented pieces of a whole rather than just appreciating the film or game or series in the original form that the creators intended may seem counterintuitive. But it’s only because we’ve exhausted the original form for all its worth that we are forced to redirect our attention to this additional material. Concept art books provide that extra bonus content that enthusiasts/obsessives like myself crave.

Next time you’re struggling with what to buy your loved one for the holidays or a birthday ask them what their favourite film is, or what game they’ve enjoyed playing recently, and surprise them with a private behind the scenes tour that they can keep on their shelf and go on whenever they want.