Why is concept art so frickin’ awesome?

It’s not a scientific question. It’s not even an intelligent question. In fact, some of you may not have any idea what I’m talking about. But I think concept art, the illustrations that are rendered for a film, or a toy (or any idea really) are the best. Just the best.

I was browsing through How To Train Your Dragon’s concept art book. Images like this are commonplace, as if they were churned out all the time:

Or this:

Maybe it’s the enthusiasm of the artist who’s called upon to craft a world from empty space.

Titanfall

Or maybe it’s the process of an artist and a small team gathering around a space and swimming in the deep waters of inspiration.

Star Wars

Or maybe it’s the artist and the director, working hand in hand (hour after hour) to hammer out intent, minute details, context.

Samurai Jack

Halo

Or maybe it’s what the art is missing. Could it be that the lack of “completion” in an image that has some familiarity to us makes us fill in blanks. Can we really look at the image of C3PO and R2-D2 and NOT ponder how they ended up? Can we stop ourselves from imagining the story with them looking like that? So maybe it’s the complexity we put into interpreting the image which allows it to tell us a story that feels unique and fresh.

Or maybe I should stop pondering such unknowables and post another few gems: