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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:

howtotrainyourdragonconceptart-072409

 

Or this:

how_to_train_your_dragon_art_03

 

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

CE6_web
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-mcquarrie1
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 Sketches
Samurai Jack

 

tumblr_l58nx7QMkz1qccjyio1_1280
Halo

audi__by_donmanolino-d30ta9s

 

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:

wallls.com-40936
Battlestar Galactica
TANGLED
Tangled
thor_concept_art
Thor
Star-Wars-1313-Concept-Art-8-1280x713
Star Wars

Here are the top sites to browse concept art, both professional and amateur.

concept art world

conceptart.org

fuckyeahconceptart