This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the visual?development process applied to Concept Art, focusing on the design of characters, environments, props, and architecture within a framework that mirrors the dynamics and demands of the entertainment industry. Throughout the course, students become familiar with professional visual?production methodologies and apply, in an integrated manner, the knowledge acquired in other subjects of the degree. The coursework is structured around projects that require research, formal exploration, and the presentation of coherent, solid, and functional visual proposals. The course fosters a holistic and cross disciplinary understanding of Concept Art, enabling students to approach a project from start to finish and to develop materials aligned with industry standards.
Titular Professors
Previous knowledge of concept art, Photoshop, and Blender is recommended.
The objectives of this course are to enable students to understand, integrate, and coherently apply the skills and knowledge acquired throughout the degree within a complete visual development project. The course aims for students to become familiar with the nature, uses, and responsibilities inherent to professional Concept Art work, and to be capable of approaching a visual?design project from a global perspective, articulating characters, environments, props, and architecture with both functional and expressive criteria.
1. Style coherence and visual language.
2. Visual direction, worldbuilding and pitch development.
3. Character design for film and video game production
4. Props and narrative objects.
5. Concept art oriented portfolio.
The student will develop two different visual development projects. The first will be oriented towards animation and will emphasize characters through the visual creation of a tribe, where the concepts of group cohesion, visual relationship with the environment, and individual role identification will be worked on. The second will be oriented towards video games and will focus on the distinction and antagonism between two visually opposing factions, where legibility and quick identification prevail. Both projects will have a partial evaluation and a final one, as well as ongoing feedback-based monitoring and assessment.
An exercise will be carried out focusing on the visual design of a tribe with cohesive aesthetics, taking as reference the process and style of an animated film, short film, or series. The project must include at least three different character archetypes, three environments, and three props, vehicles, or creatures. The partial submission will include sketches, thumbnails, color tests, turnarounds, call out sheets, and moodboards, while the final submission will consist of a finished render and the final presentation sheets.
Additionally, a second exercise will be conducted, dedicated to the design of two opposing factions within the context of a video game. Each faction must include at least three vehicles, three architectural constructions, and one landscape or environment; characters are optional. The partial submission will include sketches, thumbnails, color tests, turnarounds, call out sheets, and moodboards, and the final submission will include a final render and the corresponding presentation sheets.
As this is a predominantly practical course, assessment will be based on the timely submission of the work corresponding to the phases described.
Partial Submission Exercise 1: 15%, Final Submission Exercise 1: 30%, Partial Submission Exercise 2: 15%, Final Submission Exercise 2: 30%, Attitude, Attendance, and Professional Conduct: 10%.
Extraordinary assessment: Only in exceptional circumstances (accident, illness...) may a student who has not passed the ordinary assessment opt to pass the course through the extraordinary assessment call.
Assessment criteria for all calls: If the conditions to pass the assessment are not met, the maximum possible grade will be a 4. Students have the right to request a grade review on the date set by the instructor. During the review, the student’s grade may be increased or decreased.
Robertson, Scott. Lee, Kang. Yamada, Mike. Yoon, Felix. The Skillful Huntsman. Gurney, James. Imaginative Realism. 3D Total Publishing. Sketching From the Imagination.
Supplementary material will be provided in class.