Unit 72- The use of concept art in vehicle design.

Unit 72- The use of concept art in vehicle design

The purpose of concept art is to bring new and different ideas to the table during the early development of different projects. Projects that are movies, animations, video games, and sometimes books all require concept art in order for it to have original, generated environments, characters and for the purpose of the current project: vehicles.

I looked at the concept art for the movie Wreck it Ralph when I was gathering ideas for an insectoid form of transportation. There were two concept artists that stood out to me in the art book that I own, the first on was Kevin Nelson (right) and Ryan Lang (below). I looked at how each vehicle by Kevin Nelson was so smooth and streamlined. I thought about how insects are usually aerodynamic, and how this enables them to fly fast through the air.


I then moved on to look at the concept art for the Cy-Bugs by Ryan Lang, which were minor bad guys in the movie. I looked at the different variations of the Cy-Bugs designs and really liked how some were only able to crawl around on land and how others had large wings that enabled them to fly. The shapes and design of these creatures really inspired me in the initial sketches of my own vehicle.

Next I looked at concept art for vehicles in the table top game Warhammer 40K. There is a race called the Eldar in this game and the design for their vehicles is rather slender and curvy. I really liked these different designs and how quick the vehicles look. I aimed for this when I started developing the concept art for my vehicle.

The swiftness of the jet-bikes inspired me to create the body of my vehicle. I tried many different shapes and finally designed the width and height of the body I wanted after observing the details of the Warhammer vehicles.




Lastly I started looking at the wings of dragons. I had looked at the Wreck it Ralph concepts for insects and such but I wanted something a little more graceful. Fierce insect wings are usually fast and jagged, However I was more interested in a graceful, yet threatening vehicle. I wouldn't say that dragons count as vehicles in their own environment, but I recently watched the movie How to Train Your Dragon and I was very interested in how the main character Toothless was used as a form of transport for the other main character Hiccup.

The artwork has several qualities that evoke emotions in the viewer, for instance, his wingspan makes him look quite terrifying, not to mention the point nature of them. It creates this feeling that he has great power. However, when you look at how his body dangles, he looks quite innocent and graceful. All the different poses that have been created a potent of these qualities.