What is concept art?
Concept art is the design work that happens before a film, game or animated series is built. Concept artists draw and paint the characters, creatures, environments, props and vehicles so that directors can choose a direction and modellers, animators and set builders know exactly what to make.
By NPC College of Arts & Design. Updated October 2026.
Concept art is design, not decoration
A concept artist solves a problem set by a story. If the script says a fisherman lives alone on a flooded coast, the concept artist decides what his coat is made of, how his boat is repaired and what his house looks like from the water. The finished picture matters less than the decisions inside it.
That is why the work is also called concept design or entertainment design, and why studios look for clear thinking on the page: silhouettes, alternatives, callouts that explain how a thing works, and views from more than one side.
What a concept artist produces
- Thumbnails and silhouettes: many small, fast options for one idea
- Design sheets: the chosen design with front, side and back views, colour variations and notes
- Orthographic drawings and turnarounds that a 3D modeller can build from
- Environment paintings that set the lighting, scale and mood of a place
- Keyframes: single images that show an important story moment as it would appear on screen
- Prop and vehicle breakdowns that show materials and moving parts
The main specializations
Most concept artists lean toward one area. Character and creature designers work on anatomy, costume and personality. Environment designers work on architecture, landscape and light. Prop and vehicle designers work on hard surfaces and mechanics. Smaller studios hire generalists who can do all three.
How it differs from illustration
An illustration is a finished image made for an audience. A concept is a working drawing made for a production team. Concept artists often paint beautifully, but a rough sheet that answers the right question is worth more to a studio than a polished picture that answers none.
What you need to learn
The foundations are the same everywhere: perspective, figure and anatomy drawing, composition, light and colour. On top of that come digital painting in Photoshop and enough 3D, in tools such as Blender, Maya and ZBrush, to block out and light a design quickly.
At NPC College of Arts & Design these subjects are taught in order across the Concept Design, Computer Art and Entertainment Concept Design diplomas.