Environment Concept Art (16/10/2012)

Environment Concept Art

Robin Foale                 16/10/2012

I have always been a huge fan of character art due to my love of animation, therefore I have never truly looked at environment artists work before. Thus when I was asked to look at some for today’s task I was pleasantly surprised by all the amazing artwork I had missed out on by only focusing on characters for as long as I have done. 

For this task I have decided to analyse and critique the below piece of art by Craig Miller as it caught my attention in particular. 

Art by Craig Miller.

Positives:

• The dark colour palette gives the environment an unclean and almost toxic look due to the use of greys, browns and yellow. 

• I particularly like the fact that the artist included reflections in the window which the figure is looking out of as I think this adds believability to the work. 

• The image creates an effective atmosphere as although you see someone looking out of the window you don’t see anyone else, thus adding a element of loneliness to a city that should otherwise be vastly populated. The loneliness is further conveyed by the figure's body language as they appear to have their arms wrapped around themselves which is usually considered a defensive stance.

• I love the use of perspective in this image as although it is a two dimensional one it feels three dimensional thanks to the use of the figure in the foreground followed by the window in the middle and then the bridges and buildings in the far background. This is a clever way to lead the eye through the image. 

Negatives:

• The person's back seems out of proportion to the rest of the body and her position seems unnatural. Sometimes this distortion can work, but when the art looks mostly realistic it just seems odd that the character's spine would bend quite like that.

• I may be a huge fan of atmosphere but I am personally not a fan of the dark colour palettes that help convey this. Therefore perhaps a few more reds and blues would help to make the city feel more alive whilst still keeping the artists original vision.  

Referencing:

Miller, C. (Unknown) goodbrush. Available at:

http://www.goodbrush.com/ (Accessed: 16/10/2012).