"Character Designer" vs "Concept Artist" Whats the difference anyway?
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
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We see a few famous concept artists with the title of "Character Designer". But how does one achieve such a rockstar title? How do you become a famous character designer?
Let's talk about the rock stars of the video game industry, and why western studios don't want you to be too famous.
Things I've worked on:
Overwatch (PC, PS4)
League of Legends (PC)
Diablo 3 (PC,PS4)
Hearthstone (Mobile, PC)
Burning Crusade (PC)
Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
Indivisible
Unsung Story
Final Fight Streetwise (PS2)
He Man (GBA)
Terminator 3 (GBA)
CannonBallers (Mobile)
CreeD
Twilight Monk
Ikeda
Nova Colony
Galaxy's Edge
SodaPopSoldier
Millenium Actress
Goblins and Gnomes
![Cody Johnson - I'm Gonna Love You (with Carrie Underwood) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yy9PuYMU29g/mqdefault.jpg)
dont worry trent, you have fans too
Well, doesn't matter to be a superstar Character Designer. What I just want is to work with others for a project. I want my art to be one of the pillars of beloved videogames or movies. I used to want being hugely famous, but as years pass, I just want to be part of a team and proud of what we achieved :)
(... and to brag to my friends about having participated in the creation of a the game they are playing :p )
I agree with you on that one. 😉
SAME THOUGH
samesies : 3
Literally me 😂
Right. I'm in Gamedev studio from Japan. Japanese company tend to appreciate long-term contract for employee. It might be because of difference of law which does not allow to firing ppl without extreme circumstances such as in case of employees commit a crime or something. Also, some employer assume ppl are kind of betrayer when they leave their job especially it was long-term relationship. Lack of freedom, but have more job security.
It's mostly a cultural thing it seems
And it's a very old tradition as well, I remember William Gibson saying something on those lines in one of the dialogs of Neuromancer
Wait, isn't character design a sub category of concept? since concept art is about finding the ideas and putting it down into paper, the only difference would be that it is more generalize, it can be props, environnement, vehicules and characters.. but that's what I think before the video, let's watch.
Thats how it SHOULD work. But I've never seen it done that way. Character designers are credited as concept artists in games, and are generally expected to be able to do everything from environments to props and characters as well.
@@TrentKaniuga Well in small studios, concept artist are expected to be also illustartors, 3d modelers and animators :(
@@Wayathin I understand illustrators and maybe 3d modellers but animation is way too different
@@Wayathin Where's that 4 job paycheck? Damn
@@Sky-de7oy facts
There definitely are rock star concept arts and illustrators in the game industry but I think they are more known to the art and game dev community than the fandom.. on the flip side there are rockstar "game designers" that are more generally well known to the fandom.
Paul LaSalle or rocks stat technology designers, like the ones who design cars and buildings and cool weapons in cyberpunk and other futuristic genres.
Those rockstar game designers are called director.
Honestly, as someone who just loves the process of designing, I don't really care what I'm called, whether it be character designer, concept artist, I just want to be able to work and do what I love!
i feel the same way , like i don't care about these titles as long as i can do digital art , i'm fine with it .
Character designer is definitely a position in the animation industry, but I get the impression that with games, they want you to be able to be more of a concept art generalist. I was at ctn expo two years ago and got a lot of feedback on my character design portfolio from various studios, but when I spoke to the only game industry rep there (from Blizzard), he basically pointed at a bit of promotional art and said “this is what we want.” I asked him what a character design portfolio for games should look like and he told me that they really were more interested in whether or not you could paint something to their standard, and the only portfolios they wanted were concept art portfolios because the concept artists would be doing character design, too.
So character designer does seem to be a job in gaming, but it’s often under the umbrella of concept artist. But I know that there are people who specialize in only characters, especially when it comes to modeling and sculpting. So you can be a character designer in games, but it depends on your skill set and the studio. And to your point about character designers being famous in Japan, a lot of them are artists that were already famous from manga or anime. And I think comic, animation, and game artists are just more well known there in general. Like, the average American person probably doesn’t know who Jim Lee is, but I’m sure general Japanese audiences would recognize the name Akira Toriyama.
L Bon I really liked this response. Very interesting to hear.
You cannot compare Akira to Jim
The question is :
Can someone hire me if I have a portfolio full of character designs? Environment is not an option for me, I hate it and everything related to humans and animals is my jam.
Yeeh I'm in Japan, haha. 🙌
And you are right. The culture here is to start work in a company and die there. So is strange someone who want to leave some company. But it is about to change, I think. I don't know to much because I was not grow up here at all, just live in this fuking strange country. And I don't even speak in japanese enough to get into a company yet. But I live here 😓
Damn 😯
*"But he's designed some of the most iconic characters for that game"*
If it's not our lord and savior Teemo, it's not iconic to me.
I dont want to be famous I just want to know If Im good enough to make it into the field.
So true. We fantasize with the idea that most art projects are done by one person. I think (at least for me) it comes from reading manga where one guy draws and write the story. But even that is false since they can hire help and get editors.
Artofizanagi
they also have assistants who does inking and cleaning process. XD
@@yourneighbor7260 yeah those mainstream shonen jump mangakas usually have at least 2 or 3 assistants and they sometimes draw the entire background while the main guy only draws characters. it's kinda bullshitty how they don't get credited properly
@@NegraLi34 its so sad
See what I’ve taken from a collection of your videos is that the most efficient way to earn a living being a concept artist is being as valuable to your team as possible, which means as you say not always being the rock star character concept artist but being the guy or girl who makes door assets for games. It’s not as fun I’m sure at times but being able to help out teams in more than one area is beyond valuable.
I personally don’t care what I’m called while working at a studio or gaming company or whatever as long as I get to draw/paint. And doing it Trent style with some style and freakin passion! Awesome video Trent!
You've got a large following, maybe you can put it into motion, start adding "character designer" under your name and it might become a thing with time :D
Yass
Hey Trent, found your channel not too long ago and like everyone else I want to be a concept artist. I'm in college and am probably going to stop because they aren't teaching anything I don't already know. And when they do they teach me stuff I don't need to know for the fields I am pursuing. I've seen your other videos on how to get some experience as a concept artist early on like talking to indie game devs and I'm contacting them on unity as we speak. Do you have anymore tips, maybe for people who are more confident in their art skills? Or just more ways to either get experience or get paid.
Is it just me who thinks it's an ambiguous explanation? it drifted off to work culture in america and japan, then how they negotiate with job applications, and what japanese artists are famous for.
I think the answeres are there but are broken into different time lines there, I just dont care anymore.
What is your opinion on being over-critical to yourself? I somehow cant get to the point where I can think "this looks good, i am done" even though people say otherwise. I just keep finding something i dont like till it gets "toxic" (if you want to call that) and i get frustrated and quit. Do you have/had to deal with that and if you solved that issue, how?
Just keep it cool, with time you will start to relax a little bit more, plus the fact that you will indeed get better, consequently, you won't be unsatisfied with the same things, since you will improve in that area within time and practice.
Sorry to say but Western character designers tend to be very formulaic. Japanese artist are more about expression while western art is a dime a dozen. You can go on Artstation and see thousands of technically great artist but in all honesty it's like the millions of guitarist who can do sweep picking but will never write a simple memorable 3 chord riff. Shinkawa is a Rockstar because he dares to be different and Kojima celebrates it.
Yeah but i dont need the Fame i just want the Creative Process, the Team the Passion i can be happy in the backround as long as my close People appreciate what i do
I can die happy as a concept Artist i dont want to become famous i just want a creative job with ups and downs but thats pushing me to my limits until i release my own Project one day
Years late to the party, but I have wondered about this for a long time, and now I'm trying to get into the industry after being a caretaker for 6 years, I'm now left trying to play catchup and build skills. I got a long road ahead as I really do not want my degree to go to waste
Hey, Trent. Great video!
About the life long employment in Japan. The "you're part of the family" is just spin they sold you.
The reality is it's near impossible to fire anyone legally in Japan short of the employee breaking the law. Even if you're trash at your job, show up late every day, etc. They can transfer you, deny promotions, deny bonuses, etc, but they can't fire you. Add to this the fact that seniority is more important than skill in Japan and you get the current situation. Employers can't fire anyone, so they try to squeeze every last drop out of what they've got to work with, and Employees will have to start over from the bottom with the stigma of being a deserter if they leave.
As for the "finding wives" bit, it's only half true. The other side to that is they marry said employees off to the women that work for the same company. These relationships actually happen naturally in companies quite often and it's not stigmatized like it is in the west. 99% of the time the woman quits after this happens. The end game is the men settle down and focus on work, and the company has a way to cycle people out since they can't fire anyone.
Quite an interesting read. The differences between USA and Japan is like night and day. In USA you can be fired for Tweets, rumours or doing something that annoys your boss even in the smallest way.
I've always thought of working in a studio there eventually but I've heard a lot about artists being underpaid and that's what holds me back.
Why won’t they give you that title??? Doesn’t make sense. It’s a job and a specialty I was looking at jobs and they want you to be able to be good at everything and it’s really overwhelming I wish the jobs were more specific like character designer.
This art looks really good! I wasnt aware I could use that symmetry brush like that. Thanks dude!^^
Regarding the topic of the video--
So what we need maybe, is that indie games(at least) should try their hardest to front character design artists and game designers names so more artists names have a chance to get out there?^^
I agree with that. I think that's why we have such a rise in indie games the past few years. With an indie game it's actually possible for 2-3 guys to actually be acknowledged for their contribution. With all of the big AAA studios getting record profits and then canning their developers, more indies will rise in the coming years.
Terminology causes a lot of trouble huh 😅 i also see the term "Character artist" a lot, and i usually tought it meant kind of a character generalist? But apparently is the 3D artist that works in characters.
In the end the solution is just write concept artist and hope for your portfolio to do the work at best lol
WTF it’s the Image Revolution but in video games ?! Marvel still won’t elevate artists
Character designers in the west are normally people who model the concept art and rig the character model for animation. A lot of the job posts on ArtStation specifically for "Character Designer" are looking for people who can model, rig and even animate characters. It's not essentially the same position depending on the company.
Joe Mad, but he is more a comic artist to begin with so yeah create your own things first if you want that title
A smug me: "Aha! How dare you! What about Glen Keane and Aaron Blaise! They're amazing western character designers!"
Trent: 10:28
Me: ".....ah. I concede."
So ... much like traditional publishing wanting to have authors by their wallet (nicer than I could phrase it), the art world doesn't want to pay or recognize their artist's work. I'm glad I'm indie, more and more.
And also remember that character concept artist in the west get paid like 10x more than character designers in japan haha, regardless of who is more famous.
Well, i guess im moving to Japan
Every time try to draw my own character, I never feel satisfied with the design
Clearly Konami didn't get the memo
i just want to make a living by drawing thats all
Zeronis only does thin doll-faced women, I wouldn't call that a great character designer lol
You obviously haven't seen his professional work at Riot. The stuff he posts on instagram is for clicks.
Honestly I just go to Japan
Soo what is the difference between concept artist, character designner, and ilustrator
I did a few videos about this. "character designer vs concept artist, what's the difference" is one of them. "illustration vs concept art" is another.
My Boi putting out videos like never bafore 👌
Just found your channel. Love your work. For me, in any artistic pursuit, you're going to have a sub specialization that really inspires you. But just because you are passionate about that subcategory doesn't mean you shouldn't diversify your skill set. In fact, switching subject matter breaks the repetition and often teaches me some techniques that I can use in what I enjoy most. Nerd moment, this reminds me of the Avatar episode where Iroh teaches Zuko how to redirect lightning. It was something he learned only by studying water bending and then applying those lessons back to fire bending. In respect to concept design/character design, I imagine that those involved in designing Marvel's Groot spent some time "drawing trees" so that they could apply that knowledge to Groot's characteristics.
The things you said about working in Capcom makes me more impressed Platinum games is even a thing
I love your videos, they are so informative and you have such a great personality! I would love to be doing what you’re doing what day!
Btw, I had a lecture in Japan from a Japanese professor of business and he said that in japan basic company practice is that once you join a company you have a job for life, it’s sorta their job safety policy! So you’re right on that!
You may have already made a video on this, but do you have any tips on staying focused and on track when doing freelance/at home work?
I really like how you framed this video. I didn't know that Japanese game industry was like that but now that I think about it your right!
06:37 - "Bigger than Todd Mc Farlane"
We should totally change how we credit designers. It’s not that hard to change some text and give special credit to those who are excellent.
In short both are practically the same? Even Better
if you think about it , yes they are more of the same .
This is why the west sucks to work in art. Honestly, call me a weeb but at least the artist community in japan gives a bit more focus on individual artists. Even in the PH, the art community is heavily westernized :
"After 4 or 5 years, you kinda wanna paint something other than orcs"
Eheh. Maybe some people.
as artist and developers we create the world and yet the world treats us like second rate lol how ironic.
Do you miss capcom?
It was a good time. But I'm pretty happy doing what I'm doing now.
Hey, great video. Bit late to the party and i've been wanting to get into concept after i graduate. Something i found in my research in the UK is a position of a Character Artist. So here it seems that there is a roles of concept artist and there are also specialist roles such as environment, character etc. Although the thing about crediting is still there as works belong to the studio and not the artist. But just thought i weigh in
since I live in the U.S. and want to design characters I'm going to be called a concept artist...strange but ok!🥴🤷♂️
Yo dude, great video as always
the only correct answer on this is... "it depends on the studio" :D
i thought u opened google in photoshop
great video. so, as a follow-up question, what would you consider the "character artist"? i see job listings for this title every now and then on Artstation, and I'm curious to know what the difference is here.
if i may, a "character artist" in the film and video game industries are usually 3D artists specialising in character modelling, if you click on the job description, you will find its all 3D related skills
jeez such a dream killer, try being more encouraging to young artists.
And before someone hits me with, "that's reality get thick skin". I've had many people tell me that i couldn't, and I've ended up working for global brands as a designer and flown on company private jets. Dreams come true!
Sorry, I'm not interested in telling lies. But I suppose i WOULD have a more popular channel if I did. Maybe even a private company jet ride or two! lol.
This fucking character designer the most excellent drawings 👍🏻
Just saw a post in a game journal recently where the guy was complaining how "game publications tend to credit a single person for the teams work" and an annotation - "the author of the X game"
I follow Cedric Peyravernay (the designer for Dishonored franchise) because he is freaking awesome. It's hard to imagine certain games if they had gone with a different character designer. Another example would be Bioshock. Weak character design can kill interest and fandom in a game i.m.o.
Man youre a MASTER
I do have some of my personal research on the Japanese work culture since I was very dedicated to have a concept artist position at Bandai Namco. The more I read, the more I talk to people who worked there ( N3 Japanese flex ), it turned out that Japanese love long-term employees and the kind of people with intentions to leave shortly after will mostly end up freelancing for 16$/hr. If you do cyberpunk manga and anime for any particular studio, you will do that pretty much everyday, well til u die eventually? Japanese studios also "lend" employees for eachother by another weird system to keep their industry going like Bandai Namco to Capcom and so forth. As far as i know, Japanese artists themself hate this kind of work culture and their younger gen are mostly working toward a western job but the major roadblock they hit as always is that they can't fkin speak "hello" properly after 5 years of IELTS grinding. So yeah, seems like the vid went off topic for the half to this and i just think that it might be useful to share my research.
Great video! Which program are you drawing with here? Thanks!
So, what I gather from this video is that you don't need to specialize in character concept art, you can take a more generalist approach and do just fine.
Good to know.
THE ARTWORK IN THE VID REMINDS ME OF METAL GEAR SOLID.
Looked like a nice animated sequence happening there, ending in her face (philosophically) reflecting on the actions. Very nice.
What program is that and is there a way I can see the characters you designed for all those games? I'd love to check them out. 😊
See I hope to be a concept artist and know about the whole your not popular thing, but I more so just enjoy people being inspired or in awww at the worlds I create even if no one knows me. Its not much different from know.
I didn't notice till the end, but this dude sounds like Space Dandy. If you know, you know
Hey trent, how about concept designer. What does that mean? Is it the same as concept artist?
Cool video, I really like the analogy with the west about 'employee work relations with the company. Imo Concept artist sounds cooler than character designer, that said, the big character designers in japan do have a noticeable style across all their games. Probably due to their own creative freedom because their names have weight in the profits like you mentioned. e.g. Looking at final fantasy 15 and 8 or even Kingdom Hearts you can just see we're dealing with Nomura. (The difference between 7 and 8 is quite big, 7 and 10 massive, due to his change from typical manga influences towards realistic proportions).
Hi Trent, I am a Graphic/Media Designer (in Germany) and I really love drawing. What would you say are my chances in becoming a Concept Artist with my "skills"? Thanks and have a lovely day!
this is why i prefer to be a freelancer , i don't like to beg a company to decide what title i need in order to be paid or get some acknowledgment .
Joaquim Dos Santos is what I consider a star Character designer in USA.
I know how Sakimichan is... I see her work on r/hentai ;)))))))
“You’d have to be Todd McFarlane level” oh great 😅😂
hahahaha i know of 1 his name is Dondi he is mostly known for the game he works on "The Isle"
I wouldn't care less about being credited for character design as long as I got paid
So what you're saying is i need to learn japanese and move to japan. Easy.
Comics can be a path to superstar status...Look up Joe Madureira (well he's a star to me at least).
So how do you do concept art for a living? :D or did you already answer it somewhere?
Has all the information on japan treating their animators like shit been a lie this whole time??!!
Is this only in regard to video games or media in general for character designers?
Hey Trent! I’m a huge fan of your RUclips videos. They seriously drive me to create what I want to create, and I’m currently working on a sci fi graphic novel series. I’d just like to ask what, in your opinion, is the best or most popular place to publish content. Thanks and keep making these awesome videos! They’re so inspiring!
if i were to do d
esigns i would care more for the game than my status cuz i want the game to be good not my name
What app do you use to design your characters that you showed on the video
to me my work would be the star, not my name, my work is what i want to get popular not me
Great artwork and great sharing of truths that you have experienced. ....priceless. Thankyou
Funny you mention this. I had been pursuing character design for animation for years thinking the job was to design the characters for the show. Little did I know most of the actual character designing goes to the visual development artists during the initial creation of the project. Character designers in TV animation as far as I know do the technical drawings and key poses from storyboards of the already designed characters. But they get to design some minor characters here and there apparently. Then again I’m sure it differs from studio to studio!
People still get credit if you are not in japan. Like league of legends
Well, now i have the same question about creature designers. But i’m sure that is going to be the same case.
My favorite outro "mañandabans, chao bebe"
Hi Trent, I found your channel while I searching " concept art" . I wonder when you tried go get a job in game , animation and etc concept art field, did you had any experiences you didn't get a concept art role in company because of the" concept art style?
I mean, I heard a lot like this when I applied my CV " your style isn't right for our company" I am a concept artist too and whenever I found great concept artist( your one of them; I found you today) I love their concept style and tried to follow their work flow.
would you give me any support or any feedback?
I had same experiences. should I change my concept style if they ask?
Thanks for this insight Trent! I always wondered this.
"in japan they treat you as family" that's a generous way to put it rather than say.... Japanese works too hard even neglecting their own physical and mental health.
This is the way it was explained to me when I was at capcom. If you want to work at a japanese company for life, you can. This is different in america.
I give my self the title outside the studio because me couldn't careless
Joe Mad comes to mind as an american Character designer.
Step 1: move to japan
and change your race to japanese.
Trent,
In your experience and vast knowledge of the video game industry,
Do companies typically have in house, full time illustrators that are on their payroll. Or do they they typically contract out to freelancers?
For instances does, Riot games hire and maintain illustrators for splash art, or do they have go to freelancers
By the way I’m a subscriber, please answer my question lol
Yes. The big studios do. But they are transitioning to hiring them on contract, as they can get them for less cost.
Have you ever tried out Clip Studio Paint? You can now import abr/photoshop brush files into it. If you have tried it, what's your opinion of it? How long ago did you try it (It's gone through a LOT of updates and added features over the past few years).
I got a lot of slowdown when I tried it last week. But maybe it was just my system. I have every intention of giving it more time. I was impressed that you can import PS brushes. But layer management is clunky.
@@TrentKaniuga Hm, what do you mean by layer management? I didn't really have a problem when I switched to it from PS, but idk there could be something I missed. I don't know if PS has this yet, but one of the things I liked most about CSP is that you can make a selection and transform it for multiple layers (so you don't have to merge down to do editing). Might not matter so much for your particular art style? As for the lagging issue, it might not be your system, there's a few youtube videos or just online forum guides for optimizing CSP on your computer. It might just be that by default it's taking up too much RAM. You can limit that. There's a few other tips and tricks to help optimize it. I hope you find a way to work with it, mostly because I think it's a great program :P
could have just googled the question