There are many ways to make conceptual art…
The points to take into consideration for our Army Men concept artists:
- At first the Army Men must look like real soldiers, realizing later during the that they are actually miniature.
- Any childish item, like a teddy bear, should look fierce and terrifying. A serious threat, although it may seem harmless at first for the player to take it lightly.
- They should look like real little toys, plastic soldiers. There are details impossible to achieve on a certain scale, which make the plastic soldier 3D models look small.
Conceptual art is an artistic and simplified sketch in which the conceptualization or idea is more important than the drawn/conceptualized art. Ideas prevail over their formal or sensitive aspects so that the artistic aspect of the concept takes a back seat, favoring the speed of production time of the idea, also reducing the mental process of understanding the idea.
By dispensing with the complex creation of the final product before it is approved, so much time is not wasted on visual pieces that could not be approved. Therefore these sketches accelerate the idea production process. Regardless of the technique, material or form used to represent it is not something strict.
Before reaching the final choice of an idea, there may be several previously rejected conceptual pieces, and even this process can go through several steps, such as a very simple concept, which then evolves into a more complete and complex one (which is still a conceptual piece). After a concept art is approved, the chosen idea moves on to the actual production of the final product.
Classic Concept Art from 3DO
Character Concept Art (full color)
How do we interpret these Storyboards?
In the case of finding Conceptual Art of the original Army Men games, before the Heroes saga, we would need more information as it is in black and white, which would not allow us to interpret what colors each one is. The following is an example:
Army Men Air Attack Concept Art
Some of the ideas that want to be tested in helicopter games are interesting. They probably all would have been achieved in Air Attack 3, maybe?
Other Concept Arts
Others ways of making Storyboards
Both Army Men Revolution and our animations will take place in environments based on real places. Therefore, here is a simple example of a Storyboard made with photographs:
