In need of guidance

[Chaser226]

Hi, Im new to the forums. This is the best site/forum I've seen for art, so many talented people here.. ^_^.
Well let me tell you what I'm confused in, I'm currently in a class for web/graphic design. But while i'm here I noticed its not what I pictured it to be, still I wanna create some sort of foundation to start me off(just turned 18). Anyways I've been drawing ever since I was 6, but I stopped drawing these past 2 years. I later realised that drawing is was i really wanted to do so i started brushing up on my skills again and now my question is, what is a concept artist? Is it like a character designer? Or like design the whole thing like the worlds...? If it isnt, what "proffession" would it be for character design? I know I sound really dumb right now but I really know nothing about the job positions out there. Other than the obvious ones, Web designer, Programmer, BUS DRIVER. you get my point. Well thank you for reading my rant and I hope someone can guide me to the right direction. I know im gonna learn alot here. Hope to meet some of you soon.

[Chaser226]

Hmm... maybe if I asked this way... Concept Artist = ??
What kind of profession is it? Thank you.

[jezelf]

Hi Chaser, welcome to the forum.

basically a concept artist designs the visual aspect of anything from a tiny piece of jewellery on a costume to the biggest spaceship, which is then created in (generally) three dimensions by him/her self or another department.

there are many areas of concept design and you can specialize in costume, vehicle, environment, creatures etc, but you do find that more often than not, most concept artists can do all of these.

For example - in the film and commercial ( product manufacturers) industries, you would be more likely to find specialized concept artists, where it's designing something like a car or furniture - this is more commonly known as industrial design. some of these artists move into the movies designing specialist things like a new Bat-mobile, for example.

some of us are in the video games industry - our backgrounds vary - some through art degrees, others find themselves there by related jobs, and over the years end up concepting.

from my experience, in video games you'll be concepting almost everything and anything required for a game that has no visualisation. characters, craft, props etc. this is partly because the development houses employ on a full time basis rather than a contract basis - like movies - and don't have enough work for *just* a character designer. it cut's costs too.

here are some concept artist links...

Syd Mead
Ralph McQuarrie
Doug Chiang
Scott Robertson

there's more at my site if you want to explore.
Hope I've been some help
good luck
jez