Albert-Mihai Moisan - Concept Art 2023

Project 1: Jungle Stone Idol

This was a University Project, during which we were to design Art that  would in theory be featured on a Magic: The Gathering card!

This will Naturally inform much of the composition and design, as it has to be readable in a very small format.

The brief I picked read as follows:

Colour: Green

Location: Tropical Jungle

Action: Masses of vines/plants wrap around the limbs and body of a long forgotten stone idol, forcing the structure into action. Crouched below the canopy of the dense jungle it inhabits; two giant stone hands grasp at the surrounding tress for support as it prepares to lift itself to it’s full height. The surrounding plant-life moves to assimilate and support the structure, creating a clearing above it through which cool blue skies can be seen. The light illuminates the idol, bathing it in a warm glow.

Focus: The way the idol is being driven by plants

Mood: Unified and overwhelming."

I. First Sketches -

Trying to get a feel for the general composition and design of the Idol, with already pleeeenty of bulk, which will become a bit of a through-line with this project. The bried called for something imposing afterall -

II. Composition -

To help with this, I quickly made a 3D model in Blender that I could position quickly, and landed fairly fast on two angles I was happy with to show the scale of the idol, utilizing some foreground elements or simply with fore-shortening.

In the end, I liked the fore-shortening option the most as it enhanced both the scale and the depth of the image.

III. First Colour Draft -

First colour tryout to feel it all out - I did however feel that things weren't warm enough here, which informed the background change later in part.

The composition, however, I am quite happy with, as I feel the bold shapes and contrast make it easy to read even in a small format.

IV. The Fun Stuff! -

Design Process! (Make sure to turn on captions)

V. Final Result!

Project 2: Bridge Pass

This was a personal Project, aiming to apply my newly-discovered power of Shapes along with my old power of colours to create a striking and otherworldly environment.

Initial exploration and Composition

Always keeping shape balance in mind, I wanted a nice big bold round shape that everything else would be built around, then accented with triangular shapes, adding to the unfriendly atmosphere of the environment. This is in contrast to the large round dominating figure in the composition, hopefully making for a foreboding et pleasing and mesmerizing effect.

Colour and Final!

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with the colour and atmosphere, but in the end, in a lesson I am learning more and more, simplicity was the key.

To add to the contrast in shapes, I decided to go with a nice cool/warm, sharp red/soothing blue tone to match the duality of this piece. I hope the end result is as effective as I believe it to be in communicating an otherwordly atmosphere - both disconcerting and yet oddly soothing and beautiful.

Miscellaneous

Various other pojects I was proud of this year, including Props and a League of legends redesign for University, and my ship shape studies so far.