Concept Artist Portfolio / Megan Vincent

Red Shift

RED SHIFT is a stylized sci-fi platformer project centred on dynamic movement and mobility in a vibrant multiplayer universe. For this project I focus on the use of shapes, readability and flow of the designs due to the fast paced nature of the intended design use. To help with this using strong shape language and silhouette reads will make them stand out in even the fastest environments.

The intention of this project was more heavily stylized so the initial concepts vary from the final result.

X

X is a fast ground based movement design, with a design direction focused on sharp shapes and a rebellious attitude. 

For X's design, I wanted them to appear rebellious, unpredictable and fast with a focus on ground based movement. Due to this I chose a triangle for their shape language base.

I looked at Paralympic runners prosthetics, streamline vehicles such as jets and racing cars and trying to consider the other character and how I can contrast them such contrasting shapes and personalities and also making them contrast with their costume designs like one that's top heavy with design details to contrast a bottom heavy design.

Iteration

For the colours and neon patterns I looked at different animals to take inspiration from. I looked at sea anemone glowing patterns for X and turtle shells for O, and put the concentration of neon elements on areas I wanted to draw in focus (the bottom half of the design for X and the top half for O)

Initial Concepts

O

O is a precise aerial based movement character, with a design direction focused on rounded streamline shapes and a calculated demeanor. 

For O's design, I wanted them to appear focused, precise and sensible with a focus on aerial based movement. Due to this I chose a circle for their shape language base.

I looked at retro futuristic astronauts, streamline shapes and flying vehicles such as jets.

Iteration

Initial Concepts

STAMPEDE RACING ROYALE

This project involved taking an existing IP and creating skin concepts that could work with the style and rules of the game.

Since the game is already established I needed to follow the rules already set in place when designing. To do this I broke down the art style of the game. I took note of proportions, existing styles of the cosmetics.

These are some of the things I took note of:

Symmetry in the designs especially in the arms and legs, no high frequency noise, bold and simple, new and worn looks, the back of design needs to be interesting as it is seen most often, vehicles need to look the part in terms of whether they are lightweight, heavy or an all rounded, and it needs to be clear whether the headpiece is for protection or for fun. 

For research I looked at things that are similar to the style that the game is going for, for example, sci-fi, cyberpunk elements. But also looking how I can combine other media with those elements and existing medias that already do this, such as motorbikers, street art and graffiti and art movements such as pop art.

Pocket Pal Skin Concept

GRR-affiti Skin Concept

SLAY THE STALE

Slay the Stale is a stylized project featuring quirky food based designs for a mobile game similar to Clash Royale and Warcraft Rumble.

The idea of the project is the player has 3 class archetypes that they can place and fight against mirrored classes but of rotten food enemies, leading to the player defending their dishes and defeating the evil chef.

The Culinary Heroes

Since the intention for these designs is for a mobile game I needed the silhouette and shapes to be as clear as possible as it could be viewed on a small screen like a phone. I also took into consideration of my shapes that I use, making sure to save the sharpest shapes for my enemies, but also have rounded sharp shapes on my tank since he's the most dangerous out of the heroes. 

For the designs I made sure they reflected their class. I wanted to make each class a different category of a menu, so for the tank character I made them big and bulky with a design principle of a "main meal" since the main is the heart of the meal.

The rest also followed this way of thinking, the ranger class was a "dessert" and the melee was a "starter", while also making their designs smaller but clear what class they fall under.

Initial Concepts

Iteration

For the colours, I looked at food photography and how they utilise saturated and warm colours to make the food look as appetising as possible. I didn't go with a consistent colour palette with these as I wanted the food they are representing to be obvious.

The Rotten Enemies

For the enemy designs, I again made sure they reflected their class. But since they are rotten they don't need to stick to the design rule of "starter, main and dessert", they just need to look easily distinguishable from the heroes and stand out as evil.

Iteration

While designing the colours for each, I tried to consider a set colour palette for the enemies to make it even more obvious they are evil, but also summons.  I looked at inherently evil and rotten food colours for inspiration, also making sure the detail colours are complementary as to stand out on a smaller screen easier.

Purple was the obvious choice here for me as purple is often viewed as evil, but is also a cooler colour which is not as appetising in food photography.

Initial Concepts

The Process: Using 3D for a Faster Workflow

Workflows

Clip Studio's 3D Import Tool

Red Shift, Prepare to Dine, Stampede Racing Royale

Since a lot of the design elements are hard surface, I find it easier to create the designs in blender. These are rough and are just so I can easily get the design down and can utilise any perspective.  Once the model is done I import the model into Clip Studio Paint and use the 3d import tool to move the model around into the right perspective right on top of my character sketch underneath. Then I can turn down the opacity of the 3d layer and draw directly on top.

ZBrush ZApp Link

Slay The Stale

I used a mixture of blender and ZBrush for this project. I made the rough primitive model in Blender, exported it to ZBrush and sculpted some details, I then made a cell shaded/ line art looking shader/material and applied it to my sculpt. Then I used the ZApp feature in ZBrush to export my desired camera angle of my model to Photoshop. This exported the model into multiple layers (base colour and line art layer), this allowed me to skip the initial drawing stage and quickly iterate on top and underneath the line art that ZBrush created for me. 

Procreate 3D Tool

Stampede Racing Royale

I also used procreates 3D feature to be able to iterate on the sticker placement on the helmets. Using this feature made it easy and faster to play around with the sticker placement and where is the ideal placement for the in game view. 

SOFTWARE

3D

Zbrush, Blender

2D

Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Procreate

Thanks For Reading!
Diolch!