CG Spectrum's online concept art courses are a complete study pathway to help you become a concept artist for films and video games! Learn how to plan, develop and present compelling industry-standard artwork, acquire critical job skills, and graduate with strong portfolio.
Both concept art and illustration are built on solid art fundamentals, so you'll start your journey by establishing a solid understanding of color, value, and light. Look at how physical attributes affect design choices by learning perspective drawing and anatomy, discuss indirect versus direct design briefs, plus how to develop ideas based on the information you’re given. Apply your new skills to design a character, and learn how to professionally polish and present your work.
Note: This short course is also the first term of the Concept Art & Digital Illustration Diploma, so you’ll be one-third of the way through the diploma if you choose to continue!
Continue your concept art course by looking at how light and color affect mood, before moving on to the creation of stylized materials and textures. You'll find out how to develop an artistic style, and apply life drawing and dynamic posing techniques to create and present appealing art.
Next, you'll learn the fundamentals of environment and set design by starting with perspective drawing: the key to creating solid art. Discover how to visualize environments by building matte paintings from scratch using photo-bashing techniques plus the paint-over method to acquire lighting and perspective information from pre-rendered assets.
Note: The Introduction to Concept Art & Digital Illustration Certificate is embedded in this Diploma. If you complete the 3-month introductory course, you'll be one-third of the way through this diploma.
Focused on career outcomes, the Advanced Concept Art Diploma is where you specialize and hone your skills as a concept artist.
In the creature and character design term, you’ll use anatomy, posing skills, personality and character traits, plus the environment to inform your designs. Create backstories for your characters and experiment with color, posing and lighting to engage your audience in the story.
You'll then learn 3D concept art, and speed up your workflow using 3D sculpting and kitbashing techniques to quickly block out, light, and render your art. You'll create dynamic compositions using Zbrush and Blender to develop your concept art skills further. Starting out by sculpting basic forms to generate quick renders, capturing detail, and lighting, you'll move on to more complex models such as the human form and environments. Finish with several pieces of original 3D concept art for your portfolio.
Your final term is dedicated to career development and portfolio preparation so you graduate ready for your career as a concept artist for film and games!
Award-winning artist Tyler has worked with major clients like Cryptozoic and Blizzard on titles including Heroes of the Storm, Warhammer, Rift, Star Wars, Hex, Warcraft, and RWBY.Read full bio
Now art director at Phoenix One, Bernie created creatures, characters, weapons and FX concepts for cinematic trailers for World of Warcraft and more while at Blizzard.Read full bio
Triple-A game concept artist Esther has worked on titles like Forza 6, Destiny 2, Call of Duty Black Ops 4, and Back 4 Blood while at studios like Turn10, 2K Games, High Moon, and Turtle Rock Studios.Read full bio
Humza has worked for EA, Microsoft, Activision, LucasArts, Wargaming, Ubisoft, Fischer Price, Hasbro, Mattel. Credits include: Call of Duty, The Division 2, and the Sims.Read full bio
Art director and concept artist who has worked on PC/mobile games at studios such as Blizzard. Brian's work has influenced games like World of Warcraft, Starcraft II and Diablo 3.Read full bio
Brandon brings almost 20 years of experience as a video game concept artist with a long client list that includes EA, Activision, Capcom, Gree, and Disney Interactive.Read full bio
Award-winning artist Mike has worked with clients such as Marvel, Hasbro, Dimension Films, HBO, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros, Mattel, DC Comics and Cartoon Network.Read full bio
Imery's first job out of school was on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 20 years on he's still working as concept designer and art director with top clients like Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, and Disney.Read full bio
Jonathan currently works as a Concept Artist at Square Enix. He has a passion for narrative arts and loves creating worlds, characters, and the stories they can tell.Read full bio
In his 25 year career, Dave's worked as a 3D artist, and concept artist, art and creative director at studios like Framestore, LVTHN, EA and clients like Disney, Marvel, Nickelodeon to name a few.Read full bio
With a focus on illustration portfolio preparation, we help students build their competitive edge with high quality work that gets noticed.