Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The Big Bad World of Concept Art

Please allow me to introduce you to my labor of love: "The Big Bad World Of Concept Art For Video Games: An Insiders Guide for Students". I've spent two years writing this book for students and aspiring artists. You can say its my "baby".


In the book, I cover in great detail what the job of a concept artist really entails, how to choose the right education, what you should be studying and practicing in school, how to properly build your portfolio, and much much more. I even use my actual student work, industry experiences and true-to-life stories as teaching tools so that readers can see what a professional was doing at their age.

I also have several guest contributors who offer their own words of wisdom. Ben Mauro, David levy, Farzad Varahramyan, Sparth, and Stephan Martiniere all chime in on the DOs and DONTs of job hunting and the industry

For those interested, you can pre-order it on Amazon HERE!        Thanks for your support!


I am also proud to introduce the launch of The Big bad World of Concept Art website. It is meant to support the book by providing further details and will feature a comprehensive, list of recommended resources for artists. (These resources are free and available to everyone, even if you don't buy the book). I will also be creating a blog dedicated to answering any and all questions submitted by readers.

If you have any questions about the concept art industry, please send them to eliott@eliottlillyart.com and I will do my best to answer them on the blog.   I hope to see you over there.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Gun designs

These guns were designed for one of the personal projects I am working on.   

Gun concept and design by Eliott Lilly (EliottLillyart.com)
Gun modeled by Noe Serrano (Noeserranoart.blogspot.com/)
Keyshot material pass, final scene render and Post production by Eliott Lilly.

The Chinega Industries’ PDW is an experimental personal defense weapon that fires the enhanced 6 X 35mm “Raptor” cartridge optimized for short barrel weapons. The weapon system features sustained controllability and handling due to improved ergonomics, and benefits from a reduction in size and weight, all while achieving an increase in lethality over legacy 9mm guns. Featuring ambidextrous controls, simple internal mechanisms, and the use of high strength materials to maximize reliability, the 6x35mm PDW is the modern ideal of a compact weapon built for arming vehicle crews, and for use in close-quarter, peace keeping missions and anti terrorist situations.



The XM18 is an electric semi automatic, air-bursting munitions rifle that fires a 18mm warhead. It features an on-board artificial intelligence so advanced, it can determine the necessary amount of force needed to effectively neutralize each target on a case -by-case basis. This system design means that one warhead can be programmed to fill the role of several, ensuring that operators have the right weapon available to meet any changing mission requirements that they may face.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

New Work!!



Just finished my newest painting: "The Lords Might" over the weekend.


Back story:
Bio organic robots with divine powers (Think: 'Angels in Evangelion) were installed on Earth to protect our civilization and it's development. However, they quickly become tricked into slavery; forced to do the bidding of a few petty and insecure men squabbling over power. Tired of this abuse, the machines revolt against the humans they were sent here to protect. (Surprise. People can't have nice things). Chaos ensues — Everyone dies. The end.

Original story: I know. But this is what I think about when I draw. and YES... when I draw gunz, I make gun noises that go: "pew, pew, pew".

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

A few more...

A few more reference pics of the "Burren" and "Cliffs of Moher" in Ireland.













Monday, March 17, 2014

A few reference images

I recently returned from a two week vacation to London and Ireland with a slew of reference photos. (I think I took over 2,000 pictures).  Here are a few shots of  "The Giant's Causeway" found in Ireland. While these images are no substitute for the real thing, they do show off stunning vistas and landscapes which may be of use to artists who are always on the hunt for good reference.  Feel free to pass them around and share.  If you guys like these, I can always upload more.

Cheers











Tuesday, February 4, 2014

The NY Incident Works in Prgoress

I wanted to share how I arrived at my recently completed image: "The NY Incident"

It started with a rough sketch in my sketchbook:

Taking it a step further, I began to fill in the big shapes with color and material breakup. Originally, this was going to be an ARMY or Marine themed robot that sported "cloth tech" (since its all the 'rage these days).   I gave it a Ranger Green color scheme with cloth arms and legs.  


I spent hours trying to find unique shapes that were 'clean, easy to read, yet complex at the same time.  (It's harder than u may think).  Adding details helped (although doing so at this stage was probably a bit premature). I decided to use more organic shapes for the chest piece, arms and legs.  The helmet changed too. So did the gun.. Ok, basically everything changed.  (Hey, I never said I was efficient).  It was starting to look like this:


At some point, I opted not to take the easier "cloth tech" route and instead, decided to flex my artistic muscle by actually figuring out the joint designs.... AND THEN THIS HAPPENED:


And suddenly, everything clicked. The skies parted and beams of sunlight flooded my room with a brilliance that was blinding. My image had purpose and the 'bar had been set.  

So, after cursing the glare caused by my neighbors window, and then getting up from my desk to close the blinds, I quickly sat down and got back  to work.  

Changing the thinking of my image, I ditched the military theme and went with "Police" instead.  That choice affected some of my shape designs and robots aesthetics.  I kept the arms and legs a simple shape, but added extreme intricacy to all of the joints. I also decided to push past just doing a stand alone robot, and opted to place it into a scene.  Why? Doing so not only makes the robot more relate-able to the audience,but helps to define it's universe and is a great way to tell a narrative. I started by adding a police officer (who happens to be a real police officer and friend of mine)  into the image:
 

Then I threw in a background and started adding by-standards and onlookers whose attention was focused off screen. (Because each person was collages from a different image, figuring out the perspective and lighting on this thing was a nightmare).  

Side note:  After showing my rough block-in to my police buddy, he pointed out that they are not allowed to talk on the phone while one duty  (learned something new there) so trying to keep this image as plausible as possible, I changed his stance.

Adding more details while cleaning up the image, it started taking shape.

Almost done. some final additions and the image concludes with this:

I hope you guys enjoyed that brief rundown.  Thanks for looking





Monday, February 3, 2014

Some New artwork!!

Here's a new painting titled: "The NY Incident", done for an upcoming project of mine. (More on that project coming later this year)



I'd give u some back story on whats happening in this image, but that's all under wraps for now. Instead, allow me to provide you with a few close up, detailed crops. I hope you like: D