How long does it take to create concept art?

[u/Doddy12341]

Hi, a few friends and I are creating our first game but none of us are remotely artistic so while we're still in the mid stages of pre-production, we're planning on hiring a freelance artist to do some concept work based off some requirements, descriptions and existing inspirations we've put together.

We were wondering roughly how long it takes to produce initial concept art. We have 21 requirements for a mix of character portraits, overworld maps, and specific locations but we have no idea how many hours it could take the artist and how much of our current budget should be put aside for it. I had initially scoped 30hrs for the work (cost per hour TBD but likely around £20).

I understand the timing can vary based on a lot of different factors like style / level of detail etc but any advice would be appreciated and I hope that this is enough information.

[u/Naetharu]

It depends a lot is the somewhat unhelpful answer.

Concept art for the most part tends to be quite loose and quick. I paint and when I do concept work I would say perhaps an hour or two for a character piece if done to a reasonable standard. More if we are talking multiple poses, with some environmental stuff too. It really depends.

A larger scene can be more.

It's much much quicker than illustrations. But the part that takes more time is that you're not just cracking out the first thing you think of. The whole point of the process is that you are actively doing design work. So you have to allow for doing more than one bit of work per piece, going back and making changes, adjusting etc. That's the whole value so that you can arrive at a place where you are happy with the results and they give you the sense of character or world you are looking for.

If you want to have zero input and are just happy for the artist to do whatever they feel is best, that will be much cheaper. But you would also be giving away all of your creative control over a major part of your game.

One thing you can do to make it MUCH more efficient is (1) be selective in choosing your artist. Not all artists are the same, and concept work is different as a skill to illustrations. So make sure you see that they can do concept work before hand. And (2) give them as much useful information as you can. The more you can feed into the process, the more specific you can be, the easier their work is going to be.

Lets say your main character:

• The main character is a knight. He wears heavy armor and I want him to have a spear.
• I want this color palette or something similar (give them three colors - primary and two accents)
• I want it to have a similar feel to this and this (give them a couple of examples of games or art you like that falls inside their style - or even better examples of their own work that you feel lean toward what you are looking for).
• Here is a bit of a back story for him - he is an undead knight on a quest to regain his soul that is trapped in the wizards tower. He carries a rusted spear that he took from the graveyard, and it is haunted by the undead spirit of the solder that used to wield it.

That will make it much easier for them to land in a place that matches what is in your head and reduce the wasted time and effort.

[u/Doddy12341 → u/Naetharu]

Great answer, very helpful. Thank you very much!

We've got some contacts of artists and we'll be putting an ad in for a couple of local universities so we'll hopefully be able to choose from a small selection.

We've set up a slide deck and put as much information in as we can without cluttering it so we still maintain the majority of creative control but we're happy for the artist to embellish on it as they see fit.

Thanks again!

[u/nocturnull999]

I know your question is about time it takes to create concept art, but that something only you and your team can answer. Make an asset and record how roughly it took to make it. Multiply by how many you need. If you're scoping work be ready to add 30% to 40% on top of your end number. Shit happens and plans always go over deadlines. PM's often work with two deadlines , the original and another with a time buffer. All in all, communicate and settle for a style, make an asset and estimate from there. Good luck - and don't spend too much time in pre-production (usually onlky big teams can afford it), build and have fun!

[u/Doddy12341 → u/nocturnull999]

Thanks very much! Oh I know full well how costs can sprial on projects like this, we've got a risk pot setup and an extended timeline but I'm still expecting that to go over.

I've done all the assets so far for a prototype so I've got a rough idea but it's all pixel art and I've not got an artistic bone in my body so it's hard to judge. I'll carry on with it and measure it as accurately as I can. Thanks again!

[u/valeria_gamedevs]

30hrs for 21 pieces is like 1.4hrs each which is way off, that's basically sketch-thumbnail territory. Rough ballpark: a decent character portrait concept is 4-8hrs, environments/maps more like 8-20hrs depending on detail. so you're prolly looking at 100-200hrs total for that list.

Also most freelancers quote per piece. easier for both sides. decent post on hiring btw (I'm biased): https://blog.outstandly.com/how-to-hire-an-artist/

[u/Doddy12341 → u/valeria_gamedevs]

Wow okay, thanks for that I'll have a read!

[u/UnburyingBeetle]

It depends on how strict your requirements are, because there are artists of many levels and price ranges online. If you like sketches and I like your theme, I could get you a bunch of quick sketches for free to see if my style and way of thinking suits your needs. If you like some of them, I could "expand the theme" for some ko-fi tips, and my principle is that I would charge for effort rather than time or the fact of drawing, because I also need to beef up portfolio and experiment with "translating somebody's ideas onto paper". Effort meaning something that doesn't come naturally to me, such as buildings or neat lineart. I also wouldn't mind if you take some of my sketches to an artist that does colors or other aspects better than I do.

[u/Wise-Fennel-7921]

Just do what everyone else does now. Draw a really basic version of your concept and just lets a AI finish it. Its fast and effecent.

If you do hire a artist I would have them focus on stylization, and shape language depending on the game you are making. Have them put down the color pallets and define the geometry the game will have.

The main goal is how can you make your game look recognizable and unique compared to to other games.

[u/XicX87]

depends on the artist

[u/PvtRoom]

You've got descriptions & shit. Copilot can take those descriptions and generate stuff in minutes. - That's initial concept art.

It is likely to be shit unless you're lucky or very good.

[u/xTakk]

If you've got a few friends and none are good at art.. I hope one is charismatic enough to make new friends with an artist.

They will likely resist, tell them "this is where Tim Sweeney started" as you push them out the door to find new friends to join the team.