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To this day, the Gothic style is taken as a ‘label’ for visual arts such as oncept art designs, yet the meaning stray from the original context, thus becoming rarely accurate. In this study, one of the objectives Is to discover how a concept artist conveys moods through gothic style and the feels In his or her concept art design. To accomplish this, a thorough study will be conducted; all the required Information can be obtained through books and Journals.
Another objective of this study Is to find out the ways of an artist specialized in concept arts producing gothic-esque atmosphere and effect; also on how do they influence one’s perception towards gothic-based elements. To make this possible, official interviews in the form of videos are selected as means of solving this objective. Kanu (2013) says that “The Gothic has evolved from its conception, with its original form barely hanging on as new styles have emerged to engage in mixtures of elements” (pp. 7), suggesting that the meaning Gothic in modern context has evolved from what Gothic originally meant.
To understand how Gothic style has evolved from its medieval days of pointed arch and flying buttress to a dark and moody emotion, various reliable sources are utilized to obtain the necessary Information to Justify the objective. Next, to understand more about concept art and gothic style, as well as the relation between the two, a series of research will be done by means of reliable and certified Internet websites as the main medium for finding out the answers, as well as to learn how to apply the style accordingly in creating future artworks through tutorials, online and also in books.
Finally, the last objective for the study is to discover whether a concept artist’s way and theory of art and style suited to be made as guidelines for art students in producing artwork. All the important facts and theories will be highlighted and ummarized, using all the sources available (books, Journals, interviews, Internet websites and tutorials) In order to accomplish this objective. Basically, through this study, one may learn about and compare the original Gothic and the Gothic In modern day concept art, and also find out what are the elements that make a Gothic- based concept art design, gothic.
Problems/Hypothesls: Gothic art and style has dated back In the c. 1300 – c. 1500 and things that are mostly associated with gothic are their colour scheme which displays a solemn mood and associated with this particular style/movement. In the context of concept art, this tyle is mostly associated with medieval setting, or fantasy related artwork. However, questions are raised on how the artist actually conveys the mood of gothic style in concept art, and also how do they produce gothic-esque atmosphere as one of the ways to capture one’s eyes.
Issues: 1 . How do a concept artist produce gothic-esque moods and atmospheres in his/her work? Can gothic-based elements in concept arts captivate the audience? In what ways they do so? 2. In what ways and aspects do the gothic style visually impact and influence the perception of the viewers’ when they look at the elements in gothic- ased concept arts? 3. Does the early Gothic style differ from the modern Gothic? How far has the Gothic style evolved throughout the eras, from the original – early period to modern era? 4.
Does a concept artist’s way and theory of art suited to be made as guidelines for art students in producing artwork? Objectives: 1 . To determine how gothic-esque moods and atmospheres in concept art can be conveyed through gothic style 2. To fgure out the ways of an artist specialized in concept arts producing gothic-esque atmosphere and effect in influencing one’s perception of gothic-based elements 3. To find out how Gothic style has evolved throughout the eras, from the original – early period to modern era, and also to learn how to apply the style accordingly in creating future artworks 4.
To discover whether a concept artist’s way and theory of art suited to be made as guidelines for art students in producing artwork Methodology: In context of art and style, the suitable research type for this study, “Gothic Style and Its Influence in Modern Day Concept Art”, is “Qualitative Studies”. The study is aimed to explain phenomena or happening in a verbal manner and/or written descriptions ather than complex experimentation or hypothesis by using numerical value (“Quantitative Studies”).
In simpler words, a qualitative approach will be conducted to study the influence of Gothic style in modern day concept art. Definition: Gothic and Concept Art Gothic Art is concerned with the painting, sculpture, architecture, and music characteristic of the second of two great international eras that flourished in western and central Europe during the Middle Ages. Gothic Art defines much of the late medieval art that grew out of the Byzantine and Romanesque traditions. These were ery formal artistic traditions with rigorous religious conventions that limited the personal creativity of the artist.
At this time, the quality of an artwork was Judged by the richness of the materials used to create it and the skill with which they were applied. Gothic art is distinguished from its predecessors by an increasing naturalism in the shape and posture of the fgures, and an expressive use of line, pattern and color, allowing the artist more freedom of interpretation. Gothic art started in 13th century Italy and developed throughout Europe until the 1 5th century. The term ‘Gothic’, originally related to the barbarity of the Gothic tribes (the Ostrogoths and Visigoths) in their destruction of the art of Ancient Rome.
It was first coined by 16th century Italian Renaissance critics as a term of abuse for various Over the centuries, Gothic art style is practiced among artists and each of them has their own idea of what and how Gothic should be represented in their masterpieces. Due to this, Gothic art went through a series of changes, where the changes lead to what we call evolution of style, while maintaining the essential principles and disciplines. On the other hand, what is concept art? Concept art is an initial design where ideas are generated.
Artists spend their time brainstorming and producing sketches based on the ideas they have generated. The sketches are then sifted and the best sketches are chosen to be illustrated. Concept art is an essential pre- production stage for games, films, and comics to allow the audience to get a clear picture of what the final artwork should be. Concept art, for their extreme details and coloring, can be considered as fine art. Concept artist are people with strong basis of art, and often they are people with creative ideas and concepts, different from usual rtists.
To be a successful concept artist, imaginations as well as the courage to take the risks are the keys to achieve great success ahead. Hence, it’s a wonder whether the understandings of a concept artist can be applied by students of the formal, plastic stream of art. To answer the question a study about the understanding of a concept artist particularly on Gothic style will be conducted, whether his/her theory of art, as a concept artist, is suited to be made as guidelines by students.
Instruments and Procedures Instruments are the resources available and to be used for information gathering. For this study, a total of three forms of sources: book-based (books, Journals, magazines), internet-based (websites, online videos/tutorials, E-books/E-Journals), and interviews (in person/online videos) will be utilized to obtain the necessary information. Firstly, books are required, as they are very important, and also a great help in obtaining any information needed. The library and book stores are the perfect places where this resource can be obtained.
For this particular research on Gothic art style, Gothic related books on art and architecture are required. One of the xamples books for study is ‘Gothic Art’ by Andrew Martindale. From this one book, information and knowledge about the embodiment of the splendor of Gothic art on architecture aspect, such as the cathedrals of Notre Dame, Salisbury and amongst others will be known, and also learn the specialties of the sculptures, paintings and other great creations achieved in the creative period in Western art. Another example would be ‘The Gothic Revival’ by Michael J.
Lewis. This book gives as much attention to the ideas that gave Gothic architecture its emotional and intellectual power as it does to its great monuments. Once an adequate amount of information and knowledge is extracted from all the books needed, approximately at least two week to do so, then the study can be conducted further through other resources. Secondly, Internet-related resources are also important, as not all information can be obtained from books. When this happens one usually turn to Internet for more details.
For this matter, by reviewing the information obtained from the books, specific and reliable websites are searched to be fully utilized. One example would be from www. royzy. co. uk, a reliability-certified website where one can learn about oncept art, the principles and disciplines, as well as knowing the big names. Another The content of this website is a little bit similar to the former website, but it includes in-depth information which the former website lacks, which are the how-to guides and career opportunities.
There are also internet websites for studying about Gothic art and great achievements achieved in that specific period, such as www. artyfactory. com, a website dedicated specially for the art. Approximately two weeks of time will be used to get the necessary information, and once it is enough nformation obtained then next resources will be used to get even deeper in this study. Thirdly, a collection of facts can be obtained verbally, thus the need for interview. Two types of interview are conducted.
One is a video interview, and this special video can be downloaded or watched on streaming website, involving an existing gaming company ‘Ninja Theory’, a game company that produced one of the great concept arts known by people. While the other is a face-to-face interview with a degree graduate manning the local art school ‘Asgardian School of Art’, located in Sabah. The respected interviewee Ethan Lo, a graduate from a well-known art academy – The One Academy, and currently is working as an animator.
The interviews should be completed in about two weeks of time, where soon after information is gathered, every single obtained info will be reviewed as many times as it takes to fully understand, and be compiled together for further analysis. Literature Review: The study of Gothic style and its influence on modern day concept art It is always wise to be cautious in the use of the word ‘Gothic’. By c. 1250, a recognisably Gothic tyle was in the process of emerging in the history of European art and the hunt for ‘Gothic characteristics’ is hindered from the start, by the vague and imprecise nature of the term (Martindale, 1994).
For this study, different study analyses by different artists are conducted in order to clarify any issues pertaining gothic style, in relation to concept arts. This is due to the evolutionary phase that the gothic style has gone through and the meaning of it slowly becomes ambiguous. The aim of this review is to reveal the different opinion on artists regarding the study of gothic style in the pplication of concept art through the evolution of traditional (pen/paper) and modern (graphic tablets/software) ways of expressing them.
This is crucial in order to grasp the understanding and differences each artists portray their works of art. Definitions What is meant by ‘Gothic? According to Homan (2006), the term ‘Gothic’ was first applied to the architecture of the twelfth to fifteenth centuries by way of characterizing its supposed lack of refinement, but in due time ‘Gothic’ has come to be proudly owned, imitated and revived and it stands not only for style and echnique but also for a certain integrity, for high spiritual and moral standards as well as aesthetic principles.
Originated from the word ‘Goths’, which referred to a Germanic tribe in the third to fifth centuries noted for their savage ways, the term had brought the impression of something savage, vulgar and barbaric. And thus, by a rather unsatisfactory process of elimination for at least two hundred years, European art underwent so many changes that it is hardly possible to divine a ‘Gothic style’ during that time. Insight into the changes is subdued by that particular lack. Other mportance: Savageness, Changefulness, Naturalism, Grotesqueness, Rigidity, and Redundancy” (Thomas Carlyle, 1853).
The way the six formal features are expressed as “Savageness or Rudeness, Love of Change, Love of Nature, Disturbed Imagination, Obstinacy, Generosity. By taking one or two features from the six formal features will not destroy the Gothic style as whole but the removal of majority of the features will. In other words, the six formal features are complementary to each other, and to keep balance of Gothic style it is for the best to not disturb the linkage of these six denoted features.
In comparison, the meaning of Gothic style, according to both of the authors, did not differ too much from each other, as both of them regarded the term Gothic as savage, though the former emphasised more on technique and integrity, spiritual and moral standards as well as aestheticism; while the latter highlighted more on the six features that give Gothic its definition. Based on the understanding acquired it is common perception to associate Gothic with sombre colours, and dark sentiment.
Why is it so has yet to be determined, however the six features (Savageness, Changefulness, Naturalism, Grotesqueness, Rigidity, and Redundancy), s mentioned by the latter, brought a solemn impression Just by knowing what each of the features stands for, hence it is no wonder why people relate Gothic with those dark and moody outlook. Gothic-Based Elements Gothic style is the most prominent style in architecture as its characteristics are significant compared to its predecessor.
As our society becomes more urban, the way for gothic style to be eternalized is through concept art. Different concept artists have different ways of expressing their understanding and admiration towards this particular style by adapting one or more features of this style into their artwork. Although simply depicting the particular style seems easy, great understanding of the style is required to portray the true meaning of gothic style.
According to Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (2013), the Gothic style (Gothic Revival style to be precise) is part of the mid-19th century picturesque and romantic movements in architecture, reflecting the public’s taste for buildings inspired by medieval design. The identifiable features include: 1. Pointed arches as decorative element and as window shape 2. Front facing gables with decorative incised trim (vergeboards or bargeboards) 3. Porches with turned posts or columns 4. Steeply pitched roof 5.
Gables often topped with finials or crossbracing 6. Decorative crowns (gable or drip mold) over windows and doors 7. Castle-like towers with parapets on some high style buildings 8. Carpenter Gothic buildings have distinctive board and batten vertical siding Concept artists are creative and imaginative people. They are able to adapt one or more of the identifiable features of architecture into their concept art, and using the features as base they are able to come up with their own design to be implemented into their concept artworks.
A total f three concept and game artists’ statements and opinions are to be compared and contrast in order to acquire a better understanding on their grasp of what Gothic style defines in their artwork. Gothic Style In the Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary, the term “-esque” is described to be “in the style of”, thus Gothic-esque means in the style of Gothic. Perception is of an importance to concept artist in order to portray their works of art. For the purpose of Justifying the purpose, two interviews with concept artists from different studios are carried out.
Firstly, Ayami Kojima, a name that stands out as a Japanese concept and game artist, not only for her highly praised work in the Castlevania videogame series, but also for the fact she is self-taught. Kojima has developed an array of personal drawing techniques that have served to define her unique style, some of which have been featured in art technique books, such as the Japanese Color Kingdom book series, and the Comickers magazine series showcasing techniques used by popular Japanese manga artists and Western comic artists. Kojima uses many traditional mediums in her paintings.
The series of personal techniques frequently followed in her drawings are to first make a sketch with cont?? rayon sticks, then create shadows with more cont?? and india ink. Depth and textures are often added, usually to the background, by spreading and shaping molding paste with a palette knife. Base colors are then painted into the work using diluted acrylics. As more prominant coloring is added, finger smudging is used to create glows. The work is then brought to completion with metallic paint highlights and finishing touches, and enhanced with a gloss polymer finish.
The techniques that Kojima used in creating her concept artworks are quite similar with western Gothic artists. Other han that Kojima’s fascination include creepy Gothic movies and surgery, both likely contribute as inspirations in her dark and sometimes chilling depictions versions of her artworks (Creative Uncut, 2009). Because of her seemingly flawless techniques, one could say her technique is full of aestheticism; Kojima is able to make fans of the Castlevania series to fall in love with her art.
Secondly, the first interview involves two people: Alessandro Taint (visual art director) and Stuart Adcock (technical art director) from Ninja Theory studio, the creator of the 2013 DMC: Devil May Cry, a ulti-platform hack-and-slash game. From the interview, the concept of the game is based on gothic style, particularly in terms of colours and architecture. Here, the atmosphere of the concept art is described to be full of rage and intensity, yet at the same time the works of art leads the audience into a surreal world hereby the environment comes alive as the subject of the artwork began to move inside the environment.
As the colour transitioned from an intense and raging and, heart- pumping hot colours (e. g. red, orange, black) to a colder, serene nerve-chilling colour (e. g. lue, white, green) the artist allows the audience to experience the movement of colours and absorbing the audience with captivating landscape and breathtaking architecture. In the interview, the artists’ aim is to make the audience feel the artwork having its own breath of life and not Just being a piece of beautiful artwork on a 2D plane (gamereactorTV-Taini, video recording, Dec 12, 2012).
Lastly, the second interview is conducted with a local concept artist Ethan Lo from Asgardian School of Art in Sabah. During the interview, he explained the complexity of designing the final work of art from the beginning until the end. He explained that in order to produce a breathtaking artwork, a lot of initial sketches needed to be done and once the idea is accepted, more refining to the selected idea is carried out. In terms gothic style, not the work, one can experience the gothic-esque artwork through character design. The character may have a gothic feel through the form, movement, and clothing.
In his artwork, the intricate design of one of his character’s armour is exquisite in terms of colour and form portrays the gothic medieval feeling instead of the modern-day perception of what gothic is. The scarring and scratches on the armour shows the lay of colour, allowing the audience to distinguish the depth of the character, making it appear to be realistic (Asgardian-Lo, personal communication, April 18, 2013). In Kojima’s case, her forte is her Gothic inspired techniques, and drawing inspirations from Gothic architecture.
Which means is that her method of conveying Gothic-esque moods and atmospheres stands on style and techniques, and also aesthetic disciplines. However, in comparison from the two interviews, gothic-esque characteristic, moods and atmospheres can be portrayed in three ways: colours, architecture and landscape, as well as characters. The first interview is a mixture etween the modern day perceptions of what gothic style is while the second interview is embracing, though slightly inaccurate documentation, of what the medieval gothic style would be.
The two interviews allowed the audience to experience gothic style in concept art in an in-depth manner. To succeed in conveying Gothic-esque moods and atmospheres, techniques and aesthetics inspirations are the key, but other than that, one should consider the elements of colours, architecture landscape and also characters. Being able to balance between the former and the latter will surely enable one to pull out a Gothic style masterpiece.
Influencing One’s Perception of Gothic-Based Elements In an interview conducted by IGN Entertainment in 2003, Kojima stated that she has been drawing inspirations from Gothic architecture, and intrigued by the designs, she would come up with her own idea based on the features to be adapted into her work. She would adapt the pointed arches as decorative element and also to design the crown of the Vampire King in her Castlevania series (IGN Entertainment-Kojima, video recording, April 5, 2003).
In terms of game architecture, Taint (2012) stated that he and his group fused a modern day structure with the more medieval architecture, aving the prominent pointed-arch, rose window, and flying buttress, the identifiable key features and elements in Gothic style, in their architectural concept art. By doing so, they achieved their objectives by being able to lead and captivated the audience into reliving the structure, the hybrid of the conventional and the traditional elements.
Kenneth Wong, an Australian-born illustrator drew his inspiration from the Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and began creating his own work based on that. Sly (2012) stated that his art style is greatly influenced by the Gothic style whereby 4 ut of 6 formal features are applied: Savageness: Ken’s works for 2011 ‘s Alice: Madness Returns, a game developed for the new-generation gaming platform at that time (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft XBOX 360) and also for PC depicts a sense of rudeness in how he designs his character, as the characters appear informal and not in order.
Changefulness: His works are not static, but dynamic in movement. Naturalism: His works appear to be natural and fluid, not rigid and static. His usage style Grotesqueness: The way he designs his character with disturbed imagery and deformed in shape. After analyzing the three artists’ opinions and theories, the mportant thing to focus in concept art involving Gothic style is staying true to ‘one’s own Gothic style’. The concept artists are “expressing the vision in its truest form” which doing concept art because it is the “pre-production work which impacts the whole project” in games, film, or comics.
In order to relate concept art and Gothic style is by doing research and understanding on what gothic style is. When the artist may approach concept art in manner of “abstract, not Just realistic”, thus the concept artist can use whichever approach (expressively abstract or realistic) in order to enerate idea by adapting the style (Gothic) in their artwork. Besides staying true to one’s intended style, concept artist needs to have a strong background and analysis on Gothic style such as books, field trips or interview.
In order to convey the appropriate mood of Gothic style or the design of Gothic architecture as well as applying appropriate colour palette on the particular idea the artist is trying to portray. Many confuse concept art and illustration. While both involve expressing idea, concept art is the initial idea of what the artist wanted to express, illustration is efining the idea and making it stand out better, at the same time keeping close to the concept art. To convey a Gothic style concept art, sketches upon sketches are done to create the perfect initial concept to be illustrated.
Evolution of Gothic Style Throughout the Eras, From the Original – Early Period to Modern Era In the earlier eras, the transition of periods where European art reigned, Gothic was prominent in the art of architecture, and could be easily denoted by the prominent features and characteristics such as its pointed arch and flying buttress, porches with turned posts or columns and steeply pitched roof. In other words, the elements of ‘Gothic’ at earlier times were ‘physical’ and can be seen, touched, observed as well as admired by the human eyes (Male, 1999). However, the advancement of era is inevitable, hence so is evolution.
Gothic style did not remain stagnant, as the absorption into abstraction give Gothic style a new outlook. Instead of only focusing more onto the architectural side, the artistic side of it, the application of the six features (Savageness, Changefulness, Naturalism, Grotesqueness, Rigidity, and Redundancy), becomes a stepping stone for others to adapt this peculiar style in heir creation of artworks. Keeping in mind the features they need to be able to keep most, if not all, the features that identify Gothic as it is, in context (Kanu, 2013). But, disputes amongst Gothic specialists and enthusiasts are inevitable.
Each one will eventually come up with questions concerning the Gothic style of modern era would be better if it remained stagnant as the past Gothic style. Although Aldrich (2001) argues that the past Gothic style is a better style in terms of designs and aestheticism, Kanu (2013) claims that a true Gothic style is by the ones who utilise the nderstandings on both the past Gothic style and the current modern one, applying the two grasps into one and transforming it into a single, balanced and linked unit. Some agree while others disagree, it has yet to reach a deduction.
Basically, the evolution of gothic style is not a revolutionary one. In fact it is on-going and continuous. Fangary (2010) stated that the evolution is gradual but certain as the Before, gothic style is limited to buildings such as churches and cathedrals while in its evolutionary phase, it began to permeate into the urban industry as a form of art and concept. A Concept Artist’s Way and Theory of Art as Guidelines Taking Ayami Kojima as one example, her way and theory of art (specifically in Gothic style) are more to traditional approaches, mainly because she uses many traditional mediums in her paintings.
The series of personal techniques frequently followed in her drawings are to first make a sketch with cont?? crayon sticks, then create shadows with more cont?? and india ink. Depth and textures are often added, usually to the background, by spreading and shaping molding paste with a palette knife. Base colors are then painted into the work using diluted acrylics. As more prominent coloring is added, finger smudging is used to create glows. The work is then brought to completion with metallic paint highlights and finishing touches, and enhanced with a gloss polymer finish.
Kojima’s method of producing artworks is commendable, and also quite practical. Hence her method can be used as guidelines for those who are interested in creating artworks, and also a good practice for art students. Alessandro Taint (DmC) and Kenneth Wong (Alice Madness) both have their own unique ways in creating artworks, but their method are more to digital approaches the use of a computer tablet, photo image editing and rendering, rendering of 3- Dimensional images) rather than traditional. Hence their methods are more suited for those who are involved in graphic design industry, especially animators and would-be animators.
As an inference, one’s fullest artistic potential can only be drawn out when he or she is willing to put unconditional effort in exploring, and also mastering both kinds of approaches, digitally and traditionally, challenging one’s own limitation and exceed the restrictions, finally achieving the unexpected. Taken ltogether, although Gothic used to be associated with barbarism, the Gothic style actually emphasised more on technique and integrity, spiritual and moral standards as well as aestheticism, while keeping a balance of Gothic style by not disturbing the linkage of the six denoted features.
One should learn to able to adapt one or more of the identifiable features of architecture into their creations, like what concept artists had done, and using the Gothic features as inspirations and ideas to come up with their own design to be implemented into their artworks. To convey Gothic-esque oods and atmospheres successfully, techniques and aesthetics inspirations are the key. However, one should be able to balance between techniques, disciplines, colours and idea or inspirations of design, because only through balance a Gothic masterpiece can be achieved.
Besides that, staying true to ‘one’s own Gothic style’ inevitably will enable one’s own self to apply Gothic style in manner of “abstract, not just realistic”, be it expressively abstract or realistic, in order to generate idea by adapting the style (Gothic) in their artwork. In the future research, it is suggested that ne put a worthwhile consideration on researching the pros and cons of traditional approach and digital approach in the making of Gothic style concept art to understand the application of both traditional and digital media in the present art industry.
With the rise of technology, it is certain that most concept artist will opt for digital painting instead of traditional. In order to determine the statistics of the number of artists prefer which method, a research on the pros and cons of both number of concept artists should be interviewed, and ideas or theories to be nalytically assessed in order to get more and in-depth understandings on variety of ways one can practice to achieve Gothic-esque moods and effects as well as atmospheres in artworks.
Adding these propositions in conducting the future studies will surely help to researchers and readers to grasp more what other fortes the Gothic style has in its sleeve to offer to them.