Concept Specification

Project Idea:

For this project, I intend to produce pre-production artwork based on a fantasy novel by Freda Warrington. The novel is called ‘The Amber Citadel’ and is book one of the ‘Jewelfire Trilogy’. I believe that this book would make an excellent basis for a film, so I will focus on concept artwork for the environments, characters, races and key-moment visualisations, as if the story was to be adapted for cinema.

Project Aims:

I aim to produce:

-Four character designs.

-Three environment concepts

-Three key-moment visualisations

-Depictions of the four races within the book.

Project Action and Development:

In order to achieve my project aims, I will need to select several main characters from the book to design. I will also need to plan what key-moments I would like to depict and the important environments that are described within the novel. To do this, I will re-read and make notes on the parts of the novel that I believe are the most significant.

To help with the concept designs, I will research the works of other concept artists, as well as pre-production artwork for films of a similar genre. Such artists that I might research are Alan Lee, John Howe and Michael Kutsche. I will also refer to the concept art produced for films such as ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Avatar’, all the ‘Harry Potter’ movies and those based on the books of ‘Narnia'. 

As the book is fantasy-based, I could also look into game concept art for inspiration. The work produced by games company ‘Blizzard’ for ‘World of Warcraft’ would be very helpful to research, as it has many aspects in common with the environments and races within Freda Warrington’s novel.

I will use journals such as ‘ImagineFX’ and ‘Fantasy Art’ magazine. These contain useful workshops to help with concept design, as well as interviews with professionals that could help with my research.

I have always been interested in concept art for films and animations, which is why I have chosen this type of subject for my project. Ideally, I would like to continue with these ideas into my final major project as I believe that there is a wealth of imagery within the book that could be explored much further. I would love to have the opportunity to fully develop at least 6 of the main characters, as well as producing a multitude of environments and key-moment visualisations to really bring the novel to life. 

Ultimately, I would like to achieve a polished and concise portfolio of work relating to the novel which would translate smoothly into film.