Favorite concept artists/illustrators

[hazys]

I've always liked looking at video game concept/character art, there's so much amazing work that goes into the art direction and visual design of games. I wonder if you have any favorites?

My absolute favorite character illustrator is probably Kinu Nishimura, who has done art for tons of Capcom fighters, 999, Code of Princess, etc. Her art is almost enough to get me to buy a game.

 

[Yousef]

nobuhiko akatsuka
Yoshihito hattori
Kazuhiko oguro
Nagashi Kii
Mikihiro Suzuki
Takumine
Yoshida
Yasushi konjiki
Yuhjiro ishitani

 

[Iguana-0]

Metal Gear Solid has some kick ass concept art! Yoji Shinkawa

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Kinu Nishimura is a national treasure. Honestly, most Capcom artists are god tier.

I like most Square Enix artists as well. Yoshitaka Amano, Akihiko Yoshida, even Sackboy's favorite whipping boy Tetsuya Nomura.

Edit: I guess I should post some art.

Amano:

Nomura:

Yoshida:

 

[fishboneKiller]

ever since i got into megaten i've been a huge fan of Kazuma Kaneko's artwork, it's so killer. it's so synonymous with smt to me that anything he draws looks like it could very well be an smt game. (see Maken X for Dreamcast to see what i mean)

Rodney Alan Greenblat is a similar case, i learned about him from his work on the Parappa series but he's dipped his toes into a ton of other things. like, he did the album cover for the first album by They Might Be Giants, which is probably my favorite band.

uuuh... im not really sure if Osamu Sato qualifies, he's more of an artist who also does art for videogames sometimes, rather than a video game artist, but i still love his stuff. the guy is totally out there, you probably know him best for LSD Dream Emulator or Eastern Minds, but he's worked on some other videogames like Rolypolys and Rhythm 'n Face. you know an Osamu Sato game when you see one, that's for sure.

 

[hazys]

Osamu Sato is great. He was a part of a trend in Japanese graphic design that I really like, and was super influential. See also Koichi Sato (no relation afaik).

In Japan especially so many illustrators and graphic designers overlapped with the world of video games because it was/is such a profitable industry. Some games from the time were quite visually sophisticated and took cues from modern or contemporary artists, like Ico, Katamari Damacy, etc.

In the West they seem to have mostly taken from the crop of fantasy illustrators that also supply art for trading card/board games, but there doesn't seem to have been so much crossover with the contemporary art/design scene. In the UK there was The Designers Republic, which did the insanely influential design work for the Wipeout games.

 

[Stingy Perry]

Yoshitaka Amano

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

This is more tabletop game related than video game, but I always enjoyed Dungeons and Dragons fantasy art. I guess their art was also referenced in D&D licensed video game so it sorta counts.

Boris Vallejo and Larry Elmore stick out to me in that genre. There's also Frank Frazetta, the originator of this style of fantasy art, but he didn't work that much on D&D. He was better known for his Conan comics.

Elmore:

Vallejo:

Frazetta:

 

[hazys]

Frazetta is a huge indirect influence on fantasy games. It's hard not to see him everywhere.

 

[TurnARyu]

Shoji kawamori is a legend in mecha works, i love his style in armored core games]

Tatsuya Yoshikawa has amazing arts too, i love how he uses color so well

And OF COURSE Yoji Shinkawa, there is something about his trace, is so ethereal in a sense that i can't really explain

 

[Iguana-0]

This is more tabletop game related than video game, but I always enjoyed Dungeons and Dragons fantasy art. I guess their art was also referenced in D&D licensed video game so it sorta counts.

Boris Vallejo and Larry Elmore stick out to me in that genre. There's also Frank Frazetta, the originator of this style of fantasy art, but he didn't work that much on D&D. He was better known for his Conan comics.

Elmore:

View attachment 16324

Vallejo:

View attachment 16325

Frazetta:

View attachment 16327

Don't forget Death Dealer! Another Frazetta classic!

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Don't forget Death Dealer! Another Frazetta classic!

Unfortunately, Death Dealer was kind of a flop, but it wasn't due to the art. The artwork was insanely high quality.

 

[Perseonn]

God Amano has been posted, Akihiko Yoshida has been posted, Kazuma Kaneko has been posted.

It's time for the Goddess Ayami Kojima, illustrator for the gothic-style Castlevania series

And another illustrator, still mortal, but is the undisputed King of Chirarism, Suzuhito Yasuda