Stylized Concept Art for a New IP
Pre-production concept art for a stylized action IP: 240 approved sheets covering 16 characters, four factions and nine environment regions. Astel Games delivered silhouette-first designs with callout sheets, so the client's 3D team could start modelling from an approved sheet within two weeks of each review.
- Client
- Confidential — unannounced new IP
- Engine
- Unity
- Platforms
- iOS, Android, PC
- Year
- 2023
- Duration
- 10 months
- Team size
- 8 artists
- Disciplines
- Character concept, Environment concept, Key art
- Category
- Concept art
Artwork from our archive. High-resolution originals are available on request under NDA.
What the client needed.
The IP had no established visual language, only a two-page pitch and a target audience of younger players on low-end devices. Designs therefore had to stay distinctive in silhouette while remaining buildable by a small modelling team with a 6,000-triangle character budget.
- Ran a three-week visual exploration with 40 thumbnail silhouettes per character before any rendered sheet.
- Cut every design to three value steps so shapes read on a small, dimly lit phone screen.
- Attached a callout sheet to each approval, marking materials, triangle budget and modular part reuse.
- Built a faction style guide covering 12 shared motifs, palettes and prop language rules.
- Reviewed live with the client's art director twice weekly, capturing decisions in a written change log.
- 240 sheets approved across 16 characters, four factions and nine regions in ten months.
- Average three exploration rounds per character before the client signed off the direction.
- The faction style guide was adopted as the project's reference document for external vendors.
Have a similar production coming up?
Tell us the scope and the date. We will tell you what it takes — honestly, including what we would not promise.