Concept art is a very closely related profession to technical illustration. Concept artists are responsible for designing vehicles, props and environments mainly for the entertainment industry, including film, television and video games. These designs require a high degree of precision, and an amazing grasp of three-dimensionality since their designs will be manufactured either to scale, fullsize or in 3D. The designs often reference actual vehicles, objects or environments to imbue a sense of near-reality. In fact, a rule of thumb is 70% reality, 30% fantasy.
Soviet Ground-Effects Tank
Sometimes, though, that formula can be 100% reality.
Pictured is a Soviet-built cold war era “ground effects” tank. These things were like proto-hovercraft. They would be pushed along by jet turbines and use airfoils to force a pocket of air underneath the craft. This would allow the vehicle to hover above water (and potentially land), move with very little friction — and as an added bonus, be undetectable by radar.
Soviet Ground-Effects Tank
Where do you find inspiration for your concept designs? Let us know in the comments.
Source (via Boing Boing)
Nice find; I love stuff like this. I often find that the concepts I like the best are highly realistic – much like your formula states above. In some cases, the designers think through more of the details than ever get released to the public. It’s not until you read the technical manuals that you realize that they’d thought of, and designed for it.
Hi! I stumbled on this site while looking for examples of technical illustrations. Scrolling down I saw this post about concept art, and thought it was interesting because I was just telling my class earlier today to take a look at technical illustrations as examples of great draftsmanship.
I’m really glad I found this site, there are some great posts and resources, I’ll definitely be checking back often!
Great work!