Sketch to Final illustration process for Box Art

[Ibrahim_UK 88]

Lester The Unlikely Box Art Process

One of the reasons I enjoy collecting preliminary artwork is it shows the stages the artist took to reach the final painting. In many cases, this involves concepts that differ from the final we know. Here we look at the process from sketch to box art for Lester The Unlikely Super Nintendo.

When a Video Game reaches its later stages of development, the Art team will start planning the visuals of the Box Art.
Art Director/Editors will usually create a few different concepts containing elements of the game to feature on the Box Art.
Some video game companies would ask an illustrator to create concepts and provide them with key information along with videotapes 📼 showcasing the game.

Below are examples of concepts developed by the Artist Michael Bohbot for the Video Game "Lester The Unlikely Super Nintendo Box Art"

After the concepts are reviewed the Art Team would make their selection and provide feedback with edits to the illustrator.

Once the illustrator reviews the feedback, they would work on the chosen concept and tweak it to the Art Teams' liking.

A color comp "composition" sketch is usually produces as a Final prelim "preliminary drawings" before the artwork can be fully painted.

 

Artists differ in style and method; once they know what they want to illustrate, they would get to work on making the Final.
This includes making several sketches on paper as a reference or painting directly simply by looking at a comp or a final sketch.

Here are some examples of Michael Bohbot developing characters and objects.

 

A final sketch before painting begins.