Concept Artist: Shawn Robertson

Hey guys, been a little while since I last looked at a concept artist, and I really need to look at these guys more often, anyway, in this blog post I'm gonna look at Shawn Robertson, the lead artist and concept artist at Irrational Games, and the man behind the visual ideas of the Bioshock Games.

Below is a sample of his work from the first Bioshock:

As you can see, Shawn Robertson has looked at objects that would be found in an underwater, late 1940's style city when designing the characters and environments. With the grenade launcher and ammunition being made from household objects. The guardians of the little sisters and the city of rapture known as the "Big Daddies" are designed upon the old style diving suits in use at the time. Their weaponry is based upon tools that would be used in an underwater city, such as pulleys and rivet guns, showing the the "Big Daddies" also perform manual labour as well as their body guard duties.

The image of the turret being mounted on an office chair also shows the state of Rapture during and after the civil war. The chair has been fitted with scavenged motors, weaponry and sensors to transform it into a security device. Naturally the turret has been fitted with a miniaturised steam engine due to the abundance of water in the underwater city.

I like the way Shawn Robertson has used the environment and the background story behind the environment to influence the look and feel of his characters, giving it a unique feel that isn't found in most games that involve a war or the aftermath of a war.