Concept Art Spotlight: Jakup Rozalski

In general, fantasy concept art tends to favor a kind of quasi-realism, an ultra-polished digital gleam that lends itself to video games and CG powered film. At its very best, this quest for hyper detail can produce some stunning artwork (see last week's Concept Art Spotlight devoted to portrait artist Eve Ventrue). Yet at it's very worst, digital concept art often looks like, well, digital concept art. That is to say, less like art and more like a collection of shiny character models and oversaturated matte landscapes.

That's why it's so refreshing to encounter an artist like Jakub Rozalski whose pieces lean more toward impressionism than realism. While Rozalski is often a contributing artist supplying work for larger projects, much of his stuff feels more like quality illustration than toss away concept art. Each piece seems to tell its own story, and you'd be hard pressed to find an artist whose work conveys more narrative power. Though he works digitally, his painterly style adds a certain cloudy ambience to each piece that suggests a greater world beyond. Jakub is especially good at using fog and haze to capture the menace of beasts on the prowl. 

Jakub has done a fantastic series of paintings dedicated to The Witcher as well as a series of alternate history pieces for his 1920s series. His work is currently serving as inspiration for new game based on north mythology. Here are some of favorite pieces by Jakub: