Industry research

As I'm focusing on the 2D aspect of games, I researched the roles that a concept artist takes on in the developing of a game.

There is a broad variety of concept artists when it comes to making a game, particularly with bigger companies. There's the environment, character, prop; also possibly under the umbrella of 2D artist would be the storyboard artist. Environment, character and prop artists generally does what it says on the tin. They focus on that particular area, with the workflow varying depending on the placement. For instance character design and possibly props would have a more differing things to draw at a faster pace than the environment artist.

Concept art is a strong part of the pre-production stage, it is the game idea visualised for the rest of the team to refer to; this role isn't just restricted to games design, it branches across to animation, film and comics. Some games can require the concept artist for a longer period depending of the style of the game.

http://www.creativeskillset.org/film/jobs/productiondesign/article_4680_1.asp

Taken from the above link is a bullet pointed skills that are required for a concept artist (Taken from films concept artist, but generally the same across the differing medias) One of the skills for 2D artists is the flexibility to change on request, they work under the art director who is the 'vision' of how they want the game to look like; if the art isn't to their liking then it will need to be changed or even scrapped entirely. A concept artist can't be overly precious with their work as it isn't just them they are trying to appease; they also need to churn out their work at a quick and consistant pace, it is brainstorming through the medium of art. Working alongside this is being able to interperate the ideas being given in the correct fashion, the artist must be able to visualise the game along the same kind of wave length as the team.
Obvious factors are needed for this position, like excelling in illustration and actually having an interest in the feild- I find producing artwork when not having the enthusiasm can directly affect the work produced. The other key skill needed for this role is to have good communication skills, you are working in a team; communication is absolutely vital so everyone is on the same page when producing a game.