Great concept art can turn even the most implausible idea into a coherent vision for an engaging story. Sail Lin's bizarre army of fruit and veg-wielding animal warriors is a great example of that (see our piece on what is concept art to learn more about the field).
Based in China, Lin is a senior game concept designer who has been a part of projects such as Delta Force and FragPunk. He's currently the head of the firearms design team for the anime-style third-person tactical competitive shooter Strinova, so designing weapons is his specialty, but even still, I was really taken by the very organic approach to gun design that he conceived for a personal project.
Lin's armoury of natural produce is a set of conceptual artworks that sparked an idea for a whole world. The weapons belong to animals who fight against villains with weaponry made from different types of fruit and vegetables. Each gun is tailored to a different animal, for example the gun made from carrots is used by a little rabbit.
Meanwhile, the shape of the food dictates the weapon, so a long spring onion becomes a sniper rifle, and a corn cob lends itself well to being a submachine gun.
“Once the firearms were made I began to create the cute characters that would wield them, which in turn helped me to construct the world they live in and the stories that I could tell within it,” Lin told us.
Lin's project is a fantastic example of how concept artists can skillfully develop the bizarre and surreal into harmonious worlds that we want to learn more about. You can see more designs from the series on his ArtStation profile.
For more weapons design inspiration, check out Antoine Gadoud's striking Swordtember sword art. And for ideas for your character work, see our roundup of character design tips and Yona Saura's advice for creating character art.
Part of this article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions available.
