Concept art.

Concept art is initial ideas that are usually sketched roughly and enhanced using CAD such as photo shop in conjunction with a graphics pad, there are many stages to concept art as developments are made all the time with different variates of the same concept, for example the different helmet alterations that we saw in the Mass Effect 2 concept art video.

Concept art is used primarily by 3D modelers to create their 3D designs.
The concept artists play a massive role in the design and development of games as it is there ideas that are made reality when the final design is put into a 3D modeling programme and later integrated into the game.
Similar to concept artist, textures have a similar role to play in the development of games as textures give depth and feeling to the game by adding "skins" to the blank 3D models and environments.

All the images below where created by the lead concept designer of Fallout 3 Adam Adamowicz.




Robotic character design
from Fallout 3



Concept art of architecture from Fallout 3

Miscellaneous and vehicle concept from Fallout 3