What are some of the reasons why concepts get rejected, or sent back for changes, or just not used?

I suppose it's a few things. Sometimes when you do something, it doesn't look like what it's supposed to do. That's one reason. It can be quite tricky sometimes to nail a certain look and aesthetic to a craft, especially when it doesn't look like its job role. So sometimes, I know me, I get really excited, and I make a bunch sometimes that don't even look like their role, but it looks cool, so I'll just pitch it anyway. And then it'll be like, it's a bit too off the mark of what we're looking for, sort of thing. But for me, it's kind of like a wild card. It might be really good and be like, yeah, you know what, we can use that. Or you might just be like, no, that's far too wacky, that's not going to work for its purpose, sort of thing.

The number of things that have been discovered through blue sky experimentation cannot be underestimated. Concept artists will get a brief, and trying to pull that image that only exists in somebody else's head out onto the paper is hard enough, but sometimes there can be a lot of value in discovering the things you don't want along the path of finding the things you do want.

Yeah, that's it. It is a huge refinement process of exactly what you're after. And sometimes you don't really know what you're after until you do go a bit wide of the mark or are a bit wacky, because you kind of just have to get it out into the open and just do it. Because I think you feel better as well as an artist to just try and get these ideas out, because no one can see inside my head. So it's kind of just like, well, this is actually what I'm thinking when I'm concepting this. And hopefully my art director will be like, yeah, that's good, we like that. Or, no, that's a bit overzealous and it's a bit crazy. So it is a huge refining process. And as I say, as you do it more, you do get better at doing it.