Adventures of a Game Artist
So I am embarking on a quest to become a "Game Artist" in the sense that I can provide visual assets for a game. I'd like to be able to offer the whole art package when hired. From concept art to box art and actual in game asset. Part of this process will involve me actually making some "games" to showcase the art. Which is why I started this thread separately from my portfolio thread. The "games" will really be nothing more than badly made demos as I try to learn a little about the game making process and game engines. The reason for this is just to try have more inside knowledge on the game making process.
I will also be sharing some attempts at animation and vfx.
So due to this I'll be starting at the complete wrong end of the game making process: the art. The main reason for this is I'm still busy learning the game engine software and the games will be very generic. So I wont need much prototyping. Hopefully later on I can start at the game making process and then be able to approach it from a more real world example, where a company has a game prototyped but need art.
I'll also be starting with 2D games and working up to 3D. To start off for 2D, I will be doing a shmup and a platformer. May do a point and click adventure too. They won't be full games as I said before just demo for the art really.
Part of the reason for this thread is also hopefully to get some feedback and answers to questions I may have about art assets.
And here to start with the shmup is some bullet assets, some concepts for the hero spaceship and a start of a starfield background:
I will also be sharing some attempts at animation and vfx.
So due to this I'll be starting at the complete wrong end of the game making process: the art. The main reason for this is I'm still busy learning the game engine software and the games will be very generic. So I wont need much prototyping. Hopefully later on I can start at the game making process and then be able to approach it from a more real world example, where a company has a game prototyped but need art.
I'll also be starting with 2D games and working up to 3D. To start off for 2D, I will be doing a shmup and a platformer. May do a point and click adventure too. They won't be full games as I said before just demo for the art really.
Part of the reason for this thread is also hopefully to get some feedback and answers to questions I may have about art assets.
And here to start with the shmup is some bullet assets, some concepts for the hero spaceship and a start of a starfield background:
Comments
I've also generally preferred to make projectiles that have a clear distinction between what the "main" shape is, and what the "glowy" or trail portion of the projectile is, just so that when you're looking at collision, it's clearer what part you have to avoid.
I love the spaceships! :) I think sharper specular/reflections would look really good.
@Elyaradine - Thanks for the input, sounds like a solid approach to me as I was wondering about colour values when simply colourizing a grayscale image. And I will most likely cut up the projectiles to be clearer for collisions. Although my game may be a bit old school with everything you touch destroying you.... que evil laugh.
@Pomb - Yes I have a single ps file where I'm building the assets in to make sure it all works in the end. My next step will be a scrennshot mockup.
so small update: still flailing along trying to learn the Unreal Engine, which I chose purely on the fact that it was the 1st link I found. For 2d stuff it looks like Unity would've been a better bet. So it may be a little trickier as I havent found any specific shmup tutorials for UE. Also some research into current shmups shows they're all 3d made to look 2d so the my 2d approach may help sell the oldschool feel....or make it look dated. I also keep getting side tracked in UE fiddling around with things and trying stuff.
My next step will be as I said, to do a mockup of a full gameplay shot. But for now here's some asteroids and a possible main ship:
right-click and view image for near 1080p (60fps for reals) quality
stage 1:
boss:
Boss battle:
One thing, I personally would prefer the BOSS to stand out a bit more, perhaps more colours/contrast/detail, making it more imposing or dangerous.
That way these awesome assets don't go to waste. I know the Japanese Unity site also had a cool live training session on shmups.
Love that you're applying your skill in this direction
I have a crit for you, It feels as though you're letting go of some of the principles you've already got in your art, like atmospheric perspective, focus of contrast and sillouette. Double check that screenshot's values and you'll see what I mean.
Here's a quick scribble over in the direction I would send it with a little more consideration in these spaces:
@FanieG - Thanks, I did see those tutorials before but alas due to my going for UE4 it's a bit tricky for me at the moment to convert the tutorial. I should've gone the Unity route imo for 2d but I already got stuck into UE and don't want to jump into a new piece of software again (was learning game maker before UE) plus the blueprint stuff in UE is familiar to me and helps my non programming skills. And I'l use these assets for portfolio work anyways. Plus actually making them is more important to me than actually using them.
@Kobusvdwalt9 - Thanks, I tried to do some blurring but couldn't seem to hit the sweet spot in making it work. I did envision the parallax scrolling though. So you would see the far back asteroids 1st and that the boss seems part of the belt.
@Jelligeth - Thanks!
@damousey - Thanks, your feedback is always the best! Yeah brain farted on the values as I had checked them before...got my ctrl-y setup in Photoshop to dot grain 20% so I can check them real quick but still forgot. I like your idea of the rim lights and making the boss more saturated. Here my illo skills failed me as I'm always trying to not over saturate things in my images...oops. For the UI stuff you changed, would that happen in-game? In my previous mock-ups the background was mainly dark so it worked on that image much better. And the blue glows are all pretty much "hand painted" so not using any layer blending modes. Are those available in game engines?
Also I realize that there's quite a few things that would've been more obvious in-game than on a static screen. Going to have to think about how to convey those things better.
So on to the platformer, started doing some rough artwork for a prototype and got sucked into make texture sets... I'm aiming for a Rayman Legends or Ori style look to it, as my strength lies in over rendered art. These textures are clearly not done for tilesets but just for compositing sprites.
Does anyone around here use asset packs for games? Would it be worth my while to sell ones? I feel I could produce quite good quality pieces but can't imagine someone would want to use art they would see in someone else's game ?
here's some clouds (you can build quite a few varieties of clouds with these bits but obviously not made for tilesets):
and some foliage:
P.S. - the texture sets are very roughly laid out at the moment. Will clean them up to make better use of the space.
So my prototype building has been pretty much dead for awhile but luckily it's thanks to being very busy with work...and that's actual game art work. Yay!
I got the chance to work on my 1st AAA console game (well expansion pack at least) which is being released this month. Was pleasantly suprised when Bungie contacted me to do some in game art for the UI team. I did a set of images to be used as Icons and in game art. Can't show much yet except for a screenshot of a reveal of one of the icons I did:
was a great experience working for Bungie, really good staff and feedback plus I have a whole folder full of awesome concept art that was sent as ref. Its either super hi-res stuff that's been released or unreleased goodness...definate perk of the job!
So back to the art making. I'm in the process of building up my portfolio to try acquire work doing game backgrounds that are in a painted style. Started with some concept art 1st, which I'l then work up to fully painted parts and then I'l build texture sheets from them. Here's a Spooky forest and ice level ideas:
and here's a selection of the artifacts I did for Destiny The Taken King:
and the risk of sounding like a noob here, was pretty awesome to see my work in action and to see some streamers enjoying the designs!
Are the icons 3D renders, painted, or both?
Here's another set:
1. I start off with a rough sketch of the item
2. I find images via a creative commons search which I cut up into textures and place them where needed. (I use this search engine: http://search.creativecommons.org )
3. Add in some lighting information to help build the form. Here I've just used a multiply blending mode on a layer to add the shadows.
4. Add extra lighting, details and effects.