"Thank you, Mario! But our Princess is in another castle!"

Toad from Super Mario

Art in Games

What Is Game Art?

Game art is basically everything that you see in a game like characters, backgrounds, and UI. Animations and visual effects are also game art. Game art turn the code into visualized content for us to enjoy.

Game artists work closely with designers and programmers. Big AAA game studios can have multiple game artists, most of them specialized in some specific area of game art. Some are strictly only 3D character modelers or 2D animators and some game artists, especially in smaller companies, have multiple tasks from 2D concept art to fully polished 3D character animations.

What is the Difference Between 2D and 3D?

Let’s keep in mind that both 2D and 3D are just broad terms and cover a lot of specializations that artists can choose from like 2D animator, 3D modeler, and VFX artist. So, what does it actually mean when we talk about 2D or 3D art?


Summary

The art style your game will go with is up to you and your team. Usually, the game genre itself defines if the game is 2D or 3D, and point-and-click games, for example, are most times 2D and more action-based games are mostly 3D.

There is no strict guide that says how the art must be done. It all depends on the art style, the game’s theme, the artists’ capabilities. You might even try mixing different art styles to make something magnificent!

Exercise: Art and Specialization

Exercise: Art and Specialization

Answer the following question about the material you just learned.


"Game art has so many areas, that we can't go through all of them in this lesson. But let's look at some basics that will help you at the start of your game development."

Concept Art

All in-game art starts with concept art. Concept artists design and create the base for the game's visual appearance. They design characters, vehicles, environments, and other variety of elements that the player can see in the game. Concept art also communicates the ideas for the modelers, animators, and programmers.

Thumbnails are the first step in visual designing. They are quick sketches that don't have details and focus on the silhouettes first. They are big elements simplified and might give new ideas on the design.

Character Art

It could be said that the characters are the shining stars of the games, but what does it take to make the character memorable and distinguishable from the others?

When designing your game character, taking inspiration from other games and artists' work is fine. You shouldn’t, however, copy the work of others as that can violate copyright law and hurt your professional reputation.

Below this text are two tips that you should consider at the beginning of your character design, but as you go further in the game development you will learn new things about visual designing.


Silhouette is an outline of any object, character, or environment. In-game art, silhouettes help the artist make their design memorable and recognizable. Silhouettes help you focus on the shapes, forms, and visual appeals.

When the design is successful, the players can tell who the character is just based on the silhouette. Can you name these classic game characters in the picture?

Exercise: Famous Silhouettes

Exercise: Famous Silhouettes


Choosing colors for the character isn't easy and knowing the color theory is helpful, but for the beginner artist, a piece of good advice is to keep the amount of the colors limited. Most colors have emotional or cultural meaning to them, so utilizing that knowledge will help when deciding colors.

  • Red: Strong emotions (e.g. love, anger), strength
  • Blue: Calm, cold
  • Green: Nature, envy, sickness
  • Purple: Royal, quality, and luxury
  • White: Holy, good, sincerity

    In the beginning, choose one main color and pick one or two accent colors. Try to pick just three to five colors in total. In the image below is an example of colors on character designs from Pablo Hernández.

Environment Art

For the adventures to be possible, the games need enticing environments for the players to explore and have fun. Environment art can be vast grass-covered plains, the busiest futuristic city, or just the ensemble of different props like trees and market stalls. An important task for the environment artists is to create worlds that are cohesive and tell stories of their own.

In the image below, you can see the different 3D props made by Tihomir Nyagolov for Assassin's Creed: Black Flag.

These 3D props are from Assassins’s Creed: Black Flag.

User Interface Art

UI (User Interface) basically consists of the buttons and the menus of the games. UI artists focus on creating easy to use and pleasant looking interfaces. A good UI blends into the game's overall design, but still stands out while remaining readable.

An example of mobile UI design from Angry Birds

There are different ways of creating the UI art. The game character might be able to interact with it or the UI could just "float" on the screen and be there only for the player.

Exercise: Design and Art

Exercise: Design and Art


Starting Out as an Artist

All this talk about what art can be and what it can do sure sounds great, but how do you actually get started? For many of us, learning how to make art for anything can sound like a hurdle to overcome at the beginning. So how do you improve as an artist, what is the so-called secret ingredient? The video below goes over some of these basics in a very optimistic manner.

How to Start Making Game Art?

Exercise: Art and Talent

Exercise: Art and Talent

Answer the following question about the material you just learned.