Art is considered as one of the cores of a video game or a product and artists usually works closely with PMs, game designers and developers. It’s valuable and inspiring to experience how to build characters. Normally, artists would need to communicate with designers about the overall narrative concept that centered on a specific style and then develop art assets furthermore. Since this is a personal project, I needed to come up with a narrative concept that helps to visualize characters’ personality background and outfits. Within weeks, I was working on facial expression, body proportion and trying out different postures and soon I had overall image of the characters in my head.
From sketch to polished illustration by Photoshop
One key takeaway from this project is that by creating characters, I noticed art and narrative concept are simultaneously developed, and many decisions were made taking into account how both aspects influence each other. Although art can be the most effective factor that appeal players firstly, a game doesn’t exist on visuals alone. It’s essential that the production team constructs a pipeline that every expertise contributes.
