Game Art - Exercise & Projects

7/9/2022 - 6/12/2022 / Week 2 - Week 15

Lui Hsiao Hui (Tressa) / 0342003
Game Art / Entertainment Design

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Exercise: World Creation

Project 1: Character Development

Project 2: Character Sheet

Project 3: Art Bible

---

INSTRUCTIONS

Exercise: World Creation

For our Game Art project, we were tasked to select a game to alter the art direction or aesthetics. I chose one of my favourite games, Little Nightmares II. With our exercise, we are to study the art of our chosen game as well as its narrative. From there we are to propose our new narrative and art direction for the game with moodboards of the environment and characters.

Fig. 1 Exercise: World Creation, Week 4 (20/9/2022)

Project 1: Character Development

Sketches

My character sketches are based on the character design style of Little Nightmares - big heads and small bodies, with a hint of creepiness and exaggerated shapes.

Fig. 2.1 Solus - sketches, Week 3 (20/9/2022)

Solus's shape is rectangular because I want him to have a sense of 'main character' stability. I struggled with his design a bit because he looked too simple for the main character, and I wasn't sure how to make the concept of a runaway schoolboy more interesting.

Fig. 2.2 Yasha - sketches, Week 3 (20/9/2022)

For Yasha, I created four renditions of outfits playing with character shapes and silhouettes, while maintaining the triangles in her character design because she's the kitsune's minion. I also included symbols such as the signal on her headpiece in design #2 and the eyes which are a direct reference to the Little Nightmares franchise.

Fig. 2.3 Sunako - sketches, Week 3 (20/9/2022)

Sunako is heavily inspired by the Lady in Little Nightmares. I wanted her to look wispy and sleek. To suit the Nogitsune in Japanese folklore, her outfit is a kimono. Her hair is shaped to resemble fox ears, and she has fox tails as limbs. I also planned to have her face be a fox skull.

Fig. 2.4 Character scale, Week 4 (25/9/2022)

The character scale follows the same ones in Little Nightmares - the villains are larger than the children.

Fig. 2.5 Solus - turnaround sketch, Week 4 (25/9/2022)

Fig. 2.6 Yasha - turnaround sketch, Week 4 (25/9/2022)

Fig. 2.7 Sunako - turnaround sketch, Week 4 (25/9/2022)

We were also instructed to sketch a turnaround for our characters, to see if the design works in other views. For this, I did rough sketches (Fig. 2.5-2.7) to get an idea of how the character would look in 3D form.

Colour

Fig. 2.8 & 2.9 Feedback on Week 5 character progression, Week 6 (4/10/2022)

I was behind on the week 5 workload, so I was only able to do some development with Yasha and Solus. I was instructed to have more design explorations and control the values to ensure focal points on the character's faces.

The way I coloured my characters is by layering different blending modes to achieve a more dynamic look. It also helps to improve the colour values much quicker than if I were to manually paint it.

Fig. 2.10 Solus - colour variations, Week 6 (6/10/2022)

Fig. 2.11 Solus - colour value, Week 6 (6/10/2022)

For Solus, I prefer the first variation because of the difference in the vest colour compared to the hat and socks. I think it breaks the static-ness. I also plan to explore other hats when it comes to Solus's other character skins. 

Fig. 2.12 Yasha - colour variations, Week 6 (7/10/2022)

Fig. 2.13 Yasha - colour value, Week 6 (7/10/2022)

I decided to switch back to the 3rd sketch design for Yasha. As the feedback given was to simplify the character designs because small details will not show up in-game and is hard to animate.

Fig. 2.14 Sunako - colour variations, Week 6 (8/10/2022)

Fig. 2.15 Sunako - colour value, Week 6 (8/10/2022)

Expression & Poses

Fig. 2.16 Solus - expressions, Week 8 (21/10/2022)

Fig. 2.17 Solus - poses sketches, Week 8 (16/10/2022)

Fig. 2.18 Yasha - poses sketches, Week 8 (16/10/2022)

Fig. 2.19 Sunako - poses sketches, Week 8 (20/10/2022)

Finalisation

Fig. 2.20 Final poses - lineart and colour value, Week 8 (21/10/2022)

Fig. 2.21 Solus - final pose, Week 10 (2/11/2022)

Fig. 2.22 Yasha - final pose, Week 10 (2/11/2022)

Fig. 2.23 Sunako - final pose, Week 10 (2/11/2022)

Fig. 2.24 Project 1: Character Development - PDF, Week 10 (2/11/2022)

Project 2: Character Sheet

Skins

Fig. 3.1 Solus - skins, Week 7 (11/10/2022)

For the main character's skins, I decided to approach it in the way of different concepts. I came up with "The Carnival" and "Soulless" concepts. I also had the idea of doing a kitsune skin concept but due to time restrictions, I had to move on.

Props

Fig. 3.2 Props sketches, Week 11 (9/11/2022)

Fig. 3.3 Props, Week 11 (12/11/2022)

Orthographic (Character Turnaround)

Fig. 3.4 Solus - turnaround, Week 11 (10/11/2022)

Fig. 3.5 Yasha - turnaround, Week 11 (11/11/2022)

Fig. 3.6 Sunako - turnaround, Week 12 (17/10/2022)

Fig. 3.7 Project 2: Character Sheet, Week 12 (18/11/2022)

Project 3: Art Bible

Fig. 4.1 Solus - splash art, Week 15 (5/12/2022)

Fig. 4.2 Yasha - splash art, Week 15 (6/12/2022)

Fig. 4.3 Yasha - splash art, Week 15 (6/12/2022)

Fig. 4.4 Project 3: Art Bible, Week 15 (6/12/2022)

---

FEEDBACKS

Exercise: World Creation

Week 2: Identify what can be done and what can't be done for the character design. Know the camera angles specific to the game.

Week 3: Pick a location to set the carnival on. How do you add the culture to the props? Extract the colour scheme from your moodboard. 

Project 1: Character Development

Week 4: Draw ¾ views for character sketches to see the balance of the characters - does it work from every angle.

Week 5:

Solus: Make Solus more interesting - different shoes, patches. Add a prop to the characters.

Yasha: The clothing looks a bit too cluttered. It needs more balance and some clothing details might have to be reduced and simplified. Make the size of the frills bigger.

Sunako: Widen her silhouette because she looks quite squashed. Can also have her a bit hunched or add a more s-curve. Look like foxy gestures and traits. Simplify the chains.

Week 6:

Solus: Bigger feet for better balance because it's currently top-heavy, change hat styles, bigger patches, different shirt types (more design exploration).

Yasha: Brighter at the top, to create better focus (adjust colour value).

Week 9: How do the characters play (gestures are they going to shoot something, are they going to lose something or unlock something)

Week 10: Add props to get an idea of how the characters interact with them, then explore them further in project 2.

Project 2: Character Sheet

Week 11: May want to break up the repetition, try overlapping the wrap of the katana. Try off-setting the wrap detail for more dynamic. You could try exploring other props for Solus such as a bag.

Week 13:

Props: Too much dirt on the bag, reduce them. Have Solus hold the katana instead of a torch.

Sunako: Add folds to the clothing.

---

REFLECTION

It was quite a challenge to create 3 different characters at once because I have to constantly switch moods and re-evaluate the vibes the character is giving as they have different archetypes. I also learned about game art rendering constraints - detailed-based characters are not ideal for games as those details can get lost in the rendering and gameplay itself. With Game Art, I learned to design characters with a different mindset, as I tend to like doing detail-oriented characters.