ECGC 2015 - Is Game Art Art?
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My slides from my ECGC 2015 version of my talk, Is Game Art Art?
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ECGC 2015 - Is Game Art Art?
- 1. Is game art art? Christopher Totten East Coast Game Conference 2015
- 2. Introductions Game Artist in Residence – American University Author: An Architectural Approach to Level Design (CRC Press 2014) and Game Character Creation in Blender and Unity (Wiley 2012) Chair – International Game Developers Association (IGDA DC) Founder – Pie For Breakfast Studios
- 4. Dan Silber – portfolio work
- 9. Takeaways?
- 10. Takeaways An “art history” perspective on game art An overview of possible trends in indie game art Finding opportunities for reaching artists with existing skills Benefits of traditional media knowledge in game analysis and design Open conversation on art production methods
- 11. genre
- 14. genre History painting – Religious, historic, or allegorical topics Portrait painting Genre painting – scenes of everyday life Landscape Animal painting Still life
- 15. genre History painting – Religious, historic, or allegorical topics Karl Bryullov, The Last Day of Pompeii, 1827-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
- 16. Gustave Courbet, A Burial at Ornans, 1849-1850, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France
- 19. Diablo III wallpaper, Found on diablo3sanctuary.com
- 20. Jesse van Dijk, Concept art for Destiny, 2014, Found on Kotaku Australia “Fine Art”
- 21. Left: Andy Park Concept art for God of War III, 2010 Right: Screenshot from God of War III
- 26. Left: Gomez sprite from Fez, 2012 Right: The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer by William Morris’s Kelmscott press, 1896
- 29. 20121985
- 31. Dominique Pamplemousse, Squinky Kai, 2014. Steam and mobile game created with clay, paper, and cardboard
- 32. Lumino City, State of Play, 2014. PC game created with real-world dioramas
- 33. Ever Yours, Vincent, Federica Orlati, in-progress. PC game created with mixed media
- 34. Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure, Ryan Creighton (age 33) and Cassie Creighton (age 5), 2011, Flash game with scanned crayon art
- 35. Smithsonian American Art Museum Indie Arcade – Photo sources: Bruce Guthrie, 2014, Indie Arcade, Smithsonian American Art Museum; Darren Milligan, Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access, 2014, Indie Arcade, Smithsonian American Art Museum
- 37. Left: Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, El Lissitzky, 1920 – lithographic propaganda poster Right: Lissitzky’s Revenge, Chris Totten, 2015 – paper cutouts in the Construct 2 game engine Link: bit.ly/1c1OfDF
Editor's Notes
- So, the title of this talk is a bit sensationalist, but its real mission is to take a critical look at where game art is and the benefits of thinking about it in a broad, cultural context.
- If we look at a field like game AI, we can see some really direct connections to the broader field of computer science. The best game artists I know have lots of traditional art experience, but those skills are highlighted far less often than technical skills like rendering or proficiency with Photoshop or 3D art software.
- We’ve created a culture where new designers know software but can’t actually draw or use proper proportions.
- And when a game artist doesn’t know art, bad things can happen.
- So let’s talk about game art as art…
- The question is, what KIND of art is it?
- If we can contextualize game art as art, we can find historical precedents for solving some issues in the field such as lacking traditional art knowledge, lacking precedents for game art, and barriers to the field that currently exist for those without extensive technical training. We can also find opportunities for new art types in games and start an open discussion of trends we see in the field.
- In art history, there is the notion of “genre.” Today, we think of genres mainly in their literary or film contexts as they relate to the type of information the piece is transmitting or the type of story being told.
- Today, we think of genres mainly in their literary or film contexts as they relate to the type of information the piece is transmitting or the type of story being told.
- In games, we think about the format of the game: 2D, 3D, First Person, etc.; or the game mechanics – platformer, adventure, role playing and so on.
- Between the 17th and 19th centuries, during the “academic art” period in France, art was strictly organized into a hierarchy of genres. These genres were separated not by style, but by topic of a painting, and had strict rules for how one could create art in each genre.
- Looking particularly at history painting, these were the paintings for which you could use monumental canvas sizes, nudes, and non-static topics. To have any of these elements in genres lower on the hierarchy was considered controversial. You could also only gain exposure as an artist under this tradition if you exhibited in official academy events.
- Gustave Courbet challenged this tradition by painting the funeral of his commoner uncle – a scene traditionally utilized for “genre” paintings – at roughly 24’ x 10’. This painting is indicative of the “realism” movement that celebrated common events with realistically rendered art works.
- Courbet and other artists’ breaking with the hierarchical form opened the doors for artists to explore other subject matter and techniques in painting, resulting in a plethora of styles and even entire art movements – Impressionism, Pointillism, Fauvism, Art Nouveau, Modernism, Cubism, Surrealism, Pop Art, and others.
- So what does all this have to do with video games?
- In modern popular video games, it’s common to depict scenes of epic setting or scale. Many big-industry commercial games, AAA games, utilize exhilaration a means to elicit “fun.” In many ways, they are like the history paintings highly valued by the academy art movement.
- Unlike history paintings, these pieces of art can vary in subject. Some eye-candy or mood-setting pieces of concept art show epic scenes just as The Last Day of Pompeii or the myriad of history paintings derived from the Bible did. Others conceptualize landscapes and close-ups of characters, depending on the production needs of the game.
- Regardless, these works are painted at very high resolutions to photorealistic standards and reinterpreted within games as scenes that best utilize the power of modern consoles while exciting the player.
- As it stands, we also have a limited “academy” scene in terms of how artists get “into the industry.” As an educator, I can observe the reactions of students to a culture of exclusivity in game art: beating themselves up trying to reach the high standards of the industry. Trying to all get into a few popular studios. I think this is a problem that the industry will have to soon address – lots of people studying games but too few jobs to accommodate them.
- Now, I know what you’re thinking…
- What about pixel art Chris? (Well, what about him?)
- In a Digital Games Research Association Conference paper by scholar Jesper Juul titled High Tech, Low Tech Authenticity: The Creation of Independent Style at the Independent Games Festival, Juul explores the art history of winning games at the Independent Games Festival.
- By observing the transition from AAA-like 3D games to retro pixel art, he contends that pixel art has become for many designers, a sort of return to the roots of video game graphics. An effort to recreate the authenticity of the game medium much as the Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th century created hand-made objects as a rebellion against the Industrial Revolution.
- Pixel art also has advantages: not only can it be very beautiful, it can also be accomplished in a very short amount of time. For many it is ideal for game jams and other quick game-making events. It also has a much lower barrier of entry for people who are otherwise “not the artistic type.”
- The downsides of pixel art, however, are that while it was once the sign of being “unique” it’s now EVERYWHERE…
- …and that it is not much different from how games looked decades ago. In many ways, it’s become just another “way video games are supposed to look.”
- So if we can argue that we’re currently stuck in a few heavily enforce art styles for game art, what’s next? How do we get there?
- A trend that I’m fond of is using non-digital art to create art for video games. Last year, games like Squinky Kai’s IGF finalist Dominique Pamplemousse made waves with its art – created with real-world clay figures and craft materials.
- These games have gotten significant exposure on gaming news sites and online communities such as GameJolt.
- These games have gotten significant exposure on gaming news sites such as Rock Paper Shotgun and online communities such as GameJolt (12,000 plays for the demo, 25,000 views)
- Non-digital methods can find opportunities not only to explore new art styles, but also to include more people in the art of game making, such as a 5-year-old whose dad took her to a game jam.
- If you bring traditional art and games together you can do some surprising things. This past December we held an indie arcade at the Smithsonian American Art Museum that was attended by 4000 people in one day with minimal advertising. We also had tutorial content that introduced game making to people of all ages. By juxtaposing games and other media, you can reach incredible numbers of people.
- Being a developer myself, I’m looking to see how such methods can be integrated into production pipelines. Are they faster? What kind of look or novelty do they generate? One such exploration was a game called Zup!, which is now available on the iOS and Android app stores. Foam core cutouts, cotton ball clouds, and a scanner created not only a novel art style, but also an entire game’s worth of character, environment, and UI art in under a week.
- Likewise, I am undertaking a project called Atelier Games, named after the method of learning art by studying under renowned masters. The first in this series is a mash-up of Russian Suprematist artist El Lissitzky and Yar’s Revenge, titled Lissitzky’s Revenge.
- Likewise, I am undertaking a project called Atelier Games, named after the method of learning art by studying under renowned masters. The first in this series is a mash-up of Russian Suprematist artist El Lissitzky and Yar’s Revenge, titled Lissitzky’s Revenge.
- Likewise, I am undertaking a project called Atelier Games, named after the method of learning art by studying under renowned masters. The first in this series is a mash-up of Russian Suprematist artist El Lissitzky and Yar’s Revenge, titled Lissitzky’s Revenge.
- Other games in the project will experiment with printing, photo development, and painting
- Art is not the only field where tapping into cultural media can help games. Design can benefit from the mindset of an architect, learning how to see an analyze space to benefit our game levels.
- In my role as art director, I often have to reinforce the reality of architectural detail for artists who have not adequately studied their surroundings. Competencies based on traditional art and media can alleviate all of these issues.
- Abstract notions of how art, architecture, and media works are also important.
- By understanding the abstract thought processes of these fields, we can also engage game worlds in a more analytical and meaningful way. This can then inform our own design.
- In conclusion, while other disciplines in game development are deeply synced with the fields they came from, art can do much more to address the art world. In doing so, there are exciting opportunities to diversify the types of art we see in games and create avenues for more artists to enter the field.