Pr esen ts

how to draw and paint

FREE!
Crysis 2

StarCraft 2

240
MINUTES
OF VIDEO WORKSHOPS!

Enslaved

Paint Dynamic
character art
Discover how professional artists create
unique characters for video games

Learn from

18

Robh Ruppel
Marek Okon
Stephan Martiniere
Daryl Mandryk
Luke Mancini
Maciej Kuciara
Jung Park

GAME
ART

WORKSHOPS
Easy to follow step-by-step tutorials in
Painter, Photoshop and SketchUp

See Patryk
Olejnicz ak s
Mass Effect 3
art inside!

create amazing

digital art

Concept art skills from the makers of Uncharted 3,

Batman: Arkham City, Guild Wars 2 and more!

Concept sketch for Alessandro

Taini s Enslaved character
design: see page 34

Video games take years to make,

with hundreds of people having
an input into how the final game
looks and plays. But often just a
handful of creative artists can
determine the style of a game.
Concept artists will work on the
visual foundations of a video
game, designing characters,
vehicles and worlds, and setting the rules by which everything will
work. Its a vital and skillful role.
To gain a greater insight into how concept artists work, and how
you can create your own art for video games to a professional
standard, weve teamed up with some of the industrys best artists,
who between them have worked on Uncharted 3, Star Wars: The Old
Republic, Rage, Fallout: New Vegas, and many more best-selling titles.
In our Character Art chapter, starting on page 32, Naughty Dogs
Maciej Kuciara shows how to design a heroine with multiple genre
references. On page 50, Rocksteadys Kan Muftic reveals how he
redesigned DCs anti-heroine Harley Quinn for Batman: Arkham
City. In our Creature Design section, Blizzards Luke Mancini
demonstrates how to paint the Zerg from StarCraft 2 (page 60), plus
chapters on environment painting and vehicle design, including a
workshop from the amazing Feng Zhu (page 22), will prove
indispensable. Everything culminates in our live project from the
artists at Leading Light studio, who demonstrate how all these skills
inform a games pitch and product design.
If you enjoy this special issue of ImagineFX, why not try the others
in this new series? See page 115 to find out more!

Claire Howlett, Editor

claire@imaginefx.com

From the makers of

Were the only magazine
dedicated to fantasy and sci-fi
art. Our aim is to help artists to
improve both their traditional
and digital art skills.
Visit www.imaginefx.com
tofind out more!

Subscribe to ImagineFX today and save

moneyoff every issue! See page 49

The finest artists in the world offer you the best guidance,
share their techniques and offer inspiration in our video
game art workshops.

38

Workshops

Practical advice from professional

artists in 18 step-by-step guides

16 Vehicle design

Explore ways to make video game vehicles

18 Sci-fi vehicles for

video games
22 Create your art
in parallel
28 Add colour to a

space battle

32 Character art

Breathe life into your game characters

34 D
 esign your own
game hero
38 Develop poster
art for Crysis 2
44 Design a space
opera princess
50 Recast a classic

comic character
54 Unify a range of

fantasy genres

44
50

58 Creature concepts

Create monsters that will surprise and shock

60 P
 aint an epic
alien battle
64 Paint dynamic
concept art

70 Environment painting

Create working environments for video games

72 M
 ake a setting feel
believable
76 Establish the scene
of a game
82 Introduce unique
visuals
84 Visualise a game
world

88 Production design

Design every element of a video game pitch

90
94
98
102

Lead character
The environment
The enemy
Story developer

Presents Game Art

60

Game Art

6 Art spectacular!
Art from the pros behind
Guild Wars 2, Syndicate,
Mass Effect 3 and more.

76
64

106 Artist Q&A

Real-world portrait issues solved

Remko Troost
Ubisoft artist Remko shares his advice
on creating mood paintings and where
to start when thumbnailing vehicles.
Philip Straub
Discover some new tips on creating
spacecraft for video games with this
17-year veteran of the industry.
Jonathan Standing
Learn to design modular characters and
add decals to space armour designs
with experienced concept artist Jon.

90

Gary Tonge
Having worked for Sega, Capcom,
Eidos and more, who better to reveal
what exactly a concept artist does?

84

Daryl Mandryk
Improve the speed and impact of your
painting workflow with EAs leading
concept artist.
Daniel Dociu
Learn the value of setting achievable
goals for your concept art with the
Guild Wars 2 art director.
Aly Fell
Master the rules of better character
design, and discover why all concept
art neednt be digital.

98

Free resources

Sketches and videos to help you learn

Video workshops

Watch our contributors in action and

pick-up some vital tips, with video
workshops from leading concept
artists including Maciej Kuciara,
Luke Mancini, Kevin Chen and
many others.

Andy Park
Let the God of War 2 concept artist
show you how to overcome your fear of
painting in colour.

Includes
four hours
of video!

Resource files

Use our artists layered hi-res PSD

files for inspiration.

Custom brushes

Recreate workshop techniques using

the artists own custom brushes.

See page 114, or visit http://ifxm.ag/game06art

Presents Game Art

Gallery

Gallery
Get inspired by the creativity of
the professional artists behind
some of the biggest video games

Kekai
Kotaki
H

awaii-born Kekai has

been working in video
games for 10 years with
ArenaNet. He started as a texture
artist and, eight years after
landing his first job, is now
concept art lead on Guild Wars 2.
Kekais impressionistic art style
is instantly recognisable, and he
has been given a lot of freedom on
Guild Wars 2 to create a world that
we thought was cool. He says the
team didnt set out to change how
fantasy art is perceived: We were
trying to find new ways to express
the core ideas that make up the
fantasy genre. Ive always tried to

add that hard edge to my work to

make things cooler, full of motion
and emotion.
The game takes place 250 years
after the first Guild Wars, so there
was plenty of scope to develop the
look of the world, but freedom
brings new trials. The challenge
was operating with this freedom
and getting that high level of work
done without falling on our
faces, says Kekai.
Kekais art demonstrates theres
room for new ideas on the biggest
stage if youre prepared to meet
the challenge.
www.kekaiart.com

Restrictions on art have been

loosened quite a bit, enabling
us to explore and get some epic
moments into the game
Wise words

I think of it as designing
monsters that fight heroes and
heroes that fight monsters;
everyone needs to be the hero
in the game. More important,
everyone needs to feel like
theyre the hero in the game.

Presents Game Art

Kekai Kotaki

Presents Game Art

Gallery

Sean A
Murray

principle concept artist

at Todd McFarlanes Big
Huge Games/38 Studios,
Sean A Murray has had the
enviable job of designing a new
fantasy world for the video game
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
Our goal has been to present a
mysterious world teeming with
magic and mysticism, as opposed
to a world of pure reality, he says.
His work on these pages
demonstrates a colourful, original
world that blends classic fantasy
with a bit of the old west, as seen
in the concept for the games
Detyre Mining location.
With a background in
illustration Sean combines
traditional and digital techniques,

producing detailed pencil sketches

that are then scanned into
Photoshop, such as his depiction
of the Adessa Tower from
Reckoning, which was a more
functional piece of concept art,
Sean says, showing how to
combine various modular pieces
into a unique Gnome tower.
The early painting of Bolgan
Forest, however, is one that Sean
looks to when summing up his
work on Reckoning. This is one
of the very first images I did for
the game, says Sean. I think it
really set the stage for what we
wanted to go for visually in terms
of colour palette and creature
design philosophy.
sketchsam.blogspot.com

Presents Game Art

It was not a typical setting for a

fantasy universe. We wanted to
infuse a bit of Old West into it

Wise words

The most successful concept artists

are those that put an emphasis on
communication and storytelling
before picture making.

Sean A Murray / Alessandro Taini

Alessandro
Taini

aving worked for UK

developer Ninja Theory for
eight years, Alessandro
Taini is now visual art director for
the BAFTA Award-winning studio.
Alexs concept art has a unique
painterly feel. His female characters,
particularly Trip from 2010s
Enslaved: Journey to the West, are
beautiful but capable heroines.
Like his other heroine, Nariko,
from Heavenly Sword, Trip is a
flame-haired female lead character
imbued with beauty and brains.
When Ninja Theory was chosen to
reboot the Capcom series Devil May
Cry, Alessandro began creating
mood paintings for the studios
concepts for the popular Japanese
video game series.
Tapping into his Italian heritage,
Alessandro created a stunning
Renaissance-inspired depiction of
the games hero at play: With this
image I wanted to illustrate the
personality of Dante, comments
Alessandro, a young rebel without
a care in the world.
www.talexiart.com

This image
illustrates one
of the characters
of Enslaved to
explain her
background
outside of the
games context

Presents Game Art

Gallery

Bradley
Wright
A

s part of the concept art team

at Starbreeze, working on
the remake of the video
game Syndicate was a thrilling
challenge. This game, and the genre
it sits in, is a dream for any concept
artist to work on, says Bradley.
Bradleys approach to the project
was to go back to the 1993 version
of Syndicate and start pulling out
key elements, visual markers, and
legacy elements vital design
features and principles that we
could stick to throughout the
production time.
For a game set in a sci-fi noir
future filled with flying cars and
gleaming towers, surprisingly
Bradley says he enjoys designing the
nuts and bolts of the games world.
The challenge of making a chair
fresh and interesting is something I
strive for, says Bradley. It takes time
to get something as simple as a chair
from concept to model to in-game,
so you want it to look good.
These elements of a games world
seep into the subconscious and
begin to form a larger, coherent
picture that allows the team to tell a
story. Starbreeze has always had a
strong history of developing storydriven games with characters and
atmosphere that have depth and
layers to them, says Bradley.
The concept art and equally the
game design feed into this
philosophy. We seek to push and
explore these depths with innovative
ideas and artwork.
bradleywright.wordpress.com

Wise words

It is important to understand
how 3D is produced. This aids me
in creating more detailed, faster
concepts and lets me integrate
more with other disciplines, such
as modellers and level designers.

10

Presents Game Art

Bradley Wright

The freedom to stand up and say

this does or doesnt work is great for
a team environment

Presents Game Art

11

Gallery

Joe
Madureira

oe Mad entered the comic book

industry at the age of 16 when
he joined Marvel. After 15 years
on Marvel titles including Uncanny
X-Men, as well as launching his own
series Battle Chasers, Joe called it a
day and delved into video games.
After a stint at NCSoft, he left to
form Vigil Games and designed his
own colourful world for the
Darksiders series of games. The
sequel, Darksiders 2, features the
new iconic anti-hero Death.
Although Joe has taken on the
role of director for Darksiders 2, he
has still found time to create the
central character. We knew that we
wanted Death to be a lot more
nimble than War. He moves faster
and fights more acrobatically, says
Joe. Therefore, his weapons had to
be smaller and lighter, and he had to
wear much less armour. All of these
things start to paint a picture. With
all that in mind, I try to think of the
attitude that I want the character
to convey.
The Joe Mad-style part western
comic, part manga feeds into video
game design perfectly. Although Joe
works with a team of artists to
convey his ideas into the game
world, this comic book legends
stamp is clearly delivered.
So what would his 16-year-old self
make of this new game? This is
exactly the kind of game I would
dream of playing, never mind
working on, says Joe.
vigilgames.com

Wise words

Theres always room to get

better, and there are always
people doing things better
than you. Never stop learning,
I guess, thats the biggest
lesson Ive learned.

12

Presents Game Art

Death is more aggressive

and intimidating than War,
and has zero respect
for the laws that
govern Heaven
and Hell

Joe Madureira / Kan Muftic

Kan
Muftic

R
I basically just start drawing
with all of that stuff popping
around in my head, and hopefully
something cool comes out that
people are excited by
Wise words

Its important to consider the

character in-game instead of thinking
about the pretty drawings. Its useful to
know what the character is doing in the
game while Im drawing, because itll
help me give him personality.

ecreating an iconic
character and its world
is one of the biggest
challenges facing a video game
concept artist. Working on the
award-winning Batman: Arkham
City meant redefining the look of
one of the worlds most popular
comic characters.
Artist Kan Muftic picks the
games environments as an area
the concept art team focused on
to give their game a new look.
Each area of Arkham City had to
feel unique while fitting into a
consistent world, which involved
everything from Gothic and
Victorian architecture to glass and
iron Art Nouveau dcor, creating
layers of styles that highlighted
the citys evolution.

The museum in Arkham City

is one such design that Kan is
rightly proud of. I pushed that
idea from the very beginning of
the project, he says.
But this wasnt simply an
exercise in aesthetic design.
Gameplay is king, remarks Kan,
referring to the need to ensure
that his designs for the game met
with the direction the games
scriptwriters and game designers
were going in. I spend a lot of
time talking, consulting and
suggesting things to the team. Its
not all about the drawing.
The end result was one of the
best games of its generation, a
visual spectacle that is as fun to
play as it is good to look at.
kanmuftic.blogspot.com

Presents Game Art

13

Gallery

Patryk
Olejniczak

s the new concept artist in

BioWares marketing
department, Patryk
Olejniczak has the enviable job of
bringing Mass Effect 3s cast of
characters to life. Patryk focuses on
pose, expression and background
detail to tell a characters story.
During the whole process I try not
to forget about the importance of a
proper eye-catching character pose
and expression, which encourage a
viewer to study the story of the
painting, says our cover artist.
I often start with loose, basic
brush lines for the characters. I like
to play around with random photos
and textures until I am satisfied, he
says, explaining how he uses ingame screenshots to reference the
realistic lighting and colour tones.
I put a great effort into trying to
present them as detailed as possible,
but somewhere along the line I took
the liberty of applying some of my
own tweaks, Patryk reveals,
explaining why Zaeeds gauntlet is
a different shape from that of the
games character.
Patryk uses different blending
modes and the Dodge tool to create
his realistic, brooding character
portraits. Detailed research helps too,
especially when rendering Mordins
armour: It needed proper research
of shiny materials and careful
application of them, says Patryk.
Challenging as it was, it made me
more confident in the style, which is
always rife with realism.
garrettartlair.blogspot.com

Wise words

Try not to forget about the

importance of a proper eyecatching character pose
and expression, which
encourage a viewer to study
the story of the painting.

14

Presents Game Art

Each character brought

me the same amount of
excitement for a variety of
thoughts and reasons

Patryk Olejniczak

Presents Game Art

15

Vehicle
design

Create exciting vehicles

for video games

16

Presents Game Art

Feng Zhu

One of the worlds

leading concept artists,
Feng Zhu has worked
for the major developers
and publishers in the
video games industry,
including Sony, Ubisoft,
NCSoft, Epic Games and
EA studios.
Learn to draw inspiration from
painting two images at once.
Turn to page 22

Workshops

How to paint vehicles for games

18 Sci-fi vehicles for video
games with Kemp Remillard
Design vehicles from sketch to final
render in Photoshop and SketchUp.
22 Create your art in parallel
with Feng Zhu
The legendary film and game artist
works on multiple images at once.
28 Add colour to a space
battle with Ryan Dening
Use layers to create a spaceship scene
from Star Wars: The Old Republic.

How to create
tanks and planes
for games 18

Ive often found that

problems in one image can
lead to solutions in another
Feng Zhu, page 22

Presents Game Art

17

Vehicle design

sci-fi vehicles
for video games
Massive Blacks Kemp Remillard explains how to take a
concept from sketchpad to video game
esigning vehicles for video games can
seem like a daunting task. Depending
on the project, the concept artist can
encounter design challenges that range
from we dont know what we want show us
something cool to we have about 20
requirements that need to be in the concept and
make it look cool. Here, Ill go over some of the
decisions and methods I use when designing sci-fi
vehicles for video games.
The whole process is an odd mixture of research,
planning, experimentation, layout and illustration
all while working closely with your client to

ensure that the concept fits the needs of the game

engine, story and aesthetic. While there are many
methods and approaches that concept artists use,
designing vehicles can be fun and rewarding with a
little research, planning and creativity.
Science fiction vehicles can take on many forms,
depending on the project. For this tutorial, I will
focus on that special brand of sci-fi that I love the
most: the near future. Im fascinated by military
and space technology, current events, history and
sociopolitical interactions as a whole.
These interests are elements that I try to infuse
into my creative concepts daily. As a general

philosophy, I feel that the more real I can make

something fictional, the better the concept and
final illustration will be.
For the two vehicles in this project, I will play the
roles of art director and concept artist by creating a
brief describing the criteria for the concept to meet,
then designing the vehicle around that criteria.
Along the way, Ill show how to go through an
iterative process using both Photoshop and
SketchUp to design functional science fiction
vehicles of the near future that can be incorporated
into a sci-fi video games production pipeline
with ease. Hope you enjoy it!

Kemp
Remillard
Country: US
Kemp is a
concept artist
with Massive
Black in San
Francisco.
Kemp has designed
vehicles and created
concepts for highprofile clients including
THQ, Hasbro, Sega,
Nintendo and NCsoft.
www.kempart.com

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

18

Brief and background

The first order of business when concepting vehicles for games is to review the
client brief and understand the background of the world that the vehicle will exist in.
The goal here is to create fictional military vehicles that might exist in the next 20 years
or so. With that inmind, I begin by doing research on possible future military projects.
In addition, I read up on stealth technology in aircraft, and what design concepts go
into actual armoured land vehicles. This research and information will be vital to the
outcome of the final design.

Presents Game Art

d
Copy Merge
e
st
Pa
+

ift+C,
Cmd/Ctrl+Sh
rl+V
then Cmd/Ct
layers
Copies all the
e,
that are visibl
then pastes.

Sci-fi vehicles

Set up Save
Selection

Reference

Gathering good reference is vital to

a good design. One great site with lots of
images from around the globe is www.
militaryphotos.net. If you want to
understand vehicles, take some time to
look at them and study their features and
subtleties. Then try to understand as best
you can what the functions of the various
parts are. Shown here are the rough
sketches for a proposed VTOL (vertical
take off and landing) transport jet with
stealth capabilities. Real-life jets like the

F-22 and F-35 were referenced, possibly

belonging to the same family of aircraft
from a single manufacturer. For my
project, I decide to be a nerd and name
my planes the MV-35 and the MV-36,
M for multi-mission and V for its VTOL
capabilities. One overarching
consideration when designing stealth
aircraft is to make sure that none of the
angles in the design are perpendicular to
the radars angle of incidence in other
words, everything has to be swooshed
back or diamond-shaped to reflect the
radar. The tank is more loosely based
on modern units like the Leopard 2 and
Challenger 2.

When doing vehicle

illustrations, set up Save
Selection regions in
Photoshop for both the
interior of the vehicle
and the exterior. That
way, you will keep your
edges consistent and
have a way to make
quick masks for painting
broadly in both areas.

Thumbnail sketching

Refinement

Now I am ready to begin sketching

out simple thumbnails of my vehicles on
paper or in Photoshop. Depending on
the client and brief, this first round can
be loose and fast or a little more refined. I
prefer to work in a plan view at this stage
to get a quick silhouette, but a threequarter view can also be useful for
showing up more information. Usually,
once an option is selected I then move
on to a block-in model in SketchUp, but
more revisions may be necessary later on.

Revisions are a fact of life when

working on video games; often a whole
team of people have input on what a
particular asset will look like. My initial
directions for the VTOL jet proved a bit
impractical in its look and construction.
So after a little more study, its back to the
drawing board where I arrive at a much
more practical design. Still, I am unable
to choose between the two directions, so
I take the decision as art director to finish
them both, just so I can get an
impression of what each of them could
potentially be like when finished.

Presents Game Art

19

Vehicle design

Assign
shortcut keys

Shift+Alt+Cm
d/Ctrl+K
Use this shor
tcuts manage
r
to assign Func
tion keys
to replace br
ushes.

Block the models in SketchUp

Photographing the model

I find the use of 3D indispensable in creating a product that the client can
understand clearly. SketchUp is a great, accessible piece of software that can be used for
creating simple or detailed models of your vehicles. Once you become acquainted with
the program and start modelling with it, you can assemble a library of components to
add quick detail and interest. Just make sure you change the component shapes so that
you deliver something unique.

Another great by-product of designing in 3D is the ability to move around

the model and find the best angle to present your concept from. If time is on my
side, I like to make multiple screenshots for collection and review. Finding the
best shot can make all the difference in the world.

3D geometry
for orthos

Design for function

The goal with these concepts is to

incorporate real-world characteristics into
a fictional design. For the MV-35 and
MV-36, considerations include available
cargo space and the placement of forward
engines for the VTOL capability. The new
F-35 has a special nozzle on its engine
exhaust that points down during take-off
and landing, so I incorporate that into the
MV-35s design. Also, cupboard door-like

20

panels are placed over the VTOL lift fan

openings near the cockpit. These doors
will open during take-off and landing,
then close to preserve the aircrafts
aerodynamic shape during flight, like
landing gear. A side effect of the lift-fan
door arrangement is the appearance of
horns near the head of the craft. It never
hurts to give your design some subtle
anthropomorphic qualities to add
some personality.

Presents Game Art

With vehicle and tech

designs, it is incredibly
helpful to have 3D
geometry available to
set up your orthos. The
more detailed the
geometry, the less time
you have to spend, since
each detail is repeated in
each view. If you dont
have a particular detail in
the model, it will need to
be added in Photoshop.
Bolts and fasteners can
be added in Photoshop
and Shift-dragged to
copy through the design.

Design for aesthetics

The bottom line when doing any

asset for video games is that it has to
look cool (some might say badass, but
that description cant always describe
everything!). Either way, it has to look
sexy, and thats especially true with
vehicles. Although I pay close attention
to construction and engineering, I am
always trying to push the design into a
sleek and interesting shape. Distinctive
lines and interesting angles are the order
of the day when working as an
entertainment artist.
Making the asset work and look great
is what its all about, because if your
design is lacking in either department it
wont make it into the game. Ultimately
games, and everything in them, are there
to entertain people. Taking the time to
formulate opinions on what looks cool
and what doesnt is as much a part of the
job as the process itself.

Sci-fi vehicles
9

Orthogonal views

This is the stage where the final

assets are prepared for delivery to the 3D
artists as a plan or blueprint. Each studios
requirements for the ortho are a little
different, but overall, more is better. The
more information you can convey with
your plan view, the better understanding
your client will have about what you
intend your vehicle to look like. Orthos
can sometimes be overlooked as an
afterthought to the concept process; I
prefer to see it as the step where the final
blueprints are drawn up before assembly.

11

and detailing
10 Surfacing
For the MV-35 and MV-36 planes, each panel needs to be
designed at an angle to properly deflect radar. After studying the
reference, I notice that one of the coolest characteristics about stealth
jets is the very subtle but complex segmentation of the panels. The
divisions I add might not hold up to an engineers eye, but theyre close
enough to the real thing to make it look authentic. The panelling,
graphics and paint scheme for the MV-35 and MV-36 are added in
Photoshop over a SketchUp render when the ortho is assembled.

Setting up the
final Illustration

Once the whole concept is approved, I like

to prepare an illustration that shows how
the vehicle might look in its environment.
This is as much for me to sell the concept
as it is for the game technicians to get a
feel for how it could be finished in the
game. I want a battleworn background for
the tank, so I use a few custom brushes to
paint in the smoke pillars and obscure the
horizon line. Then I use a royalty-free
image to block in the ground plane.
Photo textures are a great way to add
realism to your image. Once the
background is in place, I adjust all of the
values in both the background and the
tank. All the elements need to have their
value ranges harmonised to suggest that
they exist in the same space that means
making sure the image is not too dark in
the shadow area and not too blown out
where its illuminated.
The best part for me is painting in the
dirt and battle damage with custom
brushes. Once I have the dirt in place and
the values lined up, I usually clean up the
edges with normal layers and full-opacity
paint. Look for accents and rim lights to
accentuate when cleaning up. At the end,
decal graphics and lights can be applied.
If somethings not working, experiment
until it does.

Photoshop
Custom Brush: Chislrok
BRUSH TIP SHAPE
Diameter: 20px
Roundness: 100 per cent
Spacing: 25 per cent
Dual Brush
Mode: Overlay
Brush: Textured Rocks
Diameter: 17px
Spacing: 25 per cent
Scatter: 0 per cent
Count: 1
Other Dynamics
Opacity Jitter: Pen Pressure
Flow Jitter: Off

I like this brush for adding rough and dirty

texture to the panels of the tank. Its shape
is that of a long rectangle, making it good
for texturing surfaces that recede in space.

Presents Game Art

21

Vehicle design

create your
art in parallel

Putting together concept pitches can throw up many problems along the
way. Star Wars: Episode III artist Feng Zhu shows how working on
multiple images at once can uncover a variety of solutions

22

Presents Game Art

Create your art in parallel

wo is better than one thats

the theme of my workshop.
Whenever Im doing client
work, live demos for teaching
purposes or personal sketches and
paintings, I always focus on producing a
series of images rather than just one. In
addition, I usually work on all the images
simultaneously. For this workshop, Ill
produce two production paintings at the
same time. Ive found that this approach
has several key advantages.
First, by working on several images at
once, it keeps my brain and eyes
refreshed. Whenever I get bored with
looking at one image, Ill switch over to
another. This method will keep the
workflow interesting, no matter how long
the project lasts.

Feng Zhu
Country: US
Feng has
worked with
George Lucas,
Michael Bay,
Luc Besson,
Steven Spielberg and
James Cameron. He
now runs his own
successful studio, Feng
Zhu Design Inc.
www.fengzhudesign.com

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

Presents Game Art

23

Vehicle design
Second, by going back and forth
between images, I can spot mistakes a lot
more easily. This has the same effect of
walking away from your work for an
hour: each time I switch images, Im
essentially looking at it with fresh eyes.
Third, I can achieve a lot more in a
short amount of time. Working on a
single image until its finished can be
dangerous in my line of work, because
theres no really accurate way to measure
your total production schedule. Clients
rarely ask for just one image they
always want to see as many ideas as

Set up a
save system
I always save multiple
versions of my
Photoshop files as I
work. I start with the
letter a. For example:
fzd_imaginefx_
demo_01a.PSD, 01b.PSD,
01c.PSD and so on. I use
this naming convention
for two reasons. One, it
gives you an easy way to
view your progress; and
two, I get to have
multiple back-ups just in
case one of the files
becomes corrupt.

Sketching the scene

I start 90 per cent of my paintings

with a rough sketch. I find it hard to be
creative on the fly, especially if the
project has design restrictions. In this
case, Im designing two vehicles and
scenes that fit into a universe that Ive
previously developed (an intelligent bug
planet). I also want these two scenes to

paint a Daytime
desert Battle

possible in the shortest amount of time.

Therefore by starting on several images
all at once, I can roughly average the total
completion time.
Fourth, by producing multiple images
youre essentially creating a series. In a
designers portfolio, those drawings or
paintings that fit into a themed project
look a lot more impressive. This shows
your ability to adopt a design language
and solve potential design issues.
Fifth, forcing myself to multitask
images enables me to stay loose. I cant
afford to become too focused or waste

time on unnecessary details when there

are a set of images to finish.
Sixth, working on multiple images also
has an evolutionary effect. For example,
I might sketch out an interesting shape or
find a cool way to render metal. I can then
immediately adopt that technique or
design on another image.
Finally, its just fun. I feel more
accomplished when I can finish several
images all at once which builds
confidence. It keeps the fun factor high
and reduces the chance for boredom.
Okay, now on to the actual workshop!

contrast with each other. Therefore, the

first image takes place in a nightclub or
bar setting where alien celebrities are
arriving. The second image (see the
boxout below) is a battlefield scenario.
The first vehicle faces right while
remaining stationery, while the second
one faces left and is in motion. One scene
is set at night, while the other is in

daylight. Finally, one of my vehicles is a

civilian transport while the other is
military in nature. These contrasting
points are all related to the key points
that Ive mentioned previously. These
sketches dont have to be super tight, but
they do need to communicate the design
package as well as establish the shot with
proper camera and perspective.

Running alongside Fengs futuristic nightclub scene is his

daytime image of the bug battle. The primary differences
between the two are the lighting considerations

24

Presents Game Art

Create the sketches

The initial sketches dont need to be tight, but must convey the mood
and direction of the artwork. This second of the two images is the opposite of
my main one, so where the first image is set at night and illuminated by all
manner of artificial light sources, this one will be pictured during the day and
so Ill need to take natural light sources into consideration. Furthermore,
while the first image features a static subject, I want the craft in this image to
be moving. In this manner I can feed off one image to inspire the other.

Create your art in parallel

Blocking out values in

the scene

At this point in the process Im just

blocking in the local values and colours,
trying to capture the overall palette,
lighting and mood. The line drawing is
separated out onto its own layer. The
resolution at this stage is 5,000x2,128
pixels which is the ratio for widescreen
films. There are just two layers active. One
is the line drawing and the other, the
background layer, is where Im putting all
my colours.

Defining the
light sources

Finding some form

Mirror image

Now that the primary values are

locked I can start on the first pass,
tackling form details. The goal here is to
define all the major shapes. At this stage,
the line drawing layer has also been
removed and Im down to just one layer.

Now I start to separate out both local and

global values according to the light
source(s). Without good values these
paintings wont read well, so its pointless
to start painting details until this stage is
completed. For the nightclub scene there
are several primary light sources: the club
window, floor, background city lights,
headlights and cabin interior lights.
I want this scene to feel busy, so multiple
light sources are a plus.

Tips for
Wacom users
I dont use Wacoms
sensitivity for Opacity, I
control it manually with
the 1 to 9 keys. You can
turn off Opacity by
pressing F5>Other
Dynamics>Opacity
Jitter and setting it to
Off. To set up random
brush patterns great
for creating textures
turn on Angle Jitter:
click F5>Shape
Dynamics>Angle Jitter.

Colour process

At this stage the sketches are finished and I

feel that Ive got a sense of the composition, which
is a fast-moving battle scene. Now I can start
working on the tone of the piece. I separate the line
art out onto its own layer and then create a Color
layer to work from. As before, I only use two layers
for this image.

Defining light sources

Unlike my nightclub scene, which features

numerous light sources, I want this battle painting
to have just one primary light source. I decide that
this will be the sun coming in from the right.
However, the desert ground will act as a very good
bounce board, bathing the bottom part of the ships
in warm light.

Once all the major forms are

defined, I can spend the next few hours
refining the look. On this first image my
nightclub scene Ive mirrored the
composition. This is another way to keep
things fresh and help spot perspective and
composition mistakes. I often dont
decide on the image orientation until Im
nearing the end of the painting.

Defining the form

Ive now reduced my layers to just one. By

removing the original sketch layer Im able to give
my full attention to defining the form of my
military vehicles. My goal here is to finalise the
major shapes that will form the bulk of the craft. I
refer back to my night scene to see what design
choices I made for the civilian vehicle.

Presents Game Art

25

Vehicle design
6

Combine laye

rs
Cmd+Alt+Sh
ift+E (Mac)
Ctrl+Alt+Shift
+E (PC)
Keep the numb
er of layers
down by copy
ing the
contents of all
layers
into a new on
e.

Increase the
document resolution

Its time for the finer details. To reduce

eyestrain and pixellated brushes, Ive
doubled the resolution to 10,000x4,256
pixels. This document size can cause
slower PCs to come to a halt, so to counter
this Im working on a PC with an Intel
Core i7-960 processor and 12GB of RAM.
Theres no image or brush delay on this
system; I simply cant stand lag or stutters,
and Im sure Im not alone!

Work on both images

The next two hours are spent adding details to both images.
I tend to work for about 20 minutes on one and then switch over. In
total, I spend about five hours painting both scenes. The second the
battle image is a lot easier to paint simply because of the reduced
primary light source. I have some trouble staging the nightclub scene
because of the multiple primary lights, which can flatten the forms, so
it takes up roughly three of the five hours to complete.

Beginning the
refining process

I begin loosely adding refining elements to the

background and to certain areas of the primary
craft. My somewhat cautious approach enables me
to see how the scene will take shape. Im careful
not to spend too much time focused on one area
the trick is to see the big picture develop.

26

Presents Game Art

Final thoughts

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this workshop and getting a glimpse into
how I work. Creating multiple images like this can be tricky but also has its benefits:
Ive often found that problems in one image can lead to solutions in another. Please
visit my design studio website for additional images. We also offer lots of free video
tutorials on YouTube (youtube.com/FZDSCHOOL). Have fun!

Add fine details

After increasing the resolution of the image

to 10,000x4256 pixels, I can begin adding the
finer details to the scene that will bring it to life.
These include giving more definition to the
combat ship in the background, reflections seen
on the hull of the craft and improving the look of
the large rock structures in the distance.

Dusty dilemma

The next two hours are spent on detailing

both paintings. The nightclub scene causes few
problems but, because I dont work with layers,
adding the dust-trail onto the second image was
tricky. I knew that if I messed up the dust would
be hard to remove, so I built up the dust layer
slowly with Brush Opacity at only 10 per cent.

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All images 2011 Lucasfilm Entertainment Company or Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Vehicle design

add colour to
a space battle

Ryan Dening
Country: Canada
Ryan studied
illustration at
Sheridan
College. His
first job out of
school was working on
Legoland Germany for
themed-attraction
design firm Forrec in
Toronto, Canada. Hes
currently a senior
concept artist on Star
Wars: The Old Republic.
www.deningart.com

Ryan Dening conceptualises and paints a space conflict,

while making the most of Photoshops layering ability

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

28

pace in the Star Wars films

is typically black with stars.
The are no nebulae but there
are battles in the upper
atmosphere, in asteroid fields and in orbit
around large planets. For Star Wars: The
Old Republic we wanted to push further,
so the players visual experience varied
significantly between space missions.

Presents Game Art

We explored a lot of ideas and the

one Im focusing on here is set in a gas
cloud thats being vented from a dying
star. Ships are laying mines in the cloud
and your mission is to clear the area and
take out the enemy vessels.
Ill be relying heavily on Photoshops
strength in layering. Ill start with quick
thumbnail sketches, and from there Ill

work on the final image maintaining

most of my layers for flexibility.
Ill also take elements from other art
pieces that we produced for the game.
This can be useful when time is tight,
but getting it to feel integrated can be a
challenge. Ill finish by using Adjustment
layers to vignette the image and produce
the levels I want.

Colour a space battle

Exploring ideas

I usually begin with thumbnails to get the creative juices flowing. Even if I have
a clear picture in my head, exploring it further often brings out better ideas. Here Im
trying out a few different settings and compositions. I like to keep these sketches small,
quick and simple to keep me from overthinking them. Sometimes if Im having trouble
getting ideas to flow, Ill swap out the media and use paper or sticky notes.

Sun surface

I start with a star field, into which

Im going to place the sun as an anchor.
For the surface I start by creating a
different file, roughly the size I want the
sun to be, with equal height and width
(square). On my second monitor Ive
collected some imagery of Earths sun for
reference. I begin by laying down colour,
using textured brushes, over the whole
image area to approximate what Im
seeing. When Im happy with the surface,
I open Filter>Distort>Spherize and crank
it all the way up to 100 per cent. This gives
the texture the impression that its
wrapped around a sphere. I turn on
Rulers and drag some guides off the top
and bottom to find the centre of the
image (I have Snap To Guides turned on
so I can do this easily). I use the Elliptical
Marquee tool and drag from the centre
while holding down Alt+Shift. I cut and
paste this over the star field.

Layer
selections

To make selections
based on the contents of
a layer from the palette,
hold Ctrl and click the
thumbnail. To modify
selections hold Shift+Ctrl
to add, Ctrl+Alt to
subtract and Shift+Ctrl+
Alt to intersect. If youre
working within an
existing layers pixels,
making a selection and
doing this will change
opacity and give you
crunchy edges, so lock
the layers transparent
pixels with the square
grid button near the top
of the Layers palette. To
do this in layers, make
a new layer above then
right-click and select
Create Clipping Mask.

Presents Game Art

29

Vehicle design
Brush size

[ and ]
(PC & Mac)
re bracket
Use the squa
se and
keys to increa
h size as
decrease brus
you paint.

Painting the clouds

Sun rays

I use a rough texture brush to enhance the feeling of depth in the midground
with clouds. I scale down the brush as I get closer to the sun. I duplicate this layer and
put a copy behind the sun. To help give the sense of a vast space, I squish and stretch the
copy. Because the angle changes due to the compression I rotate the cloud plane to
match the foreground. I duplicate and scale these a couple more times. I lock all of the
cloud layers and paint in the colours with a Soft Airbrush. I use the Smudge tool to
soften the texture and imply movement. The clouds in front of the sun still look a little
flat what they need are shadows, so I duplicate the cloud layer, select its contents,
contract the selection by a couple of pixels, invert it and hit Delete. I lock and paint this
top layer with a dark colour, move and squish it a little until it looks right.

Layer effects

To achieve a glow outside and

inside the sun I use layer effects. In the
bottom of the Layers palette I select Outer
Glow from the Effects drop-down. This
brings up a dialog box that enables me
to set the size, strength and colour. I
duplicate the sun layer a few times so I
can control the glow colour better, using
a larger, warmer red for the bottom layer
and a smaller yellow glow on the top
layer, giving me a rich colour gradient.
I apply an inner glow to the top layer,
with the blend mode set to Linear Dodge,
to add heat bleeding inwards.

Photoshop
custom brushes:
rock

This brush has a lot of

randomisation settings,
which enable me to
quickly lay down the
asteroid ring. The
roundness setting is like
using multiple brushes.
custom brushes:
dry paint

I used this rough paint

brush to add hard
highlights on the clouds
for definition. It looks a
bit like a Dry brush, so Im
able to produce a lot of
implied detail quickly.

Asteroid belt

Im using a rock brush Ive made to

paint the asteroid ring. The brush can give
me different-looking shapes with only a
few strokes. These settings include Scale,
Roundness, Scattering and Foreground/
Background Jitter. After laying in the base
ring, I lock the layer using Lock
Transparent Pixels, and paint over the
small rocks on the far side of the sun
using a soft brush so they appear lit.
Because the pixels are locked, I dont
worry about losing the silhouette and it
doesnt change the transparency of the
edges. With a Textured Round brush I
rough in highlights on the foreground
rocks to make them feel backlit. The
changing scale from back to front, mixed
with the implied lighting, gives the sense
that the rocks are orbiting the sun.

30

Presents Game Art

custom brushes:
rake

If you dont have one

like this already, try it.
The bristles follow the
direction of your strokes.
I used it in the sun
texture, and sparingly in
the thumbnails.
custom brushes:
square chalk

I use the Chalk brush a

lot in Painter, to sketch
in volumes and lay in
colour. This brush is an
emulation of that for
Photoshop. It follows the
direction of your stroke.

While painting in the clouds, I found that the sun looked too much like our
healthy sun to be venting all this gas. I merged my group of sun layers with effects and
used Hue/Saturation to shift the colour towards red. I also scale it up a little to sit better
in the composition. For the rays, I lay in some rough lines and use the Filter>Liquify
tool to distort and move them around. This quickly gives the lines a fluid feel. I set the
layer blending mode to Linear Dodge and duplicate/transform it a few times to fill the
sun out. At this point the overall image is looking really orange/red, so I duplicate one
of the layers and hue it blue to get the heat colours you might see in a welding torch. I
add a blue burst that I made by putting some coloured dots in a separate file, and use
Filter>Blur>Radial Blur set to Zoom and cranked up.

Foreground

To give the feel that youre flying

in the clouds I paint some colour in the
rough shapes using a Chalk brush,
making sure theyre backlit like the
asteroids. I use the Smudge tool to distort
the edges, then duplicate and transform
this layer around the image until it feels
like the viewer is in the middle of them.
I select the layer contents of the asteroids
and erase some of the clouds so the rocks
sit among them. I also add some
highlights and shadows to the asteroids
to imply that theyre pitted with craters.

Colour a space battle

11

To further focus the viewer, Im

going to brighten the centre of the image
and darken the edges. I click and hold the
Adjustment Layer icon and select Levels.
I bring the light values in from the right
side. I want to vignette the image so I
select the Level layers mask and fill it
with black. I pick the Gradient tool, set it
to Radial and select the second preset.
This uses your foreground colour and
fades it off to 0 per cent opacity. I pick
white and drag the gradient out from the
centre of the sun to the far left of the
image, and repeat this until I get the
brightness I want. The sun has some
blown-out spots so I paint those back in
the mask with black and a soft brush. I
create a new Normal layer and use the
Gradient tool again this time with
Linear selected and drag a little black in
from the edges to enhance the effect.

Copy merge

(Mac)
Shift+Ctrl+C
(PC)
Shift+Cmd+C
tion from
Copy a selec
without
multiple layers
d/merge
having to fin
y.
them manuall

Adding a vignette

Ship sketch

I start with a really loose sketch of the ship to get the rough
design. I then add perspective lines and block in major zones to harden
out the shape. Some linework is added to frame the design. Next,
I paint in the main highlights and shadows to give the design some
form. For the details I use a Screen layer and airbrush in a brighter
metal, erasing out some of the panels to add some surface variation.
I increase the contrast if needed to make the image more dynamic.

time
10 Laser
I choose blue lasers for the main

Merging in outside art

To save some time Im going to use

some of the games concepts for mines
and ships. This doesnt always work, but
since were in space, I can get away with a
lot of potential perspective issues. But you
can see they dont sit well: they look flat
and the lighting doesnt match the
environment. To blend these in I create
an Overlay layer directly above, and lock
it to the pixels of the concept layer. (To do
this I right-click the layer name and select
Create Clipping Mask.) I paint in shadows
using a mid-dark grey-purple and use a
light, warm colour for highlights. I create
two clipping mask layers on top: one
Normal to lighten the values and a Color
Dodge layer to pop the surfaces hit by
the sun. I select the source layer again
and erase some of it out to imply that
theyre sitting in the clouds.

Managing
layers
Here are a couple of tips
for working with layers.
Hit V to get the Move
tool. In the Options bar
select Layer and then
uncheck Auto-Select.
With the Move tool
selected, hold Ctrl and
click the image: the top
layer in that location will
be selected. (Check your
palette to make sure it is
the one you want.) Also,
group layers into key
components to keep
them organised. Select
the layers you want, then
hit Ctrl+G. If Im working
fast, naming the groups
is usually enough.

ship, to draw the eye in, and add an

explosion for good measure. It needs a
bright edge on everything where the
sunlight would fall. I create a new layer
and paint in highlights a huge step that
can dramatically increase the quality of
the image. I create Linear and Color
Dodge layers to brighten areas and add
glow haze. For shadows coming from the
mines, I create a Multiply layer and
use the Polygonal Lasso tool to draw
selections from the centre of the sun
out past the edges of the mines.

12 Sharpening
Photoshop tends to make
paintings soft, even when using a hard
brush. To sharpen the image I Select All
(Ctrl+A), select Copy Merged
(Ctrl+Shift+C) and Paste. This creates a
new layer with all the layers flattened
together. I select Filter>Other>High Pass
and set it to around 1.2 (if the image is
low res, try selecting a lower number).
This creates an odd-looking grey layer, but
if I change the blending mode to Overlay,
the grey disappears and everything crisps
up. I adjust the opacity of the layer to
finetune the effect. If its not sharp
enough I might delete the layer and try
again with a higher setting, such as 1.8.

13 Curves
I want to brighten the image
overall because I noticed on my coworkers monitor that it looked too dark.
A powerful way to lighten or darken your
image without destroying your lights and
darks is to use the Curves tool. Create a
Curves Adjustment layer and grab the
middle of the line bisecting the Curves
graph. Pull the point up a little and you
should see the mid-range starts to become
brighter. Once again, I mask out some of
the areas around the sun since they are
too bright. And thats the image done
hope you like it.

Presents Game Art

31

Character art
Paint unique and
compelling heroes
and heroines

Ill create a character

that unites contrasting
worlds into one consistent
and appealing painting
Maciej Kuciara, page 54

32

Presents Game Art

Maciej Kuciara

Polish-born Maciej has

been working in video
games since 2004, and
worked on Crysis and
Crysis 2 for Crytek. He
now works for Naughty
Dog on the studios next
major project, The Last
of Us.
Design an iconic character with
multiple reference points.
Turn to page 54

Workshops

Learn to design game characters

34 Design your own game
hero with Alessandro Taini
Use colour and composition to
create a heroic character.
38 Develop poster art for
Crysis 2 with Marek Okon
Use 3D and 2D to create a highquality game promo image.
44 Design a space opera
princess with Kevin Chen
Add story elements and a bold
design to your characters.
50 Recast a classic comic
character with Kan Muftic
Rocksteadys artist shows how he
recreated Harley Quinn.
54 Unify a range of fantasy
genres with Maciej Kuciara
Mix genre styles in one image for
original results.

Design a bold
heroine 44

Presents Game Art

33

Character art

Design your
own game hero
Alessandro Taini defines character with a heroic pose and reveals his
approach for painting the leading man in Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
t the earliest stages of Enslaved:
Odyssey to the West, it was
decided that we would base
the game on a 400-year-old
Chinese novel, Journey to the West. My
task as visual art director was to present to
the team how our game hero would look,
which ultimately determined many of his
traits. Even at the very start, a piece of art

Alessandro
Taini
Country: England
Italian-born
Alessandro
started his art
career in Milan
as a creative
designer and
visualiser. Since then hes
been a graphic designer
and book illustrator, and
is now visual art director
at Ninja Theory, working
on the games Heavenly
Sword and Enslaved:
Odyssey to the West.
www.talexiart.com

needs to say so much about the games

character in this case, Monkeys
strength and attitude.
In this workshop, Ill show you how
Ive taken a character concept through to
final colour illustration, keeping it full of
personality and strong expression. Ill
focus mainly on my stylistic approach but
will also give you technical tips.

get your
resources
See page 114 now!
2

photoshop
Monkey Brush

This tool gives a thick,

paintbrushed effect. Ive
used it in the Enslaved
workshop to build up the
characters skintone.

34

Initial sketch

The first stage is to create a pencil sketch of the character and try to convey their
attitude and personality. In this case, my inspiration is Monkey from the novel, so I
know I have to be consistent with the story and yet give the character a unique feel. I
find that a pencil gives you the freedom to follow your instincts through your hands.
However, I do sometimes sketch straight into Photoshop.

Presents Game Art

Adding definition

Now its time to take your initial

sketch and add more definition. Its useful
to keep in mind the purpose of your
character. With Monkey, I know hell be
fighting huge enemy mechs and climbing
a lot, so I exaggerate his silhouette,
making his back and arm muscles
prominent. I also give him extraordinarily
large hands. With my characters, I like to
take human aspects and really push
them, but not to the extent that they
become cartoon-like. Take one of my
other characters, Nariko, who features in
Heavenly Sword. Shes realistic looking
but her eyes are larger than a real persons,
and that helps to give her a really strong
facial expression.

Character art

r tricks

Laye
V (PC)
t+C, Ctrl+
Ctrl+Shif
V (Mac)
d+
m
C
,
ift+C
Cmd+Sh
yers but
la
ur
yo
To flatten
lect the
them, se
not lose
press
en
th
d
target an
bo.
m
co
y
this ke

Adding a base colour

I add a brown Color Burn layer to push through the pencil texture and give
background colour to the image. This provides the image with a rough, chalk-like
texture. Brown is a great skin tone to give a character because you can add lighter hues
to really bring them to life. Once the Color Burn layer is in place, I take the white layer
(layer 1 in this image) to bring the silhouette to the forefront.

Halos of light
In Photoshop, a dramatic
lens flare effect can be
created using the Lens
Flare filter instead of the
Paint one I mention here.

Muscle details

I want to make the muscles

anatomically correct, so I refer to
photographs of bodybuilders to ensure
that they look realistic. As long as the
lines themselves are correct, you can
exaggerate the muscles while keeping
a level of realism.

Background considerations

At this point, I want to separate the character from the

background and create specific ornaments or designs that will crop up
again and again in Enslaved. I name these art techeau: they combine
the curves of Art Nouveau and the composition of electronic circuit
boards. Some of the games villains, or mechs, have these designs on
their backs, and they feature in the game menus. The same symbol
style is also used for Monkeys tattoo-like battle scar. For this image, I
want to use the ornament as a background, giving a small taste of the
game to supplement the characters frame.

Adding detail

I then apply lighter tones to give more depth to the skin. I work with one of my
own soft brushes, which produces a paintbrush-like texture and look, and use light
shades on the face and body to bring the skin to life. The eyes are the most important
features for showing attitude and engaging the viewer; even at the sketch stage, they can
be powerful devices in terms of conveying character. In your image, find out what your
focus point is and spend time detailing it and getting it right. In my work the eyes are
the first port of call, followed by the face and then the muscles. With a realistic skintone
in place, I notice that the proportion of Monkeys head to his body is wrong, so in the
final piece the head has been made larger.

36

Presents Game Art

Creating a character
7

Tattoos

Using the same art techeau style, I

add tattoo-like scars. First, I create a black
tattoo on a white background and place it
on the body where I want it in this case,
on one shoulder and the back. Then I
change the layer mode to Soft Light. This
gives the perception that the design is
integrated with the body. After this, I add
some light to the edges of the design to
create the perception of depth these
tattoos are intended to look like deep
scars, branded with hot metal.

Speedy
switches
Ctrl+T

(PC), Cm
d+T (Mac
Use this co
)
mbinatio
n and
then right
-click to
br
ing
up the Tr
ansform
ation
menu qu
ickly.

The mask

I want to retain consistency with the novel and decide to take inspiration from
the original Monkey mask. For this, I use a Chalk brush to give a body paint effect. Its
both minimal and tribalesque. Its also clearly visible but doesnt intrude on the allimportant expression on Monkeys face and in his eyes. If Id painted a full mask, it
would have looked too tribal and obscured his face. This is a human being but Ive
given him features consistent with the books simian-like character.

11

Blend the subject

To merge the character with the

background, I like to finish the piece with
a Blend brush and add an oil paint effect.
This can be done in Photoshop using the
Smudge tool. I also like to import the
image in Painter and add the details
myself using the Water Rake.

Hair detail

I dont need to paint photorealistic

hair for this image. The most important
thing is to keep the powerful silhouette
with aggressive spikes if the mane were
lifelike, this aspect would be lost. I use a
thick brush to make a jagged silhouette
and leave realistic texture by the scalp. It
makes the hair and head seem like one,
resulting in a strong outline.

Lighting

10 In the same way that many photographers do, I like to use one main light from
one side (Caravaggio style) and a softer, coloured one on the other to bring my
characters to life in three dimensions. This is a technique often seen in comic books. I
have a simple but effective way of using layers to add lighting to highlight a subject, in
this case the Monkey character. Firstly, I add a new black layer to the image, then select
Color Dodge from the Layer menu. Then I select the correct lighting colour; here, Ive
used natural colour light around the rim of the character from the left and a red glow to
the back. When you select Color Dodge, the black layer becomes transparent and you
can paint your light effect over the top. Linear Dodge can be selected instead of Color
Dodge to create a softer light.

Choose a
focal point
Select a key area for
your work and spend
time getting it just right.
It should be where
youre conveying your
message and character,
supplemented by
secondary focal points.
If your background or
characters legs arent
a focal point, then you
dont need to go into a
lot of detail with them.

a final texture
12 Apply
Giving the image a uniform
textured effect suggests that it has been
painted on paper or a canvas. There are a
couple of textures I like to use, which I
have as separate layers that can be placed
over the whole picture. One gives a dirty,
gritty, rusty look, and is better for the
background than the character. I use
another texture over the whole image,
which gives the image a painted feel.

Presents Game Art

37

Character art

Develop poster
art for Crysis 2
Promo images must be of the highest quality and remain consistent with
an established brand. Marek Okons Crysis 2 art scores on both counts
reating a promotional image
for a popular game series is a
prestigious job even for the
most seasoned of artists. Its
a demanding task that requires you to
work with various media to ensure that
the subject receives the best possible
treatment. Its also a high-profile
commission: the image will receive a lot
of exposure and be discussed by gamers
interested in that particular franchise.
Its crucial that any promotional image
must match whatevers already been
established in the game universe.

Marek Okon
Country: Poland
Marek is a
freelance
illustrator and
concept artist
whos been in
the industry for over five
years. Hes most famous
for his work for Games
Workshop, LucasArts
and Crytek.
www.okonart.com

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

Consistency is also important at the

technical level: you need to integrate any
production assets with your painted
elements so that they work together well.
The first thing I do, even before
painting the initial sketch, is to consult
with my art producer Magnus Larbrant,
who will lead me through the image
production process and make sure my
art is consistent with the game. It usually
starts with him giving me some ideas of
what hed like to see in the image, and
then its up to me to modify and piece
them together. In this case the key

Sketching the idea

Review the two

rendered elements

The first sketch is usually very rough. It should only tell the art director, in the
simplest of terms, whats in the picture. So I dont worry about anatomical errors, lack of
details and stuff like that. Theres a good chance that Ill have to overhaul the sketch or
even draw a few different versions of it. Combining the cityscape and broken asphalt
isnt easy because I have to show elements that are low on the ground while looking up
at them. After a short brainstorm with Magnus we decide to use a low-angle camera
shot, looking up from one of the cracks in the ground. This gives us a nice view of the
buildings rooftops while conveniently placed asphalt pieces frame the shot.

With the sketch in place its time to check

the production assets: Cryteks rendering
of the cityscape and the nanosuit. These
could be painted of course, but using 3D
guarantees a high level of accuracy and
consistency with in-game material. Its up
to me to alter and combine them in the
best way possible. You might think that
having high-res renders at my disposal
makes this an easy task, but its not
theyre very clean and lack atmospheric
effects. I need to make them look more
painterly and natural by adding missing
elements, correcting shadows and
adjusting light levels.

38

Presents Game Art

elements that had to appear were: the

nanosuit; the lead character of the Crysis
franchise; New York in the background;
and a hole in the road thats dripping alien
biological matter. I suggest that we add a
fire in the background and flying debris to
turn a static scene into something more
dynamic and eye catching. We talk about
whether there should be any alien
creatures in the picture, but in the end
agree that it would be too much to
squeeze in; the composition might
become too cluttered. With the idea for
the image in place, I start to paint

Character art
3

Painting the
background

I start with the background because I like

to have a strong supporting structure in
place before working on the main subject,
which in this image is the nanosuit. I
paint with a broad textured brush that
has jagged and irregular edges to cover
the buildings with clouds of dust.
Another textured brush results in hardedged debris flying all over the place.
Both brushes were created by Mathias
Verhasselt and you can download them
(along with other great brushes) from
this conceptart.org page: bit.ly/91ir9m.
I use the Smudge tool on some of the
clouds and debris to imply that a gusty
wind is whipping things up.

Saving time

I use some stock

photography to add a
Remove a
r
car and a fire. Again,
selected laye c)
C & Ma
(P
e
ac
sp
ck
Ba
these elements could be
e
quickly delet
Press this to
you
painted but using stock
the layer that
.
have selected
images saves time
which is important in
production work and
maintains a high level of detail thats
consistent with the renders. I paint black
smoke pouring out of the fire with the
same brush I used for the dust clouds,
only with a smaller diameter. Remember
that smoke and any particle-based
objects are volumetric, so theyll react to
light and shadows like any other solid
objects thats why the smoke is
illuminated at its base by the fire. Finally,
I perform some contrast and colour
adjustments to make the background
look cooler. This will create a nice depth
effect later on.

40

Presents Game Art

Photoshop
custom brush:
Chalk2

This is an excellent
multipurpose brush
that I use to produce
dust clouds and patches
of dirt.
custom brush: TM@_
Round_Brush_Hard_
TextureLevel3

I use this brush to render

flying debris. Different
texture scale and soft
edges produce really
interesting effects. Both
of these brushes can be
downloaded from
bit.ly/91ir9m.

Improving the suit

Keeping the
suits details

Now I start working on the

nanosuit. Although there are plenty of
details, the suit looks too smooth and the
lighting is dull. I start by adding a direct
light source from the upper-left corner. I
duplicate the suit layer, play around with
Curves until the image is brighter, and
then I set it to Overlay mode to pump
up the colours and contrast. Then I add a
mask to this layer and erase any areas
that dont receive any light. I repeat this
procedure, this time adjusting the Curves
to produce a darker nanosuit and use a
mask to erase all lit areas. Now I have
lighter values to indicate where the sun
hits directly and darker values for the
shadow area. I return to the masks on the
lighter and darker layers and create more
defined edges of light and shadow by
finetuning parts of them. I repeat this
stage twice, for the ambient blueish light
from the sky and the local orange light
source coming from the fire. On top of
that I make a few minor adjustments and
some local colour corrections.

You may wonder why I dont just paint

lighter values over the original Nanosuit
layer using a Clipping Mask and different
blending modes. That would work, but in
the process I would destroy some finer
details of the original render. After
combining the nanosuit with the
background, the effect is quite pleasing
because of the matching lighting and
colour scheme on both elements.

Crysis 2 poster art

Grounding the image

The texture of asphalt is very fine and distinctive. Because I need to match the
detail level of the renders, the best way to reproduce it is to either use stock photos or a
properly textured brush. I start by painting simple solid blocks, with basic lighting, that
represent the layout of the cracked asphalt. Next I overlay real textures on proper
surfaces. Note that the edge of the asphalt has a slightly different structure to its smooth
surface. If the crack goes deep enough and in this case, it does I have to remember to
paint the different layers that are used in road production, such as gravel and the ground
itself. When the texturing is finished, I create a new layer above it and correct the lighting
on any objects that stand out. I also repaint some asphalt elements so all the textures are
consistent both with each other, and with areas of the image that are already painted.

9
Make use
of masks
Remember that
adjustment layers have
masks, enabling you to
localise changes to your
adjustments. By shifting
hues or values and
masking the effect, you
can easily separate
different planes from
each other. Grouping
those adjustment layers
in folders will give you
greater control over their
transparency and
blending modes.

Tackling alien matter

Searching for proper values for the Crysis biomass, I place

photos of jellyfish on top of an image of sliced meat and play around
with the opacity and blending modes. I start to paint, attempting to
depict differing biomass structures and density in a number of places
by adding subsurface scattering effects and variations in surface gloss.
This randomness enhances the organic feel of the substance and makes
the viewer feel that it is made from different materials, which are part
of a greater and as yet unseen whole. I also add moist, sticky strips
of goo and string everything together, essentially giving the biomass
a more alien look. I emphasise its organic origins by using different
blending modes for yellow/pink hues of colour. Overlay, Soft and
Hard Light modes can produce convincing light scattering effects in
semi-transparent materials.

Implying depth
of field

For the upper part of the asphalt crack I

use the same procedure as before, but
then I notice that planes of different
depth have started to blend in together.
So I reach for a photographic depth of
field effect that basically blurs everything
in front and behind the focus area. This
effect is great for creating a false sense of
depth in the image, but it must be used
wisely or it can look gimmicky.
I separate the foreground into four
different layers, depending on their
distance from the camera. The uppermost
asphalt and biomass with all the strings
hanging from above are on the first layer,
because theyre closest to the camera. The
middle asphalt blocks are on the second
layer, the absolute bottom parts are on
the third and the higher bottom parts are
on the fourth layer. I apply the Lens Blur
filter to all of them, with the strongest
values on the first layer and weakest
values on the last. If you want to avoid
transparency issues, make sure the areas
around the layers edges are overlapping
slightly. Because the background is much
further away from the focus point than
the asphalt crack, a single blur depth
should be enough. Our depth of field
effect is ready.

Presents Game Art

41

Character art
moving
12 Adding
particles
I need to add some foreground particle
effects. Those include light debris thats
flying all over the place, and small stones
and dirt falling down into the asphalt
crack. Because most of these particles are
going to be out of focus Im using the
same brush I used for background dust,
only with larger texture sampling. Then I
use the basic Smudge tool to add a subtle
motion effect to the debris. It doesnt have
to be too precise just enough to fool the
viewers eye.

out final
13 Carrying
adjustments

the suit
10 Distressing
Because the nanosuit is combat

Aim for a
unified look
Consistency in your
images details is key. So
if youre using either
stock photography or a
texture that has too
much detail, dont
hesitate to reduce this
using Median or Blur
filters. Applying too
much detail in areas
that arent your focal
points will do more harm
than good to your image.

armour, it should look worn dirty,

scratched and dented. First I paint a
dirt layer, using a Clipping Mask over
the base suit layer. For the dirt texture I
use two brushes: one broad with
smoother edges and one thats slightly
rougher, which produces a subtle noiselike pattern. You can use any blending
mode for the dirt layer, but I prefer to keep
it on Normal with reduced opacity. I
sample the colour of dirt from all over the
canvas. The next worn layer is dents and
cuts, and just like before I create a Clipping
Mask over the base suit layer. The best way
to create believable dents is to sample light
and dark values in one area and paint
them next to each other while referring to
the light source. I often use dents as a way
to differentiate areas of a uniform surface,
such as the strips of nanomaterial on the
shoulders. The final layer is made up of
hard scratches. Once again I create a
Clipping Mask and then paint scratches
with the Hard Round brush. Most of the
abrasions are on a materials hard edges so
I ensure these are the most visible. I also
add a mask to my hard scratches layer and
apply a grainy texture for extra realism.
Finally, I add few blinks of light on the
main reflective surfaces, and make some
minor lighting and colour balance tweaks.

11

Checking the
colour balance

I match the colour balance of the image

with the reference colour palette used in
Crysis 2, using a combination of Colour
Balance and Hue/Saturation adjustment
layers, with masks separating different
planes of the image. I want to achieve a
gloomy, yellowish-bluish cast over the
image that will emphasise the terrible
atmosphere of a city invaded by aliens.

42

Presents Game Art

g
Start clippin
C)

(P
Ctrl+Alt+G
(Mac)
Cmd+Alt+G
releases
or
es
ch
ta
This at
ing mask
pp
cli
a
as
a layer
thats
er
lay
e
th
to
below it.

I make some minor tweaks to the colour

balance. I warm the nanosuit and the
foregrounds colour tone slightly so that
they immediately pop out from the cooler
background, and make a few minor paint
adjustments. And thats it the image is
done. Over to the marketing team!

Take your digital art

skills to the next level
Latest issue out now!
Available in Print and digital
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Character art

Design a space
opera princess

A bold personality and readable silhouette help to make a character

memorable. Kevin Chen walks you through the design process
good character design creates
an iconic image that helps to
establish a projects identity,
its storytelling and the clarity
needed for a smooth production. In this
tutorial, Ill share some of the design tips
and working processes Ive learned while
designing characters for video games.
Designing for games is different to
designing for film or animation. The
characters have to play a double role

Kevin Chen
Country: US
A freelance
concept artist
and founder
and director
of Concept
Design Academy, Kevins
recent projects include
character and costume
designs for Bulletstorm.
http://ifxm.ag/k-chen

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

Do some research

Pose the character

Before starting the drawing, I like

to spend some time thinking about and
researching different ways I can approach
the character. Other than knowing that
shes a princess for a sci-fi project, Im
asking myself questions such as: Who is
she? Where does she come from? What
job does she do? Why is she in the story?
When does the tale take place? Asking
myself these questions helps me get to
know the character better so that I can
come up with some interesting answers
todesign around.

I pose a generic mannequin thats

both accurate in its proportions and has
the right gesture to help convey her
personality and attitude. In this case,
Iwant the princess to be proud, so I give
her an arching spine and shoulders to
push her chest out and show her
confidence. When posing a game
character, its a good idea to keep the
limbs away from the body so that theres
aclear view of the design. Classic
threequarter front and back views of
acharacter are ideal for this purpose
because they enable the modeller to see
the most information.

44

Presents Game Art

theyre storytelling archetypes as well as

being great interactive avatars that enable
the player to immerse themselves in and
interact with the game world.
Illustrating a character for CG
production is also slightly different to
creating a print illustration. Our goal is
tocommunicate the design clearly to the
modeller in terms of form and texture as
quickly as possible. We often use many
photos to speed up the process, and the

rendering isnt as important because its

the final game model that counts. As
character designers, were the least
expensive way to explore many ideas
early on and to establish interesting
designs that will help inspire the team
tobe excited about the new project.
My demo for this workshop illustrates
how Id take a rough design idea from line
to colour finish for early pre-production
pitches. Lets get started!

Character art

Define the face and body

Personality is paramount when creating a character design: it

motivates everything and is what will leave a lasting impression on the
viewer. I want to define my character with a distinctive personality,
facial structure and body build. Im focusing on making the face
interesting just through the larger skull structure. I want to give her
aEuropean, aristocratic face along with a fencers body type.

Flesh out the design

At this point, I find that the mechanical left arm needs to be clarified, so Im
sketching some ideas on the right to help resolve the design. The overall costume is
looking a bit busy, so Im doing a small thumbnail sketch on the left to help me see the
big picture more clearly. (Im also thinking about how her blade can break into a whip.)
I usually take at least three design options to this level for the art director to pick from
before I move on to the colour phase with the chosen design.

Think in 3D.
Design in all views

m
Free Transfor

Ctrl+T (PC)
)
Cmd+T (Mac
e top of the
Right-click th
d Warp
selection to ad
image
an
h
etc
str
d
an
.
over a surface

Mask the character

To help shorten the clean-up time,

I paint a selection mask so I can separate
the character from the background easily.
I like doing this phase because it helps
me see how well the silhouette of the
character is working without the internal
details. You can do this same process with
the Lasso tool, but I prefer using the brush
because it gives me more control.

Amplify the
animation
Often in a platform
game, youll see a
characters full body as
it moves quickly around
the screen. To help the
animation read better,
a common trick is to
have the important
animation areas
amplified in shape, value
or silhouette. This way, it
will echo the animation
read whenever the
character moves, so the
viewer can track the
movement easily. A
good example of this is
Shinobis scarf in the
eponymous series, which
enables the player to
follow his whereabouts.

46

Soft Light
or Overlay

Compose the costume

When designing the costume, its important to think of both front and back
views especially for a third-person platform title or first-person shooter, where the
character is seen from the back for 80 per cent of the game. For clear composition, vary
the costume into small, medium and large shapes. This will create a nice stage for the
areas of detail to become the focus. The face, hands and upper back of a major game
character are important areas for player identity, animation and user interface design
reasons, so you need to take this into account.

Presents Game Art

Ambient lights

Using the mask as a selection, I

start to add a gradation to the background
from dark to light. To help the character
pop, I use a reverse gradation on her. To
keep the drawing showing through the
gradation, I apply the layers with either
Soft Light or Overlay.

Design a space opera princess

11

Plan costume in 3 values

Design the local

value pattern

Before I add any fancy lighting, I want to

paint the character as if shes in ambient
light. This helps to guarantee that shell
look good in both shadow and a well-lit
scene. When designing the local values,
Iuse three values in small, medium and
large proportions for clear staging.

Render the
major forms

To help me save time on rendering,

Impainting a cylinder and ball to
superimpose on top of the major body
forms using Soft Light or Overlay. You
cansee them to the left and right of the
character in this image. Using this
technique, I can very quickly establish
thebig masses with light and shadow.
Insituations where I need to paint more
quickly and when time is of the essence,
Ill use photographs at this stage of the
process. The photographs provide me
with many subtle details and colour
variations that are time-consuming to
replicate by hand-painting.

Curves for skin tone

Colour
palette
9

Test the colours

I try to use colour palettes that will

evoke an emotion. Im using the royal flag
colours as a base for the design to reflect
her personality and heritage. Its crucial to
organise or desaturate your colour base to
a warm or cool tone so you can stage up
an accent colour. As a general rule, keep
colours simple if you have a sculptural
form and complex if your forms are flat.

Curves

Flesh is transparent

Ctrl+M (PC)
Cmd+M (Mac
)
Quickly vary
saturations
and add neut
ral grey and
saturated sh
adows to
a flesh tone.

to create
10 Begin
the flesh tone
I start to rough out the flesh tone to help
me key the rest of the colour saturations
around it. Skin is an interesting material
because its a neutral warm grey sheet that
will take on any colour you shine on it.
Itsalso a transparent material the light
can pass through the fleshy areas, giving
it a rich red tone in the shadows. The key
to painting a good skin tone is to use the
red tones only in the fleshy areas.

the materials
12 Establish
To start the material rendering, I like to first establish the softest and hardest materials. In this case, its
the skin and the metallic armour. For skin, I use the Curve tool to help control the saturation of the shadows
and introduce the subtle grey into the skin tone. For the metallic parts I use the Lasso tool to give a clean edge,
and the Colour Dodge layer to give a nice saturation while I paint the reflective lights on the metallic surface.

Presents Game Art

47

Character art
Design for
gameplay
In game production, the
gameplay experience is
the core that all designs
need to follow. When
creating enemies, its
important to give them
a clear shape hierarchy
so you understand
whos the boss and who
are the grunts. You need
to design with a clear
sense of direction, so the
players know which is
the danger side and
where to find the blind
spot. When designing
main characters, the
back and weapon are
important because they
often serve as a display
for player health and
weapon quantity.

Flesh
Gun Metal
Latex

Cloth

Color Dodge to
create rim light

Copper or Gold

layers, three materials

13 Three
Once the extremes are established, I focus on the different materials in between.
For a believable costume design, there are always at least three layers of clothing and
three types of material present. When I have a hard time indicating a material, I often
paint it separately as a ball to figure out its colours and reflective quality. Once I solve
the rendering problem, I can then colour pick and apply it to my character.

gradations
14 Colour
To help unify the colours further and give a better sense of lighting, I often apply
another gradation layer over the character and background. In this case, I introduce a
warm to cool gradation to mimic the natural fall-off that occurs in a lighting situation.
For lighting up a subtle gradation, Soft Light is my favourite tool to use because it has
avery gentle effect on the colour and value.

drama
15 Adding
To give the character a dramatic
feel and make her pop out from the
background, I apply a kicker light behind
her to give a nice rim light and show off
her silhouette. To paint the rim light, I use
the Paint Bucket tool to create a black
layer and assign it a Color Dodge layer
property. When I paint a warm white on
top of that Color Dodge layer, it gives
anice glow effect that mimics the
saturation that happens when strong
lighthits an object.

Soft Light
photoshop
custom brush:
Ellipse brush

adjustments
16 Final
After a few more tweaks, the design
is ready. Often it takes several revisions to
get a main character approved for 3D
modelling. Once approved, it is standard
to create a material call-out sheet for the
modeller to reference and a turnaround
drawing to finish the design package.

The Ellipse Brush, set to

a spacing of 1,000 per
cent, is a simple but
useful tool. I use it often
to help me clean up
ellipses and cylinders
onmechanical objects.

48

Presents Game Art

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Presents Game Art

49

Character art

R
ecast a classic
c
omic character
How do you paint a compassionate portrait of DCs villainous Harley
Quinn? Rocksteady concept artist Kan Muftic shows how its done
he world of DCs heroes and
villains is incredibly rich,
offering a fantastic variety
of interesting characters for
any artist. Having the privilege to work
on such exciting characters on a daily
basis would turn me into a 10-year-old
boy every time I sat down at my desk
at Rocksteady Studios.
Working on countless concepts for
Batman: Arkham City has taught me one
thing, though: you cant just go in and
mess around with these characters. Some
of them have been around for 70 years

and the worlds finest comic book artists

and illustrators have all contributed to
their evolution.
In this workshop, Ill paint a portrait
of Harley Quinn. Shes famous for her
extreme mannerisms and affection for
the Joker. What I aim to do is contrast this
image and present her more personal side.
I pick a moment when shes on her own,
lost in her thoughts. The events of
Arkham City are dramatic and the love
of her life, the Joker, is terribly ill. Shes
changing her outfit and gearing up for her
upcoming mission.

Kan Muftic
Country: England
Kan is a
concept artist
and illustrator
with extensive
experience
in the video game,
film, advertising and
music industries.
www.bit.ly/kanm

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

Painter

Composition

If you want to tell a story with your

image, you have to spend time exploring
the composition. In Painter, I take the
idea of Harley changing outfits and start
roughly sketching some ideas. I dont
want to make a pretty drawing here (I
never go into any detail at this stage). I
sketch several versions to explore different
ideas, angles and poses. At this stage, once
Ive created a few sketches, I line them
up and submit them for approval.

50

Sketching out

The first sketch has the strongest

impact, so I crop the image and double
the size (Canvas>Resize>Width 200
Percent) while making sure the Constrain
File Size box is checked. Next I start
picking colours and laying them straight
down on the first and only layer of my
painting. Its a bit unconventional but
I have a good reason for doing this: it
keeps me focused, while improving my
skills for painting edges and exploring
colours. Ive found that when working
with many layers its easy to drift away in
an endless set of options, and of trial and
error. Working with a single layer forces
you to carefully think through and
commit to chosen colours and structures.

Presents Game Art

Standard brushes:
Oil Pastel

This brush was used for

99 per cent of this piece.
Blender Bristle

Another favourite
of mine, this creamy
brush makes digital
strokes look traditional.

Following design and

adding elements

I block in some basic design elements

of the costume, adding smudged mascara
to her face, which gives a subtle hint to
the games backstory. I also roughly add
some other elements to the sketch. These
will be detailed later I only wish to
position them at this point. I think its
important to avoid fleshing things out
too early, because at this stage it should
still be about exploration and playing
with the paint.

Recast a classic c omic character

GAMES
ARTIST
Discover mor
e of
work on Rocks Kan Muftics
te
Batman: Arkhaady Studios
m City on
page 13 and
be inspired
by great conc
ept art

Presents Game Art

51

Character art
Iterative save

Ctrl+Alt+S (PC
)
Cmd+Option+
S (Mac)
A great, simple
way to
save sequen
tially
numbered ve
rsions
of an image.

Cropping and blocking in

Moving things around

I decided that the image has too much space opposite Harley
so I crop it. Remember, composition is king in visual storytelling. My
Oil Pastels brushes are working a treat and Im getting some wonderful
edges, even at this rough stage. When using these brushes I make long,
broad strokes across the canvas. Its a very therapeutic process.

I realise I have to make some changes to the image. I find that

once you start putting down colours its hard to go back and work on
your composition again, so its probably best to go back now and get
things right. Using the Lasso tool, I select the left part of the image and
move it away. I then block in Harleys missing shape, which reveals
more of her costume.

Fleshing out

Putting it all together

I feel like Im on the right track

at this point, so I decide to enlarge the
image. The reason for this is that I still
want to work in swooshy strokes even in
the detailed areas, and not fall into the
habit of scribbling minor details of the
picture. I start fleshing things out and add
Harleys purple boots that she used to
wear in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Purple
gives a nice touch to the overall palette.

From here on I work on the

smaller elements of the figure and the
environment. I try not to zoom in
because I dont want to lose the overview
of the image. I have enough colours on
the canvas, so I can pick them instead
of mixing them from scratch. Still, every
stroke is bold and confident. Its crucial to
place your strokes into each other instead
of scratching them in or carefully placing
them next to each other.

Facial expression

Edge economy

I add a cheeky little smile on her

face; she looked too angry and slightly out
of character before. Again, thinking of the
overall story of the image always helps
you come up with interesting details. Im
still relaxed and my arm moves loosely
across my tablet, even when Im creating
intricate details such as the characters
face. Strangely, I produce better strokes
when I just let go.

This fancy term edge economy

refers to the relationship between the soft
and sharp edges in a painting. Using Pen
Pressure, I create sharp edges and, as I
slowly lift my pen up, the edges become
soft. Here you can see an example of edge
economy in Harleys hair.

Adding
personality
Painting superheroes is
really good fun, but its
a good idea to make
them as human as
possible. That way, you
give them personality
and the viewer can
identify with them that
much more.

52

Presents Game Art

Recast a classic c omic character

Seek feedback
If youre getting paid to
draw, that means youre
not drawing for yourself
but for your client. Send
back a lot of progress
shots and request
extensive feedback.
That way, you can make
sure everyone is happy
and you wont need to
change much of your
piece as you go along.

15 Highlights
Clever positioning of highlights and their edges can make or

10 Stockings
These stockings were an iconic part of Harleys outfit in the first game, Batman:

break an image. Thats why its important to know what materials you
apply the highlight to. In this case, I have a leather corset and that
means that I cant just add some random specular reflections the
surface has a texture that absorbs parts of light and doesnt reflect it in
the same way as metal, for example. So my highlights are slightly
smudged and muted, which gives the impression of leather.

Arkham Asylum. As I start blocking them in, I realise that Ive never painted stockings
before. Its a delicate material with a flexible shape, so its not easy to get right. I try
searching for some references online, but find surprisingly few pictures of loosehanging stockings. It becomes rather draining browsing through loads of irrelevant and
obscene images to get to the right one! I dont have time to get some real-life reference
so I just try to use common sense and make it up.

11

The boot

12

Boost up the contrast

I put some details into Harleys

boot design while trying not to destroy it
because I like how the edges look so far.
The material is smooth and shiny, so I use
some nice specular reflections to make it
pop. I try to ensure the boot looks and
feels different from the cloth next to it.

armpit saga
16 The
Until now its been easy to get her posture, the facial expression
and the colours right, but Ive been delaying working on this area
and now its time to solve the difficult armpit/shoulder area. I know Ill
struggle because Im not exactly sure what the arm looks like behind
the obstacle. This is one of those moments where I regret not doing
more figure drawing from life. I push paint around, trying to find
something thatll look right. If you get stuck, do some proper research,
shoot some reference photos or ask someone to pose for you. It sounds
like a lot of work, but it will take more time to struggle with the
mistakes you make if you dont.

I quickly switch to Photoshop

and add an Adjustment Layer (Layer>
New Adjustment Layer). I push the
contrast up by moving the outer sliders to
both ends of the black waves that
represent tonal information. This could
also be done in Painter, using the Equalise
function, but I find Photoshop more
accessible for this stage.

details
13 More
I change Harleys smile to look

face
17 The
After having spent too much time

a bit more natural and add some details

such as black nails that help flesh out
her character a bit more.

painting the armpit, I move on to her face.

This is the most interesting part for me:
I find faces to be challenging but
rewarding if you get them right. Even
though I zoom in, the strokes are still
placed on top of each other loosely. Her
face needs more form but I have to keep
her looking young and pretty. A delicate
touch is the key here. Sculpting the paint
gently gives me the result Im looking for.

14 Corset
Having enriched my image with
contrast, I switch back to Painter and pick
some creamy Blender Bristle brushes from
the Artists Oils menu. Theyre great for
rendering leathery surfaces and skin,
so I zoom in a bit and start working on
the structure of Harleys corset. This is one
of the most difficult and time-consuming
parts of the process, and it shows just how
important it is to do a lot of drawing of
all kinds of things from life.

intervention
18 Outside
Just as Im finishing, my art director asks me to crop the image
Customise ke

ys
Edit menu>P
references>
Customize Ke
ys (PC)
Painter menu
>Preference
s
>Customize
Keys (Mac)
Assign your to
ols to
specific keys
.

so that Harley Quinns costume more accurately represents the one she
wears in Batman: Arkham City. Im happy to do this if it means the
image is more up to date, and Im sure Harley wouldnt mind

Presents Game Art

53

Character art

Unify a range of
fantasy genres

Maciej Kuciara shows how to design an iconic heroine, encompassing

several different elements and unifying the concept with colour
or this workshop Ill be guiding
you through a few simple
steps on how to create
an interesting and unique
character design one thats not tied
down to any specific genre. Ill try
to break down the boundaries by
dropping interesting elements into the
mix and creating a character that unites
contrasting worlds into one consistent

Maciej Kuciara
Country: Poland
Maciej is an
art director
and concept
artist whos
spent six
years working in the
video game and
entertainment design
industries, specialising
in creating concept art
and matte paintings
for Crytek and
Naughty Dog.
www.maciejkuciara.com

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

and appealing image. Ill take a look

at a couple of different aspects, such as
presentation and brainstorming ideas
into concept sketches. Finally, Ill take
my preferred sketch through to a
finished image.
The subject for this workshop is
a heroine a mistress of all the genres.
I have a strong idea in mind of who
she is and how shell look. Shes a

hot, badass blonde pilot wielding a

submachine gun, with a katana sword
strapped to her back, riding a tamed
dragon and destroying anything that
stands in her way.
But there are still issues to overcome.
Ill show you how a strong control of
colour can unify the disparate genre
ideas into one image. Are you strapped
in? Hold on tight!

First you need to consider how youre

going to present your character before
you start thinking about specifics
such as value, colour and detail.
Depending on your chosen subject,
the character design can be shown
either as a standard portrait shot, or
as an action/cinematic shot that puts
our hero/heroine in a specific
situation. Each option has its own
strengths and weaknesses.

2
Photoshop
custom brushes:
Hard Soft Edged

This simple brush

works like a charm for
sketching purposes.
Its opposing sharp and
soft edges also help
to enhance surface
specular highlights.
Chalky Textured

This simple Chalky brush

is ideal for bringing an
oil paint texture into the
artwork. It blends nicely
with paint thats already
on the canvas, so I use it
for blocking out colours.

54

Presents Game Art

Brainstorm
some ideas

Choose the right

idea for the subject

Taking a brief moment to sketch

a few dirty strokes on paper, or in
Photoshop, will help you to make
your decision. For this workshop
I worked up three different sketches
two were passive and active
cinematic shots, and one was
a simple portrait sketch. I tried
to think about different subjects that
go together well: fantasy, sci-fi, postapocalyptic fallout, vintage and the
modern world.
I found that my third portrait
sketch held my attention the most.
It gave me the opportunity to show
interesting costume details, revealing
part of the heroines environment
and introducing some welcome
storytelling elements.

Character art
3

References

Sky
co

Before I get my hands dirty and

start digging more into my sketch, I
always try to spend some time
researching the subject. I find it helpful
to have a decent collection of photos and
photo-textures on hand when painting.
Because I like my art to have a realistic
look, Im always studying photography
and nature to try to understand the way
light and colour work.

lour

li
Sun

Work on values

ght

Once Im happy with the story

my sketch is telling, I start to work up
some detail. This helps convince me that
the idea Im planning to work on for the
next couple of hours is heading in the
right direction. I continue building up
values, creating mood and a lighting
scheme that will strengthen the ideas.
I try to put enough detail in black and
white to know where Ill use my colours.
Using a few custom brushes to build up
interesting shapes and patterns helps me
include the key ideas that will evolve in
the colouring and detailing processes.

Bouncing light

Time for some colour

When Im happy with the values

and detail in the sketch, I start colouring
the image. For my pilot heroine character
I try to create a lighting scheme that puts
the viewer in mind of a World War One
aerial battle. I add a dramatic sunset that
lights my character with sharp rim
highlights. Blue ambient light beaming
through the clouds gives the scene a range
of contrasting dominant colours: blue/
teal and yellow/orange.

Custom brushes

Once the major colour strokes are

in place, I continue to add colour on top
of the sketch with my custom brushes.
I use these brushes to slowly build and
integrate the colours into the lighting
scheme I have in mind. At the same time
I start to fill the
artwork with
detail that will
enhance the
main character.

Enhance a
custom brus
h

F5 (PC & Mac)

Edit your custo
m brushs
texture. Selec
t texture
layer, then Ed
it>
Define Patte
rn.

56

Presents Game Art

7
Spot mistakes
Bind the Flip Canvas
option to easily
accessible keys. Seeing
your canvas in the
mirrored view will reveal
composition, value and
detail balance mistakes.

Pay attention to
light sources

As I build in the colour, I pay special

attention to what my light sources are and
how the light will play on the character.
In this case Im using strong, sharp and
warm sunlight, combined with a soft,
cold sky colour, to create ambient light.
I continue on this path for a while, trying
to unify the amount of work Ive put into
the image so that the various elements all
hold nicely together.

Unify fantasy genres

Add details

When Im satisfied with the

amount of detail in the colour values
and shapes, I begin to add details into
the focal areas. I always like to keep sharp
edges and clearly defined textures in
areas that are central to the image. In my
sketch, the focus lies on the character,
while the dragons skin and the sky are
kept loose. With this technique, even with
the intense lighting of the background,
I can keep the viewer focused on whats
important in the picture: the character.

Colour correction

The image finally has enough

detail to consider it close to being
finished. At this point I usually take a few
steps back and try to gain a fresh
perspective, to see if the result is satisfying
or if it still needs more love. I decide that
Im not yet happy with the colours they
dont fully embrace the idea in my head.
In this situation, I usually try to see if
theres any way to enhance the values and
contrast using the Channels.

ups
10 Touch
I adjust the colour through Color
Edit your
colours
You can easily tweak
or push specific colours
that youre not happy
with by creating a Hue/
Saturation adjustment
layer, and choosing the
colours you want to work
with from the drop-down
menu within the settings.
You can also tweak the
hard and soft range
for the colour on
which your changes
will operate.

Balance, Levels, Hue/Saturation, Selective

Colors and Vibrance until I reach
something close to what I had in my
mind. I dont limit adjustment layers to
general settings instead I play with
Photoshops advanced options, such as
controlling levels per channel (blue, red,
green) or hues per colour (green, yellow,
red and so on). I spend time making sure
I end up with colours Im happy with.

11

Final touches

After Im happy with overall colour

grading results, I add a few more touchups in areas that could use more detail.
I also try to fix some of the dirty brush
strokes I applied in the early sketch stages.
Finally, I try to make sure that even the
dark areas of the image hold some
definition. I sample colour from the
darkest values of the image and use a
custom Noise layer, which I paint on
with my custom brushes.

Presents Game Art

57

Creature
concepts
Paint expressive
monsters for games

58

Presents Game Art

These creations often

help to inspire the team,
or to generate discussion
within it
Daryl Mandryk, page 64

Daryl Mandryk

Having worked in the

entertainment industries
since 1999, Daryl has put
his name to many
projects, including Turok,
SSX and TRON. In his
workshop, he reveals
some of his secrets to
creating dynamic
creature art.

Put your creature in a scene

to inspire the art team.
Turn to page 64

Workshops

How to paint amazing creature art

60 Paint an epic alien battle
with Luke Mancini
Compose a vivid showdown scene
between two alien combatants.
64 Paint dynamic concept
art with Daryl Mandryk
Create an action scene to showcase
your creature design.

See how the Z erg

are painted 60

Presents Game Art

59

Creature concepts

60

Presents Game Art

Paint an alien battle

Luke Mancini
Country: US
Luke is an
Australian
concept artist
who moved
across the
world to sunny California
to work at Blizzard
Entertainment on the
video game StarCraft 2.
http://ifxm.ag/luke-m

Discover how to get close to the action as Luke Mancini

creates a vivid clash between two powerful combatants
n the real-time strategy game
StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty,
the player has an isometric
birds-eye view. This works
wonderfully for masterminding your
opponents defeat, but it can leave
something to be desired from a more
dramatic artistic perspective. To this end,

Ive decided to show a single moment in

the midst of a battle. The image is of an
encounter between a Protoss Archon
amassively powerful warrior and the
most terrifying ground unit in the Zerg
swarm, the Ultralisk.
My aim is to capture the unrestrained
energy in the seconds just before the two

warriors collide, and emphasise the

contrast between the feral, organic power
of the Zerg beast and the pure, focused
energy of the Archon. While battles in
StarCraft 2 regularly involve hundreds of
units, Ill focus solely on this duel, relying
on close cropping to suggest that theres
agreater conflict surrounding them.

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

Presents Game Art

61

History Eraser
Holding Alt/Option while
using the Eraser tool
enables you to erase on
your current layer to an
earlier version of your
image you can set the
destination in the History
palette to any point in
your process to clean up
new work easily. You can
also set your Undo levels
quite high and set your
History Options to
Automatically Create
New Snapshot When
Saving to make full use
of this tool.

Rough it in

I start with a quick rough sketch to get the composition sorted out, and after
doodling a bit I settle on a shot that gives the two characters a roughly even presence in
the image, while still emphasising their dramatic difference in scale. I keep my strokes
broad and loose at this stage to try to capture the energy that Ill aim to maintain all the
way to the final composition.

Tighten the
underpainting

Next, I delete the pale layer and start

refining the colours underneath in a new
Normal layer to match the decisions Ive
made with my linework. I start thinking
about the lighting here, although Im not
doing anything too dramatic in that
regard in this image. I want a general sun
light over most of it, with the energetic
blue glow from the Archon supplying a
dramatic second light source.

Begin to paint

Now I begin the stage that takes up most of the work in an

image such as this rendering it! I start painting over the top of the
tighter lines, trying not to go too high with highlights. Im focusing
on getting the forms reading right at this stage. Its better to get this all
worked out first and then add your brighter specularity andlighting
later, to make sure it stays consistent.

Lay colour in early

I already have a fairly strong idea of where I want to go in terms of colour, but
I need to lay it in as early as I can to see if its going to work. I darken the sketch layer so
it receives colour better, and then block in my first pass on a Linear Light layer. The
blending mode I use here varies from piece to piece, but will always be an Overlay type
because this enables you to push lights and darks with the colours youre using.

Start working in
some of the details

Once the basic colour stage is complete,

Igo back in to add some more details
overthe top. Since the rough sketch that
Idrew of the Archon and Ultralisk in the
first step is so basic, some more decisions
about the design and composition need
to be taken before I can make a start on
the painting proper. I add a white layer
ataround 80 per cent opacity, just to be
ableto see where Im drawing, and then
Ibegin to flesh out the characters details
in linework. At this early stage in the
painting, Im still not going too far with
the detail Im focusing on the main
points of interest and leaving it looser
towards the extremities.

62

Continue to flesh
out the details

I normally try to avoid painting in effects

so early in an image, but considering that
the Archon is a being of pure energy,
some of that needs to be taken into
account at this stage. To that end, I
compromise between rendering some of
his armour as if lit by the general scene
light, and having the rest illuminated by
his own glow and silhouetted by the
bright cloud of energy.

Copy merge
d

Shift+Ctrl+C
(PC)
Shift+Cmd+C
(Mac)
Separate, tra
nsform
and adjust are
as of a
layered imag
e without
flattening it.

and light
10 Details
Now its time to go back and finish

off the rendering on the Ultralisk and pull

the piece together. On a new Normal
layer I add specular highlights and finish
details such as his eyes, teeth and some
extra spikes. I also add some secondary
blue lighting from the Archons energy,
which helps to pop his face and upper
shell out from the background.

Work out the background

Before I start on the effects stage I want to get the image feeling more whole, so
Imove on to the background in order to pull it together. With a smeary opaque brush
and judicious use of the Smudge tool to keep a sense of movement, I roughly paint in
the swirling energy around the Archon and the hooked claws of the Ultralisk, which
form something of a frame for the centre of the piece.
Photoshop
custom brushes:
Smear

I use this to paint clouds,

glows and effects. This
soft, oily brush gives
a subtly painterly feel
thats a great choice for
creating backgrounds
and blending.

11

Final effects

Using two new Effects layers with

the same Linear Dodge layer properties as
earlier, I add the rest of the energy effects:
the Archons bolt of psionic lightning,
thetransparent tendrils extending from
his armour, and a second pass of blue
lighting across the Ultralisk. Again, its
important here to use dark colours in this
layer so that these effects dont wash out.

Square

Get energised

Pushing the
Archons energy

The angle jitter on this

brush can give more life
and texture to your
painting than a regular
round brush. I use this
brush for the majority of
the painting in this piece.

Once the Archons armour and basic cloudy glow are all painted in, I can start
working on the psionic energy that surrounds him. I use a new layer set to Linear Dodge,
with a dark blue Outer Glow also set to Linear Dodge, to start painting in the energy
lines on his armour. Depending on the colour underneath it, a Linear Dodge layer can
be very harsh, so I stick to dark blues at this stage to stop it blowing out to white.

When Ive got the surrounding glow

painted just how I want it, I start to work
on the energy that forms the Archon. This
creature embodies the pinnacle of the
Protosss psionic technology, so the
energy is a key feature. Using the same
layer, I paint in his hands and the power
arcing off and between his armour
plating. At this stage, I also use the
Gradient tool set to dark blue at a very
lowopacity to push the saturation
aroundthe character. This helps to
emphasise the brightness of the Archons
glowing energy, so he seems to really pop
out of the page.

texture and sharpen

12 Tweak,
As a finishing touch, I add a low opacity Overlay concrete
texture over the image to provide some grain, and use a Levels
Adjustment layer. I mask off both of these to be stronger over the
Ultralisk, where the contrast needs to be pushed further. The last step
isto flatten the image and apply a light Unsharp Mask filter, which
tightens the edges and some small details. This can be important if you
have usedsofter brushes in the painting process.

63

Creature concepts

Daryl Mandryk
Country: Canada
Daryl has
worked in the
entertainment
industry for
over 11 years,
first as a 3D modeller
and texture artist, then
as a concept artist. His
clients include EA.
www.mandrykart.com

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

64

paint dynamic
concept art
Daryl Mandryk shows you how to get imaginations fired up
as you take a game scene idea from sketch to completion

Presents Game Art

Paint dynamic concept art

orking in the games industry

developing concept art, part
of my job is to visualise
moments in a game. These
creations often help to inspire the team,
or generate discussion about the project.
Sometimes these ideas will be provided
by others, and sometimes youll be asked
to come up with things on your own.

In this workshop Ill develop a quick

doodle from scratch then develop it into
a finished product ready for presentation
toa client. Ill take you through the steps
I use to flesh out an idea and, as I go, Ill
share my thought processes regarding
idea development, composition and
colour. Youll also see how Icreate the
lighting for my scene, learn a simple way

to help give your image a photographic

feel and find out why more detail isnt
always better.
You dont need to be an expert in
Photoshop to follow this workshop in
fact, many of the concepts explored here
will transfer over to any program you
happen to work in. So open up your
favourite software and lets begin

Presents Game Art

65

Creature concepts
Maintain
momentum
Paint as much as you can
in one sitting. If you
constantly start and stop
a painting, itll take you
a long time to finish it
and youll end up losing
creative momentum.
Take the time to really
get absorbed by the
painting process. This
approach will also teach
you to work more quickly
and efficiently.

For this image, I imagine a moment in

myhead. When I dont have a specific
idea or brief that Im working towards,
Ilike tostart very loosely, almost painting
in an abstract manner. I try to get
something on the canvas quickly, just
using a few different texture brushes,
exploring and trying to see something
emerge from the fog. When I think I find
something in the shapes, I know I'm
ready to move on to the next stage. If
nothing appears then I'll just keep
exploring in this way until something
does. Its okay to take your time here;
eventually an idea will spark but
sometimes it just takes a while.

photoshop
custom brush:
Dust brush

This is a versatile brush

that can be used for
many different effects.
For this image, I used
it to create the dust
clouds,as well as some
atmospheric effects.

Make a quick start

with abstract forms

The finished sketch

Im happy with the composition

and dont have to make any drastic
changes, so I continue to flush out the
sketch and quickly paint in a face for the
monster. This might change later on, but
because its a focal point of the image its
important to get something in there
quickly to set the mood. Im keeping the
image greyscale for now taking colour
out of the process early on can simplify
things and help you concentrate on just
building a good composition.

Try to work the

whole painting

I tend to zoom out and work on the image

as a whole, picking out areas that need
attention and tightening them up a little
before bouncing around somewhere else.
This keeps me from getting too obsessed
with a certain area and lets me see the big
picture. I add another character, who is
being smashed by the giant fist. I really
want tosell the impact and capture the
action. Imake a mental note to add more
dust and debris at a later stage.

Composition and
idea development

I start to see an image in my head of what

this could be, so now I choose a standard
chalky brush and start refining a few
areas. I picture an angry monster laying
waste to an unfortunate adventuring
party. This could be a boss encounter that
the party isa bit too low level to take on.
This early on, the details arent important
Im just trying to make sure the big
shapes and composition feel correct, and
offer a sense ofmovement and action.
There will be plenty of time to detail and
render later on, but for now I just keep
things sketchy and messy. Im most
interested in creating a strong base to
work from.

Colour is added through a

combination of many layers
4

First colour washes

Digital tools make adding colour

easy. Here, I use a combination of several
Colour and Overlay layers to quickly add
life to the painting and establish a basic
palette. It isnt exactly what I want but its
a good base to work from. Colour can be
very tricky and I find it evolves as the
painting progresses I treat it the same
way as any other part of the painting.

Use dramatic lighting

I try to keep my lighting dramatic

and interesting. This usually means strong
lights that are at a pleasing angle to the
subjects, and cast good shadows. Idont
feel its necessary to light the entire scene
instead, Ill have certain areas fadeout
into darkness or fog. I try to use lighting
as a tool to guide the viewers eye and
highlight the focal points of the image.
Also, lighting is the best tool you have to
describe form, so if something is feeling a
bit flat, cast some light on it to help it pop
off the page.

Primary directional light

Thinking about overall composition here

66

Presents Game Art

Secondary point light

Paint dynamic concept art

Inverse
selection

Ctrl+Shift+I (PC
)
Cmd+Shift+I
(Mac)
Paint within an
d around
aselection qu
ickly.

special effects
10 Spell
I mock up some special effects for

Check the composition

I quickly flip the image (Image>Edit>Flip Horizontal) to see if it worksin

reverse. If the composition is strong, it should work just as well when mirrored or upside
down. Iusually flip the canvas a number of times as I work, to give myself a fresh
perspective on things and check for errors. I tend to wait until the very end of a painting
to make a final decision on whether to keep it as is, or mirror it. There are really no rules
here andI just pick what seems the most natural to me.

the heros magic blast. I draw a pattern

in 2D and use the Free Transform tool
(Ctrl+T) to position it where I need to.
I mess around with some layer effects and
overlay layers to give it a magical glow.

Push the light

I make a new Curves Adjustment

layer and brighten everything up a bit.
Then I fill the box beside the layer (the
Layer Mask) with black to hide the layers
contents. With a Soft Airbrush selected, I
can go back in and start to paint white in
the mask channel to reveal the brightened
layer. This is a good technique to brighten
certain areas of your painting in a nondestructive fashion. Its more of an imageediting technique than a painterly
approach, but I believe in using whatever
tool gets the result you want. Try it out.

11

Add debris

I try to imagine the forces of cause and effect in the image.

Iwant the viewer to feel the force of the impact, so I paint in some
blocky shapes and then add Motion Blur (Filter>Blur>Motion Blur)
to give the impression theyre being sprayed upwards. Little touches
such as this can really help to give your images a photographic feel.

Add atmosphere

I want to create a bit of distance

and scale, so I pick a big, blobby airbrush
and start lightly painting in some foggy
atmosphere here and there. I do this on
anew layer so I can easily dial it back if
Ioverdo it. This also functions as a form
of contrast control adding a layer of fog
brings the values of the paint below it
closer together, reducing contrast and
pushing it backwards in space. Using this
technique, I can pick out parts of the
image that I want to jump forward, such
as the monsters knee.

puddles
12 Perspective
I use the Lasso tool to make some
Actions are
your friend
Use custom actions to
automate time-intensive
tasks. For example, if you
have a set of brushes you
like to use for specific
tasks, make an action
that loads them with one
keystroke. Another good
example is making an
action to flip the canvas
horizontally, which I do
all the time. The seconds
you save add up when
you find yourself doing
the same thing a
thousand times.

quick selections to paint within. These

will be puddles of water on the ground.
They serve a dual purpose: they help to
give the ground more interest, and
smaller puddles in the background work
to push the space back, and help to sell
the illusion of a 3D space.

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67

Creature concepts
h
Scroll throug
layers

Mac)
Alt+[,] (PC &
yer tab on my
I keep my La
nitor, so
secondary mo
select
Ican quickly
.
various layers

photographs
13 Use
Here and there I like to composite
parts of photographs into the image.
These are either pictures Ive taken myself
or photos Ive found online. Theyre a
quick way to add detail in certain areas
that would otherwise take too long to
paint, and in production these little
timesaving tricks are very important.

overdo it
16 Dont
While detailing an image I constantly remind myself not to overdo it. This figure
is in motion and, although hes close to the camera, how much detail would your eye
really pick up? If I were to go crazy and detail out every last bit of armour, the result
would be stiff and unappealing. Sometimes you just need to get across the impression
of something and the viewers mind will do the rest.

in dust and light

14 Put
I add some more dust, filling the bottom left of the image,
andstart to play with the strong light coming from the side. I use an
Overlay layer to show some of the light-bleeding effect. I try to imagine
the light travelling through all the dust and debris thats being kicked
up, and the way it would scatter in the scene. Its a tricky balance the
light should be diffuse enough to suggest atmosphere, but bright
enough to suggest daylight.

home stretch
17 The
One way I know my painting is
nearly done is that the law of diminishing
returns starts to kick in. Brushstrokes are
having less and less impact, so eventually
it just feels like Im overworking things if
Icontinue. Now is a good time to put the
painting aside for a day or two, and look
at it later on with fresh eyes. Ill usually
see something I want to change.

the image
15 Refine
I start to feel like everything is in
place and working well together. Now
much of the painting process turns to
refining and improving my ideas. I start
to add some details to the elfs armour
and begin to think about how to refine
the design. Its time to tackle the
microissues in the painting but Im
constantly zooming out and checking to
make sure everything still holds together.

68

Presents Game Art

perspective
18 Fresh
A day later, I make some final
adjustments to the focal points of the
image the monsters face and the elf
wizard. I dont necessarily add more
detail; instead, I want to concentrate on
making sure their designs read well and
are strong contrasts to one another.
WhenIm satisfied with these last
changes, Icall the painting done.

essential art
resources

Videos, images, brushes

and more are available
with your digital
editions!

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Environment
painting
Master the rules of
composition for
better art

Knowing the landscape of

the real world helps to create
better environment art
Jung Park, page 76

70

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Jung Park

The awarding-winning
concept artist, who has
worked on God of War
III, Starhawk and Guild
Wars 2, shows how to
create a unique video
game environment to
establish a scene for
gameplay designers.
Create an exciting, believable
video game environment.
Turn to page 76

Workshops

How to paint original game worlds

72 Make a setting feel
believable with Robh Ruppel
How to guide a player in your world
with Uncharted 3s leading artist.
76 Establish the scene of a
game with Jung Park
The God of War III artist shows you
how to paint an emotive, real scene.
82 Introduce unique visuals
with Stephan Martiniere
Add story elements to your
environment painting.
84 Visualise a game world
with Joe Sanabria
See how one of the key locations
from Fallout: New Vegas was made.

Learn to create
playable game
worlds 84

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71

Environment painting

Turn a street into a compelling game

location by following the expert advice
of Robh Ruppel, as he shows how
to generate rich, detailed scenery

Robh Ruppel
Country: US
Robh designs
for films,
video games,
theme parks
and print
campaigns. His clients
include Naughty Dog.
www.robhruppel.com

get your
resources
See page 114 now!
72

ts a common misconception
that concept work is all about
blue-sky problem solving
meaning that anything goes.
This couldnt be further from reality,
because most design work has some kind
of restriction involved.
Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception is
arealistic game, in that most of the
locations are based on real places. These
are heavily researched before we begin to

Presents Game Art

work out the details. In this section,

which is based on Yemen, the player races
across the bridge but shouldnt be able to
leap down. The designer added long bars
as anindicator that gameplay needed to
be blocked here, but none of the details
were worked out thats our job as artists.
Thedesigners finetune the playing
experience and we figure out how to
make it look intriguing. This simple
model is called a blockmesh, and a lot

ofwhat we do involves making these

lookalive, purposeful and believable.
In this tutorial, Ill show you how to
setthe scene for a video game. I start by
creating a rough layout, then lay in some
textures and add background detail,
before refining the image with lights and
set dressing. Along the way, youll also
seehow I give life to a scene through the
extra little details, making the location
look more vibrant and inhabited.

Make a setting feel believable

Rough draft

Before I start the painting, the first

step towards creating my scene is to make
avery quick colour rough. This sets in my
mind the mood, colour, time of day and
tonality required for the final image, and
means I dont spend hours floundering
and searching for the right look. Now that
I have the rough in place, everything I do
after this has a clear goal.

Lay in textures

I start laying in textures but they

need modifying: details have to be added,
taken out and repainted. Working flat
helps to speed up that part, and then
theyre tipped in using a range of
transform tools mostly Free Transform,
Perspective and Warp. No photo texture
isever spot on, and once theyre tipped in
the depth will need to be readjusted.

More texturing

Here you can see my first pass on the texture on the underside of
the buildings on the left; I also add more to the right side of the image.
Theres no easy way to do this other than painstakingly adding and
adjusting until you achieve the look youre after. Have patience,
though, because your hard work will pay off eventually.

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73

Environment painting

Add the fence

This is my solution for the wrought

iron fence: its ornate but pointy to
discourage the player from scaling it.
Istart with a flat design that, once the
section is set, I duplicate and add to until
Ihave a full-length structure. Then I use
Free Transform to fit the perspective of
the scene. You can also see the beginning
of the stairs on the right. The tonality is
critical: if they feel real in this version,
the details will just enhance them later.

Work with
your grids
Always check your
perspective against the
grids you make. Solidity
and believability come
from consistency and
thats based on the forms
working with your
established vanishing
points. Remember that
this affects everything
from the thickness of
awall to its texture.

The occlusion pass

Next I work on some more details,

adding pipes, beams and supports to the
buildings. Most of these are stroked paths
to which I add a little light and shadow.
Then its time for an occlusion pass.
Occlusion is the subtle darkening that
happens when surfaces meet and the
lightrays bounce less and less between
them. I do some simple airbrushing on
aseparate layer, set to Multiply.

Let there be light

Now I can turn on the sets of

hanging lights that I added in the
previous step. A radial gradient set to
Color Dodge gives them a nice glow and
adds to the atmosphere of the scene. Light
travels so, once theyre lit, I need to add
the effect on the pavement below. This is
done on an airbrushed layer set to Screen.

Create the car

I want an older European model

ofcar, so I use Googles library and make
a simple render inside SketchUp for
perspective. All the reflections and details
will be painted in later. Adding the stairs
needs precision and care, so drawing and
perspective are the next things I need to
concentrate on. I work out all the stairs
thicknesses in perspective by using paths
to accurately lay them out.

I add more details on the stairs,

and at this point the file is over 1GB in
size. Ifeel good about my progress so
Iflatten and rename it, then continue to
add more levels. One disadvantage to
painting everything flat is that when you
tip it in perspective, the depth is thrown
off. I go back in and add thickness to the
cobblestones and pavement trim: these
extra steps sell the reality of the image.

dressing
10 Set
So far its just a lot of flat planes
and textures it needs life! My typical
procedure is to work in flat shapes first,
and then add modelling,
texture and so on. I block
in bins, boxes and other
elements you might find
in a real location.

11

74

More details

Keeping the solidity of the simple

geometric shapes in mind, I add lighting
and detail to the objects on the pavement.
This is all very loosely
done and indicative, but
the illusion makes it seem
like theres more going
onthan there really is.

e
Distort mod

C)
Ctrl+T, Ctrl (P
(Mac)
Cmd+T, Cmd
Transform
Bring up the
, then hold
tool, transform
d to flip
down Ctrl/Cm
de.
to Distort mo

Flatten the image

Hanging lights

Once thats done I can begin

adding the hanging lights, which will
bestrung in a few rows between the
buildings on the left and right of the
image. Ill be using lots of them, so this is
not the time to make things complicated
for myself: the wire is a stroked path and
Ikeep things simple by making one bulb
and duplicating it. I take some time
placing them correctly in the scene. Im
still thinking about other aspects of the
composition as a whole at this stage, and
Iadd the shadow in the foreground
wherethe car will go later on.

Presents Game Art

Make a setting feel believable

lighting effects
14 Add
Here are the streetlights blended

and tear
12 Wear
I continue to add set dressing,
which helps to make the environment
look inhabited and therefore more
realistic. You can see bits of paper and
other rubbish on the pavement, and I
alsowork on some subtle wear and tear
on the road. This is all hand painted.

streetlights
13 The
Now I add the streetlights, using
the same workflow as before. I design the
light flat, work out the basic colour value
and then tip it in perspective and add
modelling, lighting and so on. Theres
more set dressing too some electrical
conduits along the shops on the left. I use
the same procedure here as for the pipes.

into the scene with some lighting effects

and subtle modelling added. I take
particular care to get the perspective right,
and to consider the viewers eye as I do so.
I use a little Transform Warp to get the
ellipse of the lamp to seem as though its
above our eye level.

painting
17 Hand
Its time to add the group of people standing in the street and
the effect of the lights on the ground. Lots of hand painting marries
the characters into the scene. Its worth remembering that no reference
is ever perfect a good artist sweats these details.

it character
18 Give
Next, I add another character in
the foreground. I keep all the people
looking into the picture theyre there for
scale and ambience, and this stops the
viewer focusing on their personalities.
Thisis primarily an environment study.
Also, theres a subtle three-point
perspective going on here that I have to
conform to. The broad strokes sell it and
the details support it. You need both!

on the car
15 Work
Its time to make that car sit in
the scene. First, I add the reflections
having drawn a lot of cars at art college,
this is pretty easy to fake. I also darken
it down the sides and add the reflection
of the light sources. Then I make a
subtle perspective shift based on my
grids to finally tweak the object into the
perspective of the scene.

detailing
16 Distant
I correct the perspective on the red
awning and begin to add distant details
such as adverts, posters, trucks, cars and
pedestrians, all of which flesh out the
scene. None of these can be faked or done
haphazardly because that will blow the
illusion. This is where a lot of artists dont
follow through and the work ends up
looking illconceived or unfinished. I add
far away lights, making sure they recede
inthe distance and maintain the same
height asthe foreground ones.

Find a layer

V, Ctrl-click (P
C)
V, Cmd-click
(Mac)
In Move mode
(V),
Ctrl/Cmd-cli
ck on
something to
instantly
find its layer.

final image
19 The
When Ive made the finishing
touches to the environment and the
foreground character, my image is
complete. Heres the final piece with all
my grids turned on, so you can see
howthey relate to the composition.
Solidity and believability are grounded
inconsistency, so makesure your
perspective is correct.

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75

Environment painting

Establish the
scene of a game
Jung Parks expert advice will ensure your concept
art really sells the setting of your proposed game

Jung Park
Country: US
South Koreanborn Jung has
spent the past
eight years
working as a
senior concept artist
on a range of titles,
including Guild Wars and
God of War III.
www.jpconceptart.com

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

76

art of my day job at Sony

involves coming up with
environment art for video
games. Presenting my ideas
to either external clients or Sonys art
directors isnt always easy, but coming up
with cool design and fresh, unique
images in the first place is easily the most
challenging part of the whole process.
Nothing is more daunting than starting
with a blank canvas.
I believe that any successful concept
starts with visualising an abstract shape.
I usually start by throwing down large
brush strokes here and there to create
volumes and shape the environment,
without straying too far from the clients
brief. Painting abstract shapes can help

Presents Game Art

you produce different kinds of concept

art. Thinking too much about your image
can slow your progress, and makes the
painting look stiff and boring. I guess its
the same for character art, in which youre
using silhouettes to come up with
interesting shapes. Simply pushing and
pulling your values enables you to create
the illusion of depth.
My inspiration comes from looking at
photographs and watching movies, and
studying organic matter. Knowing the
landscape of the real world helps to create
better environment art, and in this
workshop the process will be aided by the
use of different Photoshop brushes and
lighting to define the space and mood of
the composition.

Establish a games scene

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77

Environment painting

Paint abstract shapes

I explore the canvas by painting abstract shapes with big texture

brushes while keeping to my basic idea for the image. Texture brushes
help to break up the large, flat areas on a blank canvas, and I use
between five and six different brushes to add visual noise. This step
helps me to get a feel for the painting. Its important to keep the
thumbnail size small at this stage: I rarely zoom into the image,
instead preferring to see the overall shape and concentrate on creating
a decent amount of contrast.

Photoshop

Custom brushes:
Sketching brush

Great for a painterly feel.

Note: the default Round
Brush looks too digital!
Texture Brush

I use this brush at the

start of a painting to
create textures and
introduce levels of noise.
Smoke brush

This brush enables me to

paint softer edges or
smoothen areas that
look too hard.

78

Introduce colours

I start adding some colours to my black and white sketches. I decide that a colour
palette that implies metal and a rusted bronze material is suitable for my steampunk
factory environment. I also introduce a human figure just to show the scale of the
building. As you can see, I have layered images of background, mid- and foreground
elements; I keep these aspects separate when painting because its easier to see the
images depth of field.

Draw a rough sketch

After playing around with the

abstract shapes, I start to roughly develop
my scene. My favourite fantasy setting is
steampunk, and Im keen to paint
something from the genre so I decide to
depict the exterior of a lava processing
factory. Im pretty satisfied with my
sketches that I have because I already have
large, medium, and small shapes. You
will probably want to have these different
sizes of shapes when you start painting
images, to make your environment more
interesting. Im pleased at how the shapes
are laid out. Sometimes these shapes also
define the scale of the look, but at this
stage Im not locked into this design.
Instead of getting stuck with what I have
right now, I keep on exploring the
painting until I get a result that I want to
develop further.

Presents Game Art

Color Balanc

e
Ctrl+B (PC) Cm
d+B (Mac)
Use this to ac
cess the Color
Balance menu
, which will
help you to ch
ange
colours on yo
ur
image quickly.

Adding to the mood

The colour thats present is essentially monochrome, so I want to introduce

some warm colours originating from underneath the factory. Its an industrial building
that handles red-hot materials so I primarily use yellows, oranges and metallic shades.
This injects mood into the piece and gives it a dramatic voice. Here, Ive overlaid a grid
onto my image to ensure the perspective is correct. A lack of realism can seriously
undermine your artwork. If I didnt check the perspective now, Id only waste time
trying to correct it later.

Establish a games scene

Vary your
shapes
Its crucial to include
large, medium, small
and more detailed
shapes in any painting
of an environment. Every
design that you see in
the real world be it a
computer, phone, printer
or even a house has
those shapes in the
design. If you start
introducing too many
similar sizes of shapes
into your image, itll end
up looking boring and
even cartoony.

Painting pipe details

Many modern industrial buildings feature pipes and ducts, so I start to add some
pipes to the factory exterior to make the painting more realistic. Previously, I noticed
that the building was mostly made up of large shapes there arent enough smaller
elements, and the introduction of the pipes is the solution. I flip the image frequently to
check for mistakes and to ensure that it is well balanced.

Stepping into the focal point

The Warp tool

I realise that theres no focal point to the image. The focal point
is an area that needs to contain more contrast and is the point that I
want the viewer to see first. It needs to be eye-catching and interesting.
So I add a bright light to the lava thats dripping down from the domeshaped machine. In this way I can tell a story: this is the area where the
lava is processed. Getting a feel of when to use different brushes is
always important, so you can get the most out of them. Here, I use the
Soft Cloud Brush to create smoke from the lava.

Masking the shape

Masking the shapes while you paint is important, because itll save you time and
help to create both clean and soft edges. Its also a good habit to get into. You might
think that this step takes too long and is rather boring, but in fact it will save you time
in the later stages of the painting.

Having my perspective grid turned on helps me to find mistakes,

if any. The ellipse on the harvest machine seems a little off I want to
give it more contrast. So I use the Warp tool to correct this (Edit>
Transform>Warp). This is one of Photoshops most useful tools.

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79

Environment painting

Check your
values

Check the Navigator palette

Once Im satisfied with the progress Im making, I start zooming in to add details
to different areas that I want to work on. At this stage its important to have your
Navigator palette open. Otherwise you can end up overworking certain parts and
upsetting the balance of the painting. Always keep the big picture in mind, even when
youre working on the smaller elements. I also try to follow the values of the area where
Im painting, otherwise itll mess up the entire value structure.

real-world details
10 Add
I realise that the image has too many hard-edged shapes, so I add some
decorations such as wires, screw bolts and fences to the surfaces. These decorations will
give life to my painting. As I work, Im still trying to maintain my focal point while
letting other areas fade away throughout the environment.

80

Presents Game Art

Create a New
Adjustment layer of Hue/
Saturation and place it
on the layer to check
your values regularly
values are the key to
creating believable
environments. As long as
your values work in your
image, youll produce
awesome visuals no
matter how badly you
colour them! I always
remind my students to
check their values.

11

Lighten layers

I want to have a little bit more lava

dripping down in the background, so I
duplicate the image and transform it into
a smaller version. Then I choose the
Lighten layer mode to create noise in the
background. This will save me a lot of
time rather than recreating each lava flow.
This technique comes in useful when you
want to pop out some light areas.

dynamism
12 More
When I started painting this image it was a two-point
perspective view. I now realise that its not dynamic enough, so I
transform the whole image into three-point perspective view
using the Distort tool (Edit>Transform>Distort). This introduces
a more active camera view the viewer is now in the scene,
looking up at the factory.

Establish a games scene

Curves dialog

Ctrl+M (PC)
Cmd+M (Mac
)
Quickly acce
ss the Curves
screen when
altering your
images brigh
tness
and contrast.

light rays
13 Painting
I still feel that the environment is too dark, so I decide to introduce a secondary
light source. I create five soft brush dots, then transform them and make them look like
vertical light beams. It enables me to paint light coming down from the sky. Again, I set
the layer mode to Lighten and erase out the part where the light doesnt hit. It gives the
painting a more natural feel. In this way, I can have nice highlights on top of the
harvesting machine, which redefines the space and shape.

Almost there...
15 To
make the building look more imposing and reduce the sense
of emptiness, I add bridges high up above the factory floor. Even
though Ive added them at this late stage I still try to make them look
very subtle by using values that are appropriate for the area, so they
dont change the whole composition of the painting. Right before I
finish the painting, I notice that my image seems a little sharp and has
too much noise. So I apply filters and use Smart Blur tools to soften
some of the edges; I also erase some areas that need a more clean and
sharpened edge.

14

Use the Marquee tool

Ive already mentioned the importance of having hard and soft edges in painting.
Because the harvesting machine is one of my main focal points, I want it to have more
crisp and sharp edges on top of the dome area. So I select the Elliptical Marquee tool
and place it exactly on the area I want to change. Then I can paint it cleanly and
introduce some highlights.

16 Finished!
After eight hours work Im quite happy with how the image has
turned out. Once I tackle one side of the factory I can develop more
designs of the industrial space through the use of different viewpoints.
For instance, painting the scene from the top of the factory would take
in the surrounding land, resulting in a totally different painting yet one
that stays true to the original concept of a lava processing plant.

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81

Environment painting
Composition considerations
This is my first step towards establishing the composition
of a ship graveyard. I often think of an environment as a
two-dimensional abstract painting: this helps tackle
mass, colour and balance of shapes rather than details.
Negative spaces are as vital as positive spaces. Im careful
to overlap shapes without cluttering the scene.

contrast,
es
sh
li
b
a
t
es
t
h
g
li
l
Natura
ows in
d
a
sh
e
c
a
pl
o
t
e
m
enabling s and draw the viewers
certain areahere it s needed.
attention w

Introduce
unique visuals

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

Stephan Martiniere hints at events to come with

this exclusive look at his concept art for RAGE
Stephan
Martiniere
Country: US
Stephan is art
director on id
Softwares
latest game,
RAGE.
www.martiniere.com

82

n the second half of our game

RAGE I wanted to introduce
something visually different.
As the tension in the story
builds up I was keen for the environment
to reflect that tension and give the player
a sense of danger. The clear blue sky from
earlier in the game gradually changes and
is overshadowed by ominous dark clouds,
while the sand colour shifts from beige to
red. I also wanted to open up the

Presents Game Art

landscape and introduce new

architectural elements not seen in the
other part of the world, as well as
reinforce the games post-apocalyptic feel.
I started from the idea of dried-up
seabeds and imagined devastated
coastlines and ruined shipyards. A
graveyard of boats seemed like a great
idea: carcasses of cargo ships buried in the
sand would replace canyon walls and give
the player a new visual experience.

This particular painting was the first

one to introduce and explore the visual
language such as mood, light, texture and
detail that would define the second part
of the game. This image was also a
narrative exploration; I tend to consider
the visuals and the gameplay intricately
connected. As such, the visual vocabulary
is used for aesthetic purposes, but is also
used to instil a broader and more
immersive feeling.

Unique visuals

Natural light
Natural light

How I create

a metal
canyon

Warning signs

Vehicular activity

Down to size

Graffiti and tags are a big part of

the RAGE landscape: they are the
territorial markings of the many bandit
clans infesting the land. From a
gameplay standpoint they can give the
player some clues and warnings, but
they also serve to bring colour accents
to the monochromatic palette.

Visual flow
In RAGE you walk, run, fight and shoot, but
you also drive, and so its important to
establish a composition that enables the
player to quickly understand and navigate
their surroundings. I also choose to use a
variety of boat pieces to create visual
diversity in scales and shapes. This helps
make the area more natural and interesting.

Research and
references
The first step is to undertake some research.
I spend several days looking for references
of ships and deserts, and anything that
relates to the ideas I have in mind for the
scene. I never take
anything for granted.
There are some
incredible references
on the web or in
books and Im
always looking
for something that
will surprise and
inspire me as well
as the player!

Other details such as tyre marks

are a good visual clue to tell the player
where to go, as well as introducing
human presence. Detail such as oil stains
or rubbish give the scene scale and also
add realism and narrative.

I always include a character or a

recognisable element to set the scale.
Sometimes several elements might be
necessary when the scene is complex.

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83

Environment painting

visualise a
game world

Speedpaints are vital for giving direction to the team

thats working on a game, as Joe Sanabria explains
orking on a real-life video
game like Fallout: New Vegas
can throw up odd demands.
My role as art director is to
offer direction to the team and define the
final look for everyone to work towards.
During production of a game its not
unusual to rely on visual reference from
various sources, such as Flickr, books and
DVDs, to communicate an idea.
However, there are times when a more
direct image is required to deliver the

Through the
players eyes

My first step is to work on a rough sketch.

To approximate an in-game view I create a
new image at one-quarter-size of 1080
pixels. My goal is to visualise the gate from
the players perspective and, in the time
allocated to me, I need to focus on the
critical parts rather than trivial details.

right message, and a speed concept

usually does wonders for getting a team
heading in the right direction.
In this workshop Ill detail the steps I
used to create this concept of the main
entrance of The Strip in Fallout: New
Vegas. Ill also demonstrate how its
important to create the scene a player will
see as they play the game. This is useful
for the whole team to see, and to get a feel
for what the final in-game experience
should feel like.

Composing the scene

I use the traditional rule of thirds

and place the focal point in the upper
right quadrant. At this early stage I think
of ways to frame the sign in an interesting
and appealing way. Working quickly and
loosely to flesh out the idea, I try to avoid
sweating the little details otherwise they
will eat into my work time.

Joe Sanabria
Country: US
Joe Sanabria
is a 15-year
veteran of
the games
industry. He
dropped out of college
as a physics major and
moved to southern
California to focus on a
career in art. Currently
Joe is an art director at
Obsidian Entertainment,
busy working on Fallout:
New Vegas.
http://ifxm.ag/j-sanabria

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

Working on
perspective

Once Im happy with the initial layout

and components of the sketch, I create a
new layer. Then I select the Gradient tool
and draw a gradient using one of the
default presets to define the horizon. I
also put down a wash of colour to start
establishing a palette that will suit the
scene in the game. At this point I lay in a
perspective grid on a separate layer, and
set it to Multiply Blend mode with a low
opacity setting. Now the real fun begins
as I build up the painting, using the grid
as a guide to keep things structural and
grounded in space.

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Visualise a game world

Adding textures

Over the years Ive found that tool

presets come in handy for adding texture
and details to my concept art, as a
realistic alternative to introducing
photographs overlaid in layers. There
are plenty of Tool Presets that
come with demos or they
can be found online, but
Quick
its just as easy to create
Transform
Ctrl+T (PC) Cm
them yourself with just a
d+T (Mac)
Hold Ctrl/Cm
little work. For this
d after the
transformati
on dialog
example I start with a
appears and
pull on
digital photo source, in
the corners.
this case some paint drips
on an area of concrete.

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85

Environment painting
5

Defining a source image

I invert the image and then, in the Channels palette, select the
channel with the highest contrast. I then Select All, create a new layer,
paste in the channel selection, set the Blend mode to Overlay on the
new layer and then merge the two layers. Now I remove the colour and
convert it to greyscale: go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation
(Ctrl+U) and reduce the saturation all the way down. To give it some
pop I sharpen the details using an Unsharp Mask file with the
following settings: Amount 127, Radius 1.0, Threshold 2.

Use presets
Tool presets are one of
Photoshops many hidden
gems. By using presets,
the Brush tool is capable
of doing more complex
operations: scaling, dual
brush, scattering and so
on. Like faux-finish
brushes theyre great for
creating texture or
details, and when used
correctly enable you to
quickly paint the details,
rather then scrubbing in a
bunch of brush strokes.

Tidying the texture

To remove the rest of the noise in the background I create a

quick selection with Select>Color Range, then select the Eyedropper
tool and click the paint drips. I set the Fuzziness to a level that gives me
enough of the details without the unwanted concrete texture.

Hide Selectio

n
Ctrl+H (PC) Cm
d+H (Mac)
This enables
you to remov
e
the marchin
g ants that
your selectio
n creates,
while still holdi
ng on
to your selec
tion.

Creating a brush

Practise brush management

I invert the selection and fill it with

white, and then clean up any stray pixels
with a plain brush. I adjust the contrast by
going to Image>Adjustments>Levels and
tweak it until there are some rich blacks
present. This image is quite large, so Ill
change the canvas to 1000x1000 pixels
and then Select All>Edit>Define Brush
Preset and name the brush. The new
brush should now appear in the Brushes
palette, ready for use.

Adjust the settings

I now create a new document at

1920x1080 pixels to test the brush and
play with various settings until Im
satisfied with the effect. What Im looking
for is area settings that create interesting
patterns and textures, and let me work
quickly and loosely. I finally arrive at the
results shown here. In addition, in the
Scattering menu Scatter is 30 per cent with
a Count of two, and Other Dynamics has
Opacity and Flow set to Pen Pressure.

I save the brush as a Tool Preset, then in the palette menu select New Tool Preset
and name it. As you create other tool presets or acquire them its a good idea to organise
them and remove any obsolete tools periodically. This keeps your workspace clean,
enabling you to focus on the creative process.

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Visualise a game world

the lighting
12 Setting
As Im building up the detail in the
image, I usually find it helpful to establish
a lighting direction at this point and start
working in with values, to begin creating
depth in the scene and help separate
elements spatially.

layers
13 Managing
After a few sips of coffee and some
time, the layers start to build up.
Although keeping everything on a
separate layer offers me a great deal of
flexibility, it can become difficult to
manage. So I use a little-known
Photoshop shortcut: press V to switch to
the Move tool and then Crtl+click on an
area you want to edit Photoshop will
autoswitch to the layer that pixel is on.
This saves me the hassle of naming layers
and organising them into group layers,
which lets me stay in the zone and keep
things flowing.

the canvas
14 Flip
As I work on fleshing out the
Focal points
Whenever possible, try
to use other elements in
the scene to draw the
viewer into the painting
and help create a strong
overall composition.

large shapes
10 Painting
Using a few various brush tool presets, I create a new layer and start to build up

details I periodically flip the canvas

vertically and horizontally to help spot
any problems or errors, so that I can
address them sooner rather than later.
Flipping the image is also a good way to
look at your work: it gives you a fresh
perspective and forces you to view it in a
different way to your initial sketch.

the paint while at the same time changing the brush size using the square brackets [
and ] to vary the texture. I then select the entire layer, pick the Transform tool (Ctrl+T)
and then right-click in the Transform bounding box. I select Distort from the dropdown menu, use the grid to get the right perspective, and then try different blend
modes and opacity settings until I find something Im happy with. This process is
repeated over and over until all the large shapes are blocked in.

final stretch
15 The
As I work my way down to the smallest elements, I regularly

11

Tackling the details

Now that all the major shapes are correct value, edge, colour and so forth I
start to break down the large shapes into smaller ones, starting with the largest details
and working my way down to smaller ones. I adjust the opacity of the perspective grid
to make it more pronounced now that the contrast is building up, just so I can see it
more easily. Im also continuously zooming in and out, making sure that the major
elements are not lost in the noise and that the image still reads easily.

zoom in and out and then decide to call it a day when I reach the point
of diminishing returns. Now Im ready to add some of the finishing
touches. I sharpen the layers and soften others in the background and
foreground to create depth and a focus and, after some overall contrast
and colour adjustments, the image is finished. At this point I feel the
concept communicates what were expecting the game asset to look
like and how itll relate to its surrounding in the game. I can now walk
away from the concept satisfied that it has achieved its main goal. Its
now ready for an environment artist to take it from 2D to 3D and
eventually into the game.

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87

Production
design
Learn how concept
components work to
create a unified project

88

Presents Game Art

Matt Allsopp

All hell has broken loose,

and its time for the villagers
sole hope, Nate McCready, to
step in and save the day
Matt Allsopp, page 102

Freelance concept artist

Matt has worked on
Fable 3 and Killzone 2,
among other titles. Here
he adds his ideas to the
pot to show how to
create a pitch document
for a new video game.
Add all your designs together to
showcase your video game.
Turn to page 102

Workshops

Put together a video game project

90 Lead character design
with Christian Bravery
Use photo reference to create a
hero pose and character design.
94 Environment design
with Pete Amachree
Create an exotic island setting for
the games action scenes.
98 Create the enemy
with Matt Allsopp
How to design a creature to fit
an existing game world.
102 Develop the story
with Matt Allsopp
Create a key frame illustration to
set the video games mood.

Design a unique
environment 94

Presents Game Art

89

Production design

Part one of four

lead character

Christian Bravery takes you through his thought process and concept
designs for a prospective video game, starting with the hero

Christian
Bravery
Country: England
Christian runs
Leading Light,
an art and
design agency
that provides
character and
environment concepts
for the video game and
entertainment industries.
http://ifxm.ag/ll-design

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

90

heres so much talk and

hyperbole about the term
concept art that the phrase
has almost become
meaningless. In this four-part special Ill
try to unravel the mysteries of concept art
for budding artists.
Actually, make that four and a bit parts.
Back in ImagineFX issue 40 I designed a
futuristic vehicle called the wasp-copter
(its in my workshop folder on the disc).
In this instalment Ill be designing the
wasp-copter pilot, whos also the hero
character in our production as such, hes
an important one to get right.
Ill be following a fictitious brief that
suits the purpose of this workshop series,
which also mirrors the kind of
commercial brief that the Leading Light
team regularly works to. This means that
I can give you an insight into the various
stages of production design for video
games, rather than simply churn out a
piece of nice-looking art that lacks context
the big picture, if you like.
Once the team gets the brief, the first
task is to design and visualise all the key
story elements. Ill be expanding on these
over the four instalments of this tutorial,
and so you can look forward to seeing the
main pilot character; a village and its
tropical island archipelago location; and

Presents Game Art

use when approaching a character design.

So, lets get started!

Bring on the brief

the enemy weird, giant insects that
attack the village. The final task is to
create a key moment production
illustration that draws all these elements
together, depicting the battle between our
hero and the invaders.
There are many great workshops
published each month in ImagineFX, and
most of them cover the specifics of
painting and finishing techniques. Rather
than go over old ground, I want to offer
an insight into my thought processes and
some of the preparatory techniques that I

This production design brief was created

for a near-future sci-fi action adventure
video game. Part of the story takes the
player to a sleepy, backwater island
archipelago in the tropics. The scene starts
in a small fishing village where our hero is
enjoying a relaxing break. Suddenly the
village is beset by strange happenings that
culminate in an invasion of weird giant
insects that are hell-bent on devouring
the villagers. Our hero is pressed into
service to save the day. Pictured opposite
is the initial brief from the client

Lead character

is it enough?

If were going to capture the essence of

the hero, were going to need more details
This is a typical character brief, but where possible
I ask the client to tell me more about the character,
their background and personality, their motivation and
their role in the story. Sometimes this information
comes easily, but occasionally my requests make the
clients realise that these are questions they also need
to find the answers to.
Theres a huge difference between a character
design and a costume design. For example, everyone
knows that Conan wears a loincloth and carries a
sword, but if you put that outfit on Woody Allen, hes
not going to convince you hes an invincible barbarian.
So, character design is about describing the person,
their demeanour, lifestyle and the role they play in the
game, book or film; its not just about what theyre
wearing. So after the client has expanded on its initial
brief, we can add the following information:
Nate is a military pilot who has come to the
archipelago on R&R.
Hes seen and done a lot in combat that hed
like to forget and hes here to do just that.
The last thing he wants is more action and
excitement, but as events unfold he realises
that its up to him to save the day.
Nates persona sits on the cusp between
youthful cockiness and the dawning cynicism
of early middle age. Hes the reluctant hero,
perhaps even an anti-hero.
Its important for the character design to
exemplify not only his costume design and
general look, but also his inner character.

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91

Production design

Creating the character

I set about collecting images of existing flying

suits, from World War One examples through to space
suits. Always avoid referencing existing entertainment
industry designs or imagery, otherwise youll quickly
end up with a copy of a copy of a copy, which is plain

wrong. Once I have my references, I create a set of

colour thumbnails with the aim of finalising the
costume design and colour scheme as early as possible.
Here Ive taken inspiration from various eras and used
my reference materials as well as my imagination to
help me come up with a good selection of options.

The benefits of real-world poses

Capture some action photos

After selecting a shortlist, I enlist my right-hand man

Matt Allsopp for modelling duties. For tasks that require realistic
proportions I use photos to capture character poses. This isnt
always applicable, but in this instance I find that photographing
someone captures the subtleties of character. The danger of
drawing from memory results in the repetition of preferred
poses and a less realistic, more stylised finished piece.

I use a Canon 50D and shoot in sport mode. I like to keep

the model moving, directing him as we work while keeping the
camera rolling. The shots I get have the movement and life that
most posed shots lack its really useful for capturing action
shots if the model can move freely. I can achieve the kind of
shots that are impossible for a model to hold for a picture, such
as jumping through the air, running and so on.

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Presents Game Art

Finalise in pencil

I import the best photos into

Photoshop. Sometimes I work directly
onto these, but in this case I want to
do a further stage of drawing before I
commit to a pose and costume design.
So I start drawing in pencil, using my
studio photos as reference for the
poses and my research images as

detail references for the flight suit. I do

three drawings, taking different
elements from the references, mixing
them with my ideas but staying
focused on invoking the demeanour
of the character and incorporating
them into each design. I select one
design and scan it in. This is the one
that Ill work up as a final image.

Lead character
5

Commit to a
colour scheme

I now have all the elements

together I need to finish the
painting. Next comes the
underpainting. This is based
on my earlier colour
thumbnails and provides the
groundwork and colour plan
for the detailed painting to
come. For this stage I open the
drawing in Photoshop, add a
new clean layer, and lay in
some quick greyscale shading
as a Multiply layer. Then I add

a second layer, set it to Colour

Burn and quickly add some
colour. At this point I just cant
resist putting down some
alternative colour schemes
before committing to one.
With this method of working,
the shaded greyscale layer
works hand in hand with the
Colour Burn layer and offers a
speedy way to lay in what
amounts to my underpainting
for the piece, but its also
another great way of quickly
trying out colour options.

Make your character memorable

A great art director once said to me that a good character

design is one that an eight-year-old can draw after seeing it only
once. Its not always applicable, but its a great adage to bear in
mind. Itll help you differentiate your designs from the plethora
of others out there. Here I wanted to use the archetypal white
scarf worn by World War One pilots as a motif for two reasons.
First it harks back to those bygone days of early flight, which
evokes feelings of heroic bravery. Second, by simply changing the
signature colour of the scarf from the typical white to red marks
him out as a unique character but hes still clearly a pilot.

Render the finish

With the detailed design

and the colour plan in place its a
question of working into each
element to render the type of
required finish. When painting
each material that makes up the
character, I spend time thinking
about the texture, environment
and local colour, as well as the
lighting and shaded areas.

Snapshot of a
hero character

Id like to wrap up this instalment

by commenting on the pose and
attitude of Nate McCready, the
games hero. Ive tried hard to
evoke the persona of a troubled
spirit. Hopefully any observer can
quickly tell that hes a brave man
with a dark past. Here Ive pictured
him gazing off into the near
distance hes clearly thoughtful
and somewhat melancholy, but his
stance is strong: hes a man for the
moment, someone to rise to a
challenge. Hes more than simply
a costume design, hes a fully
formed character!

Turn over for the next instalment

The project focuses on the games environment: an
exotic island archipelago.

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93

Production design

Part two of four

The Environment

After establishing the games lead character, Christian Bravery passes the
art baton over to Pete Amachree, who tackles the exotic island setting
reviously Christian Bravery
established the character
design for Nate McCready,
the games hero, who gets
caught up in an alien attack while
recuperating from his latest military
exploits. All this happens on a tropical
island on a distant planet, and this is
where I come in. My brief is to create the
rag-tag fishing village thats set on this
lush, off-world archipelago, which is
where Nate first runs into the hostile
aliens. On the opposite page is the client
brief for the games setting.

Pete
Amachree
Country: England
Petes an
industry
veteran whos
worked for
Electronic
Arts, Lionhead Studios
and Blade Interactive.
Hes been a concept artist
for the past five years.
http://ifxm.ag/pete-a

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

94

Presents Game Art

My first thought was for the islands

themselves. Although sci-fi gives us
licence to depart from the real world, I
thought Id rein this in and base them on
rock formations that were used to seeing.
I think fantasy works best when one foot
is firmly planted in the familiar, while the
other rests on something unexpected.
So, where do the inhabitants of this
fishing community live? Their traditional,
basic lifestyle rules out anything grand or
or even firmly established. Indeed, their
environment must reflect their own
precarious existence. Aesthetically, I

found rich pickings in the design ethos of

a shanty town or favela, like those found
in Brazil. These ramshackle places grow
without the guidance of a town planner.
With quality building materials at a
premium, ingenuity must take their place.
Furthermore, from an elevated point of
view theres also a strong horizontal bias
in many of the source images of shanty
towns that I collected for this project:
flat, corrugated iron roofs that stretch off
into the distance. This should work well
with the compositional arrangement that
Im developing.

The environment
source
material
Pete has this vital piece of
advice when generating
concept art for a client

Here Im very crudely

establishing the point of
view of the scene

In this tutorial I try to show the value of

research and looking for inspiration in
unexpected places. If time permits,
give your client as much source
material as possible. Loose sketches
will show the direction that you mean
to take the project, while mood boards
of inspirational images from the
internet or your own photo collection
will add clarity to the story you wish to
tell. This groundwork is always time
well spent, and will help the project
develop smoothly.

Project:

Leviathan
Brief

The action takes place in and

around a village situated on a
tropical island archipelago. The
setting is far in Earths
future, or perhaps on an alien
planet, so you can go pretty
wild. Try to come up with
something new a fresh take on
the typical tropical paradise
image, but with recognisable
roots in that archetype. Just
remember that this is a real
physical and natural place, and
above all else it needs to feel
viable and believable.

This is evidence of the villagers

scavenger nature, where items
recovered from the sea are
used to help construct
their homes

Ive tried to suggest ways in which the villagers adapt their homes to their
surroundings in this case, these natural rock formations
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95

Production design
1

Get the basics

right

At this stage Im not committing

myself to any detail. Im simply
blocking out the composition of
the larger elements and establishing
the light source. A thumbnail like
this will usually be enough to set
the scene, and give the client a
chance to project their own ideas
onto the canvas. Compositionally,
the edge of the foreground island
and its shadow provide a pleasing
frame for its neighbour, which will
be the main focus of the painting.
Theres a horizontal bias developing
here: the painting will be divided
into distinct horizontal bands of
tone, to improve the flow and
break up the broad expanses of
water and sky.

Add colour

A college tutor once told

me that theres nothing more
daunting than a blank canvas;
it was possibly the best piece of
advice Ive ever been given. So,
with that in mind, Ive slammed
down some really basic colour.
But even with strengthening the
tonal arrangement a bit more
and loosely blocking in some of
the manmade structures, the
palette is still far too limited.
The setting is tropical, with
azure skies and turquoise seas,
but theres still considerable
chromatic scope within these

seemingly narrow guidelines.

See Caspar David Friedrichs
The Sea of Ice for a great
example of this. For now, the
ochre of the rock formations
contrasts well enough with the
deep blues, but at some point I
will need to introduce much
more variety. However, most of
the middle of the island will be
covered with manmade
structures, so time spent
painting subtle, nuanced
rock texture would be time
wasted. Now is not the time
for fancy brushes or layer
blending modes.

Build some scaffolding

I block in some more broad structural elements and

composite a water image from CGTextures.com. This is a quick way
to get some realistic texture into the water. The art director likes the
idea of the settlement being supported by rickety scaffolding. How
can I create an intricate network of spars and poles quickly with
naturalistic lighting, and integrate it convincingly with the rest of
the structure? The answer lies in Photoshops channels feature.
On the Layer Options tab I click New Group and name it
Midground Struts. Within this group I create a new layer, fill it

96

Presents Game Art

with 100 per cent opacity white and hide

it. I also drag this group to the top of the
stack. Now using the Line tool I alter the
width, change the colour to black and
begin dragging out lines where I want
them with one eye on perspective and
another on creating a ramshackle pattern.
After Im done drawing I reveal the white
background layer (this must be at the
bottom of the group) and click the

Channel tab. Because this is a greyscale

image I can drag-select the red, green or
blue channel down to the Create New
Channel button at the bottom of the
Channel tab. I name this new channel
Midground Struts Mask and, with it
selected, go to Image>Adjustments>
Invert. Now I hide the Midground Struts
Mask layer group and create a new layer
called Midground Struts. Next I load
the Midground Struts Mask channel
and click the Add Layer Mask button.
Before I start painting, I make sure I have
the layer and not its corresponding
mask selected.
With my layer mask in place Im free
to have as much or as little colour and
tonal variation along the length of a
scaffolding pole as I wish. Some parts
may be in bright light, with others in deep
shadow. To avoid any unwanted overlap,
I create a separate Foreground Struts Mask
layer group and go through the same
procedure again.

The environment

Vary the colours

The limited palette is starting to jar. So I introduce some more subtle variations,
conscious of not letting any one colour dominate the mood and of my wish to keep the
loose horizontal banding of colours a chromatic theme of the painting. Occasional
flashes of vibrant colour on the tarpaulins and rooftops of the buildings also add to the
palette. The introduction of the boardwalk at the bottom of the image also helps to
break up that expanse of water, and guides the eye into the central focus of the painting.

Break up the
foreground

Im not yet convinced with the direction

the buildings are going in, so while Im
mulling that over, I concentrate on the
foreground sea element. Its not bad, but I
think it would benefit from being broken
up some more. I introduce some giant
water lilies that break up the expanse of
blue, introduce some new colour and also
strengthen the sense of depth. The
speedboat moored at the jetty also helps
give a sense of scale.

Add points of interest

Finishing touches

At long last, the clouds get some much-needed attention,

and Im tightening up other areas that have been neglected: the
foreground landing platform and a perky little island-hopping
copter perched on one of the landing platforms of the main island.
Were almost there.

The copter needs a bit more sparkle, so I add some highlights

to the tailfin and engine housing. I also increase the brightness of
the areas in direct sunlight by going to Select>Color Range and
clicking Highlights. This creates a selection marquee around the
areas of the image that Photoshop deems are highlights. With the
selection still active, I go to the Create new fill or adjustment layer
button and select Levels. This increases or reduces the luminosity of
the selected part of the image. Id like to restrict the boosted light
levels to the island, boardwalk and jetty, so with the Brush tool I
paint out the areas of the Adjustment layers mask that I wish to
remain unchanged. I also add another quarter or so to the right of
the image. It opens the image out more, and provides a greater idea
of scale and distance. And thats me done.

Introduce a sense of character

Ive hinted in my initial sketches that much of the building materials were
salvaged from derelict vehicles, advertising hoardings, cargo containers and whatever
else was available. This gives me a chance to tip my hat to some of my heroes, the titans
of sci-fi and fantasy art from my childhood namely Ralph McQuarrie, Chris Foss,
Ron Cobb and Angus McKay. Their weird and wonderful environment and ship designs
often have strange logos present, heightening their sense of otherworldliness.

turn over for the

next workshop

Our artist tackles the

projects creature design

Presents Game Art

97

Production design

Part three of four

The enemy

Its Leading Lights Matt Allsopps turn to work on the game, as he fills
the alien archipelago from part two with a hostile insect creature design
o now we have designs for the
games hero, Nate McCready,
and his vehicle, along with
the island environment in
which the game takes place. My task is to
explore and develop designs for the
enemy creatures that Nate and the
villagers face. At the beginning of the
project it was decided that these creatures
would spawn from giant eggs that have
appeared overnight in the ocean. Once

Matt Allsopp
Country: England
Starting off at
Alpha Star
Films,
Lionhead
Studios and
now at Leading Light
Design as a concept
artist, Matts ambition is
to work in the movie
industry with his favourite
directors, including
James Cameron and
Christopher Nolan.
http://ifxm.ag/m-allsopp

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

Matt says, The design should

lend itself to being more like a
stick insect or maybe a
praying mantis, both of which
are really cool looking!

98

Presents Game Art

hatched, just like frog spawn, the

creatures will begin their lives as tiny
tadpoles before developing legs and
leaving the water to wreak havoc on the
surrounding populated islands.
Looking at Christian Braverys concept
for the copter design, I can see that it
resembles the anatomy of a wasp or a
dragonfly. Its small and compact with
short legs, so my instinct is to design an
enemy that is bigger, elongated and has

long, spindly legs. Peter Amachree has

already laid down the aesthetics of its
environment, and I can quickly see how
this long-legged creature idea will fit in.
I will still explore the idea of a smaller
and more compact bug thats reminiscent
of the copter vehicle, but the stick insect
approach definitely appeals at the
moment. Essentially its going to be a
mechanical fly versus a naturalistic and
beastly fly, which should be fun.

The enemy
Project:

Leviathan

Brief The enemy

One morning the villagers awake

to discover that the sea is
covered with what looks like
giant frog spawn. Soon the eggs
hatch to reveal huge, hideous
and aggressive insectoid
creatures. The task is to
concept and refine these
creatures. A blend of sea
crustacean with insect would
be a good launch point. Key
defining words are insect,
crustacean, ugly, horrific,
alien, winged and multilegged/multi-eyed.

Visualising ideas

Here are my very rough initial bug

sketches. These are just two-minute
doodles on paper that I make after first
reading the brief. Im not too worried
about the quality of the illustration; its
more about just getting the ideas down.
This part is really fun and enables me to
freely experiment with various concepts,
shapes and techniques.

Readable silhouettes

Cross-bred species

This is more of a classic fly

approach, but with a twist. Hes more like
an arachnid fly, with loads of small,
pincer legs at the front. He can swoop
down, pick up prey and inject them with
poison, or maybe implant them with a
flesh-dissolving virus.

A chunkier bug

Another spider-based approach,

this time with an unusual head design.
This sketch enables me to see what a
shorter, stockier-looking bug can offer.
I want it to contrast with the insect
copter, and so I prefer my visualisation
of more delicate and lengthened
design features.

I move over to a digital canvas and

start throwing down some values. Im
trying to find some nice shapes and
readable bug silhouettes. This sketch
sticks as closely as possible to my initial
idea, and takes references from the stick
insect and praying mantis.

Plotting its evolution

I like my first sketch, so Im going to make a quick evolution board to try

to get my head around the creatures growth process from sea to land. Watching
real-life documentaries on the transformation of insects is fascinating, if a
little grotesque. This provides great inspiration for
the progression of something vulnerable into
a more mature and deadly beast.

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99

Production design
6

Iron out the

design kinks

So lets take my first sketch: I think I

pretty much hit the nail on the head
with this design. There are a few things
that I dont like about it, but I can iron
them out along the way. For starters it
needs to look a little less like an Alien
Queen from the films. I really like the
look of the arachnid fly its fresh
looking and pretty gross. But I think
the longed-legged stick insect will fit
the environment a lot better, and so I
decide to develop this creature further.

Get flipping
Flip your canvas
horizontally to check
your perspective and
composition. Itll quickly
show whether your
perspective is leaning to
one side. Its also good
to flip your painting to
make things a little less
awkward for the wrist.

Form and function

I feel that the body proportions and anatomy of the creature

are dynamic and engaging. The large muscular strength of the
forearms have a kind of gorilla-like aesthetic about them, while
adding a rather unpredictable array of legs provides an interesting
contrast. Converting the initial sketch to greyscale helps define the
design intentions and strengthen the silhouette, dimensions and
features already present. I make the hind legs taller and exaggerate
them to imbrue the creature with power and aggression. These legs
are important for making the subject appear more agile and speedy.
To generate a convincing beast, its vital to understand the
functionality and purpose of each part.

Injection of colour

Adding the colour to a greyscale

piece is when your concept can really start
coming into its own. Even just by adding
a quick colour pass, you can start to build
a narrative and focused intention for your
creature. For example, I originally
envisioned the creature to be relatively
dark in tone, fierce and shadow-like.
However, to build a narrative suggestion
I started to consider the insect among its
intended island location. It seemed far
more feasible that the creature was
camouflaged and deadly here I start to
make colour changes that suggest its well
equipped to remain visually undetectable.
Adding earth tones and colour choices
that are similar to its habitation helped
define the colour key for my next process.
If youre unsure of finding correct tones,
you can reference from a photograph and
use the Eyedropper tool in Photoshop to
extract the exact colours you need.

Make the concept

readable

Now that Ive got a clearer image in my

mind about the creature, its time to draw
a concise and readable concept. First I
create a nice linework over the top of what
the rough sketch. To do this I fade out the
rough and on a separate layer generate
clean, confident and definite line
markings. Then I use my reference
material of insects to define its skeletal
and muscular structure. I want to make
the creature look threatening, so by
introducing certain features Im able to
capture the creatures character a little
more. Things like the strange and delicate
pincer-like feet that project from those
massive untouchable forearms, and spikes
and spear-like points that emerge from
otherwise vulnerable points around the
body all these are great snippets of
design ideas that lend themselves
perfectly to the games storyline.

10

Light and shade

I make the background dark to

offset the bug and make it stand out. Then
I duplicate the layer and use a Glow brush
to define light sources. On this light layer
I use an eraser to reveal darker tones and
create a shadow effect where necessary.
These highlights and shadows ensure that
the creature looks three-dimensional,
rather than remaining a flat design.

100

Presents Game Art

The enemy

Textures
in Painter

11

Real-world textures

Here Ive painted in some skin

textures with a Chalk brush after looking
at natural skin patterns and insect
markings. You could go a step further and
create a distressed and organic-looking
finish by setting up your own custom
texture in Photoshop. I usually scan my
own handmade textures it can be fun
having an element thats physically in
your hands one minute, and then being
worked on digitally the next. When
combined with my painted skin markings
the effect is pretty successful, and prevents
the bug from looking too flat.

A great way to add

texture without
overlaying a photo is to
use one of Painters
preset textures, but I
often find it best to make
my own. To do this, load
in a photo and mask out
the section you want to
act as the texture. Then
select Capture Paper in
the drop-down menu on
the Paper tab. This will
add your new texture to
your Paper library. Now
using a brush that
interacts with the Paper,
you can add some
suggested detail and
subtle texture.

wings
some
13 Adding
14 Apply
Wings suggest a huge advantage for
finishing touches
the bug over mankind. It also brings up
the possibility of a swarm of the things,
or an aerial battle. I referenced some
insect wing shapes and found plenty of
variations that suited the design. Once
Im happy with my chosen painted shape,
I lower the transparency to make it look
slightly translucent. Then I add some
highlights to the wings, noting the light
direction and light source for the piece.

Finally its time to introduce some

details. I put in darker skin markings,
and on an Overlay layer paint in some
very subtle blue and darker tones on the
head to draw attention to the focus
point. Ive also put in some nice touches
of hair that can be created using a fine
Hair brush. These final touches give life
to the creature and make it look tangible
and convincing.

the design
12 Refine
Using the Chalk brush again, I layer in some highlights and
darker shadows between the shell-like tail articulation joints. If youre
struggling for where exactly these should be, try looking at a similar
creature that possesses these aesthetic traits, such as an armadillo,
which has a comparable configurative function within its natural
design. Ive also used dramatic highlights and shadow to further
ground the main element, and to project a feeling of weight.

turn over for the next stage

In the final instalment of this workshop series,

the artist of Leading Light Designs works on the
money shot: the production illustration.

Presents Game Art

101

Production design

Part four of four

Story developer
Matt Allsopp highlights the importance of cinematography as he creates
a key frame illustration for the game using the existing designs

Matt Allsopp
Country: England
Starting off at
Alpha Star
Films,
Lionhead
Studios and
now Leading Light
Design as a concept
artist, Matts ambition is
to work in the movie
industry with his favourite
directors, including
James Cameron and
Christopher Nolan.
http://ifxm.ag/m-allsopp

get your
resources
See page 114 now!

102

ts time to take all the concepts

for this project and merge
them into one epic key frame
illustration. Christian Bravery
has established the design of both our
hero and his vehicle, Pete Amachree has
created the tropical environment and Ive
realised the aesthetic of the enemy
creatures. So for this piece Ill be thinking
about atmosphere and mood. Its
important to show off as much of these
designs as possible while creating a
cinematic shot, but I dont want to overdo
it the client can always refer back to the
original design sheets for more details.
As far as the story is concerned, the
creatures have hatched and are causing
havoc on the surrounding islands. All
hell has broken loose, and its time for
the villagers sole hope, Nate McCready,
to step in and save the day. With the
narrative in mind we need to create a
battle scene between man and insect.
The temptation to adhere to bright,
tropical environment colours diminishes
as I see the piece as dramatic and
powerfully dark. I decide to go for
a strong enemy creature silhouette by
creating the shot at dusk. I want to make
the bug look invincible and deathly
frightening, overshadowing and
overpowering our hero. I should be able
to use the bugs arachnid legs and sharp
pincers to help do this.

Presents Game Art

First I draw some thumbnails. Ive got

all the previous design references up on
screen, so I just need to composite all the
elements together in these thumbnails.
I dont want to cram too much visual
information into this single shot, so Im
going to concentrate on the hero and the
creature; the interaction between them is
the main focus of the piece. Im going to
hint at the islands in the background to
avoid confusing the readability of the
image. So, now that Ive got an image in
mind, lets crack on with some sketches.

Project:

Leviathan

BRIEF 4 - The Battle

This production illustration will

bring the design elements together
and show our hero in his copter,
engaged in a battle with the
creatures. The aim is to punch up
the flavour and impact of your
concept. A set of good quality
production images will tell the
projects story, attract investors,
inspire the imagination of your
team and tantalise your public.

aerial battle scenario. The

My first mock-up goes with the obvious, but very cool,
y clear indication of things
sketch only takes five minutes and gives me a prett
Ive got something else in
to come if I were to proceed. I think its working, but
mind before I make a decision

Story developer
1

Down to earth

An aggressive stance

Picking the time of day

I draw some more quick

thumbnails that picture Nate crashlanding his craft. Giving the creature a
more domineering pose expresses a
strong narrative. Im going with the topleft thumbnail, but will alter the camera
position to put the viewer at the heart of
the action. Thumbnails are invaluable;
they enable you to experiment with
various concepts and techniques freely.

I scan in my chosen sketch to

develop it further. Ill have to reposition
the legs of the bug to allow for a more
aggressive stance while keeping it realistic.
The legs mustnt affect the silhouette of
the copter either, as conflicting shapes
could be a problem. Finally, adding some
wings fills the space, giving the creature a
much bigger and more powerful presence.

Im not sure what time of day to set

the scene: midday or dusk? Taking a saved
template of the scene, I quickly paint
some colour tests. The bottom-left image
is certainly the strongest: it allows the
foreground to be silhouetted nicely, but
will also shows up some of the details on
the bug and hero. The misty atmosphere
will also help to create a frightening
presence. I might lose some island
background detail, but I think I can live
with that this shot is more about
cinematography than design.

Clean up the sketch,

ready for painting

I keep my chosen greyscale sketch and

colour palette open as I prepare to start
my final version of the painting. Theyll
provide essential guidance and ensure
that I dont stray from my intended vision
for the piece. The bug is looking powerful
and dynamic, even though the
arrangement of legs differs slightly from
the original design. It now towers over
Nate, putting our hero in a vulnerable
situation. Now, before I start the painting
I first need a linework drawing. This gives

me a chance to iron out those sloppy

marks that I made during the creation
process. I drop a white tracing layer onto
the original greyscale sketch and redraw
the bug. Keeping my creature concepts to
hand, I can get the shapes of the huge
forelegs correct, as well as those long
extruding pincers and the rest! Ive also
got the reference material for the hero and
his copter. Finally I tilt the horizon and
add some skid marks from the crashed
vehicle to bring energy and momentum
to the piece, as well as providing the basis
of the narrative.

Tie things up
Adding a photo filter at
the end of the process
can often help tie all your
colours together. If you
want something to look
a little more realistic, you
could add a cool blue
filter. Make sure youre
not too heavy with this
though, or else itll look
a little contrived.

Presents Game Art

103

Production design

Establishing the narrative

Adding value and tone alongside colour starts to bring the

shot together. Nate is the first element to be read, which is great for
the illustrations narrative because hes now the primary focus of
the piece, the viewer can participate in the story. He has crashlanded underneath this giant bug hes fighting, which for all we
know was the cause of his downfall. Well probably need to put
some sort of aerial battle in the background to help strengthen this
storyline. I mask off the image into three layers: the creature, the
foreground ship and the background. Using the chosen colour
palette I start to paint in the backdrop, using an Airbrush for the
graduation and the Glow tool for the sun. Im keeping it a little
more muted compared with the colour test for now.

6
Strong
outlines
Its always a good idea to
have strong silhouettes
in your concept or
design. A concept for a
film or game will only be
seen for a second or two,
so its important that the
image reads well first
time. The key is to nail
this during the sketch
stage and try not to stray
too much from it during
the colour phase.

104

Creature feature

Identifying a problem

Painting the insects wings

The creature is the most prominent

character, so Ill tackle him first. I paint in
the details and lighting with the Chalk
brush. I wasnt completely happy with its
skin detailing in the original concept, so
Im going to improve the finish and
texturing. I also add a beach in the
foreground to help define the crash site.

Referring back to my original

configuration of values, I can see that
something is affecting the composition;
its not hard to see where the problem lies,
though. The ground is lit intensely and
the colour saturation is far too high. A
quick Multiply layer using the blue/grey
sky tone should do the trick.

Adding the
background

Im already starting to stray from the

colour test. Ive made the image a little
warmer by extending the glow of the sun.
I like it for now, so Ill see how it goes. I
also add some distant islands; keeping
these subtle with just a two-tone value
will allow them to sit nicely in the
background and not interfere with the
foreground battle. To add to the mood
and make the sky look a little less
airbrushed, I add some smoke and haze:
this is also a great way of knocking back
detail when two objects are conflicting in
the same space. I find that Painters Chalk
brush is usually best for this job. Im
happy with the simplicity of the different
elements so far, but Ill have to start
adding detail soon.

Presents Game Art

Until now the wings have been lighter in value to their backdrop, but I think
theyll read more coherently if I make them darker. I lower the transparency to make
them look translucent and add some texture. I also crop an insect wing from a photo
and lay it over each wing. I set the layers attribute to Difference to kill the white of the
photo. Once Im happy, I reduce the opacity to make this texture subtle, then set about
painting my own highlights, details and textures using the Chalk brush.

Story developer

detail to the
10 Adding
downed copter
The one area that still needs addressing is
the crashed copter. I want to maintain its
form as a silhouette at first read, but Im
going to have to add some detail to sell it
on closer inspection. Using the Chalk
brush I mark in some lighter grey tones
where the light would be catching the
surfaces. The rear lights could also do
with a little extra glow to help pick out
the vehicle. Its nice to have a little
artificial light, rather than all natural, but
its best not to overdo it. Finally, Ive been
a little cheeky and changed Nates scarf
and coat trim to blue. It should be red, but
it was starting to clash!

11

Finishing touches

Its almost there, but detailing and

colour tweaking can make all the
difference. Again with the Chalk brush,
Im putting in some sand marks, shine
and dinks on the craft, and extra
markings and highlight details on the
bugs legs and face. You dont have to
spend long doing these extra touches, but
they really give the piece life and make it
look more convincing. Finally, I make a
colour tweak. I much prefer the bluer,
morning feeling that was present in the
original colour test sheet; Ive changed my
mind about the red. So using Photoshops
photo filter and colour adjustments tools,
I pull it back to my original direction.

Presents Game Art

105

Artist Q&A

Got a question for our experts? let us

ease your art-ACHE at help@imaginefx.com

Remko Troost

Born in Amsterdam, Remko is

a senior concept artist and
illustrator with several years
experience, he currently works
for Ubisoft.

www.remkotroost.com

Philip Straub

Philip is a highly experienced

art director with more than 17
years in the industry. He
currently works for Warner
Brothers game division.

www.philipstraub.com

Jonathan Standing

Jonathan is an English artist

and illustrator. Hes currently
based near Toronto, Canada
and works for a developer in
the video games industry.

www.jonathanstanding.com

Gary Tonge

Gary is concept art director

who has worked for everyone
from Ocean to Capcom. He is
the author of Bold Visions: A
Digital Painting Bible.

www.visionafar.com

Daryl Mandryk

Daryl is an experienced
concept artist in both video
games and film and has
worked for EA, Lucasfilm and
Propganda Games.

www.mandrykart.com

Daniel Dociu

Transylvanian-born Daniel is a
video game art director and
concept artist. He lives in the
US, and is currently working on
Guild Wars 2.

www.arena.net

Aly Fell

Aly Fell is a UK-based concept

artist for Eurocom Software.
He has created some stunning
pin-up images, including a
cover for ImagineFX.

www.darkrising.co.uk

Andy Park

Andy is a concept artist who

works for Sony. He has worked
on games including Dungeons
& Dragons: Dragonshard, and
God of War 2 for PlayStation 2.

www.andyparkart.com

106

Presents Game Art

The industrial design the crafts

function must work with the images
overall mood, and the two can be
worked on hand in hand.

Question
Whats the typical process when designing
a vehicle for a sci-fi game?
Answer

Phil replies
Id say there probably isnt a typical
approach for designing a vehicle for a
science fiction game, since Ive seen it
tackled in a number of different ways.
Usually I like to handle this type of assignment with a
two-pronged attack, focusing on both the overall mood
and attitude of the vehicle along with the industrial
design, form and function. In many cases creating the
isometrics (typically the front, side and back views) can
be handled simultaneously with the mood piece.
To keep things simple for this question, Ill focus on
the mood piece. Since I want to generate the concept
quickly to recreate the workflow most concept artists

experience on the job, Ill be applying my speed

painting technique. The goal will be to create a
consistent design that melds with the environment as
quickly as possible.
I also start to think about the design by thinking of
the ship in the round, as the saying goes. This is
industrial design terminology for thinking about the
object in three-dimensional terms but its still valid in
fantasy artwork. I like to try to imagine walking around
the object Im going to depict, as if Im physically there,
surveying the overall design from all angles. The more
you practise this technique, the more depth your
paintings will have.

Core skills advice

Step-by-step: From
simple shapes to fully
furnished spaceship

Question
Do you have any tips on creating mood
paintings?

I usually start with very simple shapes,

trying to find the overall look and
design of the vehicle without going into
any amount of detail. Using large brushes
and keeping the image at thumbnail size,
I rough in the basic image background and
colour palette.

Keeping your canvas at a low resolution helps

you to avoid losing time on details, leaving you
to concentrate on the mood. Here, Ive used a
custom cubic brush with Texture and Pen
Pressure on.

As I begin to finesse the overall shape,

I decide to go with an organic design
that has a silhouette resembling a bird or
other winged creature. With the overall
design working pretty well, its time to
begin detailing the ship further.

Answer

Remko replies

Lets create some additional visual

interest. I do so in this image by
introducing some abstracted pieces of
machinery, air vents, and designs on the
ship body. To enhance motion and scale, I
also refine the exhaust.

Mood paintings are fun to create and

are an excellent way to generate ideas
about atmosphere. They can also be
a very useful way of finding colour
schemes that could contribute to giving a place a
recognisable identity.
With mood paintings, you can create emotions
within a scene too. You might, for example, be
working with dark, desaturated colours and very
little light, perhaps on a forbidding canyon scene.
Or you might be working the other way around
with bright, joyful colours and in full summer
light, for instance.
I start by gathering as much documentation
and reference as I can, either by getting out with
my camera or by surfing the internet for inspiring
photos. With these images, I then create a library

or a mood-board focused on the atmosphere

Im searching for. Then, often while listening to
some epic movie music and squinting my eyes,
I start observing these pictures while keeping
them quite small. This helps me to feel what
I actually see.
Thats exactly the way I work on mood
paintings too with music on, a low-resolution
canvas and some reference beside me. I try not to
worry about forms or details. I paint what I feel as
quickly as I can, and not what I see.
I try to stay away from the Colour Picker as
well. This helps me to choose the colours on my
own and thus better understand them. I generate
several moods (spending around 10-45 minutes
on each) to see if the atmosphere Im searching for
works or not, and then proceed from there.

Presents Game Art

107

Artist Q&A
Question
How do I design quick decals
to add to military armour?

Question
How do I create modular characters
that share assets but look different?
Answer

Jonathan replies
The most important element to
consider here is a characters
silhouette; its what the players
eye will read first. There are
many examples of games that have tried
too hard to rely on other visual elements,
such as texture and colour, and have ended
up with repetitive characters as a result.
After making your initial thumbnails, its
generally a good idea to find out what

parameters the games engine has for

supporting modular characters. Its also
helpful to have some idea of how the
characters will be put together.
Assuming that the game engine is quite
basic, I divide up my character into parts
that can be joined together. To make the
task easier Itry to address the characters
extremities rather than his torso, which
affects his silhouette less.

Using gradients on the flat colours of the decal

gives it some volume. Without this, it would
look flat and fake.

Answer

Jonathan replies
First, put together some reference materials to fuel
your ideas. What kind of military unit are you
portraying? Is it one with a rich history of pageantry,
or one thats primitive or tribal in nature? There are
millions of images in books and on the internet that are good
examples to inspire you.
For my design, I begin by making vector design elements in
Illustrator. The wings, bulldog, handprint, banner and skull
are among many separate graphic elements that I create. Then,
referencing what Ive seen in a book, I combine the different
pieces to make the Flying Bulldogs insignia. I import the vector
art into Photoshop and then skew and warp it to conform
roughly to the curvature of the armour plate. To make it look
less clean, I place an Overlay texture of lumpy, stippled paint
over the design and then begin to try to mirror the distress on
the armour on the design as well. Successfully integrating a
vector graphic into a painted image can be tricky and its often
best to run a filter on it or dirty it up a bit.
Finally, I add a highlight thats cast over the metal and the
paint, which helps to blend the images together.

I use a drawing of two different bodies as the base

for these game character thumbnails. This way their
proportions are identical, which means that they
can share the same rig and animation sets.

Question
I can never seem to get my ideas right on
paper. Where should I start with concept
design?
Answer

Remko replies

Its important to make the insignia appropriate to your

fiction. This design started out in the same way as the
other one, but ended up completely different.

108

Presents Game Art

A concept often begins long

before you put pencil to paper.
Its important to have a story
behind it, so brainstorm and try
to find out about the role it will play. Whats
it for? Where will it be used? Understanding
your subject will help you when drawing
your first lines.
I usually make a few rough sketches
before I start looking for reference, to avoid
being influenced. If I need real-world
examples to make my design more
believable, I can search for documentation
to fit with my direction.

Here, Ive started a concept for a futuristic

two-seater jet fighter. To achieve the
technologically advanced-looking shapes,
I use the straight line Lasso tool to create
several small black silhouettes. Once Ive
found acceptable forms, I like to focus on
one or two. I redo a select few thumbnails
and add some detail to them.
Sometimes, I play around with my
thumbnails by flipping them, mirroring
them and placing them on top of each
other with different layer modes. Doing
this can help you generate even more ideas
and possibilities.

Core skills advice

Question
I hear the term concept artist all the time,
but what exactly does a concept artist do?
Artists secret

Answer

Gary replies
A concept artist comes up
with ideas and solutions to
a design brief or problem.
There are several different
roles within a concept art team, and
concept artists come from various
backgrounds. In my job as a concept art
director, I work with the concept team
as a whole, helping them to generate a
variety of imagery and ideas that can be
anything from illustrations that show
how areas fit together, to colour keys
and much faster pencil sketches that are
invaluable to the modelling teams for
creating cohesive shapes and details in
game worlds. When creating art myself,
I tend to focus on either colour keys or
principal images.
These images are imperative to game
art production, as they are intended to
draw together the basic ideas and shapes
for an area into a cohesive illustration
that encapsulates the essence of how that
part of the game world will look.
Because they are so important, these
images can take a lot longer to produce
than regular concept images in fact, I
find that anywhere from 10 to 20 hours
of painting time can be spent on creating
these pieces.
I try to encompass the textural feel
within these images, along with a strong

Get emotional

evoke the sort

When creating concept art, try to lates the
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ative imagery
intended gaming experience. Evoc an area is
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inspires developers and players
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Gary Tonge, concept art director

suggestion of how lighting, shadow work

and special effects (such as subsurface
scattering or volumetric effects, for
example) should be balanced.
A couple of my principal images,
combined with a cluster of other
illustrations and sketches, can be put
together into a solid pack of art info that
can then be taken into production, to
show the teams the way forward in the
next stages of game development.

Concept art shows the

production artists
which direction to take.

Step-by-step: How to make concepts easier to design

I use the Lasso tool to create my

forms quickly. Its also a handy way to
create masks inside your forms to pull out
some perspective, if needed. This is an
easy way to create simple shapes that can
be built up into interesting forms.

Dont forget to identify your

thumbnails with a letter or number.
Its easy to get carried away and forget
that a client or art director may need to
pick some of these out. Ive also used
figures to show the scale.

Now I play around with my shapes to

increase the chance of finding new
ideas. Here I duplicate my layer, double the
background, rotate it 180 degrees and put
it in Multiply mode. Chasing happy
accidents is all part of the fun.

Presents Game Art

109

Artist Q&A
Question
Ive heard that production artists need to be very fast how can I improve
my painting speed?
Answer

Daryl replies
Its true that artists in a
production environment have
to pump out high-quality
artwork within very tight
schedules something a lot of new artists
have trouble adapting to. While I dont
advise anyone to rush their artwork, there
are certain things that you can do to make
your life easier and increase your speed in
the process.
Before you even boot up your software,
make sure you have a clear understanding
of what you want to accomplish. Draw
some quick thumbnails on scrap paper,
write out a few rough ideas, give yourself a
bit of a roadmap to follow. Unless you have
weeks on end to iterate on an image, having
at least some sort of plan is vital to the
whole process.
The next practice I would recommend
would be to configure your workspace to
meet your personal needs. Spend some
time setting up hotkeys and actions for all
your frequently used operations. I have
hotkeys and actions set up for creating
layers, flipping the canvas, running filters

basically any of the functions that I know

Ill be using frequently. This all sounds
pretty obvious but it can save you huge
amounts of time.
When painting, try to concentrate on the
big shapes and the design as a whole; dont
worry about the details yet. Its more

important to nail your composition and

overall values initially.
Finally, practice! The more familiar you
become with your tools, the faster you will
be able to work with them. Try to arrange a
schedule for yourself that includes a little
art workout every day.

Dont get bogged down

by small details when
painting. Focusing on
the big shapes and
overall design will
enable you to work
much faster.

Step-by-step: Four simple ways to become a faster painter

Alt/Option+F9 brings up
your Actions window.
Actions can be used to simplify
repetitive tasks, and are great
for anything that has multiple
steps involved. They work by
recording the steps, and then
playing them back with one
keystroke. You can even save
out your actions and import
them to another computer, in
the same way you would with
custom brushes.

Improving your knowledge

of your tools will definitely
help you paint faster, but not
necessarily better. Do studies
from life, anatomy books,
movies basically anything to
help you build up the visual
library in your head. Here is a
fast sketch I did of an action
shot from the Russell Crowe
movie Gladiator. Speed
sketching like this teaches you
to keep things loose and fluid.

Set up your workspace.

Alt/Option+Shift+Ctrl/
Cmd+K in Photoshop brings up
your keyboard customisation
options. Memorise the really
important ones, and try
customising them in ways that
make sense to your workflow.
The less time you need to
spend hunting through menus,
the more time you will have to
concentrate on the act of
painting itself.

Try to think about your

painting in broad terms:
sometimes it helps to zoom out
and look at your painting as a
simple thumbnail image. Train
yourself not to get caught up
in unnecessary detailing that
doesnt add anything to the
overall picture its a waste of
time. If you zoom closer into
one of my images, you can see
that most of my detail is
sketchy and suggested.

110

Presents Game Art

Core skills advice

Question
What are the expectations from the
production team with regards to the
translation of your concept designs
into 3D game art?
Answer

Lighting plays a significant

role in the look of a game.
The atmosphere of many titles
depends on the successful
coding of a lighting model.

Daniel replies
More often than not, my
concept work leaves a lot of
scope for the 3D artists to
contribute. I encourage them to
interpret the theme Ive established, to add
layers of depth that I hadnt envisioned.
Of course their contribution needs to be
based on a thorough understanding of the
functional and stylistic requirements of the
design. Its a risky path to take as you can
get very different results from different
modellers. This is where an experienced
artist with good knowledge of the game
and sharp intuition can take a half-baked
design to the next level, while someone
lacking those skills cant see its potential
and may totally ruin it.

Question
When creating environmental
space concepts, how
important are technical
specifications?

This concept piece was the basis for an in-game

design, although the details were loosely adapted.

Its this ability to analyse, understand

and build upon an idea that separates the
true 3D artists from mere modellers.

Question
Because video games are a digital medium,
is it necessary that concept art for them
should also be digital?
Answer

Answer

Gary replies

Aly replies
Although video games are
digital, concept art is just what it
says it is, concept art and, as a
drawing, it doesnt exist in the
game. As a result, concept art can generally
be produced in any medium the artist
prefers, although the client or team may
have specific preferences, so being able to
work to requirements is essential.
These days, however, its better if the
artwork can initially be presented digitally,
so the designs can be easily swapped
between the different departments. A hard
copy can always be printed out later if
needed. A lot of artists start their image
traditionally, sketching in pencil, and then
scan the image into the computer and work
it up digitally.
In the end what the digital medium has
created is greater flexibility in the options
for artists. Personally I vary my work
process, sometimes sketching on a lightbox
and scanning the image, but often I create
a quick sketch that can be easily emailed
once completed. I work with Photoshop
and a graphics tablet, or with SketchBook,
which has a Send Mail option built in.

Petra Hepburn, produced in Photoshop for a

Concept Art challenge, has a traditional look.

My experience with video games has taught me

many things, the earliest of which was to
understand technology, at least on a technical
artistic level. Some of the most important factors
when working on conceptual illustrations for game
environments are understanding the target platform (console/
PC), the likely interaction the player will have in the game
world, gameplay real estate (area sizes) and how the code is to
be written (or, in many cases, is already written) to visually
represent the game world.
This final part can include a plethora of rules that control the
options you have for environmental representation. Lighting
systems are a big factor in this a great many games have their
look dictated by how well coded the lighting model is.
When painting conceptual images early in a pre-production
cycle, its important to work with tech to develop the code so
that certain looks can be achieved. A few years back the options
for distinctive game worlds were restricted greatly by platformspecific deficiencies, but the recent jump in specifications for
next-generation consoles greatly increases the scope for
interesting ways to use shapes, materials and lighting.
In many cases, its important to be able to supply these
artistic ideas and requirements early on to the code
department. In turn they can write systems to accommodate
the new visual skews. Communication is all-important when
it comes to working up new ideas, so that code and art fully
understand each other in order to develop great ideas into
working game worlds.

Presents Game Art

111

Artist Q&A
Question
What are the goals you set when starting
on a new piece of concept art?
Bonedog is intended
as a productionready creature
design. Depending
on the skill level of
the modeller,
orthographic views
may not always be
necessary.
The idea is to first concentrate just on issues such as design, form, silhouette
and values. After those problems have been solved, you can focus on
introducing colour.

Question
Are there any methods to help
me reduce my fear of colour
when approaching a concept
or painting?
Answer

Answer

Daniel replies

Andy replies
Well, I believe I can offer you one approach that can help.
My first recommendation is that you sketch out the
design in black and white initially, especially when doing
concept artwork.
Its a very good idea to approach a design in this manner because
its unrealistic to try to solve all those challenging issues of designing
all at the same time. Breaking things down into steps will only make
the process more manageable.
Of course, there may be times when it makes sense to incorporate
colour into the initial design phase, but I find that most of the time
black and white sketches or paintings work really well.
It also tends to be good for the production process. The art director
or whoever is going to approve the designs can then concentrate
on the design itself, which makes their job much easier. So its
helpful for everyone.
After you have painted up the design, create a new layer above the
black and white painting in Photoshop. Set the blending mode of
that layer to Colour. Now you can paint in that layer with whatever
colour you want and it will colourise your black and white painting
without covering up any of the detail youve created up to that point.
And because of that, you can experiment with your colour options to
find the right choices, and thus lose the fear.
The Colour Mode layer is just the foundation for the colouring
process. Its there to give you a solid base to work with and, now that
you have that base, you can continue painting and refining.

Play around with layer blending modes. When properly used they will
make your paintings shine.

112

Presents Game Art

The criteria that determine the

approach are multiple, but Ill
just touch on a few aspects
here. It is unlikely to satisfy
all design requirements as well as selfimposed standards equally well, therefore
it is important to prioritise them.
The concept pieces I generate usually
fall into one of three categories, with
rather arbitrary and fuzzy boundaries.
High-level concepts involve addressing
product positioning, style and the nature
of the world that the game takes place in.
These are intended as dialogue starters
and inspirational pieces for both game
design and the art team.
Look-and-feel concepts focus on
location-specific environments. They
touch on the general overall movement
of the terrain within the scene, the level
of technology and the complexity of
architectural structures, colour palettes
and lighting. The focus at this level of
zoom is to assess the piece from the

standpoint of how this particular moment

is integrated within the larger experience.
Production designs are intended to be
handed out to 3D modellers to be
materialised into game-ready assets. The
delicate balance here is to provide an
amount of information that is sufficient
yet not redundant.
Depending on the category, I try to
identify the elements of visual expression
that best serve the purpose of the piece,
and make early decisions accordingly.
I choose the perspective: anywhere from
the forced, three-vanishing-points type
(for the sake of drama) to a mundane
three-quarters view (for good form
description); the composition: from
dynamic, tense and conflict-suggestive
to static, serene and objective; texture:
realism versus illusion, generic textures
versus material-defining ones and accents
versus supporting surfaces; and lighting:
from moody, dramatic and capricious, to
even, impartial and descriptive.

Clockwork is an example of a high-level concept used as a visual aid in pitching an idea for a game.

Question
When designing game characters, are there
any specific rules to follow?
Answer

Aly replies
Initially, you should be given a
brief by the client that will
outline the basic features of the
character and its role, the time
period, the personality and the degree of
freedom you have in designing the
characters outfit and accessories.
If you are simply producing a one-off
character piece, which usually has a
straight-on view, five main points to keep
in mind are:
1. Ensure the whole character is in view.
If the understanding is to be able to see the
character from behind, then a second
drawing showing the rear view would be
necessary. Ultimately, a three view
turnaround or orthographic would be
required to see the character from all sides.

2. Keep the lighting simple and revealing.

The priority of any character concept work
is to present the maximum amount of
information to the next stage of the process.
3. Research details. Dont just think you
know what something looks like when a
quick internet search will confirm accuracy.
4. Expression. Get an idea from the client
what the dominating traits are and try to
represent that in the artwork.
5. Posing. You could draw an action
pose, but initially the best bet would be
something more relaxed that enables
maximum information to be presented.
Make sure your character is
presented in full view; dont be
tempted to draw only from the
waist up. Details count.

Step-by-step: Create a detailed game character from scratch

This design is based on a specific

brief. The female character that Ive
been asked to create is a desert-dwelling,
savage sort of character in a future
setting. She was intended to have a
firearm, and specific items of futuristic
apparel. This was the initial sketch.

After a couple of changes to the first

sketch, the idea was approved by the
client and I started blocking in some basic
colour. At this point, I looked for some
reference materials for the clothing and
thought about whether any background
would be needed.

This is the final design with a texture

overlay added, which tightens up the
image, making it easier on the eye against
the original white background. Further
development may be required from this
point specific details of some of the
accessories or expression information.

Presents Game Art

113

Downloads

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brushes download them from http://ifxm.ag/game06art

Kan Muftic

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Images and brushes

Watch Kans video workshop as he paints

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Follow the God of War 2 artist as he

creates a unique environment concept.

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9000

how to draw and paint

The complete guide for artists on how to design, create and paint characters,
creatures, vehicles and environments for video games
Develop your digital art skills and learn to create
stunning concept art for video games. In this workshop
collection the professional artists behind some of biggest
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Vegas, and Rage, share their techniques for creating
stunning and original art.