Art Direction: Lectures

29/08/2022 - 05/12/2022 (Week 1 - Week 14)
Evaleez Voo Lian Yun / 0350275
Design Research Dissertation/ Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Art Direction Lectures

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Stylisation

Genre - Style - Theme

Genre:

• A category of production
• Example: Urban Street Art (Banksy)

Style:

• A distinctive appearances of the artwork
• Example: Limited colour stencils and spray paint (Banksy)

Theme:

• An idea that recurs in the work
• Example: Statements about social, working class, political situation (Banksy)

Style vs Theme

Art style:

• Proportions
• Colours
• Details
• Materials
• Outlines
• Rendering

Theme:

• Settings and location
• Time periods
• Costume
• Technology level
• Universe
• Artistic genres (Sci-fi, fantasy, etc)
• Subculture (Urban, kawaii, etc)

To Style or Not to Style?

• Unique art style make the game stand out within its genre
• Help to create easily readable character archetypes in the game design
• Create immersion for players to sink into
• Accommodate the screen size and power i.e: PC games tend to be more detailed than consoles or handheld devices
• Making abstract concepts like flying, use of magic more believable
• Determine age range appeal like kids prefer simpler vibrant styles compared to adults

Stylisation in Games

To create instantly recognisable archetypes in characters so the player can recognise each type quickly

Example: Valorant archetypes

Fig 1.0 Valorant Characters

Is-is not Statements

These are opposing statements that are used to build a picture of the type of product themes the art style will address. Example: The Last of Us vs Cuphead

Fig 1.1 Is - Is Not Statements

Positioning Map

Use positioning map based on existing games to locate untested areas of art style that you can use for your game. 

Fig 1.2 Positioning Map

Artistic Target

You can narrow down from there to create a spectrum of targeted artistic style that the team can explore and work on.

Fig 1.3 Artistic Target

Stylisation Range Finders

Style range finders can help to isolate and identify the range of styles that the artists can work on.

Fig 1.4 Stylisation Range Finders

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Visual Goals

Setting & Influences

• Determine the visual pillars in your production by looking at the central theme of the game. 
• Refer to the Genre - Style list
• Example in Visual Sample 1:
• Genre: Casual and relaxed, Survival zombie  apocalypse
• Style: Isometric style

Fig 1.5 Visual Sample 1

Lighting & Post Processing

• Lighting and post processing helps to give believable depth to the environment design and encouraging immersion for the players. 
• In AD, post processing helps to adjust certain environment design due to movement of the sun, light sources, angles, or to suit the theme of the scene.

Fig 1.6 Visual Sample 2

Ambient Lighting

• Selections for the colour palette will be driven by the ambient lighting, rather than material colour. 
• So that means, each location will have their own palette specifically set to create the right mood for the player.

Fig 1.7 Visual Sample 3

UI/UX Colour Palette

• On top of environment design, the colour palette also determine how the UI/UX of your game looks like. 
• Avoid distracting high contrast, but rather aim towards a comfortable scheme that blends with the game, but clear enough to indicate interactions for the players to take notice of.

Fig 1.8 Visual Sample 3

Game UI Design and Layout

• The game UI should be consistent in how the players operates actions, interacts with certain stuff (i.e UX with buttons).
• Colors and space should also be unified. You could of course pick more or less colors depending on the specificities of your project.

Fig 1.9 Visual Sample 4

Character Design

• Shape language is the key in designing characters, objects and environments
• Work with signature colours and size combination to achieve the right design
• Value pattern (low and high contrast) help to create boundaries and contrast to define shapes and areas of interest.
• Intentionally leaving a low contrast colour helps to focus on the areas of higher contrast
• A character silhouette should be clearly identifiable at first glance with distinguishing elements of shape, size and colours.
• This is especially important in characters lineup where each one should have significant differences or unique attribute from one to  another.

Fig 2.0 Visual Sample 5

Fig 2.1 Visual Sample 6

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Reflection

The lectures in this module thought me the importance of art direction and how to achieve a constant art style throughout the project. An important finding was the is is-not statements and positioning map, as I have never been exposed to them before this. In terms of environment design, I understood how the setting of a project can affect the overall mood of the game, along with the effects of lighting and post processing. Overall, this was an interesting module where observation skills were vital in achieving good art direction.