Because of my lack of experience in designing artwork for a video game I decided to look into more pixelated and cartoon-like art styles rather than the really realistic/cinematic art styles.
Void & Meddler
Void & Meddler is the game that is heavily influencing the designs for Bloodletting. I particularly like it’s pixelated style even though indie games overuse this nostalgic style. I think this game’s atmosphere goes really well with the retro game style and make itself stand out from other pixelated games. I like the block colors and simple angled shapes. Shading is achieved through layering block colors on top of each other without blending. This is effective and I could recreate a similar technique for my designs. I’m looking for a style that looks professional but is achievable for me to create to a high standard. This seems like it. I also really like the static of the TVs and the relationship between contrasting colored lights.
Borderlands
This game has a cartoon style of artwork but it’s a bit more realistic than The Wolf Among Us. It has thinner lines as well making it look as sketches drawn in pen and then colored in. The shading is quite realistic however. This combination makes the art style of this game unique and interesting. It’s not as reminiscent of a graphic novel as The Wolf Among Us and it doesn’t have block colors. I might try to experiment with different mediums to create my promo art. Beforehand I was only going to use my drawing tablet but this has inspired me to try out line drawing with pens.
The Wolf Among Us
Same as Borderlands The Wolf Among Us uses a cartoon art style. Perhaps it’s a bit more reminiscent of a graphic novel however. The images have black thick outlines and are filled out with color and shading which makes it 3D. This is something that I could probably manage to draw although I’m worried about the shading. This art style includes a bit more block colors than Borderlands artwork which gives me hope that perhaps my designs will end up looking half as decent. I like the harsh shadows and lights as well. This art style seems a bit more cut out than the Borderlands one. I might try to make my promo art from cut out paper or even make the shapes seems more block like in Photoshop.
The Longest Journey
I like the 90s feel to this game. I will most likely not be able to create a 3D detailed artwork for my game but I decided to include it because it’s a cyberpunk game. I like the layout of it and how the background is simply drawn and doesn’t move. Only the characters move. In comparison to some of the contemporary video games with very cinematic designs this is not nearly as detailed. I really like it’s nostalgic feel.
Bibliography
The images were taken from Google Image Search
http://store.steampowered.com/app/377970/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/8980/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/250320/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/6310/