4 those who see(k) the art in games
Visual Arts
Sad, but true… or maybe the fault is with me?
04 years ago
by Void
in Visual Arts
I was deeply moved… maybe even scarred by this Fable 2 concept art, but I somehow didn’t think such a "small" thing would be worthy of posting, but then I realized: it’s exactly this ability of games and their surrounding ecosistem that this website is all about. So, back on topic: I was struck with great sadness at the truths hidden in this image. Both truths about the world, about human nature, about our mortality and truths about myself, and the perceptions and views of the viewer. About the way we so easily judge, about the way we appreciate so much such passing things as beauty and the quite unreasonable standards we set for it… What if the fault lies not with the world, but with the skewed principles we’ve made up, the values we’re enforcing even without thinking about them… the inconsistencies between what we want and what we do, what we expect and what we are…
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Bill Plympton
04 years ago
by Void
in Visual Arts
A friend recently blogged about an animation by Don Hertzfeldt which reminded me of one of my big short animation heroes: Bill Plympton. I wholeheartedly enjoyed many of his creations, foremost of which probably would be his "Dirty Shorts" and the incredibly moving 2005 piece: "The fan and the flower". This is not game related, but one can only hope his genius will turn towards games.
PS: almost forgot to mention a must-watch: "25 Ways To Quit Smoking" !
PS2: did yo uknow it was him who made that witty & strage windows 95 animation?
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flOw
04 years ago
by Void
in Visual Arts
Just something I’ve been meaning to post since back in december: just in case you too knew of the ps3 & maybe psp version, but didn’t know you could actually give it a spin right now online.
Edge of Twilight
04 years ago
by Void
in Visual Arts
Here’s to wishing more games will go in original art directions instead of the standard "real world in polygons" art style :P Here’s a game that gives me hope for the future, at least with it’s concepts and hopes of following in the mighty footsteps of the originality in Planescape:
If only there were more games promissing to do non-standard-scifi, non-standard-fantasy all with good artwork to keep me until 2009 (should this proove to deliver on the high hopes.
Moby Francke On Game Art Direction
04 years ago
by Void
in Visual Arts
Gamasutra has an interview with Moby Francke, art director on Valve’s Team Fortress 2. I love the emphasis on art direction:
You might think that, for a publisher, and for marketing people, it would be better to have an easily distinguishable art style.
MF: I think video games are at such infancy in terms of art style, actually developing it. We’re dealing with 4000 years, really, of art and conceptual design.
For it really not to be utilized, and for the industry to basically dwell in a certain type of genre which has been around the 1980s up to present time, it’s pretty much all they’re embracing.
It’s the same way, you have Star Wars and the original Stanley Kubrick movie 2001. And people embrace that genre of outer space, so to speak. And it’s continued to this very day. Hopefully people will wake up someday.
Couldn’t find his previous works or samples but here’s what the Valve team page has to say about him:
Moby Francke – Artist
Moby is a character designer for Half Life 2 and the art lead on Team Fortress 2. He brings to Valve academic fine art training with an emphasis in illustration. After graduating from the Academy of Art San Francisco, he worked at Lucas Arts as a conceptual designer, and taught figure painting at the Academy of Art SF. Hes won several prestigious awards, including 2 New York Society of Illustrators Competition Awards. He is originally from the small Caribbean island of St. Thomas, and enjoys the simple things of life.
I knew there was artistic vision and direction since I saw the focus on silhouettes and influences from classic comercial illustration:
Box Art Big Style
04 years ago
by Void
in Visual Arts
Now that is a coool way to reveal a box art! Very curious how they kept all the artists so tight. Could it be a video edit?
DMC 4 gameplay footage
04 years ago
by Void
in Visual Arts
The artwork and just plain visual depth and variety this game has just blows me away. The color variety in some scenes is just so amazing that many views could easily be mistaken for concept art. Brilliant! The game may proove not so great, I’m not a big fan of endless hordes of enemies or combos, nor am I excited to see that they again went for this rough&tough kind of mean sounding rock… but it does look like this game is a MUST for me in the years to come for the visual and architecture alone.
DMC 4 visual shower
04 years ago
by Void
in Visual Arts
Again I must express my huge awe and respect to the artists working on Devil May Cry 4. To see such amazing art direction I’ll be willing to button mash my way even through hordes of enemies on a dry story… though i suspect from previous games they’ll entertain in the story department too. And it’s not only the artwork: the technology must be amazing since they’ve actually succeeded in creating such amazing imagery even with the constraints of realtime rendering (yes, I believe that is a screenshot).
Anyway, back to the point, Gamersyde.com has an amazing new set of images… I mean aaaamazing. I really couldn’t decide which one was worthy of being the link to the rest. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself!
Anyway, back to the point, Gamersyde.com has an amazing new set of images… I mean aaaamazing. I really couldn’t decide which one was worthy of being the link to the rest. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself!
Devil May Cry 4 artwork
04 years ago
by Void
in Visual Arts
I was impressed by the way the Devil May Cry games managed to depict Dante as a so-full-of-himself guy and gave it such a high coolness factor… but that alone wouldn’t have kept me through the fighting gameplay if it wasn’t for the superb architecture and refined storytelling. An interesting backstage story goes like this:
Devil May Cry began its development life as a Resident Evil title for PS2, after the completion of Resident Evil 2, under the direction of Hideki Kamiya and “Team Little Devil”.[18] Early research and development work included a trip to Spain, to examine various castles as a basis for the game’s environments. However, in prototype status, the game proved to be a radical departure from the established Resident Evil formula and the survival horror genre in general. Rather than abandon the project entirely, the premise was changed and the game eventually became Devil May Cry.[19]
(wikipedia)
And i think it may explain a lot: one of my favorte elements of the game is the interesting and quite intricate architecture and attention to decorative detail. Also looking through the superb gallery PS3 Fanboy has for the game I’m amazed how the team manages to express so much tension even through 3d, not just concepts.
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