When we were looking into the style of the game we were developing, we decided to follow a graphic novel art style. This style generally uses black outlines for characters and objects, but backgrounds tend to have coloured outlines, to ensure that props and characters are able to stand out. Graphic novels primarily target all ages, as dynamic eye catching poses and expressions can capture the attention of a viewer very easily, especially if the viewer was read picture books as a very young child.
I looked at one graphic novel artist who found an unique art style by relaying prompts through an AI Program called Midjourney. He liked some of the art illustrations that it created, but it also helped him discover other artists, such as Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta, and through trial and error he found an art style that really worked for his graphic novel, one with muted colours in the background with a little bit of detail, though you still can have graphic novels with lots of details.
While it was really interesting to learn how he used AI to help find him a style, I lamented that he also felt a little amateurish to research the Graphic novel style.
I Found a Cool Art Style for My Graphic Novel (youtube.com)
Then I found a video by Kelsey Rodriguez, talking about how to find your art style in 3 easy steps. She says to collect pieces of art that you really gravitate toward, even to go to an art museum and jot down notes about the piece that really speaks to you. Then you figure out what connects all the pieces together to you, such as the lighting and colour to convey a feeling to you, for example, she collected 50 pinterest pictures and noticed there was a balance between realism and abstraction. Then she draws fudamentals to utilise to help create her unique style.
As part of an exercise, we looked at three different games to serve as inspiration for our own art style, Crash 4: it’s about time, Persona 5, and Uncharted 4.
Persona 4 has a very dynamic, stylised anime art style that is very bold and fun to look at. Many of the characters have very eye catching designs that are boxed within a comic book esque window. The artbook for the game has a lot of art that seems incredibly inspired by dynamic, eye popping 1980’s esque art, in an anime style reminiscent of Devilman and FLCL.
Uncharted 4 has a much more realistic art style, with a murky and edgy aesthetic and colours. A lot of the game takes place deep in the jungle, with highly atmospheric and detailed jungle environments that draw in the viewer’s attention, and makes them want to explore.
The Art of Uncharted 4: 100 Concept Art Collection (iamag.co)
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s about Time has a very cartoonish playful and very stylized art style. Many of its characters have coloured lines, and highly expressive faces and postures, which are immediately eye catching to the viewer, especially if they grew up with Crash. The art style takes a balance between the old concept art for Crash and the old in game model, and the artist designing crash struck a balance between what he remembered as a kid, matching the concept art and matching the old model.
Graphic Novel | Definition, Styles & Examples – Lesson | Study.com
I was assigned as a concept artist for my group’s game development, and was tasked with making a concept for a futuristic race track. I looked at dystopian futures, Cyberpunk, and Blade Runner 2049 for inspiration, as well as look at pages of graphic novel to try and replicate the style.
Borderlands and The Wolf Among Us also served as great inspiration for the Graphic Novel style that we were wanting to go for, as their bold, eye catching styles catch the viewer’s attention easily, with Borderlands having bold lined characters stand out in a semi realistic environment and the Wolf Among us having a very comic book inspired graphic novel feel, with bold outlines and muted backgrounds.
Concept art I looked at:
AI generated images
Concept Art of Blade Runner 2049
Screenshots of New Yoke City from Sonic Speed Simulator
Pure Ref Mood Board
Finished illustrations and character designs
An early design for one of the mechanics, who would have appeared in an early draft of the distant future chapter which would have been in space.
A design for one of the characters in the game, Dr Insanio
Distant Future City- An illustration of the Distant Future Level which was greatly inspired by Cyberpunk 2077, Blade Runner 2049 and Sonic Prime’s New Yoke City.
Medieval Concept- We decided to change the Victorian level to a medieval one. I created a silmple illustration of a castile close to a river and a winding road, following the graphic novel style.
City at night- I requested if I could do an illustration for the Modern Day level of our game, and I got the go ahead from Aaron.
Scrapped Concepts and Rough Sketches
A finished concept for a level set in Imperial China. It had to be scrapped when we cut the levels down to just 3 from 7.
Scrapped Mechanic designs for different levels, ranging from Wild West to Prehistory, and Imperial China and Distant Future.
An older design for Dr Insanio
A scrapped concept for a fantasy level that was ultimately scrapped.
Sketches of different vehicles for each level.