Paint retro game characters

Passes on his industry advice for concepting video game characters who inhabit the fabulous, taste-free world of the 80s

hen designing a character for a video game, it’s not just about painting some coollooking dude. A lot of things have to be considered before settling on their final look, and changes are often made while the title is in development. Possible reasons can include a new take on the scenario, animation conflicts or parts of the game being cut.

You’ll have to deal with all of these situations as a concept artist. Your job is

Wto adapt, learn, react, interact and find visual solutions for not only a character’s appearance, but also their animation cycles, attitude and so on. Concept art is a language through which you express your ideas – and the more fluent you are, the clearer things will be for your colleagues who are modelling, animating and giving life to the characters you’ve created.

I think it’s not just about drawing or painting skills, but also about imagination and creativity, visual problem solving and understanding the needs of the production environment. Your knowledge about the universe that the characters inhabit is key.

For this workshop I’ll share some tips on developing concept art for video games by creating two characters who are straight out of the 80s. I’ll try to explain a few things about the character development process, key parts of the creative process and what mediums I use. Okay girls and boys, let’s rock!