DESIGN ILLUSTRATIONS FOR GAME PROJECTS
Marcel explains the four key things that artists should keep in mind when creating artwork for video games
Focus on the main point of the illustration and don’t try to use too many ideas. The simpler the message is, the easier people will be able to understand it just by looking at the picture.
Composition:
Elements should be organised and layered depending on their importance. Aside from the game’s logo or title there’s no text to explain things, so you have to lay it all out to communicate the strengths and what it’s about.
Organisation:
and won’t leave anything to chance, which is a pretty fun thing.
On Instagram you say no to NFTS. How come, and do you think the NFT craze has passed?
NFTS were advertised to artists as a way to certificate their ownership of their artworks and earn royalties on each sale, but it doesn’t look like that was the point or even what NFTS are good at. As far as artworks are
Illustrations need to be in line with the game’s art direction by respecting the main colour choices, plus its vibe and design. People need to remember it alongside other things they’ve seen about the game such as trailers, screenshots and key art.
Art direction:
A game’s main key art is often required to fit different formats such as Steam’s store page, box art, and even more vertical formats. This can be a real puzzle that requires a lot of sketching to figure out a solution.
Format:
concerned, they’re just speculation material. It’s funny how something that was supposed to authenticate the creator/owner of an artwork led to so many art thefts, as anyone can take any JPEG from anyone and then make it their own NFT.
I think the NFT craze was only supported by people who just wanted to create value out of nothing and earn a lot of money through speculation or scams. It doesn’t have much to do with art, and it looks like it’s over now.
Last year you put together an artbook. What made you want to create it, and what did you learn from looking over your work?
Actually, I didn’t really want to make an artbook to begin with. I’d made a self-published one with a collective I was part of a few years ago and that was quite a lot of work, so I didn’t want to make one by myself. I also never thought a publisher would like to publish an artbook that wasn’t any way related to any known franchise or made by a famous artist.
But Spanish publisher Ominiky Ediciones proposed making one with my past artworks, and to take care of the distribution. That went very well and I’m glad I had the opportunity.
Going through all of these old drawings made me realise that I don’t have as much time as I once did to work on my own personal stuff, which is partly a good thing. I also noticed a few technical changes, like the fact I use more pigment in my colours now than I used to, and that I’ve improved my anatomy work a little, but lost a bit of the spontaneity and dynamism along the way.