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Year 2 IMG
Research
Academic Paper
During the first week of the Client Brief project I carried out an academic research paper looking into theories and historical data that could help me going into the artist role for this project. I researched theories and analysed them in order to showcase how I would apply the new learning to my work going forward.
Theory: Colour Theory
Going into this project as an artist for the group, I wanted to look into the theories behind colour and also art in general. The first theory that I actively researched was colour theory and its impact on human emotions and interpretations of an art piece, this will be beneficial for this role as I will be required to use colours throughout my designs and in order to create the perfect blend and convey the exact emotion that I want from the art I will need to understand the theory behind colours.
To start, colour theory can be defined as “Color Theory is understanding how colors work together to make sense of a design to the people experiencing the design.”(Showalter, 2017), by interpreting this, I can see that colour theory at its core is the understanding of how certain colours, hues or vibrancies of colours work together to create a design that can be viewed by the viewer as the intended design. From previous knowledge I know that there are primary colours that can be mixed and blended to create secondary colours of which vary in hue depending on the amount of white or dark colour added to them, these colours can be interpreted in many different ways to express a certain emotion or feeling in a design. There are four main areas to consider when it comes to colour and the theory of colour these are “Complementation [...] vibrancy [...] contrast [...] tint, hue & shade” (Showalter, 2017), the main area is complementation, complementation is how two colours or a range of colours work together. For example, a red will not complement well with an orange because of the clashing hues, however a colour from another part of the colour wheel will work perfectly with each other such as a purple and a yellow as seen on a twirl chocolate packet, these colours both work perfectly because the yellow has a contrast against the purple of the main background.
This leads perfectly into the next area of this article, contrast, Showalter (2017) says, “Contrast is the drama that takes place in your design. The fight between good and evil is always represented by light and dark and in design it is no different.” contrast is what can be seen in the design above and the perfect colour combination can affect this, a white and black will always provide the most contrast, however a mix of green and yellow in a design would not provide the best contrast for a visual element such as UI or character design. When it comes to choosing the correct colour combination on both complementary colours and contrast I will ensure that when it comes to designing the textures and colours for my assets I will pick colours that work best together.
The next area of research is into vibrancy, “Vibrancy is simply energy conveyed through color. It is one of the many ways to convey emotion in design.” (Showalter, 2017). When it comes to deciding the vibrancy of a design, colours can be used to portray different levels of vibrancy, brighter colours are often tied with the word vibrant and can symbolise elements that pop and are eye catching whereas colours on the other end of the spectrum are often described as dull and lacking in vibrancy, these are often colours with darker hues such as dark blues, greys and blacks. This will help me when it comes to choosing colours for my designs because I will need to first consider the setting of the game and then whether the design should be viewed as vibrant or not, I will adopt all of this knowledge from this source when it comes to choosing colour in my designs to better improve the art direction of the project.
Moving deeper into the psychology behind the meanings of colours and their symbolism, I found a quick infographic summarising the true psychological connotations behind colours and how I should utilise said colours to portray the perfect emotions from my designs for this project.
(Saba kalsoom, 2023)
Theory: Shape Language
Looking at the second theory that I wanted to research into for this project, shape language, I wanted to research into shape language because this can be used across a variety of areas in art not just animation or film, in my project I will be able to use shape language in order to influence my concept art and also character and environment designs. Shape language at its basis can be defined as “a concept used in art and animation to communicate meaning based on shapes we are familiar with. [...] shapes can tell a story, show personality, and illicit an emotional response in the viewer without using any words.” (The Walt Disney Family Museum, no date), from this I can interpret that shapes can be used to portray and convey certain emotions based upon the structure or build of the shapes that make up an object, character or environmental asset. For example a sharp edged claw, tooth or jagged rock naturally have sharp edges in the form of triangles, these triangles can be viewed as sharp, dangerous and a hazard because of the many points and edges on the shape.
This can be translated into the shape language theory as explained by Maija Elisa Mehtälä (2020), “Triangles in shape language are commonly associated with sharpness, danger, speed, aggressiveness, and confidence”, this matches perfectly with my theory because naturally you tend to think that points on triangles are dangerous and sharp, alluding to the point that most characters in Disney animations that should be viewed as evil or even everyday objects such as saws or forks tend to utilise triangles in there designs, to portray the dangerous manner. When it comes to designing my character art and even environmental art for this project I will ensure that I stick to this triangle theory to better convey the emotion and feeling that I intended to portray in my designs, so that the player will be able to make meaningful interpretations of my designs based upon their intended purpose.
(Fandom, 2025)
When looking at this character we can see shape language in action, Randall has distinct points and triangles on his design, most notably his teeth, his teeth all meet at large exaggerated points. This shows that the designers wanted the character to be conveyed as evil and unlikeable, in addition, we can see defined triangles and points in his arms and legs further emphasised that the character is dangerous and evil.
Looking deeper into different shapes and their “language”, I wanted to look at how circles can be used across designs to elevate my art and also what language I would be portraying when utilising emphasised circles in my designs. The Walt Disney Family Museum (no date), has defined circles as “Soft, squishy, Harmless, Approachable [and] changeable”, this can be viewed as common knowledge when it comes to design in art because soft edges are often non threatening and be often viewed as squishy, take a ball they are soft, squishy and most of the time harmless. When it comes to using circles in designs, they can be used to evoke certain emotions and feelings, they are said to “evoke a warm and welcoming feeling” (The Walt Disney Family Museum, no date). When it comes to improving my design skills for my art role I will take this knowledge surrounding circle shape language and apply it to my asset designs so that I can evoke the correct feeling for the player to pick up on.
The final section of the shape language theory is the language of the square, through process of elimination I would describe squares as evoking the feelings of strength, power and stability, this true as, Maija Elisa Mehtälä (2020), says “Square features then again tend to be given to characters that are strong, big, serious, calm and trustworthy”. This further implies that squares can be used in design to evoke strong structures or characters. When it comes to designing elements for my art that need to evoke these symbolic properties, I will ensure that I choose the appropriate shape for the language evoked. In conclusion, shape language has taught me the most basic design principle that I can apply to almost any element of my art role from concept art, to 3D models and also environmental art, I will make sure to use this knowledge paired with the knowledge gathered about colour theory to create designs that evoke the most accurate representation of the design I would like to achieve.
Historical References:
Looking at historical references about art and character designs in media texts that have come before, I have gathered several sources to help with my research. The first source that I gathered was a book about the history and making of Minecraft, in this book there were many references to art and designs, one of the more notable articles was regarding the character design of Alex, one of the many character designs that the player can choose. “Alex the game’s first default female-presenting avatar [...] Alex owes her green eyes to Winters, though her red hair comes from Jens Bergensten.” (AB Mojang, 2024, p.g. 46). Alex is an iconic character and we can see that her character design was designed heavily to include inclusivity within the game and give players the freedom to express themselves in the game so their experiences can be personalised to themselves. A similar approach was also taken by developers and creatives at Avalanche Software when designing the character customisation tool for their best selling game Hogwarts Legacy, “Our game not only allows the player to create an avatar that reflects their physical identity, it also [...] allows them to express their personalities” (Bros, 2023, p.g. 16). This leads to the fact that I should create a character or set of characters that would best represent a wide range of people so that they feel that they are represented within the project as they play, this would allow for better immersion into the story of gameplay as the player will feel as if it is them experiencing the story or experience first hand and not from a third person perspective.
Going back to the colour theory that I have just researched into I can see that Lydia Winters, the designer of the Alex character, has considered this when choosing the colours to use for the characters design, the green highlights seen on Alex’s shirt and eyes are often defined as having connotations of “new beginnings and growth. It also signifies renewal and abundance” (Chapman, 2021), this is a similar connotation to that of blue, the main colour of the second character design in Minecraft, that being of Steve. By going from this, in order to improve my designs and ultimately improve my character designs going into this project and beyond I will need to consider colour theory and its effect on the players perception of the character, so I will ensure that I choose the right colour for the right design.
(AB Mojang, 2024) (AB Mojang, 2024)
The second historical reference that I researched was also in the book The World Of Minecraft, this section of the book was looking at the inspiration and creation behind the famous and nostalgic paintings that can be found and displayed in game, “I had experimented with incorporating pixel art in my oil paintings [...] Since I make the motifs for the paintings in 3D software, I can play around with adding imagery from any source” (AB Mojang, 2024, p.g. 30). Kristoffer Zetterstrand speaking here about how he plans out his paintings and adjusts existing media in 3D software has taught me that it is better to start from a source image or render and then build the final art piece or asset from said render or source. He says that by using a secondary step between finding an inspiration and creating the final piece helps to “play around with adding imagery” (AB Mojang, 2024, p.g. 30), this tells me that I should adopt a similar approach when it comes to planning and designing my art assets or concept art for the project, I will find a source or multiple sources and combine my inspiration either on pen and paper or a 3D software and then build my art from that basis. This will help to reduce the time spent on adjusting the art pieces to my liking and will allow me to plan and gather feedback on the plan art before spending time on creating the final product allowing me to adjust my designs accordingly.
A similar approach to this can also be seen in this second source, The Art And Making Of Hogwarts Legacy, here the creatives at Avalanche Software recount and tell the story of development on Hogwarts Legacy, “Everything in the game must be authentic to the world fans love [...] maintaining the authenticity of that world not only engages players, it keeps them engaged” (Bros, 2023, p.g. 12). Just like Mojang and Kris Zetterstrand, Avalanche too used inspiration from existing media and manipulated it in a way that was true and authentic to the world that each game is set in, this further evidences that references and inspiration is paramount to the planning and design of art in any form within the game development process. In this project I will use inspiration from many sources that link to the brief and I will ensure that I stay true to the game world to ensure that each element has a place that is relevant to the art and style of the game, because without this then the game will feel like a mix of different artistic directions all mixed up into one. A key takeaway from this source is to stay authentic and always plan out my art before creating a final piece, “The team settled on three pillars to guide them: authenticity, heroism and magic” (Bros, 2023, p.g. 11).
General Information:
Looking back over this report and the sources used to construct my academic paper, I was able to gather a large array of information regarding the subject of art and design as a whole and this allowed me to change and influence my work practices for this project. For starters, my research into shape language helped me greatly to understand how different shapes can be used to evoke certain emotions or connotations, this has taught me to use the appropriate shapes for my designs whether that be concept, environmental or character, I will be able to adopt this theory to better showcase the desired connotation for my assets and pieces in this project. In addition, from reading different sources and articles regarding this theory I was able to see that this is commonly adopted in the creative industry and so I will definitely be adopting this theory in my approach to the design of my art assets for the project.
Another area that I gathered a large amount of information on was regarding the use of inspiration sources, just like in my previous projects I have utilised reference images and objects for the designs of my assets but I have never thought about using references for large elements of the game world such as environments or game locations. When reading through the two books, The World of Minecraft and The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy, I learned that the art team at these two studios used inspiration from other sources to influence the designs for certain art pieces and environments, this taught me that to better the creation process I should use references whether pre-existing or created first hand to create a more planned and well rounded game environment.
Bibliography -
AB, Mojang. (2024). The World of Minecraft. Random House Worlds. [Book] [Accessed 10 Jan. 2025]
Bros, Warner. (2023). The Art and Making of Hogwarts Legacy: Exploring the Unwritten Wizarding World. Bloomsbury Children’s Books. [Book] [Accessed 10 Jan. 2025]
Chapman, C. (2021). Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: the Meaning of Color. [online] Smashing Magazine. Available at: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/color-theory-for-designers-part-1-the-meaning-of-color/. [Accessed 9 Jan. 2025]
Fandom (2025). Randall Boggs. [online] Monster Moviepedia. Available at: https://monstermovies.fandom.com/wiki/Randall_Boggs [Accessed 9 Jan. 2025].
Maija Elisa Mehtälä. (2020). THE RELATIONSHIP OF SHAPE LANGUAGE IN CHARACTER AND ENVIRONMENT DESIGN. [Thesis]. Available at: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/497751/MEHTALA-MAIJA-THESIS-PDF.pdf?sequence=2 [Accessed 9 Jan. 2025]
Saba kalsoom (2023). Color Psychology: Unveiling the Profound Influence of Colors on Emotions and Behavior. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@sabihakalsoom786/color-psychology-unveiling-the-profound-influence-of-colors-on-emotions-and-behavior-1ec6e772534. [Accessed 11 Jan. 2025]
Showalter, J. (2017). Creative Basics — Color Theory. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@iamjesseshow/creative-basics-color-theory-5a39c6870af3. [Accessed 9 Jan. 2025]
The Walt Disney Family Museum. (no date). Shape Language. [Article]. Available at: https://www.waltdisney.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/T%26T_ShapeLang_v9.pdf [Accessed 9 Jan. 2025]
Technique Research Report
In this research report I want to research techniques that I can apply from outstanding work that has been published by professional studios, and how I can apply the techniques used to improve the design of my art. The first area of this report will be focused on concept art, picking up on techniques used and how I will go about applying them to further improve my work practice. The first area of concept art that I want to analyse is the different approaches to concept art and how I can apply different working practices to further develop my practices, “Environment [...] Costume and Character, [and] Video game concept art”(Adobe, n.d.), Concept art is broken down into several sub genres as listed above and these are the areas that I will need to focus on most when it comes to pre-production.
Concept Art Types:
When looking into character concept art, the first example that I found from Hogwarts Legacy, uses a technique called drafting using 3D modelling software, “concept artists proceed to the sketching and drafting stage [...] Digital tools like Photoshop or 3D modeling software may be used to refine these drafts” (DeGuzman, 2024). As we can see the artist has adopted a more modern approach to this concept art for one of the NPC’s, The character model at this stage is in an early draft phase and the colours and clothing reflected in this art are vibrant and pop against the dark background, shading has also been used on this model to bring life to the model and to simulate the environment that the character will be in, in game.
(Palmer, n.d.)
By looking at this, I have learnt that concept art does not have to be sketched, this has inspired me to adopt a similar approach, as I believe this will better fit my practices. The use of shading on this art has also brought a realistic view to the character and better reflects the design and colour, this is something that I will look to include in my concept art so I will have a more realistic view of the character before revising it and creating the final version.
Comparing this to similar character and environmental concept art pieces from other projects I can see the different approaches in action, in these following we can see that the artists have chosen to adopt a more classical approach to concept art mixing the sketch phase with the help of colours and digital paint software.
(Fandom, n.d.)
The Lady Dimitrescu concept art is a perfect example of adopting a pen and paper method, the artist has sketched out the basic shape of the character from two perspectives and then applied colour to the design to give a better sense of the sort of design that needs to be achieved in the final iteration. This is a perfect blend between practical use and concept visualisation, the colours used on the design can easily be seen thanks to the key and this will come into its own when wanting to create the final asset because the designer will not have to search for the colours, this is something that I will adopt in my practice because I will be working within a department so setting a clear colour scheme will help with this.
(Palmer, n.d.)
Looking at another example that fuses all iterations from sketch to digital render, this showcases the journey of the concept art and I believe this to be the most effective approach to concept art. We can easily see the initial idea on paper and how it evolved over time to this finalised coloured digital piece, because I believe this to work perfectly. I will also be adopting this when it comes to pre-production as this will help to better visualise, present and amend my designs.
Perspective:
The next area of development that I would like to focus on is perspective and how I can use different perspectives within my art to better portray the story. Perspectives can be broken down into three common types: isometric, first person and third person; each of these perspectives have their own uses and design choices within both art and game design. A first person perspective is commonly used within video games to create immersion and elevate the gameplay experience, “By showing you the world through the protagonist’s eyes, you attain a level of immersion unlike any other medium.” (Philendra, 2021), assets and art commonly found within first person games are created in a similar way to that of a third person perspective because the assets will be viewed from all angles throughout the gameplay, the knowledge and application will be the same to that of previously worked with.
However, looking at a top down or isometric view, these perspectives completely change the rules of the angle of art, because an isometric view is more of an angled view of the playable world, “the Y axis should be tilted 30° to match the definition of the isometric view” (Open Game Art, n.d.), the art assets will have to be designed in a different manner to that of a third or first person perspective, this means that if the team decide to adopt an isometric view then I will have to consider the vanishing point and angle of the asset so that it recognisable in the game but also fits within the perspective. When looking at examples of different perspectives and its effect on the art design, these game examples below capture the different perspectives perfectly.
The Legend of Zelda (SNES)
This game adopts an isometric perspective and you can see that the art assets have been created so that only the front and tops can be seen, this would be different for a traditional third or first person perspective
(Retro Games.cz, n.d.)
Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA V) & Hogwarts Legacy
GTA V adopts both a first and third person view, however looking at the first person view, we can see that the world is more immersive and the assets can be viewed from any angle. This would mean that I would need to model and texture all assets on every side and angle, adding to the workload. This same rule applies to a third person perspective as seen in Hogwarts Legacy.
(Siegal, 2014) (Gartenberg, 2022)
Colour:
Following the Academic Paper where I looked at colour theory, I wanted to delve deeper into the connotations of colours and how they work in practice. I will be analysing different games that use varying colour palettes to connote emotions and feelings, in addition I will learn how to correctly use colour within my art assets to achieve the desired effect. To begin with I will be looking at games that use cold hues, linking back to the paper before I learnt that colder hues often connote the emotions of sadness and evoke a cold feeling, sometimes adding to the cold nature of a person or setting. This is exactly what has been achieved by Sony Interactive Entertainment on their “best art direction winner of 2023” (The Webby Awards, n.d.), God Of War Ragnarök, I can see that the blue and black hues create a dark atmosphere, paired with the particle effects this creates a cold feeling, which what the team were hoping to achieve as the game is set within an icy realm. Looking at the main character, Kratos, we can see that he standouts against the dark environment with highlights of red paint on him piercing through the coldness, when it comes to designing my characters I will need to make sure that they stand out and can be seen against the environment so that the player can focus on the character that they are playing as.
(Sony Interactive Entertainment, n.d.)
The next example focuses on a game that incorporates a more natural and colourful colour palette, HOA is a game that has won numerous awards for best art direction, most notably The Webby Awards (2022) “Best Art Direction Games 2022”. This game has a more stylised art direction compared to God Of War, this paired with the bright colour palette creates a peaceful and inviting atmosphere that gives off a brighter side, connoting the idea that the game will be set in a friendly environment. The green hues connote the idea of calmness and safety, this is a large contrast to the previous game and I believe that being able to find complementary colours and blending them together or even finding contrasting colours will create a more enjoyable and visually pleasing art direction as seen in the two examples. Saying this, when it comes to choosing colours for my art assets I will make sure that I use complementary and contrasting colours to create a visually pleasing game environment that fits with the emotions and themes that we will want to be portrayed and connoted
(Skrollcat Studio, n.d.)
Bibliography:
Adobe (n.d.). Concept Art Explained. [online] Available at: https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/illustration/discover/concept-art.html#s3 [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
DeGuzman, K. (2024). Concept Art in Film — Definition, Types & Iconic Examples. [online] StudioBinder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-concept-art-definition/ [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
Fandom (n.d.). Resident Evil Wiki: Concept Art (Village). [online] Fandom. Available at: https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Concept_Art_(Village)?file=RE8_ConceptArt_015.png [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
Gartenberg, C. (2022). Watch 14 minutes of gameplay from Hogwarts Legacy, the upcoming Harry Potter RPG. [online] The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/17/22983770/hogwarts-legacy-harry-potter-rpg-gameplay-reveal-trailer-release-date [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
Open Game Art (n.d.). Chapter 3: Perspectives. [online] Available at: https://opengameart.org/content/chapter-3-perspectives [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
Philendra, V. (2021). A Beginner’s Guide to Video Games: Perspectives. [online] The SMU Journal. Available at: https://www.thesmujournal.ca/video-games/a-beginners-guide-to-video-games-perspectives [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
Palmer, V. (n.d.). Hogwarts Legacy Concept Art Collection by Vanessa Palmer. [online] IAMAG. Available at: https://www.iamag.co/hogwarts-legacy-concept-art-collection-by-vanessa-palmer/#jp-carousel-385890 [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
Retro Games.cz (n.d.). Legend of Zelda, The: A Link to the Past - SNES. [online] Available at: https://www.retrogames.cz/play_283-SNES.php [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
Siegal, J. (2014). https://bgr.com/general/gta-v-first-person-mode/. [online] Available at: https://bgr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/gta-v-first-person-mode.jpg?resize=1536%2C864&quality=82 [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
Skrollcat Studio (n.d.). Hoa the game | Beautiful Indie Platform Game. [online] HOA the game. Available at: https://www.hoathegame.com/ [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
Sony Interactive Entertainment (n.d.). God of War Ragnarök - PS5 and PS4 Games. [online] PlayStation. Available at: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/god-of-war-ragnarok/ [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
The Webby Awards (n.d.). Best Art Direction Games 2023. [online] Available at: https://winners.webbyawards.com/2023/games/game-features/best-art-direction/240048/god-of-war-ragnark [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
The Webby Awards (2022). Best Art Direction Games 2022. [online] Available at: https://winners.webbyawards.com/winners/games/game-features/best-art-direction [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
