Back in the 8 bit era, every game created was created from a small amount of really large pixels, unlike today where it is vice versa . This meant characters and objects would appear blocky. As time passed, pixels became smaller and more detail could be added. However, Pixel art, is the art of creating things like images of characters out of these large pixels. Some examples can be found from the images below. Take the Mario image for example ( The man in the red and blue clothing). You can see that the image has been constructed from big pixels and each pixel contains only one colour. This can also be seen on the image of Link from The Legend of Zelda below Mario. This time however, we have a larger number of pixels, so more detail can be added. There is also a grid. This grid is very useful in pixel art as you can see where each pixel can go and this is pretty much how pixel art works. Each pixel is filled with a certain colour and using these grids, you can make many game setting, characters or objects. Mine-craft is a famous, modern, popular game that lets players use blocks to create structures. This is very much like pixel art, but the difference is that Mine-craft is set in a 3D world, whereas proper pixel art is created mainly on a 2D canvas.
Minecraft
http://piq.codeus.net/static/media/userpics/piq_48616_400x400.png
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/258/6/b/link_pixel_art_grid_by_matbox99-d6mervk.png
http://n7ugc.disney.go.com/item/Guest472918245/189_2gs11k6Yc2zB00001004wNM0-h-eee96b-as/8-bit%20mario__600_450_q50.jpg
http://procesor.pl/img/galleries/mi2.jpg
http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Minecraft-minecraft-19670226-1600-900.jpg
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=minecraft&tbm=isch&ei=aASiU43NIojR7Abq0oDIDw#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=z8HNPk1NU2Id0M%253A%3BftMUOHOoBUMdAM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fviewallpaper.com%252Fdownload%253Ffilename%253D%252F2013%252F07%252FMinecraft-Art-Pikachu-Wallpaper.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fviewallpaper.com%252Fminecraft-art-pikachu-wallpaper.html%3B1280%3B968
CONCEPT ART
Concept art in every video game production process. It is the art of visualizing, testing and establishing characters and settings that will be involved in the final, finished product. Take the images below for example. The last image shows concept art of Link from the Legend of Zelda. The creators drew 2 models. An adult version of the character and a younger version. Then, to test out how the character would look, they drew him multiple times but with various poses. One also shows the front and back of the character so they could see what the whole model would look like. Concept art in not only used in the games industry, but also industries such as fashion and architecture too, so they can decide of a final item of clothing or building instead of jumping right into it and creating a giant mess.
The 2 images above show the concept art for Toon Link from the legend of Zelda. To create a character in a game, concept art similar to the one above is made, where various representations of the character are drawn, then a final model is established and created for the game. The images also show Toon Link in a finalized form in Super smash brothers 4.
TEXTURE ART
Texture art is basically the production of textures or materials that are used in a game. These materials and textures, within a game, can be surfaces such as rock or sand, or game characters. Working with the overall art style decided for the game, the texture artist will create every image for the game which can then be added to a surface to make it look like rock or grass for example. Usually, when we see surfaces in games, a square image of grass - for example - is created, then added to the surface in the game engine, where the image covers the surface by creating duplication of itself and equally covering the whole area of the surface by joining together. The image to the left is an example of a small piece of texture art in a game. The image of grass would be duplicated and joined together multiple times until it fills the surface to save time as it is hard to tell that they have been duplicated when they are all together.
Texture art in games can also look like the image to the right. This type of texture art is designed specifically to wrap around the final model to perfectly texture it. This texture map can be reused for other characters in the game and the faces for example will be added in the exact same position. This type of texture art is commonly used for characters and objects due to the fact texturing these models can be quite complicated as there are many different colours and textures that must be created.
http://www.cs.uleth.ca/~wismath/spring12/obrs3710/
BACKGROUND GRAPHICS
Background graphics can be found surrounding you in a game. It is usually inaccessible by the player due to it being 'background art' and is there to provide scenery to map map by making it feel bigger than it is and that you are in a large world. Background graphics can be anything from forests, to giant skyscrapers depending on where you want the map to be, or what you want the player to see in the distance. The image below is of Hyrule town from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time. As you can see, the background art here is the buildings. They are 2D images cleverly made to look 3D and they are there to make the player feel like they are in a town. This however is an old way of creating background art.
Background art in modern games is a lot like the image below. This is of a game called Chivalry: Medieval warfare. The castle as the back is inaccessible, but it is a rendered 3D model. This is a lot more realistic and makes the player feel like they are in a proper ancient castle town.
These games, of course, are all 3D, but background graphics are also present in 2D games too. Take Mario for example. The image below shows background graphics in Mario. The background art here is the oddly shaped capsule hills that can be seen. This makes the player feel like they are out in the country side.
http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=336350
http://www.zeldauniverse.net/zelda/ocarina-of-time-hyrule-lands-of-zelda/
http://lovinlosing.com/wallpaper/21200/world-heart-whisper-pictures-drawn-mario-hd-background-widescreen.html
PRINT MEDIA ART
Print media art is the art presented on the video game box. This art tries to entice the gamer and persuade them to buy the game. They usually show main characters in the game and add a sense of the game genre. For example, the Fallout 3 box art below shows the main character in Armour and the background looks damaged to show the games post-apocalyptic genre.
A stronger example would be The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker box art which is below. The game is about adventure, discovery and fighting evil and the box art greatly conveys this. It shows many of the main characters, places and enemies whilst also showing a globe which strengthens that feeling of adventure. This box works well at conveying the genre of the game.
A final example would be of the Bioshock full box cover and again, the image below shows this. You can see that the designers have tried to show off the main enemy in the game. As well as this, they have included the games genre which is horror by adding destroyed and rusty metal which covers the back cover. The front part of the box mainly uses dark colours which strengthens the feeling of horror.
The two images above show two different forms of print media art. These items are designed around the game Fallout 3, and various images and words significant to the game have been printed on merchandise such as clothes or bags. This is popular as people enjoy having genuine items themed around their favourite games.
http://xboxfreedom.com/sandbox-games-xbox-360/
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/news/a503820/the-legend-of-zelda-the-wind-waker-hd-japanese-box-art-revealed.html
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