The team has still not fully set on a style for the game. Although Pixel Art is the fan favourite at the moment, we have not done any research or work that suggests it will be the best style for our game. Other members of the team have decided to research their preferred styles, Jamie will look into low-poly as an art style for the game, and Alex will look into Pixel Art. Since I want a more art focussed role in the team, I have agreed to look into Vector Art, hand-painted art, and a traditional drawn style based on E. H Sheppards illustrations.Hopefully, this research will help determine what style is best for the game environment.

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Vector Art:

Vector Art is a form of digital illustration which focusses on geometric shapes, used to create environments and scenes. For a 2D game, it would be quick and easy to produce Vector Art which can be separated into individual layers of assets and duplicated across a scene. Also, because of the way Vector Art is created, it maintains quality when scaled, keeping high-quality sharp edges and lines. Although Vector Art is a style on its own, you can see how they are stylised below. The first mood board shows very basic vector art using block colour and the occasional gradient for background scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The other mood board shows how it can be stylised in unique ways. The top middle style uses dots and lines as detailing to create a more robotic style, whereas the bottom left style illustration incorporates gradients and speckled effects to make the scene feel hazier and more gradual.

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To test the style I created the scene below:

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In total: creating all 20 assets within the scene took 3 hours and 46 minutes to make. Although it was hand-drawn and not made through traditional vector art style, I believe it at least demonstrates how long it would take to make the scene as well as how we could easily make the sort of environment we are going for.

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Hand-Painted:

Although Vector Art is a quick and easy style to produce, as it follows easy rules such as incorporating geometrics and exaggerated curves, I also wanted to test how long it would take to create a hand-painted style of assets for the game. I wanted to see how long it would make to paint a forest scene, you can see this below:

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Personally, I really liked this style. It took 4 hours 55 minutes to produce. This style did not take too long to produce, however it may be difficult to make this style when it is divided into individual assets. Furthermore, whereas vector art is a simple style that most of my team could do when making assets for the game, this style is complex and would, therefore, leave me with the role of making every asset and animation of the game. Therefore, although I really like this style, I think Vector Art would probably be a better suit for the game.

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E.H.Sheppard:

E.H.Sheppard was the illustrator for Winnie the Pooh and The Wind in the Willows. His work was produced by using watercolours and sketch inking over top for the details of the drawings. I stumbled across his illustrations, however I thought that the quickness in the style would be useful for when we make assets for the game. You can see examples of his artwork below:

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I really liked the rushed imperfect look of the style, although the pen strokes resemble what is being drawn, it is evident that the works are were done quickly.  The brush strokes show how Sheppard's style was not produced with complete perfection in mind, rather he built up the subject of the drawing and developed the environment around it. I began to test out the style myself, but digitally, but did not get far. It was evident that my team were settled on a different art style, and therefore I moved forward with producing character designs, instead of producing work that would not be useful for the team.

 

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I have shown my research and concepts to my team, and we are still awaiting a decision for what the style of the game shall be. Currently, Pixel art is the favourite choice, however, my teammates did like the designs of vector art which could be an easy style for the game to use.