Art Direction by a Certified Not-Artist: In Pursuit of Victorian Buildings and Anime Girls - Alex
Art Direction
Sometimes, I think back to when I used to draw and paint as a kid. I wonder who or what I would've become had that hobby been cultivated at any point in time prior to now. Like, if I'd continued trying to draw a little every day two years ago, maybe I'd be able to draw an anime girl?
Steele and I are narrative and systems-oriented people. We code and we write, but we certainly don't draw. Steele, thankfully, stepped in and created some pixel art for our earlier builds (s/o to our cunty hourglass), but the artist role has been one of the hardest gaps to fill in our entire time working on this project.
We now have Whit onboard to draw for us, but 3D modeling and art direction are still gaps we needed to fill. And as the original concept conceiver (and a generally picky person), who else but me to fill that role?
So let's try to encapsulate how I've approached art direction as a certified not-artist.
Blender
Nearly three weeks ago, our dear friend and classmate, Victoria, gave me a quick Blender crash course. After any sort of demo, I usually gain a shield of hubris where I fully believe I can make a masterpiece with the few tools I've been given. I didn't feel this way after the crash course, but I think that's primarily due to how much I was wrestling with the shortcuts in the first place. That and there were just so many parts to doing absolutely anything in Blender. Needless to say, it was overwhelming.
I didn't open Blender until a week or two after that, and even so, I didn't work in earnest until this past week. After all, how hard could adding cubes to a shape be? The building looks great without textures in Blender, but only after I started UV wrapping did I realize what a monster I'd made.
There are definitely smarter ways to do things in Blender-- I don't know them but I'm sure there are.
I've kept tinkering with this up until yesterday, but here was the result in our editor. Originally, I'd placed brick textures over the buildings but it ended up looking too modern, so I opted for solid colors instead-- something akin to Twilight Town. That said, the proportions still feel too modern. It's something we need to keep messing around with.
(But if anyone wants to give me an intermediate level crash course, or to make me some building textures, hit me up. I need help so bad.)
Live Art Instruction
Last Thursday, in addition to the narrative meeting Steele wrote about, I grabbed our professor, Basil, in for a meeting regarding anime-style art (what makes anime anime and how to modify a piece we had to look more anime). We referenced the art style of skits in Tales of Symphonia specifically.
After thirty or forty minutes of back and forth, we went from this:
to this:
These were the notes I'd taken. But I'll be honest, I still can't tell you what makes anime art anime, aside from cat-like facial proportions.
What I left feeling that evening was that it's so interesting to watch an artist do what they do, especially when you get to learn and understand why they make certain choices. I'm taking Intro to 2D Art this semester, partially because I wanted to learn a new skill and thought drawing would be a fun one, but mostly because I knew I'd have to handle art for this game in some capacity and needed to start training my visual skills to give feedback. Our professor, Winnie, does an incredible job of giving critiques and demonstrates exactly how we can improve our pieces.
Drawing is fun, despite the dread that looms over each assignment before I start it. But at the very least, I'm drawing more consistently and I hit a flow state every time I do.
My Attempt at Drawing Wysteria
So, of course, after watching Basil draw, I felt an unearned sense of hubris. After that night, I just kept thinking I could totally draw just as well as Basil. Art is just shapes, and I know shapes. But more importantly, I wanted to actually try and do the thing I was asking our artist to do, cause maybe then, I'd actually know what I was talking about rather than guessing at things I wanted changed.
So, instead of working on assignments literally due the next morning, I decided to spend six hours drawing Wysteria.
There's a lot of feedback I'd give myself if I received this for the project (ie. she looks too young, her hair is too flat?, and I didn't even bother with the clothing), and frankly, I'm extremely embarrassed that this will now live on our devlogs for everyone to see. But I think it's important to stop being so critical of my work and be proud of my growth; I did a lot better than I thought I would. I like her eyes, her nose, her mouth, and her ears. I like her facial proportions, and I learned the hair should probably be asymmetric but maybe not as dense as I've drawn it.
Art is hard, but I'm rediscovering the fun.
Key Takeaway
Ask for help!!!
I entered thesis alone, and I knew I wouldn't be able to make the game I wanted all by myself. Luckily, I have great friends who offered assistance unprompted but I also sought out others who I knew had expertise in areas I didn't. In fact, Steele was one of these friends, and I'd approached him to discuss JRPG narrative structures and ideas for the story and minigames. And the rest was history (sprinkled with lots of Kingdom Hearts 2 propaganda).
But sappy as it is, I cannot emphasize how important it is to ask for help and feedback. I don't think a younger me could fathom ever running toward the thing I fear most and asking someone to tell me what was wrong with it. But I've grown to love all the critiques we get at the Game Center. It's so cool to be surrounded by so many incredibly skilled and supportive people. I'm constantly chatting people up and asking questions; I've set up far too many meetings with professors just to hear what they have to say (Steele can attest to this). I'm just so extremely grateful to be in such a chill and creative environment.
To my friends, my collaborators, my contributors, my professors, and my advisors (internal & external), thank you so much for all your effort and care. I am in awe of you, and I hope to keep learning from you all.