Drawing Basics and Video Game Art Classic to Cutting-Edge Art Techniques for Winning Video Game Design

392 Pages·2012·20.52 MB·English

by  Chris Solarski

Copyright © 2012 by Chris Solarski
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by WatsonGuptill Publications, an imprint of the Crown Publishing
Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.watsonguptill.com
WATSONGUPTILL is a registered trademark and the WG and Horse designs are trademarks of
Random House, Inc.
Artwork by Chris Solarski, except as otherwise noted throughout and below:
Images from Gears of War® col.1, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 7.1, and 7.2 © Copyright 2006 Epic Games, Inc.
used with permission from Epic Games, Inc. Unreal, Unreal Engine, Gears of War and Epic
Games are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc., in the United States of
America and elsewhere. All rights reserved.
Flower artworks 5.2 © 2008 Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. Flower is a registered
trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment LLC. Developed by thatgamecompany.
Journey artworks 2.1, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, and 8.1 © 2011 Sony Computer
Entertainment America LLC. Journey is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment
LLC. Developed by thatgamecompany.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Solarski, Chris.
Drawing basics and video game art : classic to cutting-edge art techniques for winning video
game design / By Chris Solarski.
1. Computer games — Design. 2. Video games — Design. 3. Art — Technique. I. Title.
QA76.76.C672S65 2012
794.8’1536 —dc23
2011046341
eISBN: 978-0-82309848-4
Cover design by Karla Baker
Cover art: Front (clockwise, left to right): Self-Portrait, Frowning by Rembrandt van Rijn;
anatomical studies of the leg by Peter Paul Rubens; New Super Mario Bros.; Assassin’s Creed.
Back (clockwise, left to right): Gears of War; Little Big Planet; Journey. Spine: Mario.
HALF-TITLE PAGE Journey
TITLE PAGE Detail of The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, Skeleton with Muscles by
Bernhard Siegfred Albinus, Prince of Persia
v3.1
RAGE
I dedicate this book to Didi Meier, who courageously
endured my absence while I was writing.
“Thank you for your love and support, Didi—most of the
time.;)”
I would like to sincerely thank the following people for their
support in making this book possible: my family and friends;
Victoria Craven, Editorial Director at Watson-Guptill, who had
the vision to see a book when she read my Gamasutra article;
my editor, Martha Moran, whose patient guidance and diligence
was instrumental in bringing everything together; Ben Fisher,
for dedicating precious time to reviewing the anatomy sections
of this book and for his invaluable insights; Tristan Donovan,
Alex Learmont, Dr. Bob Sumner, Andi Brandenberger, Alex
Pons Carden-Jones, Michael Lew, and Pascal Mueller for their
feedback and assistance; my most influential teachers, whose
wealth of knowledge is much a part of this book: Brendan Kelly,
Michael Mentler, and Zofia Glazer; at Gbanga: Matthias Sala,
cofounder and CEO, and Werner Sala, cofounder and CFO, for
their limitless generosity and kindness and for giving me time
away from my duties at Gbanga when I most needed it;
Christine Matthey and Sylvain Gardel for their ongoing support
through www.GameCulture.ch and the Swiss Arts Council;
Christian Nutt, features editor at Gamasutra, who published the
online article that was the original inspiration for this book;
Spring Gombe for kindly hosting discussions at Up the Rock:
Salon der Künste and those who attended to give their crucial
input, including Eugeniya Kareva, Marc Bodmer, Serge Pinkus,
and Ulrich Götz; Janina Woods and Kaspar Manz for being on
call to share their extensive knowledge of video games.
This book could not have happened if it wasn’t for the
following people who kindly helped source the outstanding
artwork featured throughout (and equally the images that didn’t
make it in) despite their hectic schedules: Craig Adams and Jori
Baldwin at Superbrothers; Emily Britt at 2K Games; Jonnie
Bryant at Blizzard Entertainment; Myrna Anderson at Atari, Inc.;
Sam Woodward and the team at Irrational Games; Ruth Kelly,
Emma Tietjens, and Michael Evans at SCEE; Brian Dunn and
Claudine Rican at SCEA; Jenova Chen at thatgamecompany;
Arnt Jensen at Playdead; Cathy Campos, Emrah Elmasli, Mike
McCarthy, and Tak Saito at Lionhead Studios; Simon Flesser at
Simogo; Moby Francke at Valve Corporation; Janna Smith at
Namco Bandai Games; Mark Healey, Alice Liang, and Luci
Black at Media Molecule; Chris Boba at Corel and Alexander
Hopstein at Adobe for giving me support with their fantastic
graphics software.
(photo credit col.1)
Gears of War 2
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
FOREWORD by Tristan Donovan
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
LEVEL 01/ FUNDAMENTALS
Materials
Basic Pencil Techniques
Basic Perspective
Basic Volumes
Basic Lighting and Values