The Need for Artist Collaboration!

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Spoonweaver
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The Need for Artist Collaboration!

Post by Spoonweaver »

After reviewing the community project threads and speaking with people on Discord, it's come to my attention that what we need more of for community collaborations to work is artists. Fenrir pointed out to me that generally the artist has the biggest job to do in the collaboration effort. Since that's the case and I haven't seen any of our community's artists I'd like to look into this issue a little further.

If you are one of the artists in the community, don't be shy!
Let us know what would help you to join a collaborative game and what may be holding you back.
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Foxley
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Post by Foxley »

I think that having someone just be "the artist" can be a bit much for a team effort, art assets are among the most time consuming and grindy parts of game development. And someone who might take to map tile design like a duck to water might struggle with drawing and animating character sprites, or vice versa. Personally, I have no idea how to even approach drawing effective attack animations.

Maybe splitting artist roles into a few different categories could help? That way someone who wants to help provide art for a project doesn't become overwhelmed by being responsible for work they don't click with.
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Spoonweaver
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Post by Spoonweaver »

Right, I agree with this.
Maybe if we start referring to it more as
Tilemap artists,
walkabout artists,
portrait/textbox event screen artists,
backdrop artist,
effect/event artists,
menus and other things artists
animator

any artists out there more likely to sign up for one of these roles in a big game?
Last edited by Spoonweaver on Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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kylekrack
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Post by kylekrack »

I agree that having one artist on a game is crazy. I know it's done, but that's because those artists (Fenrir, Feenicks, etc.) are in fact, crazy. Even though a single artist can draw all the graphics for a game, they shouldn't have to.

Another thing to consider when bringing multiple artists' works together is art direction. It's wise to designate an artist as the game's art director. One person can take multiple roles, so the art director can also be the maptile artist, or the walkabout artist, etc. An art director also isn't necessarily "in charge" of the art in the game. They don't have authority, per se, unless it's given to them. Instead, the art director makes decisions about the color palettes, style conventions, sprite dimensions, animation frame counts, and so on, so the other artists don't have to worry about those things. Usually it's not worth wasting an hour of discussion figuring out which sprite dimensions to use for walkabouts, when an art director can just make that decision and move forward. Those standards need to be set at some point, though, or all the art won't work well together.

I also think it's worth adding "animator" to the list of art roles on a game. It may not apply to every game, but animating is a very different skill than drawing.
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Post by Idontknow »

I think the problem with game art is we'd have to plan out everything beforehand, which will take effort if the rest of the tasks are divided.

Without a strong director to give everyone direction the artists will be drawing assets for a team of qwop limbs all flailing separately.
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Post by Spoonweaver »

so you're saying to make the game with placeholder graphics and get an artist after, basically

hmmm
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Post by kylekrack »

Spoonweaver wrote:so you're saying to make the game with placeholder graphics and get an artist after, basically
That's what I'm doing with Katja's Abyss, after all. I'm paying for the assets, so I want to make sure I know exactly what I need before I hire someone. If I end up needing to redo stuff, I'll be kinda screwed.
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Post by Strela_999 »

Well, I don't see what's bad in that: it allows you to keep working on the game, testing its mechanics etc, without having to lose time, waiting for an artist to be found and to do better looking graphics... Plus, you can find decent looking free assets every now and then!
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Post by Spoonweaver »

The problem I see with it is the artist wouldnt have enough say in the design

Buying assets and having an artist actually work on the project are 2 different things and would have 2 different outcomes most likely
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Re: The Need for Artist Collaboration!

Post by charbile »

what we need more of for community collaborations to work is artists
Isn't it curious that most projects that finish are pushed out by these artists in the community? ho ho ho what a predicament for us non artists
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Re: The Need for Artist Collaboration!

Post by Nathan Karr »

charbile wrote:
what we need more of for community collaborations to work is artists
Isn't it curious that most projects that finish are pushed out by these artists in the community? ho ho ho what a predicament for us non artists
Yes. And the existence of other artists (Fnrrf, Fenrir) providing huge piles of free art assets frees up a lot of us to...actually make the game. While still occasionally adding new graphics to the free pile.
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