GAME ART CREATIVE PROCESS
Hire or commission me to make your game art today! I created Miscrits game art with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, paper, and pencil. © Broken Bulb Studios.
Miscrits Game Art Process
Creating Miscrit’s Boss, Apollo Nox
First I started with a theme. For this Miscrit I thought of a Hedgehog pun: A literal hog in a hedge! Next, I found reference images of boars and tree stumps. I sketched my ideas, showed them to the Art Dept, and then refined them. The Miscrit was growing inside a tree, breaking free, and losing its trunk. I brought the sketches into Illustrator and used a style guide to keep sizing, colors, and strokes consistent. Around 3-6 levels of shading were then added. We made about 1-2 Miscrits per day.
Creating Miscrit’s Boss, Apollo Nox
Making a boss was very similar to a Miscrit. We came up with a theme, ran it by the Art Dept, found reference, and then sketched the idea. The key difference was that they were BIG, twice the size of a Miscrit, and required more detail. Also to intimidate players, they often had more musculature. Nox had 4 different phases: 3 of which he grew in power, and the last was his defeat. The Lead Artist on Nox created the other 3 phases and gave me a style guide for the final form, all of which was approved by the Art Director.
Painting Miscrits Volcano Background
Miscrits backgrounds were painted in Photoshop rather than illustrated in vector. As with the others, there was reference, sketches, and communication with the Art Dept. I would start by grabbing screenshots of the level in-game and sourcing any similar backgrounds already made. After the sketch, I would paint into layers with clipping masks in greyscale. For the final art, color was added with the color blending mode, and effects like lava glow, atmospheric perspective, specular highlights, and rim lighting.
Designing a Miscrits Level
As a Lead Artist on several projects, I was tasked to design levels. I started with screenshots of a similar area, sketched out level designs, and ran them by the Art Director until they were approved. They couldn’t be overly simple or complex, but that depended on the location and size. It was important to avoid linear pathing and provide hidden areas and Easter eggs. Once the design was ready, I would next create tilesets and assets, then populate the level with them in Broken Bulb’s gaming system.