Game Art Studio: What is It?

Art is an integral part of game development. From rough concept to final assets, both in 2d and 3d, Game art is a major deciding factor in determining the look and feel of a game, and often determines how engaging it is for potential players. It goes without saying that the visualization of a game relies entirely on its art.

Game art is produced either by a gaming studio in-house or outsourced to an art studio to make the best use of time and expertise. In either case, producing effective and appealing game art requires close coordination between artists and developers.

Today, Game Art requires a considerable degree of expertise in both 2d and 3d, working across a blend of materials- both traditional and digital- and requiring knowledge in several different disciplines. For a game to look visually appealing and to effectively engage its player base, great art assets are an absolute must.

As an example, 2d artists work on a variety of Game Art, ranging from backgrounds, maps and terrain to textures and skins, or designing two-dimensional sprites for animation. Alternately, 2d artists work in tandem with designers and programmers to produce UI and UX elements, which again play a huge role in player interest and engagement. This requires the effective use of both traditional media as well as digital, using software such as Photoshop and Unity.

Likewise, 3d artists are needed for creating 3d models, meshes, rigging and animating elements before they can be used as game assets or in-game cinematics. Just like 2d artists, this requires experience and proficiency with various 3d software and development packages.

It goes without saying that not all gaming studios can have a fully-staffed art team, comprising experienced 2d and 3d artists under the leadership of a skilled art director. Rather than training and maintaining such a team, many studios choose to outsource their art needs to an established Game Art studio. This is an effective use of time and resources to quickly produce high-quality art resources in a shorter time period than it would take to assemble and utilize an in-house team. Gaming is a constantly evolving field, with rising standards of quality that can be met only with a highly experienced art team. In this regard, Game Art Outsourcing provides an easy and viable way of staying abreast with industry standards while producing high-quality art assets for your project.