Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia is one of those games that I've played ever since it was a pixilated side-scroller during my early childhood. While the more recent 3D versions of the game aren't all that interesting in terms of story-line or gameplay, I think the visual/art/design style for this particular game is absolutely breathtaking and very unique.

The entire game has been done with a very painterly aesthetic - the characters look like they have been painted - they are not intended to look super-realistic.

The worlds also have that painterly aesthetic - they are still incredibly detailed, but each environment, each screenshot looks like it could be a painting in itself.

I love how light has been used in this image to really just highlight the blades in amongst the darkness. This creates a very good atmosphere and puts the player on edge.

The game's world has a rich history, so this really has a large impact on the design - from environments to buildings to the finer details, as is shown in this image. Although a painterly style has been used, the artists and designers have still taken a lot of time with detail and and other aspects such as textures.

I love how artists can draw inspiration from all corners of the world - this tower/building reminds me of the Bible's "Tower of Babel" - I'm not sure that this is what it's meant to be, you can certainly see it if you use your imagination.

A lot of the Prince of persia concept art pieces, like this one and many of the other "environment concept" pieces are proper and complete artworks in their own right - many of them look like they could be oil paintings made by the old masters. I really love the aesthetic of the game - it's really refreshing to bring in more "traditional" art styles into such a digital world.

The character design is equally amazing - there has been so much attention paid to detail. I like how the backgrounds to all the character-based pieces have been kept simple but still create a suitable environment for the character while still allowing the character to be the center of attention.

I also notice that a lot of these pieces have a very constant colour scheme - sandy yellows, golds, oranges - this effectively links all the pieces together - you could easily extinguish these designs from other game's concept art.

I always love looking at concept drawings/paintings of characters who are in the same pose but repeated many times with different clothing - it really helps you grasp the different 'states' of a character and allows for easy comparison.

I like how the main character is still easily recognisable as the "Prince of Persia" from the old games - there is nothing worse than when a company takes something you grew up with and have a bond with and they change it completely. They have obviously changed the character a lot to suit a less pixelated, 2D world, but one can look at him and still believe that he is the same character.

I really like the rough and sketchy nature of this image and the one below it - they have a very painterly aesthetic which is really beautiful and works really well in concept art.

Dragonage 1 & 2

Dragonage is another game with beautiful art, especially in terms of concept art and character design. This game has some beautiful costume design - lovely armour and weaponry.

This image doesn't waste time on unnecessary detail. The main focus of this image is the armour, so the rest of the character is simply a 2D silhouette.

This image of one of the main characters, Morigan, experiments with her look during different parts/times in the game. I like how the poses are the same, allowing the artists to simply change a few aspects to get a whole new design.

I love the texture in this image - makes it not look so clean and sterile.

These are some really cool explorations of the character and her dark-ish and mysterious nature...

Here are some typical character experiments for some of the demons - the bad characters in the game.

These are some more character designs.

Like I mentioned before, this game has beautiful weaponry. Here you can see how much effort is put into perfecting the design.

Dragonage also has beautiful landscapes and environments which you can explore at your leisure. They are beautiful and full of detail and really make it seem like this medieval world exists somewhere, waiting to be explored.

There are different areas throughout the game - each with it's own style.

Forests are where the elves live

Towns are where the people and witches live

...and dwarves live underground in rocky caves.

Each environment has been designed to tell you a lot about that specific race, who they are, their culture, their beliefs, their history, their way of life.

These drawings really show all that beautifully.

Bioshock 1 and 2

Some of my all time favourite games is Bioshock 1 and 2. I think that this is one of the games that made me want to try to pursue a career in video game design/illustration/character design/concept design etc. I have always been obsessed with the 50's style, as well as with things a bit more gruesome, such as zombies, so this game really has it all for me.

Here are a few of the concept art illustrations and digital art pieces for the game:

The Big Daddy characters are huge enemies in the first game and in the second, you play as one. This means that they had to be designed and experimented with to perfection.

Here you can see how many times these characters are drawn, redrawn, from all different angles.

Some of the images are really simple and aren't realistically detailed, but these still give a good idea of the character.

Usually character drawings are done from both the front and back view.

You can see here how the images can get really detailed.

This is the female version of the Big Daddy - the Big Sister. These guys are complete assholes in the second game, where they are introduced.

I also really like this image - character experimentation for the Big Sister using only silhouettes. This allows you to see the most interesting aspects of the character without being overcome with the beauty or detail of the painting itself. It also shows off good gesture and personality.

The little sisters are incredibly creepy characters - little drug-crazy girls who you can decide to let live/save or kill (for their drugs).

I love this image. The girls - "Little Sisters" - seem so innocent at first glance ... okay, maybe not in this image, but certainly in others! They have these cute little faces, bows in their hair and pretty dresses, and they play with butterflies. But then you notice that their eyes are glowing, there's blood all over their clothes and their holding a sharp syringe which they stick into dead bodies...

This is a beautiful full digital painting showing some one the characters in the Bioshock environment. I love that it is someone's job to make these detailed and beautiful images.

This is a detailed illustration of the Big Daddy's drill, which is one of the main weapons in the game. You can see that parts have been annotated. This really makes me think of any other kind of product design - like this is something that needs to have all the right parts to be fully functional. It also shows how much consideration and work goes into designing characters and other aspects of video game environments.

After a while, the drawing above turns into this.

I remember reading that the inspiration for some of these zombie-like characters (splicers) came from real-life photographs of some gruesome surgeries that were done on people who had been deformed as a result of the war.

I love the 50's style of this female splicer, especially her deformities. It is bloody creepy and makes a really unique female character.

I love how experimental concept artists can be with their images and the lengths to which they can push each limb.

Of course, with character design comes costume and accessory design. I think this is of great importance when giving the character a personality. Clothes and accessories are an important indication of who that character is - they give the player a strong indication about who and what that character is and about their motives/personality etc.

I love how concept artists experiment with every aspect of the characters, drawing them over and over until they have the perfect result. It is really cool how sketchy these drawings can be and at the same time how much they can tell you about who that character is.