Good news everyone – we have first real artwork made specially for NG!
Blacksmith is one of my favorite characters in the game, for he has this unique combination of working with cold steel and burning hot fire, creating tools and weapons from chunks of raw metal – a true artist of hammer and a man of highest respect in town.
Few days ago I have asked my friend Basy to make a sketch based on NG, for example depicting the smith. To my surprise she agreed. With a couple of references and some guidance she made this wonderful and heart-touching sketch:
Blacksmith
Smith’s strength becomes obvious when you see his huge hammer, few people can actually lift, but he operates it with ease. He is a hard-working man, with a touch of fiery fire in his beard, noble spirit and a very kind heart.
Oh I like it! What will it be used for?
Don’t you like the looks of it? – that is already a good use 😉
I already said I liked it; but if it’s not used within the game it’s kind of useless from my point of view.
Many artworks are never used in games, I still like artworks anyway :p
This one looks great !
About artworks, they usually show/create a graphic “theme” of the game, and create a little universe around it, at least that’s how I see thing.
As Shadaoe rightly commented – Artworks are used to create the spirit of the games universe. They help to establish the mood and visual style.
Artworks can be used for internal use (for other artists, 3D modelers, painters, game designers) and external use – to establish the games “image” among players and fans (site decorations, wallpapers, etc.). Many times artworks are later reused in manuals too, but their first goal is to aid the design process.
2D artworks greatly help to design characters and locations, for it is very fast way of producing a visual image.
For example smith on the first sketch was dressed in a vest, I was able to redress the smith into an apron in under 5min. When using convenient 3D modelling that would have taken 15-20min and would not look as good without additional time spent on texturing (which we do not use yet) and lighting.