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SPEAKER 1: So the schedule
for today-- once again,

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another one of those
one hour lecture,

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two hour group work things.

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We've got a guest
lecturer today.

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We're got Luigi, here, to talk
to us about art and artists,

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especially when it comes
to games and, particularly,

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visual artists.

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Yeah?

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LUIGI GUATIERI: Yes.

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SPEAKER 1: Yeah,
so visual artists

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when it comes to
game development.

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After his lecture,
and after Q&A, we

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don't have any scheduled
play tests today,

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but we do have a
couple of guests here

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who have some really good
experience making games.

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So if you'd like to set aside
10 to 15 minutes per team,

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have a person come
and play your game,

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I'd highly recommend
taking advantage of it.

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I mean, it all depends,
I think, on what state

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your games are in.

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I do want to know that.

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How many teams are
now working in what

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is going to be their final
development environment.

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So if you're working
in Phaser, you're

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building in Phaser now, if
you're working in Unity,

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you're working in Unity now.

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Looks like one team,
two teams, three teams--

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is that two different
teams over there?

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AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

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SPEAKER 1: Here.

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OK, great.

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So everybody's
pretty much working

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in a development environment.

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Great.

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Cool.

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So like I said, as
it says on Stellar,

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Wednesday we're going to have
a play test at 3 o'clock.

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So at 3 o'clock we're going
to have a guest class come in

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to play your games.

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We'll do a play test,
just like we've always

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been doing play tests.

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And then before that, I'm going
to be giving a talk on fiction

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and story for your games.

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And in between there will be
time for you to meet your teams

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and set up for your play tests.

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LUIGI GUATIERI: Cool,
artists and games.

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And So this talk's going
to be about what artists

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do in games, how
to find artists,

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how to work with artists,
how artists are involved

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in game development,
the different roles that

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are assigned to them.

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I'm going to be talking
from the independent games

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perspective, so smaller
teams, because that's

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sort of my background and
my experience with games.

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But I will talk a little bit
about the diversification

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of artists' roles
in bigger studios.

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First, who am I?

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I'm me.

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I'm this dude in the corner.

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My name's Luigi Guatieri.

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I'm a local Boston
indie artist, when

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it comes to games at least--
no so much comics anymore.

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Yeah, so I work with a lot
of teams in Boston developing

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games.

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Since so few of these developers
know a lot of artists,

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I get to work on a lot
of different projects,

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because they don't have a
lot of people to turn to.

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And I'll go into
that in a little bit.

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Sort of games I've
developed in the past-- I

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worked on Girls Like
Robots with Ziba Scott--

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up there-- which was
published by Adult Swim, iOS.

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And he likes to tout it
as the 13th best rated

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iOS game of 2012.

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I don't really care
about that statistic,

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but I'll mention it anyways.

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I worked on The
Counting Kingdom which

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Jenna Hoffstein, which
is actually coming out

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this week on iOS.

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So if you have
kids, please buy it.

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If you're not a
kid, buy it anyways.

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I've been working on Elegy for
a Dead World, also with Ziba,

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and, as a partnership,
with Dejobaan Studios,

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which had a successful
Kickstarter so

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if anybody backed it in
here, that was great.

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But if none of you did,
then sucks to be you.

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All right, that's
sort of my summary.

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I'm not going to show my
portfolio, or anything.

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But let's get into it.

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So you need an artist.

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You're a programmer, or a
designer, or a sound guy,

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and you can't draw for crap.

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You think you can
be like, oh no.

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I'll just wing the art.

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It'll be fine.

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I'll release my game.

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No, don't, do that.

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Get an artist.

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Artists make games look pretty.

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Artists make games
more immersive.

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Artists take a player
who-- maybe you

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have the most amazing game
mechanics in the game, sort

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of like a dwarf fortress or
something, which turns away so

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many people because
of how ugly it is.

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No, you need artists.

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Artists make your game
better, more interesting,

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even objectively better
in a lot of ways--

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if you get the right
artist, of course.

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It also makes something
you're proud of looking at,

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and proud of showing
off at shows.

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When you have your
booth at PAX and you've

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got all the AAA studios around,
all the high-end indies,

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and then there's you with
blocks that hit each other,

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you're going to be kind of
disappointed in yourself.

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But cool.

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What kind of artist do you need?

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But of course, that depends
on what kind of game

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you're making.

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Obviously, here I
have just doodled

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out a few different styles.

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Style's a big part
of art for games.

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But of course, there's different
roles and different kinds

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of artists in the world.

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I'm sure a lot of this
will be redundant to any

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of those who really
like games, but I'm

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going to go over it anyways.

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Obviously, in big
studios you have

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a lot of very specific
roles for artists.

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This is a character artist,
environment artist, texture

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artist, this is the animator.

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But when it comes
to indie studios,

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I'm the guy who does everything.

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I do the concept
art, the 2D assets.

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I do the promotional material.

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I do the graphic design.

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I do the logo design.

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I make trailers.

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Because usually indie
studios don't have the funds.

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They don't have the
ability, or the time,

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and/or the resources to
get more than one artist,

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so it sort of comes
down to the one guy.

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But sort of going to go through
the different kinds of art

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that are typically
done in games.

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I'm going to break it down
to their specific roles.

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And I'll talk about-- I'll be
showing mostly my work here.

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I'll sort of break it down to
the different kinds of art,

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and the different kinds of
artists that work on these.

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So first is a swath of
indie games that are 2D now.

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Used to be that
retro games were 2D.

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And then older games before
polygons and all such things

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were all 2-dimensionals--
2-dimension.

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So 2D makes up
[? like-- ?] illustrators,

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graphic designers, concept
artists, sprite artists,

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texture artists, 2D
animators, UI designers--

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it is a large field.

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Again, with indie developers,
it's easy to go 2D,

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because you don't have
to worry about 3D,

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which takes a lot more time.

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So this is sort of some 2D
assets from a prototype that I

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worked on a while back, but
this is sort of [? my old ?]

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[? end ?] game stuff.

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Of course, the first part of
2D art, which also pertains

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to 3D art, and at
bigger studios they

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have specific roles for this.

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This is concept art.

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Concept art is far my favorite
part of pre-production,

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at least, in terms of you get to
take what the programmer wants,

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and actually make it look like
what they think in their head

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it's supposed to look like.

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They'll come to you
with a crappy pencil

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sketch on some paper, and be
like, here I've got a knight,

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and he's on a mountain,
and he's fighting a dragon.

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And I'll be like, this doesn't
look anything like that,

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but I know exactly what
you're talking about.

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And he's like, I'm feeling red!

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I want red!

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And they just took like
a Sharpie or something,

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and just scribbled all
over the piece of paper.

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So I'm like, all
right, I got that.

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Give me like a day,
and I'll come back,

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and then you'll
have this painting

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of a knight fighting a dragon.

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And the [? programmer's ?]
like, yes!

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That's exactly what I
drew on my piece of paper.

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It isn't, but you
let them have that.

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It makes them feel better.

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So concept art is definitely
for both 2D and 3D.

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You need to know
what your game is

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going to look like
before you dive straight

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into it-- into the visuals
and even some of the design,

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before you have a
clear idea of what

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the game's going to look like.

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If you have no idea what
the game is going to look

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like, and you already
have an artist,

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and you've made this
amazing prototype.

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And you're like look, just swap
out my art and put yours in.

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That's not always going to work.

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There's a lot of
design decisions

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you have to make
around the art--

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how the characters contrast
from the environment, how

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the environments will animate,
how the environments will

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00:08:07,860 --> 00:08:11,590
disappear into the mist, or
how this sort of UI will work.

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These are all things
that it's really good

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to have an artist's eye
on as early as possible.

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It also gives a sort of
visual Bible for the game.

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Concept art helps-- the artist
draws it, and then hands it out

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to the rest of the
team, and like, this

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is what we're aiming for.

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In a big studio, you would
have the concept artist would

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hand that off to the 3D
artists or the other 2D

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00:08:34,250 --> 00:08:36,820
artists, the animator, the
modelers, texture artists,

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and say, look, this is
what we're aiming for.

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This is what I want
the final product

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00:08:40,260 --> 00:08:43,762
to look as close as possible to.

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But of course, if
you're making 2D games,

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you go into 2D assets.

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00:08:46,820 --> 00:08:48,850
This is a screenshot,
or an early screenshot,

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from Elegy for a Dead World.

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00:08:51,050 --> 00:08:54,150
So with this, I sort of
made the concept art,

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00:08:54,150 --> 00:08:56,530
cut it up, and stuck
it in the game.

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00:08:56,530 --> 00:08:58,877
That's a really basic
way of making 2D art.

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00:08:58,877 --> 00:09:00,710
I have one with this
sort of painterly style

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that I decided to go
with the concept art.

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00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:04,910
I made a painting.

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00:09:04,910 --> 00:09:08,720
I said this is the style
that we're aiming for.

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So I cut it up and
put it in the game.

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And now you can move
around when things happen,

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and you can explore
this piece of art.

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2D assets are part of--

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Illustration, it's more of a old
school term, especially when it

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comes to games now.

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00:09:28,690 --> 00:09:31,260
People don't think of
it illustration so much,

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00:09:31,260 --> 00:09:34,530
but illustration is used
for promotional art,

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00:09:34,530 --> 00:09:37,460
for advertising the game,
for inspiring your team,

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00:09:37,460 --> 00:09:41,700
for websites, for
trying to solidify

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00:09:41,700 --> 00:09:44,330
your game into like a poster,
or an image, or a banner.

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00:09:44,330 --> 00:09:46,400
So many games are
sold on Steam now

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00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,146
with just a tiny little
banner that you click on,

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00:09:49,146 --> 00:09:51,020
then you get a little
slightly bigger banner,

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00:09:51,020 --> 00:09:52,394
and then maybe a
game-play video.

247
00:09:52,394 --> 00:09:56,470
So much of that first click,
like making that person go,

248
00:09:56,470 --> 00:09:58,880
oh that tiny little banner
looks kind of interesting.

249
00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:03,560
Let me click on it-- is
such a crucial point,

250
00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:06,200
especially if you haven't done
your job marketing, that you

251
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,680
need to have illustrations
and promotional art,

252
00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:10,230
and posters, and graphic design.

253
00:10:10,230 --> 00:10:17,100
And that goes under the
Illustrator sort of dome.

254
00:10:17,100 --> 00:10:19,660
In a big studio, they'd usually
have the concept art also

255
00:10:19,660 --> 00:10:21,310
be the illustrations
a lot of the time,

256
00:10:21,310 --> 00:10:23,740
but usually the concept
artists are very proficient,

257
00:10:23,740 --> 00:10:25,270
because they have to be fast.

258
00:10:25,270 --> 00:10:27,710
And they also make the
illustrations for a game.

259
00:10:27,710 --> 00:10:30,580
Obviously as an indie, you're
making the illustrations too.

260
00:10:33,590 --> 00:10:41,300
UI design-- this is like in
between three different facets.

261
00:10:41,300 --> 00:10:44,100
You got design, illustration,
and graphic design.

262
00:10:44,100 --> 00:10:47,500
Graphic design, I mean,
by like sort of logos,

263
00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:50,980
and making things more
readable to users,

264
00:10:50,980 --> 00:10:53,779
but that sort of goes
into game design in terms

265
00:10:53,779 --> 00:10:55,070
of how the UI is going to work.

266
00:10:55,070 --> 00:10:57,210
And then you also need
a graphic designer

267
00:10:57,210 --> 00:10:59,030
to actually make it look good.

268
00:10:59,030 --> 00:11:00,930
This is a big part of
2D design-- obviously,

269
00:11:00,930 --> 00:11:03,370
it's in 2D games,
but usually UI's

270
00:11:03,370 --> 00:11:05,510
flat, because you're dealing
with buttons and menus

271
00:11:05,510 --> 00:11:07,750
and HUD overlays.

272
00:11:07,750 --> 00:11:10,310
So that's sort of a weird
intersection between all three

273
00:11:10,310 --> 00:11:13,679
of these facets, where it'd
sort of have to be usable,

274
00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:15,470
has to make sense in
the game design world,

275
00:11:15,470 --> 00:11:16,469
and it has to look good.

276
00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:20,780
Let's jump into 3D.

277
00:11:20,780 --> 00:11:25,254
3D is the more complicated
side of the art.

278
00:11:25,254 --> 00:11:27,420
Painting a picture doesn't
take me a very long time,

279
00:11:27,420 --> 00:11:29,810
but making a 3D model
takes much longer time,

280
00:11:29,810 --> 00:11:32,150
especially if it's
highly detailed

281
00:11:32,150 --> 00:11:36,660
or needs a lot of
texturing, or I

282
00:11:36,660 --> 00:11:39,670
need to make it work in a
very specific type of game.

283
00:11:39,670 --> 00:11:42,090
There's a reason a lot
of indies avoid 3D.

284
00:11:42,090 --> 00:11:43,790
It's because-- I
mean, especially--

285
00:11:43,790 --> 00:11:45,623
it's getting easier all
the time, especially

286
00:11:45,623 --> 00:11:49,550
with tools like Unity and
Blender but a lot in Indies

287
00:11:49,550 --> 00:11:52,290
do stick to 2D, because
3D just gives you

288
00:11:52,290 --> 00:11:55,120
a lot of hassles that you
don't have to deal with in 2D.

289
00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,300
And usually you need more
artists to work with 3D,

290
00:11:58,300 --> 00:12:01,539
because, to make a game in
3D, it takes a long time.

291
00:12:01,539 --> 00:12:02,830
You have to model environments.

292
00:12:02,830 --> 00:12:03,570
You have to model characters.

293
00:12:03,570 --> 00:12:04,653
You have to model objects.

294
00:12:04,653 --> 00:12:07,100
Whereas in a 2D game,
I'd be like all right,

295
00:12:07,100 --> 00:12:10,520
a box is just four lines
and just color it in.

296
00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:11,470
Box in 3D?

297
00:12:11,470 --> 00:12:13,050
All right, I made the cube.

298
00:12:13,050 --> 00:12:14,080
That's easy, whatever.

299
00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:15,750
Now I got to texture it,
and I got to inclusion map

300
00:12:15,750 --> 00:12:17,890
it, normal map it-- It
takes a lot more time.

301
00:12:17,890 --> 00:12:21,060
And it usually ends up
looking really nice,

302
00:12:21,060 --> 00:12:23,260
but usually you'd
need more artists.

303
00:12:23,260 --> 00:12:26,080
The roles in 3D is modeling--
this is one of my earlier

304
00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:28,340
attempts at modeling.

305
00:12:28,340 --> 00:12:31,370
So the modelers, they sculpt
3D characters in environments.

306
00:12:31,370 --> 00:12:34,710
They sculpt what's going
to be put into the world.

307
00:12:34,710 --> 00:12:38,340
Modeling and texturing makes
up the bulk of 3D work.

308
00:12:41,704 --> 00:12:43,120
It takes a long
time to get right,

309
00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,990
and then sort of having to
make it work within your game

310
00:12:45,990 --> 00:12:47,380
is another big facet of that.

311
00:12:50,090 --> 00:12:53,840
ZBrush is a really fancy tool
that a lot of 3D artists use.

312
00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,220
And they will sculpt the
crap out of it, and be like,

313
00:12:56,220 --> 00:12:59,340
oh man, you can see every--
I sculpted every skin pore

314
00:12:59,340 --> 00:13:02,020
on this guy's face,
and every vein

315
00:13:02,020 --> 00:13:04,800
is actually underneath his skin,
and the fat, and the muscle,

316
00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:08,280
and the bone-- yeah, good luck
getting that to run in any game

317
00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:08,930
right now.

318
00:13:08,930 --> 00:13:10,596
Obviously, things
getting more powerful.

319
00:13:10,596 --> 00:13:12,130
Again, as an indie
guy, if you tried

320
00:13:12,130 --> 00:13:14,255
to sculpt every pore
into a guy's skin,

321
00:13:14,255 --> 00:13:15,880
you're going to end
up spending a month

322
00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:18,005
working on that where you
should have been spending

323
00:13:18,005 --> 00:13:21,910
a month just pumping out art.

324
00:13:21,910 --> 00:13:25,570
So those get broken down further
into character art, which

325
00:13:25,570 --> 00:13:28,500
is-- at bigger studios, you
do have a specific character

326
00:13:28,500 --> 00:13:29,000
artist.

327
00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:30,400
They only work on
the characters,

328
00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:32,400
because the characters
are a very important part

329
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:34,110
of the game,
obviously, and usually

330
00:13:34,110 --> 00:13:36,580
have to be more detailed
than a lot of the other parts

331
00:13:36,580 --> 00:13:39,410
of the game, especially if
it's the player character.

332
00:13:39,410 --> 00:13:42,100
You're always staring at them
if they're a third person game,

333
00:13:42,100 --> 00:13:46,306
or if they're NPCs you deal
with regularly in the world,

334
00:13:46,306 --> 00:13:47,180
they're always there.

335
00:13:47,180 --> 00:13:48,170
They're always looking at them.

336
00:13:48,170 --> 00:13:50,040
They have to be visually
nice to look at.

337
00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:51,910
And the modelers have
to spend a lot of time

338
00:13:51,910 --> 00:13:54,409
making that work
right and look right.

339
00:13:54,409 --> 00:13:56,700
And they also have to deal
with a lot of uncanny valley

340
00:13:56,700 --> 00:13:59,830
stuff, which-- what
the uncanny valley is,

341
00:13:59,830 --> 00:14:03,050
if you try to make it
realistic, and it doesn't quite

342
00:14:03,050 --> 00:14:07,500
look realistic-- like this
guy-- people look weird,

343
00:14:07,500 --> 00:14:08,980
and people are
weirded out by that.

344
00:14:08,980 --> 00:14:12,740
And it's a big problem character
artists have to deal with.

345
00:14:12,740 --> 00:14:16,270
Environment artists-- they're
the ones who make the world.

346
00:14:16,270 --> 00:14:17,270
They make the buildings.

347
00:14:17,270 --> 00:14:17,860
They make the trees.

348
00:14:17,860 --> 00:14:19,010
They make the mountains.

349
00:14:19,010 --> 00:14:21,470
They're the ones who
fill up the world.

350
00:14:21,470 --> 00:14:23,342
Sometimes concept
artists are actually

351
00:14:23,342 --> 00:14:25,800
broken up between character
artists and environment artists

352
00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:27,846
too, depending on how
big the studio is.

353
00:14:27,846 --> 00:14:29,220
Again, as an indie,
you're always

354
00:14:29,220 --> 00:14:32,120
making the environment art, the
character art, the concept art,

355
00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:34,300
UI, and everything.

356
00:14:34,300 --> 00:14:38,310
But usually when you hand in
a portfolio to a big studio,

357
00:14:38,310 --> 00:14:40,221
as an artist, they
always ask first,

358
00:14:40,221 --> 00:14:42,720
are you a character artist or
are you an environment artist?

359
00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:45,840
Unless you're going
for like UI design.

360
00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:50,360
But as an artist, if
you go up and say,

361
00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,390
I don't-- I'm kind of
both-- which is what I do,

362
00:14:53,390 --> 00:14:54,930
kind of both-- they
just turn away.

363
00:14:54,930 --> 00:14:57,280
They don't have time for
you unless you're just

364
00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,000
unbelievably amazing at both.

365
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,070
So the big facet I skipped
out on both of those things

366
00:15:03,070 --> 00:15:07,080
is animation, which
pertains to 2D and 3D.

367
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,360
Animation is very,
very difficult

368
00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,100
to get right in 2D, and in
3D, but 3D is way easier.

369
00:15:14,100 --> 00:15:17,170
There's a reason Disney closed
down all their 2D animation

370
00:15:17,170 --> 00:15:20,100
studios, because it's
a waste of time now.

371
00:15:20,100 --> 00:15:24,500
It looks good, but it's very
expensive, very time consuming.

372
00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:27,610
A good reference point is--
has anyone played Skullgirls?

373
00:15:27,610 --> 00:15:31,320
Which was like a 2D
indie fighting game.

374
00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,820
They wanted to add a single
character to their game.

375
00:15:34,820 --> 00:15:38,670
And they started a Kickstarter
and they asked for $250 grand

376
00:15:38,670 --> 00:15:40,410
just to add one character.

377
00:15:40,410 --> 00:15:44,620
Because of how
exact the animations

378
00:15:44,620 --> 00:15:47,460
had to be and the quality
of the 2D animations.

379
00:15:47,460 --> 00:15:52,030
Hand drawing animations
is very time consuming

380
00:15:52,030 --> 00:15:58,370
for sprites-- and sort of
hand animating 2D guys.

381
00:15:58,370 --> 00:16:00,610
So that was sort of
solved by tweening.

382
00:16:00,610 --> 00:16:03,880
Tweening is-- as you probably
all know-- is I have my arm,

383
00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:05,670
and I draw it, and I
can do this with it.

384
00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,060
And that makes
animation more fluid,

385
00:16:10,060 --> 00:16:12,780
and you can sort of
blend in animations

386
00:16:12,780 --> 00:16:16,110
with other animations much
easier, especially with like,

387
00:16:16,110 --> 00:16:22,150
I've been using
Spine-- that's it.

388
00:16:22,150 --> 00:16:26,110
Spine in Unity to help blend a
lot of my tweening animations.

389
00:16:26,110 --> 00:16:28,870
3D usually only works
with tweening animations,

390
00:16:28,870 --> 00:16:30,880
in sort of, you have
the animation rigged.

391
00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:32,530
And you move the
body parts around,

392
00:16:32,530 --> 00:16:35,810
and sort of algorithmically
draws in the in between frames.

393
00:16:35,810 --> 00:16:38,240
Whereas in hand drawn 2D
animation-- old school

394
00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,640
2D animation-- characters-- if
you want to move the character

395
00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:45,270
like this, you have to draw
all of those frames usually.

396
00:16:45,270 --> 00:16:47,580
So that's why a lot of indies,
they turn to pixel art.

397
00:16:47,580 --> 00:16:51,580
Because an arm doing this
is like two blocks moving,

398
00:16:51,580 --> 00:16:53,700
which it takes way less time.

399
00:16:53,700 --> 00:16:54,710
It's way easier.

400
00:16:54,710 --> 00:16:56,710
And it's a style
that a lot of people

401
00:16:56,710 --> 00:17:00,439
like so it's sort
of easy to sell it.

402
00:17:00,439 --> 00:17:02,105
If there was no such
thing as pixel art,

403
00:17:02,105 --> 00:17:05,149
and you tried to make
a pixel art game now,

404
00:17:05,149 --> 00:17:06,940
people would be like,
this is kind of lazy.

405
00:17:06,940 --> 00:17:10,550
The whole world was
Disney quality animation.

406
00:17:10,550 --> 00:17:12,716
All right, great, so you're
thinking about what kind

407
00:17:12,716 --> 00:17:16,339
of artists you need, what roles
you need to fill for your game.

408
00:17:16,339 --> 00:17:16,839
But wait!

409
00:17:16,839 --> 00:17:18,630
The most important
thing is, how much money

410
00:17:18,630 --> 00:17:21,579
do you have in your wallet?

411
00:17:21,579 --> 00:17:27,530
Because artists cost
money, obviously.

412
00:17:27,530 --> 00:17:30,560
They have to eat, as much
as the starving artist

413
00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:34,110
stereotype is perpetuated.

414
00:17:34,110 --> 00:17:35,560
Obviously, if
you're a big studio,

415
00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:37,910
you can just throw down
the fat stacks of cash,

416
00:17:37,910 --> 00:17:40,200
and say, I want four
concept artists,

417
00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,870
an army of VFX artists,
3D art modelers.

418
00:17:43,870 --> 00:17:49,650
I need 2D texture guys and
UI designers, you name it.

419
00:17:49,650 --> 00:17:51,860
And they can bring
in every one and get

420
00:17:51,860 --> 00:17:53,860
the best of the best,
because they have millions

421
00:17:53,860 --> 00:17:55,200
of dollars to work with.

422
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:59,430
As an indie, you don't have
anything to work with, usually,

423
00:17:59,430 --> 00:18:03,300
unless you Kickstarted magically
now, and made a ton of money,

424
00:18:03,300 --> 00:18:05,910
or you have some sort
of outside funding,

425
00:18:05,910 --> 00:18:09,490
you sort of have to coax
an artist into your grasp.

426
00:18:09,490 --> 00:18:12,570
And either promise them
with some money you have

427
00:18:12,570 --> 00:18:16,170
or revenue share,
but usually you're

428
00:18:16,170 --> 00:18:19,022
going to only end up with
maybe one, two artists,

429
00:18:19,022 --> 00:18:20,480
depending on the
size of your team.

430
00:18:23,370 --> 00:18:24,520
It's tough.

431
00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:26,860
Amazing artists
cost a lot of money.

432
00:18:26,860 --> 00:18:29,030
If you're trying to go
for the best of the best,

433
00:18:29,030 --> 00:18:31,510
the famous guy you saw
on the internet one time,

434
00:18:31,510 --> 00:18:33,500
they're going to
charge for being

435
00:18:33,500 --> 00:18:36,100
the famous guy on the
internet you saw one time.

436
00:18:36,100 --> 00:18:38,300
Middle-of-the-road artists
are harder to find,

437
00:18:38,300 --> 00:18:46,850
because-- how do I put this--
either they're too old to have

438
00:18:46,850 --> 00:18:48,930
kept going with art
and they've given up,

439
00:18:48,930 --> 00:18:51,080
because they couldn't
be an amazing artist,

440
00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:53,940
and they're not making enough
money as an artist making

441
00:18:53,940 --> 00:18:56,962
a living, and they're
sort of given up,

442
00:18:56,962 --> 00:18:59,170
or you can nab them right
out of school at some point

443
00:18:59,170 --> 00:19:00,460
or in school.

444
00:19:00,460 --> 00:19:02,870
But there are a lot of
crappy artists out there.

445
00:19:02,870 --> 00:19:06,590
If you want to find any
artist, there's a ton of them.

446
00:19:06,590 --> 00:19:08,340
I will go into how to
find those guys too.

447
00:19:10,950 --> 00:19:14,460
First, back to the next-- one
of the early slides here--

448
00:19:14,460 --> 00:19:16,720
artists are important.

449
00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:21,030
I know as a designer programmer,
you think you can do it all,

450
00:19:21,030 --> 00:19:22,960
but don't skimp on artists.

451
00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:26,030
If you have an
amazing game idea,

452
00:19:26,030 --> 00:19:29,150
you want to make that
product the best you can.

453
00:19:29,150 --> 00:19:32,290
And having a really good
artist is a big part of that.

454
00:19:32,290 --> 00:19:35,040
You might think, I'm just going
to sell my game on mechanics.

455
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,540
It's going to be great.

456
00:19:37,540 --> 00:19:40,450
The best mechanics
you've ever seen.

457
00:19:40,450 --> 00:19:41,700
But why stop there?

458
00:19:41,700 --> 00:19:44,330
Why not have amazing art
to go with your mechanics?

459
00:19:44,330 --> 00:19:47,930
If you can hire multiple
artists, please do.

460
00:19:47,930 --> 00:19:51,632
Because it'll take a load
off of them, because--

461
00:19:51,632 --> 00:19:54,090
especially at a big studio,
even indie studios-- making art

462
00:19:54,090 --> 00:19:57,670
is a huge chunk of time.

463
00:19:57,670 --> 00:20:00,470
As graphics get more and
more intense and more

464
00:20:00,470 --> 00:20:04,257
and more realistic,
art is the thing

465
00:20:04,257 --> 00:20:06,590
that takes up the most amount
of time during development

466
00:20:06,590 --> 00:20:08,764
and it's the money sink now.

467
00:20:08,764 --> 00:20:10,305
You know, OK, let's
say we're working

468
00:20:10,305 --> 00:20:12,820
on the new Call of
Duty-- just came out.

469
00:20:12,820 --> 00:20:14,840
All right, this is a
first-person shooter.

470
00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:16,310
We can do some level design.

471
00:20:16,310 --> 00:20:18,560
There's some added features.

472
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,060
But like, all right,
we need robots,

473
00:20:20,060 --> 00:20:21,980
and destructible
buildings, and soldiers,

474
00:20:21,980 --> 00:20:25,660
and everything has to look
as top quality as possible,

475
00:20:25,660 --> 00:20:30,000
or else everyone will decry
the game as looking like crap,

476
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,900
because of one other game
that did go that extra mile.

477
00:20:32,900 --> 00:20:36,270
And as an indie,
maybe you do want

478
00:20:36,270 --> 00:20:39,230
to try and compete with that,
in that-- let's say, all right,

479
00:20:39,230 --> 00:20:40,630
you have your illustrator.

480
00:20:40,630 --> 00:20:43,790
He can do the concept art,
he can do the 2D assets,

481
00:20:43,790 --> 00:20:44,580
in a lot of ways.

482
00:20:44,580 --> 00:20:47,760
But maybe he's not the
best at animation--

483
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:50,190
I'm not the best at animation--
so we'll get an animator,

484
00:20:50,190 --> 00:20:53,340
as well, who doesn't have to
come up with the cool designs--

485
00:20:53,340 --> 00:20:55,940
maybe he can help
or she can help--

486
00:20:55,940 --> 00:20:57,470
but you have this artist.

487
00:20:57,470 --> 00:21:00,460
You can be like, look, these are
the monsters I need animated.

488
00:21:00,460 --> 00:21:03,340
Can you do the animation while
I move on to the next thing?

489
00:21:03,340 --> 00:21:07,510
And especially if you're working
in 3D, having multiple artists

490
00:21:07,510 --> 00:21:09,260
is almost a must,
because otherwise you're

491
00:21:09,260 --> 00:21:11,240
never really going
to get anything done,

492
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,280
unless you can sort of design
around having one artist, which

493
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,092
becomes a huge limiting factor.

494
00:21:17,092 --> 00:21:19,550
But again, with everything,
especially in game development,

495
00:21:19,550 --> 00:21:21,650
you get sort of a law
of diminishing returns.

496
00:21:21,650 --> 00:21:25,084
The more artists you have-- or
the bigger your team is-- you

497
00:21:25,084 --> 00:21:28,840
know, going back to Destiny with
it's ridiculously high budget.

498
00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:33,410
It was like $300 million
or something, $500 million?

499
00:21:33,410 --> 00:21:35,350
You know, how much
more game did they get?

500
00:21:35,350 --> 00:21:36,820
How much more
entertainment value

501
00:21:36,820 --> 00:21:40,570
did they get with their
like studios of artists?

502
00:21:40,570 --> 00:21:43,065
They didn't just have
one studio of artists

503
00:21:43,065 --> 00:21:43,940
working on that game.

504
00:21:43,940 --> 00:21:45,530
They had multiple.

505
00:21:45,530 --> 00:21:47,720
So if you're an indie studio
and you're like, right,

506
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,730
we have two programmers
and, like, eight artists.

507
00:21:51,730 --> 00:21:53,990
Eight artists, that work
is diluted between them.

508
00:21:53,990 --> 00:21:56,115
You have to try and make
sure that each one of them

509
00:21:56,115 --> 00:21:59,519
is working in the
exact same style.

510
00:21:59,519 --> 00:22:02,060
You have to sort of understand
that it is difficult to switch

511
00:22:02,060 --> 00:22:03,130
your art style.

512
00:22:03,130 --> 00:22:08,090
If you've been drawing
one way your whole life,

513
00:22:08,090 --> 00:22:11,630
and then you're hired to
a team, maybe wrongly,

514
00:22:11,630 --> 00:22:14,580
to work on this game that
looks nothing like anything

515
00:22:14,580 --> 00:22:15,730
you've ever done.

516
00:22:15,730 --> 00:22:21,211
And you can't work within those
limits, within that style,

517
00:22:21,211 --> 00:22:22,710
you're going to
make work that looks

518
00:22:22,710 --> 00:22:25,110
different from the other
artists, and it will stand out

519
00:22:25,110 --> 00:22:26,000
and it'll look weird.

520
00:22:29,030 --> 00:22:30,220
Yes, really.

521
00:22:30,220 --> 00:22:31,190
Artists are important.

522
00:22:31,190 --> 00:22:35,020
I got to really stress this
point because I like work.

523
00:22:35,020 --> 00:22:37,330
Artists not only make
the game look good,

524
00:22:37,330 --> 00:22:40,360
but they inspire the
rest of the team.

525
00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:43,040
If you're just sitting, staring
at blocks hitting-- you know,

526
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,342
pongs-- hitting a block
back and forth all day,

527
00:22:45,342 --> 00:22:47,050
you're going to get
tired of it if you're

528
00:22:47,050 --> 00:22:48,520
working on it for a year.

529
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,100
If you have constant art
coming in, like concept art,

530
00:22:51,100 --> 00:22:54,550
animations, illustrations,
and you see it

531
00:22:54,550 --> 00:22:57,170
when a website writes
about your game,

532
00:22:57,170 --> 00:23:00,610
or a You-Tuber does a
stream about your game,

533
00:23:00,610 --> 00:23:04,060
it's exciting to see like,
look how good my game is,

534
00:23:04,060 --> 00:23:07,560
and I need to make this better
to match to the awesome art

535
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:09,296
that I have in the game.

536
00:23:09,296 --> 00:23:13,270
It helps motivate everyone to
be excited about the project

537
00:23:13,270 --> 00:23:14,300
they're working on.

538
00:23:14,300 --> 00:23:15,980
To know that, look,
when this comes out,

539
00:23:15,980 --> 00:23:16,700
it's going to look great.

540
00:23:16,700 --> 00:23:18,890
And it's going to be
compared to the best of them.

541
00:23:18,890 --> 00:23:20,400
Because that's awesome!

542
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:21,790
And everyone should be inspired.

543
00:23:21,790 --> 00:23:24,459
And art is such a quick
way of inspiring people,

544
00:23:24,459 --> 00:23:26,750
that it's almost worth the
money to pay the artist just

545
00:23:26,750 --> 00:23:28,685
to keep your wheels turning.

546
00:23:28,685 --> 00:23:30,810
Because if you just, again,
if you're just watching

547
00:23:30,810 --> 00:23:33,097
blocks bounce back and
forth-- yeah, great, OK.

548
00:23:33,097 --> 00:23:34,930
If you get excited about
that, that's great.

549
00:23:34,930 --> 00:23:37,010
But if you've got five
other people on your team,

550
00:23:37,010 --> 00:23:40,270
and they're all just working on
blocks bouncing back and forth,

551
00:23:40,270 --> 00:23:41,440
they're going to go and work
on something else that's

552
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:42,148
more interesting.

553
00:23:47,390 --> 00:23:52,480
So where do you find
these so-called artists?

554
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,030
Usually in sewers,
like the Ninja Turtles.

555
00:23:56,030 --> 00:24:00,300
But artists, in general, are
usually introverted people.

556
00:24:00,300 --> 00:24:03,260
Sort of like a
upbringing of-- I'm

557
00:24:03,260 --> 00:24:05,960
just going to sit in the
corner and doodle all the time.

558
00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:07,710
A lot of programmers
have the same thing--

559
00:24:07,710 --> 00:24:10,400
I'm going to sit on
my computer and code.

560
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,550
A lot of them don't go out of
their way to make attention

561
00:24:13,550 --> 00:24:14,840
to themselves.

562
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:16,340
I first learned
this when I was sort

563
00:24:16,340 --> 00:24:19,190
of going to meet ups around
Boston for game development.

564
00:24:19,190 --> 00:24:23,330
And how few artists
I was meeting.

565
00:24:23,330 --> 00:24:25,820
It was kind of disheartening
in a lot of ways.

566
00:24:25,820 --> 00:24:27,820
And the few artists I was
meeting, a lot of them

567
00:24:27,820 --> 00:24:30,810
were like, eh, OK, get
out of here, you're done.

568
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,640
Because artists, sort of,
even some of the best artists

569
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,540
I know, they sit in their
rooms, they make their art,

570
00:24:39,540 --> 00:24:41,332
maybe they get a blog
post on the internet,

571
00:24:41,332 --> 00:24:42,331
and it does really well.

572
00:24:42,331 --> 00:24:44,030
But a lot of them are
just sort of like,

573
00:24:44,030 --> 00:24:45,710
oh I'll just work
on this drawing.

574
00:24:45,710 --> 00:24:46,680
It's OK.

575
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:48,080
And it's crap.

576
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,060
Work on the next one.

577
00:24:50,060 --> 00:24:52,670
So you do have to look for
the right artist, which

578
00:24:52,670 --> 00:24:55,140
is sometimes more difficult
than you think it would be.

579
00:24:55,140 --> 00:24:57,473
You would think all artists
are always looking for work.

580
00:24:57,473 --> 00:24:58,710
They're all starving.

581
00:24:58,710 --> 00:24:59,420
They need work.

582
00:24:59,420 --> 00:25:00,640
They need work to live.

583
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:05,230
Well, yeah sure, a lot of them.

584
00:25:05,230 --> 00:25:08,210
They're not going to be coming
looking for you specifically.

585
00:25:08,210 --> 00:25:11,030
So here's some ideas
of how to track down

586
00:25:11,030 --> 00:25:13,300
this elusive species.

587
00:25:13,300 --> 00:25:15,629
Networking.

588
00:25:15,629 --> 00:25:17,920
Meet-ups, like I mentioned,
a lot of game dev meet-ups.

589
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:18,990
They do exist.

590
00:25:18,990 --> 00:25:19,956
They are there.

591
00:25:19,956 --> 00:25:22,650
There's some comic
book meet-ups in Boston

592
00:25:22,650 --> 00:25:24,950
with a lot of artists.

593
00:25:24,950 --> 00:25:27,490
It's all about maybe you'll
meet someone who knows someone.

594
00:25:27,490 --> 00:25:28,990
That's how most of
my work comes in,

595
00:25:28,990 --> 00:25:33,094
is someone who knows me from
someone or from a project I

596
00:25:33,094 --> 00:25:35,510
worked on through networking,
they get in contact with me,

597
00:25:35,510 --> 00:25:36,660
and I get work.

598
00:25:36,660 --> 00:25:39,530
I actually used this in a
slide for one of my classes.

599
00:25:39,530 --> 00:25:41,250
This is PAX.

600
00:25:41,250 --> 00:25:43,300
PAX is actually another
great place, surprisingly

601
00:25:43,300 --> 00:25:44,340
to meet other artists.

602
00:25:44,340 --> 00:25:47,490
Because a lot of people
are walking around booths,

603
00:25:47,490 --> 00:25:49,850
looking for work,
surprisingly, at PAX.

604
00:25:49,850 --> 00:25:52,760
Which is kind of weird.

605
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:56,574
They'll hand you business
cards and you're like,

606
00:25:56,574 --> 00:25:58,240
oh, I'll check out
your portfolio later.

607
00:25:58,240 --> 00:25:59,323
Maybe they're pretty good.

608
00:25:59,323 --> 00:26:01,300
And then maybe there's
something to that.

609
00:26:01,300 --> 00:26:08,075
Obviously, bigger conferences
like GDC, IndieCade,

610
00:26:08,075 --> 00:26:09,855
like Unite, or something.

611
00:26:09,855 --> 00:26:11,730
There's a lot of artists
there that hang out,

612
00:26:11,730 --> 00:26:14,200
and they're a great
place to meet, socialize,

613
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,690
see if you find someone
you sort of can relate to

614
00:26:16,690 --> 00:26:18,070
and hang out with,
and maybe they

615
00:26:18,070 --> 00:26:20,020
have some really cool work
they can make for you.

616
00:26:20,020 --> 00:26:21,978
I just thought it was
funny, because I randomly

617
00:26:21,978 --> 00:26:24,020
found this picture of
PAX East on the internet.

618
00:26:24,020 --> 00:26:26,612
Ziba and I at our first
booth-- we're actually in it--

619
00:26:26,612 --> 00:26:27,320
and it's circled.

620
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,570
Our birth, I was very
excited about that.

621
00:26:30,570 --> 00:26:32,970
Internet, that scary place.

622
00:26:32,970 --> 00:26:35,540
There are a lot of artists
on the internet, obviously.

623
00:26:35,540 --> 00:26:38,580
There are some
big sites that are

624
00:26:38,580 --> 00:26:45,200
great to find artists, and sort
of remotely discuss with them.

625
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:47,807
CG hub used to be a big
one, but for some reason

626
00:26:47,807 --> 00:26:48,890
the guy just shut it down.

627
00:26:48,890 --> 00:26:49,700
I don't know why.

628
00:26:49,700 --> 00:26:52,780
But deviant art, you have to
shift through a pile of shit

629
00:26:52,780 --> 00:26:56,490
to find good art in
deviant art, but it exists.

630
00:26:56,490 --> 00:26:58,070
Tumblr is actually really good.

631
00:26:58,070 --> 00:27:00,390
A lot of artists I know,
especially good artists,

632
00:27:00,390 --> 00:27:02,590
post their art on Tumblr.

633
00:27:02,590 --> 00:27:05,690
And usually with tags
like game art or concept

634
00:27:05,690 --> 00:27:06,450
art or indie art.

635
00:27:06,450 --> 00:27:08,590
And again, you have the
shift through a lot of crap

636
00:27:08,590 --> 00:27:10,020
to find the good stuff.

637
00:27:10,020 --> 00:27:13,050
But I know a lot of people
who find work through Tumblr.

638
00:27:13,050 --> 00:27:17,970
Conceptart.org has some of the
bigger, well-known artists,

639
00:27:17,970 --> 00:27:19,910
but there's also a lot
of smaller artists.

640
00:27:19,910 --> 00:27:23,900
There's like a jobs board
you can post on there.

641
00:27:23,900 --> 00:27:26,130
This was conceptart.org.

642
00:27:26,130 --> 00:27:30,000
A lot of the big studios
post there, looking for jobs.

643
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:36,090
This is more for 2D painters,
and concept artists, and 2D

644
00:27:36,090 --> 00:27:39,090
guys more-- Polycount,
for 3D artists,

645
00:27:39,090 --> 00:27:42,480
which is another great
website and resource.

646
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,060
But if you want to scrape the
bottom of the barrel, schools.

647
00:27:45,060 --> 00:27:49,150
Schools are a great way
to get free artists.

648
00:27:49,150 --> 00:27:51,790
I like the claw grabber,
because that's basically

649
00:27:51,790 --> 00:27:52,962
what you're getting.

650
00:27:52,962 --> 00:27:54,420
I mean, I'm not
saying there aren't

651
00:27:54,420 --> 00:27:55,820
amazing artists at school.

652
00:27:55,820 --> 00:27:56,920
Of course there are.

653
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,850
But most of them are,
obviously, inexperienced.

654
00:27:59,850 --> 00:28:03,929
Most of them will work
for cheap to nothing,

655
00:28:03,929 --> 00:28:05,720
because they're just
excited about the fact

656
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:07,180
to work on a game.

657
00:28:07,180 --> 00:28:09,510
So if you just desperately
need an artist.

658
00:28:09,510 --> 00:28:11,840
And you're just like,
I got this prototype.

659
00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:13,680
I want to pitch
it somewhere else,

660
00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:15,940
but I just need some art in it.

661
00:28:15,940 --> 00:28:17,065
Schools are a great places.

662
00:28:17,065 --> 00:28:18,856
There's lots of schools
in the Boston area.

663
00:28:18,856 --> 00:28:21,550
A lot of art schools
around here with lots

664
00:28:21,550 --> 00:28:24,360
of people looking
for work, obviously.

665
00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:28,620
But again, scraping the
bottom of the barrel.

666
00:28:28,620 --> 00:28:32,070
There's a lot of shows that
aren't about games where

667
00:28:32,070 --> 00:28:33,580
are great to pick up artists.

668
00:28:33,580 --> 00:28:36,650
In Boston, we have the
Massachusetts Independents

669
00:28:36,650 --> 00:28:39,830
Comics Expo, where a bunch
of artists sit around tables

670
00:28:39,830 --> 00:28:41,950
and they sell their comics.

671
00:28:41,950 --> 00:28:45,350
This is a great place to meet
artists who, maybe, aren't

672
00:28:45,350 --> 00:28:48,420
into games, but maybe you
find someone who's like wow,

673
00:28:48,420 --> 00:28:49,640
your style's really unique.

674
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:51,730
Your style's really cool.

675
00:28:51,730 --> 00:28:52,630
Come work for me.

676
00:28:52,630 --> 00:28:55,500
Come be a part of my team
and we can make something

677
00:28:55,500 --> 00:28:58,316
really interesting together.

678
00:28:58,316 --> 00:28:59,690
There's a lot of
artists' tables.

679
00:28:59,690 --> 00:29:02,735
There's a lot of-- I
used to do these a lot.

680
00:29:02,735 --> 00:29:04,360
I don't really do
them so much anymore,

681
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:06,900
but-- just selling
your prints on tables.

682
00:29:06,900 --> 00:29:09,184
There's lots of
festivals all the time.

683
00:29:09,184 --> 00:29:11,100
I know this isn't really
a stereotypical where

684
00:29:11,100 --> 00:29:13,780
to find a game artist,
but they are great places

685
00:29:13,780 --> 00:29:16,486
to find artists who maybe never
thought about making games.

686
00:29:16,486 --> 00:29:18,110
And maybe they have
a really cool style

687
00:29:18,110 --> 00:29:21,410
that'll fit games perfectly, but
they've just never even thought

688
00:29:21,410 --> 00:29:22,130
about it.

689
00:29:22,130 --> 00:29:25,190
Because, again, in this
very competitive environment

690
00:29:25,190 --> 00:29:28,490
that we are in,
game development,

691
00:29:28,490 --> 00:29:30,950
you want to make your games
stand out and be unique.

692
00:29:30,950 --> 00:29:32,533
You don't want it
to look like, again,

693
00:29:32,533 --> 00:29:34,520
Call of Duty number five.

694
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:36,830
Why are you bothering
at that point?

695
00:29:36,830 --> 00:29:39,400
Why don't you find someone
who has like-- no one

696
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:40,610
can draw like this person.

697
00:29:40,610 --> 00:29:42,490
It might not be
the most realistic,

698
00:29:42,490 --> 00:29:48,380
and it might not be
the theme of the time--

699
00:29:48,380 --> 00:29:49,880
like low poly is
a big thing now--

700
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:52,260
but like, this guy
will stand out.

701
00:29:52,260 --> 00:29:55,770
This guy will make my game look
so unique and so interesting

702
00:29:55,770 --> 00:29:58,530
to people who may not have even
been interested in my mechanics

703
00:29:58,530 --> 00:29:59,960
in the first place.

704
00:29:59,960 --> 00:30:03,150
And it jives with my theme.

705
00:30:03,150 --> 00:30:04,900
I want this person
to work for me

706
00:30:04,900 --> 00:30:06,705
to make my game
the best it can be,

707
00:30:06,705 --> 00:30:08,880
because that's really
what it's about.

708
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,419
It's all about finding
that special someone.

709
00:30:11,419 --> 00:30:13,460
You're going to have a
working relation together.

710
00:30:13,460 --> 00:30:15,104
You're going to have
some rough times,

711
00:30:15,104 --> 00:30:17,020
you're going to have
some good times together.

712
00:30:17,020 --> 00:30:19,420
So you really want to
find someone, especially

713
00:30:19,420 --> 00:30:23,160
as an artist, who you guys
can work together very well.

714
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,170
You understand a common goal.

715
00:30:25,170 --> 00:30:27,070
You're going to be
both-- or if you

716
00:30:27,070 --> 00:30:29,569
have multiple artists-- you're
going to be all your harshest

717
00:30:29,569 --> 00:30:31,000
critics, including themselves.

718
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,820
You're going to-- because
if no one in your group

719
00:30:35,820 --> 00:30:37,830
is telling you what
you're doing is bad,

720
00:30:37,830 --> 00:30:39,470
then everyone else will and.

721
00:30:39,470 --> 00:30:42,880
They will do it much
harsher and much meaner

722
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:44,092
than anybody in your group.

723
00:30:44,092 --> 00:30:46,050
Because if you're like,
hey man, you know, this

724
00:30:46,050 --> 00:30:47,890
is a good drawing,
but why don't you

725
00:30:47,890 --> 00:30:50,000
try doing this to
make it better,

726
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:51,940
is much better than
a comment on, like,

727
00:30:51,940 --> 00:30:54,430
[? Kotaki ?] was saying,
this fucking sucks.

728
00:30:54,430 --> 00:30:56,180
Don't buy this
fucking piece of shit.

729
00:30:56,180 --> 00:30:57,327
Because that's-- yeah.

730
00:30:57,327 --> 00:30:59,160
You want to, again, you
want to find someone

731
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:00,250
who's good as an artist.

732
00:31:00,250 --> 00:31:04,350
You want to find
someone who's competent,

733
00:31:04,350 --> 00:31:08,060
who turns things in on
time-- which is a big thing.

734
00:31:08,060 --> 00:31:09,510
I've recommended
too many artists

735
00:31:09,510 --> 00:31:13,370
to developer friends who did
not turn things in on time,

736
00:31:13,370 --> 00:31:16,880
and that made me look
bad in a lot of ways,

737
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,380
because I recomm-- I thought
these-- I'm like these guys are

738
00:31:19,380 --> 00:31:19,879
great.

739
00:31:19,879 --> 00:31:20,792
They work hard.

740
00:31:20,792 --> 00:31:22,500
But they weren't
hitting their deadlines,

741
00:31:22,500 --> 00:31:24,840
they weren't getting stuff
in, so they obviously

742
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,314
lost those contracts.

743
00:31:27,314 --> 00:31:29,730
So you guys are really going
to be like partners in crime,

744
00:31:29,730 --> 00:31:31,950
especially if you're in
a small, two-man group.

745
00:31:31,950 --> 00:31:35,740
So these are some my working
relationships I'll talk about.

746
00:31:35,740 --> 00:31:37,450
Girls Like Robots, I
developed with Ziba.

747
00:31:37,450 --> 00:31:38,390
He's up there.

748
00:31:38,390 --> 00:31:39,890
You can all look
at him if you want.

749
00:31:42,030 --> 00:31:43,430
He took a chance on me.

750
00:31:43,430 --> 00:31:44,930
I was out of college.

751
00:31:44,930 --> 00:31:48,490
And I'd done my three
month period of mourning

752
00:31:48,490 --> 00:31:49,820
looking for a job.

753
00:31:49,820 --> 00:31:55,490
And he found me and said,
OK, you're OK enough.

754
00:31:55,490 --> 00:31:57,220
I'll let you work on my game.

755
00:31:57,220 --> 00:31:59,770
And so we really hit it off.

756
00:31:59,770 --> 00:32:01,875
And we worked really
well together.

757
00:32:01,875 --> 00:32:04,250
This game went places we didn't
think it was going to go,

758
00:32:04,250 --> 00:32:05,870
which was great.

759
00:32:05,870 --> 00:32:08,640
It's still doing
things that I didn't

760
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:10,790
think it could do as a game.

761
00:32:10,790 --> 00:32:14,229
And so we've continued to
work together from this.

762
00:32:14,229 --> 00:32:16,770
This was The Counting Kingdom
with Little Worlds Interactive,

763
00:32:16,770 --> 00:32:18,360
Jenna Hoffstein.

764
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:25,100
This was a more standard
contractual artist hiring,

765
00:32:25,100 --> 00:32:26,610
game development cycle.

766
00:32:26,610 --> 00:32:30,350
Jenna came to me and was like,
I need these five things.

767
00:32:30,350 --> 00:32:31,170
Done.

768
00:32:31,170 --> 00:32:32,240
I need these 10 things.

769
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:32,550
Done.

770
00:32:32,550 --> 00:32:33,420
I need these five things.

771
00:32:33,420 --> 00:32:33,680
Done.

772
00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:35,138
All done with
[? sculpture ?] works

773
00:32:35,138 --> 00:32:37,730
and work for hire contracts.

774
00:32:37,730 --> 00:32:39,380
She is the most
efficient game designer

775
00:32:39,380 --> 00:32:41,050
I've ever met in my life.

776
00:32:41,050 --> 00:32:42,690
It was just boom,
boom, boom, boom.

777
00:32:42,690 --> 00:32:43,940
We're aiming for this release.

778
00:32:43,940 --> 00:32:44,460
Done.

779
00:32:44,460 --> 00:32:46,250
Released.

780
00:32:46,250 --> 00:32:47,880
It was kind of amazing.

781
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:49,990
I don't think any
other game I've ever

782
00:32:49,990 --> 00:32:53,380
seen in my life
developed that smoothly.

783
00:32:53,380 --> 00:32:56,240
And she didn't do any coding,
which was also the crazy thing,

784
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,670
as the lead designer and coder.

785
00:32:59,670 --> 00:33:04,000
She only used PlayMaker,
which was kind of fascinating.

786
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,160
Elegy for a Dead
World was a weird

787
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,810
in that I worked with Ziba
again from Popcannibal,

788
00:33:09,810 --> 00:33:14,150
but this was a game jam game
that turned into a full game

789
00:33:14,150 --> 00:33:17,640
when it started
getting some attention.

790
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,150
It started out as a
rev share agreement

791
00:33:20,150 --> 00:33:23,350
between a few different
studios in the office.

792
00:33:23,350 --> 00:33:26,254
And it's been,
less of, these are

793
00:33:26,254 --> 00:33:28,420
my boss's working on the
game, but I've sort of been

794
00:33:28,420 --> 00:33:30,490
like a partner in crime.

795
00:33:30,490 --> 00:33:32,980
I'm on the same level as
all the designers, which is

796
00:33:32,980 --> 00:33:35,050
kind of interesting for once.

797
00:33:35,050 --> 00:33:36,530
All right, enough of that.

798
00:33:36,530 --> 00:33:39,000
Great, you found an artist.

799
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:40,220
Now what do you do with them?

800
00:33:40,220 --> 00:33:42,310
You have them, all right?

801
00:33:42,310 --> 00:33:44,360
You just going to
poke 'em a little bit?

802
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:46,370
Hey, make some art.

803
00:33:46,370 --> 00:33:48,070
Well, first you
have to hire them.

804
00:33:48,070 --> 00:33:53,770
And there's one way I like
to think that artists should

805
00:33:53,770 --> 00:33:55,800
be hired is with an art test.

806
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:59,450
Before you sign them up for
a huge massive contract,

807
00:33:59,450 --> 00:34:01,070
you should say
look, you know what?

808
00:34:01,070 --> 00:34:02,910
Your portfolio looks great.

809
00:34:02,910 --> 00:34:04,160
I really like you as a person.

810
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:07,190
I think we're going to
work really well together.

811
00:34:07,190 --> 00:34:11,750
But how about you like take
this design that I did,

812
00:34:11,750 --> 00:34:15,530
and I want to see
the final product.

813
00:34:15,530 --> 00:34:17,469
And I want to see how
long it takes you.

814
00:34:17,469 --> 00:34:20,114
I want to understand your
workflow and your process.

815
00:34:20,114 --> 00:34:22,780
Because they might have the most
amazing portfolio in the world,

816
00:34:22,780 --> 00:34:24,155
but if it takes
them three months

817
00:34:24,155 --> 00:34:26,920
to draw a single picture,
then it's not worth your time.

818
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:30,184
And maybe they just lied.

819
00:34:30,184 --> 00:34:31,100
That's always a thing.

820
00:34:31,100 --> 00:34:34,409
They might have just been like,
I just found this picture.

821
00:34:34,409 --> 00:34:36,750
I found a photo
and I drew over it,

822
00:34:36,750 --> 00:34:40,699
which a lot concept artists
do to get things done quickly.

823
00:34:40,699 --> 00:34:43,257
They maybe can't do what
you think they can do,

824
00:34:43,257 --> 00:34:45,840
and this is a good way to figure
out exactly what they can do.

825
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:47,730
So you do pay them for this.

826
00:34:47,730 --> 00:34:50,699
You pay them for their time,
whether you hire them or not.

827
00:34:50,699 --> 00:34:53,580
How many art tests I've
gotten, which were like,

828
00:34:53,580 --> 00:34:56,060
oh no, no, I'm not going to
pay you for the art tests,

829
00:34:56,060 --> 00:34:58,860
because it's just an art test.

830
00:34:58,860 --> 00:35:00,420
I want to see if I
want to hire you.

831
00:35:00,420 --> 00:35:01,050
No, no, no.

832
00:35:01,050 --> 00:35:02,710
They took time out
of their schedule,

833
00:35:02,710 --> 00:35:04,410
doesn't matter if
they're busy or not,

834
00:35:04,410 --> 00:35:06,390
to make this art
test to show they

835
00:35:06,390 --> 00:35:07,930
are capable of doing the work.

836
00:35:07,930 --> 00:35:09,430
You pay them for
the time they spent

837
00:35:09,430 --> 00:35:12,440
on it, whether they continue
to work for you or not.

838
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,140
If they don't, you say,
thank you for your time.

839
00:35:15,140 --> 00:35:17,630
I don't think you're exactly
what we're looking for.

840
00:35:17,630 --> 00:35:19,590
Get lost.

841
00:35:19,590 --> 00:35:23,460
But you do pay them
for their time.

842
00:35:23,460 --> 00:35:27,060
Contracting, most
indies are going

843
00:35:27,060 --> 00:35:33,170
to be on work-for-hire basises
for independent artists.

844
00:35:36,310 --> 00:35:39,850
What I mean by work-for-hire,
those of you who don't know,

845
00:35:39,850 --> 00:35:42,430
any work they make,
they don't own anymore.

846
00:35:42,430 --> 00:35:45,300
When I draw a picture on
my own, it is my copyright.

847
00:35:45,300 --> 00:35:46,710
I can do whatever
I want with it.

848
00:35:46,710 --> 00:35:49,270
I can hire a 70 foot
billboard and put it up,

849
00:35:49,270 --> 00:35:51,360
and there's nothing
anybody can do about it.

850
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,920
But if I'm under a
work-for-hire contract,

851
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,460
and I'm working for a game
designer or game company,

852
00:35:57,460 --> 00:36:01,430
and I make art for
that game, I longer

853
00:36:01,430 --> 00:36:02,930
can put it up on a
70 foot billboard

854
00:36:02,930 --> 00:36:04,460
without any permissions.

855
00:36:04,460 --> 00:36:08,940
The company, or the designer, or
the person I'm working for now

856
00:36:08,940 --> 00:36:09,700
owns that art.

857
00:36:09,700 --> 00:36:14,050
And that is what most
artists and other people

858
00:36:14,050 --> 00:36:16,455
work as for game companies.

859
00:36:16,455 --> 00:36:19,080
In art school, I was always told
work-for-hire contracts aren't

860
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:22,990
fair, because then I
can't sell my art again.

861
00:36:22,990 --> 00:36:26,870
And that is a-- I mean,
that's good as an artist,

862
00:36:26,870 --> 00:36:28,960
meaning like, good, I
can sell my same painting

863
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:31,540
again and again and again
and again for lots of money,

864
00:36:31,540 --> 00:36:33,670
and make more money off
of this one painting.

865
00:36:33,670 --> 00:36:35,670
But that's not the
norm in game industry.

866
00:36:35,670 --> 00:36:38,770
It's the norm in other illus--
in other illustration fields

867
00:36:38,770 --> 00:36:41,157
you can do that-- some
magazine publishing.

868
00:36:41,157 --> 00:36:43,240
Since they're all dying,
they're much more lenient

869
00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:45,270
on that thing, on that.

870
00:36:45,270 --> 00:36:47,550
But game companies is,
you no longer own the art.

871
00:36:47,550 --> 00:36:50,140
So you're going to have to
make a work-for-hire contract,

872
00:36:50,140 --> 00:36:52,700
usually with a scope of work
attached to it of what exactly

873
00:36:52,700 --> 00:36:55,140
is needed from the artist.

874
00:36:55,140 --> 00:36:57,960
Another interesting point
for independent contractors

875
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:01,710
when hiring for work-for-hire
work is software licensing.

876
00:37:01,710 --> 00:37:04,930
It's usually up to the artist
to have their own software.

877
00:37:04,930 --> 00:37:08,300
If they're hired full-time--
if you somehow magically

878
00:37:08,300 --> 00:37:11,870
are able to do that, usually
you have to supply the software,

879
00:37:11,870 --> 00:37:14,750
especially for
working at an office.

880
00:37:14,750 --> 00:37:16,470
Great, so you've hired them.

881
00:37:16,470 --> 00:37:18,210
You've got them down.

882
00:37:18,210 --> 00:37:19,220
They're sitting there.

883
00:37:19,220 --> 00:37:20,550
They've got their tablet out.

884
00:37:20,550 --> 00:37:21,800
They got their pen.

885
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:22,800
Now what do you do?

886
00:37:25,700 --> 00:37:27,050
You got to art direct them.

887
00:37:27,050 --> 00:37:29,710
You have to play art director,
even if you can't draw.

888
00:37:29,710 --> 00:37:32,090
As the person who
hired this artist,

889
00:37:32,090 --> 00:37:36,710
you have to critique them,
and understand how they work,

890
00:37:36,710 --> 00:37:40,300
and to give them feedback
constantly, even if it's just

891
00:37:40,300 --> 00:37:43,100
encouragement.

892
00:37:43,100 --> 00:37:45,560
You have to make them
make the art that you

893
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:47,170
want them to make for you.

894
00:37:47,170 --> 00:37:48,770
They're not making
art for themselves,

895
00:37:48,770 --> 00:37:50,460
they're making art for you.

896
00:37:50,460 --> 00:37:51,510
They're not fine artists.

897
00:37:51,510 --> 00:37:54,070
Fine artists just sort
of waft in the air

898
00:37:54,070 --> 00:37:56,060
and discover what they want.

899
00:37:56,060 --> 00:38:01,570
But as an illustrator, or a 3D
artist, you're like a plumber.

900
00:38:01,570 --> 00:38:02,780
I need you to fix this pipe.

901
00:38:02,780 --> 00:38:04,670
I need you to draw this
picture specifically.

902
00:38:07,690 --> 00:38:12,190
It's a great variation
on do what I say,

903
00:38:12,190 --> 00:38:15,050
not what I do, especially with
a programmer or designer who

904
00:38:15,050 --> 00:38:16,050
can't draw.

905
00:38:16,050 --> 00:38:19,300
But here are some helpful
things to yell at artists.

906
00:38:19,300 --> 00:38:23,990
Aesthetic, just instead of
saying do it better this time,

907
00:38:23,990 --> 00:38:25,310
just not as crap.

908
00:38:25,310 --> 00:38:27,270
Aesthetic, the general
feel of the art.

909
00:38:27,270 --> 00:38:31,330
This one is a little hard
to critique, aesthetic,

910
00:38:31,330 --> 00:38:34,000
but if you have a
general sense of what

911
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,750
the theme of the game
you're going for, definitely

912
00:38:37,750 --> 00:38:39,930
be like, all right, this
is a zombie shooter.

913
00:38:39,930 --> 00:38:41,831
OK, you've put
Hello Kitty in here.

914
00:38:41,831 --> 00:38:44,330
This isn't really the aesthetic
I'm looking for in the game.

915
00:38:44,330 --> 00:38:45,610
And that ties into style.

916
00:38:45,610 --> 00:38:49,670
They're very close together,
but style is very easier

917
00:38:49,670 --> 00:38:53,990
to point to and be like, we're
looking for this style of game.

918
00:38:53,990 --> 00:38:55,625
And that helps guide the artist.

919
00:38:55,625 --> 00:38:57,000
OK, that's what
they're thinking.

920
00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:59,140
It's a bad idea, but I'll
sort of work with it,

921
00:38:59,140 --> 00:39:01,490
and see what I can come up with.

922
00:39:01,490 --> 00:39:05,990
Contrast is probably the
most important term in art,

923
00:39:05,990 --> 00:39:11,760
in general, and specifically
for game development art.

924
00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:15,420
Contrast is how different
things look, like in contrast

925
00:39:15,420 --> 00:39:15,980
in real life.

926
00:39:15,980 --> 00:39:17,480
Like when two things
contrast against each other,

927
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:19,438
that you're telling the
difference between them

928
00:39:19,438 --> 00:39:21,610
or the similarities.

929
00:39:21,610 --> 00:39:23,660
In games, you want the
character to stand out

930
00:39:23,660 --> 00:39:24,493
from the background.

931
00:39:24,493 --> 00:39:26,410
You need items to be obvious.

932
00:39:26,410 --> 00:39:30,237
You need certain things to
stand out more than others,

933
00:39:30,237 --> 00:39:32,570
maybe things to disappear
more than others, maybe things

934
00:39:32,570 --> 00:39:34,294
to be more similar,
to be more hidden.

935
00:39:34,294 --> 00:39:36,710
Like if you're making a Metal
Gear Solid game is like, oh,

936
00:39:36,710 --> 00:39:39,130
I need the character to
blend into the environment.

937
00:39:39,130 --> 00:39:41,200
Contrast is a very
helpful word when

938
00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:43,910
you're having trouble defining
what's wrong with this image,

939
00:39:43,910 --> 00:39:45,530
why isn't it
working in the game?

940
00:39:45,530 --> 00:39:49,241
OK, it's because these
animations blend in too much

941
00:39:49,241 --> 00:39:50,490
with the character animations.

942
00:39:50,490 --> 00:39:51,960
I can't tell what's going on.

943
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,240
Or, this image, there's
not enough depth in it.

944
00:39:54,240 --> 00:39:55,710
This image, I need more depth.

945
00:39:55,710 --> 00:39:57,354
Contrast is a big word.

946
00:39:57,354 --> 00:39:59,270
It's a really great word
that helps with that.

947
00:39:59,270 --> 00:40:03,050
Saturation is another handy
one, but that just means how

948
00:40:03,050 --> 00:40:05,730
colourful something is.

949
00:40:05,730 --> 00:40:08,580
The more saturated something is,
the more vibrant and colorful

950
00:40:08,580 --> 00:40:08,770
it is.

951
00:40:08,770 --> 00:40:10,895
The less saturated it is,
the more gray into whites

952
00:40:10,895 --> 00:40:12,870
and blacks it is.

953
00:40:12,870 --> 00:40:17,310
That really helps with
saying, all right,

954
00:40:17,310 --> 00:40:20,444
this is sort of the objects
and the theme I'm going for,

955
00:40:20,444 --> 00:40:22,110
but why don't you
make it more colorful?

956
00:40:22,110 --> 00:40:25,120
Maybe make it more saturated
so the world feels more

957
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:26,514
fantastical and interesting.

958
00:40:26,514 --> 00:40:28,430
Or, it's like I want
this to be dark and grim.

959
00:40:28,430 --> 00:40:30,550
Let's lower the
saturation quite a bit

960
00:40:30,550 --> 00:40:33,910
to really make it feel
like oh, it's a gray day

961
00:40:33,910 --> 00:40:36,900
and it's dark and dreary.

962
00:40:36,900 --> 00:40:40,870
Composition, just the layout of
art, and the layout of levels,

963
00:40:40,870 --> 00:40:43,357
or the layout of what
the player is seeing,

964
00:40:43,357 --> 00:40:44,690
what the player is dealing with.

965
00:40:44,690 --> 00:40:46,850
It's just sort of the
arrangement of items.

966
00:40:46,850 --> 00:40:49,060
It's another handy word to know.

967
00:40:49,060 --> 00:40:51,490
But of course,
encouragement, encouragement

968
00:40:51,490 --> 00:40:54,380
is always needed in any
part of game development.

969
00:40:54,380 --> 00:40:58,130
It's always great to hear
you're doing a good job.

970
00:40:58,130 --> 00:41:01,850
Give yourself a high-five,
or me a high-five, whatever.

971
00:41:01,850 --> 00:41:06,990
It's really helpful to
encourage your artists,

972
00:41:06,990 --> 00:41:09,290
so it makes them make
the best work they can.

973
00:41:09,290 --> 00:41:12,032
If you're just yelling
at them all the time,

974
00:41:12,032 --> 00:41:14,240
and they're not doing a good
job-- or you don't think

975
00:41:14,240 --> 00:41:14,970
they're doing a good job.

976
00:41:14,970 --> 00:41:16,480
Maybe they aren't,
but they're not

977
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:18,920
going to get better if you're
just always dissing what

978
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,330
they've got, and it's not fun.

979
00:41:22,330 --> 00:41:25,310
Let's go into-- so
you've got the artist,

980
00:41:25,310 --> 00:41:27,880
you're going to art direct
them, now what are the phases?

981
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:28,550
Pre-production!

982
00:41:28,550 --> 00:41:30,951
Pre-production is the happiest
part of game development.

983
00:41:30,951 --> 00:41:32,450
You're coming up
with all the ideas.

984
00:41:32,450 --> 00:41:35,390
Your scope is increasing
through the roof.

985
00:41:35,390 --> 00:41:38,680
You're like, oh, now we're
going to have open world this.

986
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:40,310
The world's dynamic,
the characters

987
00:41:40,310 --> 00:41:42,476
die, their families grow
up, it's going to be great.

988
00:41:42,476 --> 00:41:44,240
The art is going
to be realistic!

989
00:41:44,240 --> 00:41:45,980
It's going to go into space!

990
00:41:45,980 --> 00:41:47,910
We got to have all
these textures!

991
00:41:47,910 --> 00:41:51,160
And the concept art is amazing!

992
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:54,152
But as an artist, you're
working on, usually,

993
00:41:54,152 --> 00:41:55,360
the concept art for the game.

994
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:56,860
You're helping with
ideas sometimes.

995
00:41:56,860 --> 00:42:03,580
Maybe your designer,
he's so happy

996
00:42:03,580 --> 00:42:07,150
to let you help out
with ideas for the game.

997
00:42:07,150 --> 00:42:11,672
Pitches, another good thing
if you're making concept art.

998
00:42:11,672 --> 00:42:13,380
If you're pitching a
game to get funding,

999
00:42:13,380 --> 00:42:15,010
like Kickstarter
or maybe it's one

1000
00:42:15,010 --> 00:42:19,780
of the bigger studios like Sony,
Microsoft, Nintendo, or others.

1001
00:42:19,780 --> 00:42:21,720
If you're trying to
get money upfront,

1002
00:42:21,720 --> 00:42:24,271
artwork really helps a pitch,
because you have nothing

1003
00:42:24,271 --> 00:42:24,770
to show.

1004
00:42:24,770 --> 00:42:27,030
On Kickstarter, you're
selling hopes and dreams.

1005
00:42:27,030 --> 00:42:28,800
You're not selling a game.

1006
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:30,450
Because people are
imagining in their

1007
00:42:30,450 --> 00:42:32,199
heads what the actual
game is going to be,

1008
00:42:32,199 --> 00:42:35,520
and it's way better than what
you're actually going to make,

1009
00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,340
because they have no idea
what they're thinking about.

1010
00:42:38,340 --> 00:42:42,700
Pitches with art work better
than pitches with nothing.

1011
00:42:42,700 --> 00:42:44,590
If you just have text,
and just be like,

1012
00:42:44,590 --> 00:42:47,300
here's some scribbles of
how my game's going to work.

1013
00:42:47,300 --> 00:42:49,050
They're going to be
like, I'm not excited.

1014
00:42:49,050 --> 00:42:51,080
But if you have like,
here's a painting!

1015
00:42:51,080 --> 00:42:52,306
And then they're like, wow!

1016
00:42:52,306 --> 00:42:52,930
That's amazing!

1017
00:42:52,930 --> 00:42:53,450
How's the game going to work?

1018
00:42:53,450 --> 00:42:54,660
Don't worry about that.

1019
00:42:54,660 --> 00:42:56,450
Just look at the painting.

1020
00:42:56,450 --> 00:42:58,690
Web stuff, so making a
website, obviously, it's

1021
00:42:58,690 --> 00:42:59,564
early pre-production.

1022
00:43:02,022 --> 00:43:04,480
Maybe you want to make a blog
or something about your game.

1023
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:05,646
It's a great place to start.

1024
00:43:05,646 --> 00:43:08,520
And posting about
art as it comes in

1025
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:11,700
from concept art, and pictures--

1026
00:43:11,700 --> 00:43:13,430
Logos are another
big thing, especially

1027
00:43:13,430 --> 00:43:15,180
if you're doing a pitch.

1028
00:43:15,180 --> 00:43:19,714
Logos really help with
identifying your game,

1029
00:43:19,714 --> 00:43:21,380
not only to your
selves, but if you ever

1030
00:43:21,380 --> 00:43:23,210
want to talk about
it really early on,

1031
00:43:23,210 --> 00:43:26,907
it's a really good way of
getting your icon out there.

1032
00:43:26,907 --> 00:43:29,240
And early prototype work, so
if you've made a prototype,

1033
00:43:29,240 --> 00:43:31,310
and you're like, look, let's
just slap some art in there

1034
00:43:31,310 --> 00:43:33,851
to see what this game's actually
going to visually feel like.

1035
00:43:33,851 --> 00:43:35,940
This is all part
of pre-production.

1036
00:43:35,940 --> 00:43:38,240
Production, the
bulk of the work.

1037
00:43:38,240 --> 00:43:40,090
So this is all the
asset creation.

1038
00:43:40,090 --> 00:43:42,310
This is, maybe, you're
doing concept art here too.

1039
00:43:42,310 --> 00:43:45,389
Maybe you've said, all right,
that style isn't working.

1040
00:43:45,389 --> 00:43:46,930
Let's go back a
little bit, but we'll

1041
00:43:46,930 --> 00:43:50,680
keep moving forward with
making models and texturing.

1042
00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:53,620
It's all about iterations
too in production.

1043
00:43:53,620 --> 00:43:56,002
It's sort of oh, OK, this
level doesn't quite look right.

1044
00:43:56,002 --> 00:43:57,210
Let's change it a little bit.

1045
00:43:57,210 --> 00:43:58,630
Let's make it look like this.

1046
00:43:58,630 --> 00:44:00,650
This is the longest
part of game design

1047
00:44:00,650 --> 00:44:02,880
usually, unless your
pre-production was,

1048
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:05,860
I've thought of this
game from five years ago.

1049
00:44:05,860 --> 00:44:07,780
This is just making
the stuff that

1050
00:44:07,780 --> 00:44:12,650
will actually go in the game
and making it fit together.

1051
00:44:12,650 --> 00:44:16,940
Near end of production, and
this is when you start panicking

1052
00:44:16,940 --> 00:44:20,660
and realize your open world
space game with dynamic NPCs

1053
00:44:20,660 --> 00:44:24,000
and families that live
and die and have children

1054
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:25,240
isn't exactly panning out.

1055
00:44:25,240 --> 00:44:27,990
You start cutting things
just to get things done.

1056
00:44:27,990 --> 00:44:32,250
The artist is usually hopefully
done by now towards the end,

1057
00:44:32,250 --> 00:44:34,560
but they have to start
doing the promotional push.

1058
00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:36,709
They have to start
making the illustrations,

1059
00:44:36,709 --> 00:44:38,250
and the art, and
the graphic designs,

1060
00:44:38,250 --> 00:44:41,400
and the Steam banners,
and making sure everything

1061
00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:44,160
looks as best as it can so
when this game fires out

1062
00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:46,450
to the world, a lot
of people get it.

1063
00:44:46,450 --> 00:44:49,930
As indies, I have to
make trailers too.

1064
00:44:49,930 --> 00:44:52,550
Usually you have a trailer
dude for that at a big studio,

1065
00:44:52,550 --> 00:44:56,040
but as indies, usually the
artist has to make the trailer.

1066
00:44:56,040 --> 00:44:58,220
So that takes up more
time you would think.

1067
00:44:58,220 --> 00:45:00,860
On The Counting Kingdom,
Jenna came to me and said,

1068
00:45:00,860 --> 00:45:02,190
I need a trailer in two weeks.

1069
00:45:02,190 --> 00:45:04,800
And that was harrowing
because I fully

1070
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:06,557
animated it for some reason.

1071
00:45:06,557 --> 00:45:08,640
But a lot of the art is
also like putting together

1072
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:11,450
store assets like trailers and
banners and promotional stuff.

1073
00:45:13,970 --> 00:45:17,760
So sort of in conclusion, indie
artists, they fill many roles.

1074
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:19,390
They do lots of things.

1075
00:45:19,390 --> 00:45:22,640
At a big studio, you have
these very specific jobs

1076
00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:24,020
that everyone is assigned.

1077
00:45:24,020 --> 00:45:25,940
They go in the
morning and they know,

1078
00:45:25,940 --> 00:45:27,650
I'm going to be the
guy who animates

1079
00:45:27,650 --> 00:45:29,080
shattering glass all day.

1080
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:32,200
And they do it for three years
and the Avengers comes out.

1081
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:36,630
But at a smaller studio,
you know, all right, I'm

1082
00:45:36,630 --> 00:45:38,370
doing the concept
art, at the same time,

1083
00:45:38,370 --> 00:45:40,630
learning how to model
it, at the same time,

1084
00:45:40,630 --> 00:45:44,331
I'm figuring out how
the items in the game

1085
00:45:44,331 --> 00:45:45,830
are going to work,
at the same time,

1086
00:45:45,830 --> 00:45:49,530
making the logo and maybe
some early illustration

1087
00:45:49,530 --> 00:45:50,800
promotional arts.

1088
00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:53,300
And you have to like balance
a lot of these things.

1089
00:45:53,300 --> 00:45:56,904
So is this is me in my zen
drawing state, I feel like.

1090
00:45:56,904 --> 00:45:58,070
I don't usually get to that.

1091
00:45:58,070 --> 00:46:02,520
I usually get really angry
and I don't get this calm

1092
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:03,570
when it comes to that.

1093
00:46:03,570 --> 00:46:05,890
But yeah, indie artists, they
have so much stuff to do,

1094
00:46:05,890 --> 00:46:08,840
they have so much
stuff to offer.

1095
00:46:08,840 --> 00:46:10,090
Hire artists.

1096
00:46:10,090 --> 00:46:11,820
Don't make your game
without an artist.

1097
00:46:11,820 --> 00:46:12,490
That's boring.

1098
00:46:12,490 --> 00:46:13,990
If you think you
can do it yourself,

1099
00:46:13,990 --> 00:46:16,490
that's great, but
artists, they add a lot.

1100
00:46:16,490 --> 00:46:18,012
They inspire you.

1101
00:46:18,012 --> 00:46:21,880
They usually work hard if
you find the right one.

1102
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:24,860
And you can form long-term
meaningful partnerships

1103
00:46:24,860 --> 00:46:26,400
with them and it's great.

1104
00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:31,840
Thank you.

1105
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:34,634
There's my email address and
my website, if anybody cares.

1106
00:46:34,634 --> 00:46:36,542
[APPLAUSE]

1107
00:46:38,927 --> 00:46:40,840
Cool.

1108
00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:41,800
44 minutes.

1109
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:42,582
It was close.

1110
00:46:42,582 --> 00:46:42,840
SPEAKER 1: Excellent.

1111
00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:43,880
Do you got time for questions?

1112
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:44,754
LUIGI GUATIERI: Sure.

1113
00:46:47,140 --> 00:46:48,110
Nothing?

1114
00:46:48,110 --> 00:46:48,610
Really?

1115
00:46:51,125 --> 00:46:52,452
[INAUDIBLE]

1116
00:46:52,452 --> 00:46:53,910
AUDIENCE: Actually,
quick question.

1117
00:46:53,910 --> 00:46:55,971
LUIGI GUATIERI: There you go.

1118
00:46:55,971 --> 00:46:58,470
AUDIENCE: Do you ever work on
multiple projects [INAUDIBLE].

1119
00:46:58,470 --> 00:47:00,594
LUIGI GUATIERI: I usually
work on multiple projects

1120
00:47:00,594 --> 00:47:01,632
at the same time.

1121
00:47:01,632 --> 00:47:03,010
I guess that was a good point.

1122
00:47:03,010 --> 00:47:05,390
I need to bring up--
that was a good question.

1123
00:47:05,390 --> 00:47:08,360
As a indie artist, I'm not
getting paid a lot of money.

1124
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:09,760
End of story.

1125
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:10,840
It doesn't happen.

1126
00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:14,840
So usually I have to work
on more than one project

1127
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:17,990
at the same time just
to let ends meet.

1128
00:47:22,390 --> 00:47:25,494
Usually the work isn't full-time
because either the company

1129
00:47:25,494 --> 00:47:26,910
can't afford to
have it full-time,

1130
00:47:26,910 --> 00:47:31,643
or the amount of work
they need isn't full-time.

1131
00:47:31,643 --> 00:47:34,640
You have to juggle
a lot as an artist.

1132
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:36,181
I'm working on a
couple projects,

1133
00:47:36,181 --> 00:47:38,305
doing contract work, sort
of freelance illustration

1134
00:47:38,305 --> 00:47:38,970
on the side.

1135
00:47:38,970 --> 00:47:40,340
I'm also teaching a class.

1136
00:47:40,340 --> 00:47:45,380
And you have to juggle all
these things at once to survive,

1137
00:47:45,380 --> 00:47:46,390
basically.

1138
00:47:46,390 --> 00:47:49,380
Because as sad as it sounds,
indie games don't make a lot

1139
00:47:49,380 --> 00:47:52,640
of money usually, unless
[? you're at ?] Goat Simulator.

1140
00:47:52,640 --> 00:47:54,673
Yes, go!

1141
00:47:54,673 --> 00:47:56,637
AUDIENCE: I didn't quite
catch what you said,

1142
00:47:56,637 --> 00:48:01,759
2D animation is harder
than 3D animation.

1143
00:48:01,759 --> 00:48:04,050
LUIGI GUATIERI: Have you ever
seen an old Disney movie?

1144
00:48:07,490 --> 00:48:09,360
They usually had
armies of what they

1145
00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:14,410
called in-betweeners, in that
there would be a key frame

1146
00:48:14,410 --> 00:48:14,910
artist.

1147
00:48:14,910 --> 00:48:17,282
He would draw Snow
White dancing like this.

1148
00:48:17,282 --> 00:48:18,990
And then there would
be the poor bastards

1149
00:48:18,990 --> 00:48:23,410
who had to draw every
single frame of her going

1150
00:48:23,410 --> 00:48:26,430
like this, all 30 or 40 frames.

1151
00:48:26,430 --> 00:48:30,780
So in a game, if you want
hand-drawn animations that

1152
00:48:30,780 --> 00:48:33,094
look really
interesting and nice,

1153
00:48:33,094 --> 00:48:34,760
you have to get someone
who will bother.

1154
00:48:34,760 --> 00:48:37,020
Like, Street Fighter III
is a great exam-- or King

1155
00:48:37,020 --> 00:48:40,070
of Fighters-- those games
take forever to animate,

1156
00:48:40,070 --> 00:48:41,570
because they are
done in that Disney

1157
00:48:41,570 --> 00:48:44,090
style, in terms of
just frame by frame

1158
00:48:44,090 --> 00:48:45,530
by frame by frame by frame.

1159
00:48:45,530 --> 00:48:47,740
But the other thing
they have to worry about

1160
00:48:47,740 --> 00:48:50,430
is to make sure that the hit
points are in the right place,

1161
00:48:50,430 --> 00:48:53,070
that the collision boxes
are in the right place.

1162
00:48:53,070 --> 00:48:55,090
It takes a lot of
time to do that.

1163
00:48:55,090 --> 00:48:57,160
That's why when I
mentioned tweening

1164
00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:00,145
as a quick way of
trying to mimic that,

1165
00:49:00,145 --> 00:49:01,700
it doesn't look as good usually.

1166
00:49:01,700 --> 00:49:04,090
And in a lot of games that
use a lot of tweening,

1167
00:49:04,090 --> 00:49:07,010
like Limbo, for example, they
hide it with silhouettes.

1168
00:49:07,010 --> 00:49:11,576
Because you get these
weird seams and it

1169
00:49:11,576 --> 00:49:12,450
doesn't look as good.

1170
00:49:12,450 --> 00:49:14,783
There are obviously tools
that help with this like Flash

1171
00:49:14,783 --> 00:49:16,320
animation.

1172
00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:20,660
You can sort of do an in-between
of tweening and hand animation.

1173
00:49:20,660 --> 00:49:22,950
But sort of frame by
frame, sprite animation,

1174
00:49:22,950 --> 00:49:25,240
takes a long time.

1175
00:49:25,240 --> 00:49:27,530
And 3D-- I mean, it's
easier, because it's all

1176
00:49:27,530 --> 00:49:28,660
tweening usually.

1177
00:49:28,660 --> 00:49:33,180
Unless you have some character
that transforms all the time.

1178
00:49:33,180 --> 00:49:36,565
It's the same way in 2D,
in that a 3D arm that

1179
00:49:36,565 --> 00:49:38,530
is rigged like this
is always going

1180
00:49:38,530 --> 00:49:41,030
to look like this because you
can just sort of manipulate it

1181
00:49:41,030 --> 00:49:42,490
in 3D space.

1182
00:49:42,490 --> 00:49:45,090
Doing this in 3D is really easy.

1183
00:49:45,090 --> 00:49:49,160
Doing this in 2D takes forever,
if you know what I mean.

1184
00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:50,296
That answer your question?

1185
00:49:50,296 --> 00:49:51,404
AUDIENCE: Kind of.

1186
00:49:51,404 --> 00:49:52,820
LUIGI GUATIERI:
Is there something

1187
00:49:52,820 --> 00:49:55,065
you need me to follow up on?

1188
00:49:55,065 --> 00:49:56,648
AUDIENCE: I kind of
see what you mean,

1189
00:49:56,648 --> 00:49:58,064
like you have to
draw every frame.

1190
00:49:58,064 --> 00:49:59,757
LUIGI GUATIERI: Yeah.

1191
00:49:59,757 --> 00:50:02,172
AUDIENCE: Unity has a very
cool way to go around this.

1192
00:50:02,172 --> 00:50:06,036
Like, [INAUDIBLE] that's
actually 3D that is snap-shot

1193
00:50:06,036 --> 00:50:07,904
into 2D, so they
don't have to worry--

1194
00:50:07,904 --> 00:50:09,820
LUIGI GUATIERI: Yeah,
that's one way to do it.

1195
00:50:09,820 --> 00:50:11,800
That's one way to
solve it, but then you

1196
00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:13,780
have to make all your
models in 3D first,

1197
00:50:13,780 --> 00:50:17,410
and then animate in 3D, which
the modeling process takes time

1198
00:50:17,410 --> 00:50:19,120
as well.

1199
00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:21,030
And then you have to
think about-- all right,

1200
00:50:21,030 --> 00:50:23,220
I have 2D artists.

1201
00:50:23,220 --> 00:50:24,160
Can I do this?

1202
00:50:24,160 --> 00:50:26,362
No, I need a 3D
artist to do this.

1203
00:50:26,362 --> 00:50:27,820
It's just something
to think about.

1204
00:50:27,820 --> 00:50:31,140
But yeah, that's a way around
it that a lot of people use.

1205
00:50:31,140 --> 00:50:32,188
Yes, go.

1206
00:50:32,188 --> 00:50:34,354
AUDIENCE: Does it make sense
for a software engineer

1207
00:50:34,354 --> 00:50:37,672
to learn the basics of
drawing, so that they better

1208
00:50:37,672 --> 00:50:40,376
understand maybe the artists
and give more reasonable tasks?

1209
00:50:40,376 --> 00:50:42,584
LUIGI GUATIERI: Sorry, could
you repeat the question?

1210
00:50:42,584 --> 00:50:44,994
AUDIENCE: So does it make
sense for a software engineer

1211
00:50:44,994 --> 00:50:48,850
to learn the basics of drawing,
so that you better understand

1212
00:50:48,850 --> 00:50:53,200
artists and maybe give
more reasonable tasks?

1213
00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:55,120
LUIGI GUATIERI: Yes.

1214
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:58,390
Programmers, designers, software
engineers should totally

1215
00:50:58,390 --> 00:51:02,340
try to understand the basics
of art and color theory

1216
00:51:02,340 --> 00:51:07,890
and the process of making
art, so when it comes time

1217
00:51:07,890 --> 00:51:10,800
to either advising the artist
on what they need to change

1218
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:16,360
or what might not fit, you
have some understanding

1219
00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:18,050
of all right, these
colors go together.

1220
00:51:18,050 --> 00:51:20,220
These colors don't go together.

1221
00:51:20,220 --> 00:51:22,530
Could you composition
this a little better,

1222
00:51:22,530 --> 00:51:26,680
so you like put these down
here and that over there.

1223
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:29,385
But again, a lot of art
direction is about contrasting,

1224
00:51:29,385 --> 00:51:31,590
and composition, and
color is a big one.

1225
00:51:31,590 --> 00:51:36,990
I didn't really talk about
color, color theory, too much.

1226
00:51:36,990 --> 00:51:39,570
Like for instance, Jenna in
Little Worlds Interactive,

1227
00:51:39,570 --> 00:51:41,200
when I worked with
her, she already

1228
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:45,470
had a pretty good graphic design
sense, which really helped in,

1229
00:51:45,470 --> 00:51:47,010
when I gave her
art, and the sort

1230
00:51:47,010 --> 00:51:49,570
of feedback she could give me.

1231
00:51:49,570 --> 00:51:51,470
And also when she
utilized my art.

1232
00:51:51,470 --> 00:51:53,590
So I didn't put
anything into that game.

1233
00:51:53,590 --> 00:51:59,110
I wasn't directly working in
Unity on The Counting Kingdom.

1234
00:51:59,110 --> 00:52:01,279
She knew how things
look good together,

1235
00:52:01,279 --> 00:52:03,570
just because she'd already
had like a background in web

1236
00:52:03,570 --> 00:52:04,640
design.

1237
00:52:04,640 --> 00:52:05,260
So yes.

1238
00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:10,070
Yes?

1239
00:52:10,070 --> 00:52:13,820
AUDIENCE: You were saying
earlier that usually it's

1240
00:52:13,820 --> 00:52:18,070
good to have-- or it's
basically a must to have--

1241
00:52:18,070 --> 00:52:20,070
different people specialized
in different roles.

1242
00:52:20,070 --> 00:52:21,570
Like, someone is
the game designer,

1243
00:52:21,570 --> 00:52:23,570
someone's a programmer,
and then you

1244
00:52:23,570 --> 00:52:26,470
have to find artists
to do all the game art.

1245
00:52:26,470 --> 00:52:29,298
Do you ever find
outliers to that?

1246
00:52:29,298 --> 00:52:30,294
Like, exceptions?

1247
00:52:30,294 --> 00:52:33,531
Like, someone who does
everything and still

1248
00:52:33,531 --> 00:52:35,072
comes up [INAUDIBLE]?

1249
00:52:35,072 --> 00:52:37,280
LUIGI GUATIERI: Of course,
there's always exceptions.

1250
00:52:37,280 --> 00:52:39,740
There's always some magic
man who can do it all,

1251
00:52:39,740 --> 00:52:40,490
or magic woman.

1252
00:52:40,490 --> 00:52:41,406
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]?

1253
00:52:42,994 --> 00:52:45,410
LUIGI GUATIERI: An example of
an artist who can do it all.

1254
00:52:45,410 --> 00:52:46,610
AUDIENCE: Like, a game.

1255
00:52:46,610 --> 00:52:48,068
LUIGI GUATIERI: A
game designer who

1256
00:52:48,068 --> 00:52:50,343
can do it all-- I don't know.

1257
00:52:50,343 --> 00:52:51,289
Can you name anyone?

1258
00:52:56,019 --> 00:52:58,050
AUDIENCE: Other than
[? Dwarf Fortress? ?]

1259
00:52:58,050 --> 00:52:59,800
LUIGI GUATIERI:
[? Dwarf Fortress, ?] yes.

1260
00:52:59,800 --> 00:53:02,320
I mean, a lot of
game designers--

1261
00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:04,115
especially if they do
it as a hobby-- they

1262
00:53:04,115 --> 00:53:04,990
make their own stuff.

1263
00:53:04,990 --> 00:53:06,260
They make their own art.

1264
00:53:06,260 --> 00:53:11,680
It's just a good idea
to spread the work out,

1265
00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:13,260
because as an indie--
and obviously,

1266
00:53:13,260 --> 00:53:15,410
a lot of my developer
friends-- they

1267
00:53:15,410 --> 00:53:17,640
have to focus so much of
their time on marketing,

1268
00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:21,490
and programming, and designing,
that, to also add art to that,

1269
00:53:21,490 --> 00:53:27,120
you've just extended your game
development cycle by a lot.

1270
00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:29,200
And maybe you're not
as competent in that.

1271
00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:32,780
And people are more
apt at telling bad art

1272
00:53:32,780 --> 00:53:35,367
than they are from
telling bad game design.

1273
00:53:35,367 --> 00:53:36,950
Because all you need
to be able to see

1274
00:53:36,950 --> 00:53:39,945
is just a picture of the game
or video from the game and go,

1275
00:53:39,945 --> 00:53:41,720
that doesn't look very good.

1276
00:53:41,720 --> 00:53:44,340
Even if the viewer
doesn't understand

1277
00:53:44,340 --> 00:53:47,820
why it doesn't look good, they
can tell that immediately.

1278
00:53:47,820 --> 00:53:49,720
I don't like that.

1279
00:53:49,720 --> 00:53:53,625
So if the designer, programmer
is confident enough,

1280
00:53:53,625 --> 00:53:55,530
yeah, more power to them.

1281
00:53:55,530 --> 00:53:59,220
But you're going to be putting
a lot to work on yourself.

1282
00:53:59,220 --> 00:54:01,430
And you're not going
to get your game done

1283
00:54:01,430 --> 00:54:03,760
in a timely fashion at all.

1284
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:05,757
And it probably won't
be the best you can do.

1285
00:54:05,757 --> 00:54:07,340
AUDIENCE: Can I ask
one more question?

1286
00:54:07,340 --> 00:54:08,553
LUIGI GUATIERI: Sure.

1287
00:54:08,553 --> 00:54:09,969
AUDIENCE: Do you
ever as an artist

1288
00:54:09,969 --> 00:54:13,102
think about designing
a video game?

1289
00:54:13,102 --> 00:54:16,476
Do you ever think about
making [INAUDIBLE] video game?

1290
00:54:16,476 --> 00:54:18,890
Like, [INAUDIBLE]?

1291
00:54:18,890 --> 00:54:21,930
LUIGI GUATIERI: So I work
with a few developers now.

1292
00:54:21,930 --> 00:54:25,180
And I'm always giving
my design ideas.

1293
00:54:25,180 --> 00:54:26,740
I always have ideas for games.

1294
00:54:26,740 --> 00:54:29,010
I love coming up
with ideas for games.

1295
00:54:29,010 --> 00:54:32,390
I don't think I would
call myself apt enough

1296
00:54:32,390 --> 00:54:36,030
to design the whole
game by myself yet,

1297
00:54:36,030 --> 00:54:38,910
so I'm definitely still focused
on the art side of things.

1298
00:54:38,910 --> 00:54:40,740
But yeah, I love
designing games.

1299
00:54:40,740 --> 00:54:41,240
It's fun.

1300
00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:44,780
Yes?

1301
00:54:44,780 --> 00:54:47,430
AUDIENCE: What have you
had to do for an art test?

1302
00:54:47,430 --> 00:54:49,360
LUIGI GUATIERI: So
usually for an art test,

1303
00:54:49,360 --> 00:54:50,570
it depends on the game.

1304
00:54:50,570 --> 00:54:55,590
So I recently did an art test
for some sort of mobile MOBA

1305
00:54:55,590 --> 00:54:58,320
game, and what they
asked-- they said

1306
00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:00,700
here are your
character descriptions,

1307
00:55:00,700 --> 00:55:02,610
design these characters.

1308
00:55:02,610 --> 00:55:05,450
And I said, all right, that'll
take me this amount of time.

1309
00:55:05,450 --> 00:55:06,700
They said, great, that's fine.

1310
00:55:06,700 --> 00:55:08,070
This is my rate.

1311
00:55:08,070 --> 00:55:09,590
It was a quick contract.

1312
00:55:09,590 --> 00:55:10,570
Out the door for that.

1313
00:55:10,570 --> 00:55:11,640
And I designed the characters.

1314
00:55:11,640 --> 00:55:13,014
I didn't end up
getting the work,

1315
00:55:13,014 --> 00:55:15,550
but I don't think
my style was really

1316
00:55:15,550 --> 00:55:18,574
what they were looking for.

1317
00:55:18,574 --> 00:55:19,490
But yeah, it was that.

1318
00:55:19,490 --> 00:55:20,590
I designed the characters.

1319
00:55:20,590 --> 00:55:22,050
I did a quick turnaround.

1320
00:55:22,050 --> 00:55:23,610
So it was like,
characters standing

1321
00:55:23,610 --> 00:55:27,675
this way, this way, this
way, this way, from the back,

1322
00:55:27,675 --> 00:55:29,410
of each character.

1323
00:55:29,410 --> 00:55:32,987
I fully painted one of them,
and said, this is what I got.

1324
00:55:32,987 --> 00:55:34,570
I think that's a
pretty good art test,

1325
00:55:34,570 --> 00:55:37,240
especially if you're building
a game focused on characters.

1326
00:55:37,240 --> 00:55:39,156
If you're building a
game focused environments

1327
00:55:39,156 --> 00:55:41,010
be like, draw this
mountain for me that I'm

1328
00:55:41,010 --> 00:55:42,380
describing in this text.

1329
00:55:42,380 --> 00:55:48,490
So usually an art test is
here's a description, draw this,

1330
00:55:48,490 --> 00:55:51,030
especially for an illustrator
or a concept artist.

1331
00:55:51,030 --> 00:55:54,200
It's not so much here's a quick
doodle I did, make it better.

1332
00:55:54,200 --> 00:55:58,623
It's usually here is a paragraph
of text, make this thing exist.

1333
00:55:58,623 --> 00:56:02,121
I feel like that's a
pretty solid art test.

1334
00:56:02,121 --> 00:56:02,620
Yes?

1335
00:56:02,620 --> 00:56:03,522
AUDIENCE: You
talked about finding

1336
00:56:03,522 --> 00:56:05,780
someone who has the style
that you're looking for?

1337
00:56:05,780 --> 00:56:06,195
LUIGI GUATIERI: Yes.

1338
00:56:06,195 --> 00:56:08,278
AUDIENCE: Is that generally
the case with artists,

1339
00:56:08,278 --> 00:56:10,860
or are there artists who
are more flexible in style?

1340
00:56:10,860 --> 00:56:14,550
LUIGI GUATIERI: So I like
to think I'm more flexible.

1341
00:56:14,550 --> 00:56:18,620
I didn't used to work on a lot
of cute games, but now I do.

1342
00:56:18,620 --> 00:56:20,950
That's just what happened.

1343
00:56:20,950 --> 00:56:23,389
There are definitely
artists who more-- so I'm

1344
00:56:23,389 --> 00:56:25,430
going to go back to art
school here a little bit.

1345
00:56:25,430 --> 00:56:26,340
This is time travel.

1346
00:56:26,340 --> 00:56:29,320
And I'm going to remind
myself of what my Illustrator

1347
00:56:29,320 --> 00:56:32,200
professors told me, is
to never do anything

1348
00:56:32,200 --> 00:56:33,840
else other than your style.

1349
00:56:33,840 --> 00:56:35,680
Get really good
at that one thing.

1350
00:56:35,680 --> 00:56:37,300
And don't bother
with anything else,

1351
00:56:37,300 --> 00:56:39,574
because you need to be
the best at what you do.

1352
00:56:39,574 --> 00:56:40,990
And I was like,
eh, that's boring.

1353
00:56:43,660 --> 00:56:45,786
Most artists have their
style they work in.

1354
00:56:45,786 --> 00:56:47,160
A lot of video
game artists, they

1355
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:51,140
go for the hyper-realism
concept art--

1356
00:56:51,140 --> 00:56:54,155
the art movie, books, that
you see from VFX houses.

1357
00:56:54,155 --> 00:56:56,530
That's why a lot of them can
work together in big groups,

1358
00:56:56,530 --> 00:56:58,840
because they all have a
very similar kind of like,

1359
00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:01,820
we're going for
realism, robots, tanks.

1360
00:57:01,820 --> 00:57:03,860
OK, we can all work together.

1361
00:57:03,860 --> 00:57:06,410
The more unique your style
is, I think, the more time

1362
00:57:06,410 --> 00:57:09,470
you have to spend
working on that style.

1363
00:57:09,470 --> 00:57:12,740
And the more reason, if this
person's style is very unique,

1364
00:57:12,740 --> 00:57:15,846
you're hiring them for their
style, not their art talents.

1365
00:57:15,846 --> 00:57:17,470
Again, that's why a
lot of big studios,

1366
00:57:17,470 --> 00:57:19,300
they hire people
who can do realism,

1367
00:57:19,300 --> 00:57:22,200
because that's a little bit
more malleable in terms of what

1368
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:23,382
they can turn that into.

1369
00:57:23,382 --> 00:57:25,590
But if you're hiring artists
for their very specific,

1370
00:57:25,590 --> 00:57:30,030
unique style, you're getting
them for that one task.

1371
00:57:30,030 --> 00:57:32,490
But again, it depends
on the contract for me.

1372
00:57:32,490 --> 00:57:35,280
If I'm-- all right, this
is for children's magazine.

1373
00:57:35,280 --> 00:57:38,121
I'm not going to put the bad guy
from Doom in there, obviously.

1374
00:57:38,121 --> 00:57:39,120
That doesn't make sense.

1375
00:57:42,140 --> 00:57:44,097
As an artist, I say
yes to almost every job

1376
00:57:44,097 --> 00:57:45,930
that comes my way,
because I don't know when

1377
00:57:45,930 --> 00:57:47,260
the next one's going to come.

1378
00:57:47,260 --> 00:57:48,844
That's just how it works.

1379
00:57:48,844 --> 00:57:49,760
But that's how I work.

1380
00:57:49,760 --> 00:57:51,259
A lot of other
people are different.

1381
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:55,292
All right, is that it?

1382
00:57:55,292 --> 00:57:56,125
Thank you very much.

1383
00:57:56,125 --> 00:57:57,320
It was awesome.

1384
00:57:57,320 --> 00:57:59,820
[APPLAUSE]

1385
00:58:02,820 --> 00:58:05,270
SPEAKER 1: All right,
so take five minutes

1386
00:58:05,270 --> 00:58:07,174
to get with your teams.

1387
00:58:07,174 --> 00:58:09,340
If you'd like to have them
take a look at your work,

1388
00:58:09,340 --> 00:58:12,527
just have your computer set
aside, close to the edge

1389
00:58:12,527 --> 00:58:13,610
so they can easily see it.

1390
00:58:13,610 --> 00:58:16,780
And at 2:10, we'll
walk around and see

1391
00:58:16,780 --> 00:58:19,180
who wants some feedback
on their games from Luigi.

1392
00:58:19,180 --> 00:58:20,080
LUIGI GUATIERI: Cool.

1393
00:58:20,080 --> 00:58:22,530
[CHATTER]