Oh boy, this post is going to be interesting. I am going to be showing off the evolution of art that Fingeance has had over the past year. I want to preface this by saying I didn’t really know how to make comic book art/ ink art digitally beforehand and didn’t know how to use illustrator before starting work on this game. Also none of the current art is final so I could in theory do another one of these to show the final evolution of the art but I thought it would be interesting or at least entertaining to see how (bad) things were from before.
But enough talking time to show it. Oh boy…
Old Concept Art
In the beginning we weren’t too sure on what the art style was going to be I just knew that I wanted to have a cleaner style compared to what I have previously done.
So of course I drew something in that style anyway. It was just to get a sketch of what would become Finn, but it was just to get an idea of what the basic shape the main character would look like. So it was pretty rough and it didn’t look at all like a comic book style because we didn’t really have an art style yet. That being said, it doesn’t look bad graphically; this is largely because I drew it in a style that I was used to drawing in. But that changed when we said, “Comic book style sounds like it would fit the game!” This is when things went off the rails a bit.
Comic Book-ish (Not Really)
As I mentioned before, I didn’t have much of a background when it came to making comic book style art. Not only that but we wanted a western comic book style, which my concept art could arguably be more manga like so I tried to fix that. Key word there is “tried”.
I didn’t know how to ink things correctly so the art looked very uneven and there were weird splotches all over the place. Also the line work didn’t convey the sort of intensity I wanted; it looked more dopey then “edgy”. Not only that but the proportions were all out of whack, but I didn’t have much time because we were getting prepared for the Minnesota State Fair. This is really evident in the splash screen art, it looks way rushed, plus not having experience with this style of art didn’t do me any favors either.
Refinement
After I had some more time to figure out how to actually make the style of art things got a little better. I got a better result with inking; lines were smoother, no more splotches. But the style of art still didn’t look like I wanted it to. So I when to get some inspiration, so I went to go look at a video game. What? You thought I would look at comic book? No… that’s too obvious.
I started to get a better idea of what I wanted the game to look like and it really showed. Things started to have that “edgy” look, but not too “edgy”. When I figured out the style, I still didn’t use Adobe Illustrator so I painted things in and but some things had a bit of a roughness to them. But it really looked so much better than where the art was from before.
Enter Vectors
It was after Glitch Con where I finally purchased Illustrator and that changed production drastically. I was able to create art in the style that I wanted it in a MUCH shorter time because I was using such an inconvenient roundabout way to do things before. For comparison, it took me about 2 hours to have a polished piece of art (specifically the character art), now it takes me about 1 hour to make 3 pieces.
So that’s all of the major art shifts that the game took in terms of art and art styles. It has come a long way from when I first started making the art. I have learned a lot and hopeful the art comes across as handled well.
You also will get a chance to see the art in action firsthand this coming Monday! The demo will be released on the June 1st make sure to check back then to play Fingenace with your friends!
It’s time to dive into the characters of Fingenace! They make up an interesting bunch where everyone brings something to the table. So let’s take a look:
Finn
Finn is a hot headed fish out for vengeance! He is the leader of the group… or at least he tries to be. He is intelligent but stubborn, blinded by his hatred towards the dolphins. When he gets fired up there is no stopping him from venting his anger!
Since Finn is such an angry fish I really wanted to push that and highlight just that. So I made is eyebrows extremely long to really sell the loud and flamboyant stature that he gives off. This decision can be seen in all of the other fish in the group as they have extremely long eyebrows or eyelashes, but none as intense as Finn’s.
Bubbles
Bubbles has one goal: to blow things up, and she plans on fulfilling that task. She is the youngest out of the group but that doesn’t stop her from exploding all that stand in her way.
Bubbles is interesting in the way that she really want to explode things. So I wanted to push that attitude that she alludes. I think that she was the most successful in terms of having a personality as she is just dripping personality from this stance.
Gil
Gil is very precise in what he does and he does it efficiently. He is a sharp shooter always thinking one step ahead of him. When the others aren’t up to par, that is when he loses his cool.
Gil was hard for me to nail down, I’m not really even sure if I am done with the look of it. When I was imaging him, I was picturing a slick and slender fish. He has given me the most trouble in terms of conveying his personality. Through is body language.
Dorsa
While Dorsa wants revenge for what the dolphins did to them, she also would love to benefit from all of this… Financially. She wants all of the money and scrap that these dolphins have for herself. It isn’t every day that you come across an opportunity as rich as this.
Dorsa is very intelligent and thinks highly of herself. I tried to pose her in a position that accentuated that fact. Other than that she really was an enigma when I was designing her, but in the end I think that it turned out well.
So that is an overview of each character and some insight as to why I designed them the way that I did. Things are still in the air but I think this is about what they are going to look like in the end. What do you think? Let me know in the comments and hope to see you next week!
In other news, we went to Glitch Con last weekend! It was great seeing all of you and being able to interact and show the game off was a blast! But I am sure Lane will be talking more about that on Friday.
Remember check out Stephen on Mondays and Lane on Fridays, while I take on Wednesdays.
(In case your wondering why this wasn’t on Wednesday, yesterday was April Fool’s… no one would have taken it seriously, it’s the internet!)
Hello everyone!
I am Charles McGregor, the artist and musician for Fingeance. You may have seen some of my work over at Tribe Games like Glitch in the System. I am here to help Fingeance look and sound great! So you can find the majority of my posts be about the art and audio of the game (with some User Interface talk spliced in sometimes).
Fingeance art style is inspired by western comic books, with very bold and directional inking. A lot of the inspiration also comes from the Sly Cooper series.
I really liked the use of thick and thin lines of the art it helped give it that comic book feel in the cutscenes. Besides the fact that I really like the Sly Cooper series, I think this art style fits the comical story of Fingeance.
I still got a ways to go in terms of fine tuning the art style before I am completely happy with it, but so far I think I am on the right track.
So that is a quick overview of the overarching art style of Fingeance. Let me know what you guys think of it and what you want to see me delve into in my posts. Right now I plan on bringing you updates on the new art in the game, the reasons why things look and sound the way they do, and show how I do some of the things that I do among other things.
On a side note, Escape Industries and Fingeance are going to be at Glitch Con 2015! If you are a going there or want to meet up with us make sure to come this weekend, we will be roaming the conference on Saturday and Exhibiting on Sunday. Be sure to check us out and check all of the other awesome game developers!