Over the past few year, my feelings on fanart have changed a lot, and I kind of just want to ramble about that here. Obviously, this is just my opinion on the matter, but I wanted to summarize it here. By fanart, I am specifically talking about art inspired by other pieces of media, or things that other people have created.
Like anything, I think it's good in moderation. It can really be flattering to the creator of the thing you are a fan of (assuming they see it), and can help you find a community of other fans. It is a pretty easy way to get attention online as an artist since people are likely looking for fanart of things they enjoy more than they look for random studies of coffee cups or the like, and there's nothing wrong with that. Fanart can challenge you too. If you're making a comic about Indiana Jones, and using reference photos and doing studies along the way, your action poses are probably seriously going to improve. It also lets you draw ideas that aren't from your own head, so it can push your limits a bit. This is also great for people with art block or just low motivation at the moment, because they don't have the be the most creative person on the planet and can still get results that makes them happy. However, I have two problems with fan art. The first is that it can lead to a lot of copying and tracing. I said earlier using reference images is great, and I do stand by that, but you shouldn't always try to exactly copy whatever you're making fan art for. If that's what you're doing, then people will ignore your art and just go experience the source content. Obviously, if you're just doing studies, then it's fine to copy as directly as possible, and there's a lot to be learned there. However, if that isn't your goal, then you have to add something of your own, be it putting old characters in new situations and environments, or just stylizing it in your own way. For instance, using real life pose references and then some references for a character will help you get better at poses and putting any character in different poses much more than just copying straight from one reference image. Also, the whole point of fanart really is to make something based on the original content, but that takes it further, and just copying does not do that. The other problem I have with fanart is questionable copyright usage. I don't really know how to feel about this one, other than that people need to respect what creators say on the issue. With events like comic cons, tons of artists make money off of fanart related products, and I think that, as if mentioned above, their art goes beyond just the original media it's based off of, then I think they definitely deserve to profit from their work. I just think it's also important to respect the right of the original creators to decide whether or not they are okay with people selling art based on their ideas. A lot of times fanart can create a bigger audience for creators, so I think generally that alone makes them okay with it, but it's just important to listen to the creators. Overall, I would say fanart should be fun, but just to remember to push yourself artistically if you can, and learn from it. Creative new ideas should always be valued and expressed in art, but that doesn't mean that you should never draw fanart either. Basically, just be careful that you aren't just copying things or making art based on them for popularity, but actually are enjoying the art you make and are challenging yourself as an artist.
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This post is going to be mostly just my personal reflection on what's been different about creating 3D games - as opposed to making 2D games - so far, as well as seeing what other people have to say about the difference in logic and production of these styles of games.
One of the biggest differences I notice is working in a 3D space changes the way you have to think about positioning things. Often you must adjust both the position and the rotation to get something in the right spot, whereas in 2D games, often rotation is only important to special effects or if a sprite got imported upside down. In 3D games however, your camera angle is important, and so are the rotations of everything else to choose which way they will be facing. On a forum about this topic, one user describes 3D as "one dimension harder". In some 3D games, the player is in complete control of the camera, which complicates things even more since objects in the game must look good from every angle. Speaking of objects in the game, now they are 3D art rather than normal sprites. You have to have the model itself and the texture map. In itself, 3D art isn't necessarily harder than 2D art, it's just different, so this will be a little more subjective. However, another user on the above mentioned forum pointed out that 3D animation requires rigging and skeletons as well as the aforementioned model and texture, so in that sense it is more complicated. Often 3D game assets will also take up more data, so a lot of times 3D games require more tricks to keep them running smoothly to make up for this - like simplifying models. This article makes some other points that I had not really thought about. It points out that generally, 3D games require more assets than 2D ones, just because of the scope of the world generally. It also mentions that 3D games are so compelling because of the realism aspect that they can bring. Then, it again summarizes my earlier thoughts on controls being more complicated in 3D and general differences in art production. 3D games...
So recently we have returned to working in Unity in game design and I realized how much I've really missed coding. Once we started it was hard for me to stop, and this is during a point where I have had little motivation to do other things I really like, such as art. Coding though has just been really fun. And yes, it has been easy tutorial projects so far, but I've really enjoyed them and I love it when I figure out a solution to a problem.
I've also been thinking about college a lot lately, and for the past year I was absolutely focused on finding programs that would eventually get me to a career in animation. I would get frustrated when people even suggested maybe going to a normal college first and doing art school later if that was still what I wanted to do (granted, I had a lot of misconceptions about how college and degrees work at this point, but I also felt like they were just trying to discourage me). However, now I'm thinking that I really do want to do some more experimenting with possible careers. Of course game design seems obvious as it combines art and coding, but there is also web design and building apps and such as well, and I could always do art or coding on the side if I do decide to commit to a career that only focuses on one of those areas. Basically, all this means is I'm going to try to dedicate more time to improving my programming skills while still trying to learn more about animation too. Keeping my options open at this point is a smart move for me to make, and we'll see what opportunities it brings. Also, since it seems like next year I'll be working on a VR project rather than the 2D game that I had planned to work on, I think I am going to try to create the 2D game at home. This probably will take me a while (into summer or the next school year), but I think it will really help me improve my coding abilities and let me make some fun art and practice keeping a consistent art style. |
AuthorHi, I'm Abi, a DSA student who likes games, drawing, writing, and acting. Archives
February 2020
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