So You Want To Be An Artist...

So you want to be an Artist/Graphic Designer...

A game is nothing without successful box art. Imagine you have a really amazing game in stores but an awful marketing team thought the cover should look like this: 

For a video game to succeed, people must be attracted to it visually before even playing the game. This is your job. You are to design a box for your team's game that will be appealing to the regular consumer using Paint.NET. You are also to create a "back" of the box that has a description of a game with a few imaginary reviews. Remember, this is a prototype of a game, so it doesn't have reviews yet! We're just showing Microsoft what it MIGHT look like. That being said, make sure it actually looks like an actual video game box. Some templates are provided below.

In addition, during your initial planning session, you must catalog any art assets your team needs and create them by using PixilArt or Paint.NET. Do they need a picture of a monkey? An orange? A computer? It's your job to draw them and deliver them to the design/development team. Until then, they must use "placeholder" assets (such as grey boxes) to simulate the game's mechanics. Note that you must have a minimum of five original pieces of art (that includes the background, but not the box art!).

A rubric and box art example are below.

Things you are responsible for:

FRONT OF THE BOX: Background, characters, title, ESRB rating, system logo

BACK OF THE BOX: Description, reviews, barcode, number of players, more art 

Any art assets asked for by the design team during the initial planning phase (minimum of 5).

FAQ:

Q: What if my game isn't done? What art do I use for the box?

A: Many video games do not feature the same art on the box as they do in the game itself. Feel free to use Google Image Search and Picsearch to find pictures that resemble the action or setting of your game. Edit them neatly and put them together.

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Q: So how do I actually make the box?

A: You know how to cleanly edit items and put them together using layers using the program Paint.NET. Think back to your Adventure Image lesson! (If you didn't take this class last year, please dedicate part of a day to watching the Paint.NET tutorial to get the hang of it!)

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Q: What kind of quotes should I use?

A: Create glowing praise. (Yes, you can make it up.) Attribute it to a magazine, if you'd like!

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Q: Where do I get inspiration?

A: A search for "video game box art" usually yields good results. Adding the criteria "best" or "worst" to that search might tell you what to look for or avoid!

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Q: When is it okay for me to use pictures from the internet, and when should I be creating my own art?

A: Anything in the game itself should be drawn by you. The box art (both front and back) may be curated and stitched together from image search results.

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Q: Is there anything I should know about drawing a sprite in PixilArt or Paint.NET?

A: Astute question! There are several things to keep in mind:

• Make sure to fill whatever box you're drawing in to avoid having a bunch of unused space in your drawing (if the box is too big, press the "New Image" button and create a smaller box.

• Make sure your background is transparent!

• Make sure every object that requires interaction is its own picture! Do not include interactive objects in your background!

• Make sure you save it as a PNG! PNG seems to be the easiest to transfer to Scratch because it retains the transparent background that these programs utilize. Once you send it to your programmer, if they've watched my tutorial, they will know what to do.

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Q: HELP. I DON'T GET IT. STILL.

A: Okay, okay! I have heard the pleas of a weary student body and released a supplemental video specifically for artists. It's here! (Note: This video uses Paint.NET, but the concepts therein can easily also be applied to PixilArt.)

HELPFUL LINK:

The Covers Project - An archive of every video game cover the internet could find! Check them out.