Elk Studios
Since December 2023 I have been at Elk Studios in Stockholm working as a 2D Game Artist. I work most closely with the Art-Director, Artists and Animators.
This role includes many parts: like creating whole new art or adjusting/polishing pre-made art from another artist or outsourcing material.
Figuring out what parts are needed for the game as a whole and for future animations and possible gameplay elements.
Adjust background art and effects. Help out with pre-production. Setup photoshop files for various assets, exports and then add these to the game.
Work with text, numbers and fonts, adjust looks or improve readability. Make art and assets for the marketing team.
Polishing/Adjusting
Sometimes the assets we get back from outsourcing need to change/be adjusted for various reasons and sometimes just a little extra polish.
We also might have to take over already started art-assets from other artists that need some more exploration and further rendering.
Here are some examples from "Catemple" what we had gotten back from outsourcing and then final render+polishing done by me.
Creating New Assets/Art
Making an assets that's missing or added later can happen during production.
Some are needed in the game as an animation asset, effect or a symbol.
Down below is work I did on "Catemple": I had to create an annihilation symbol that would clear the grid. I started with a bunch of concepts, after discussing with Art-Director and animators we all enjoyed the cat swatting first.
To make it more readable and need for less animation parts we decided on just a closed first smashing down. I also got to figure out the trigger element which turned into the annihilation coin.
Loader Images and Concept art
Loader Image: Something fun or nice that sums up or represents the game, before it even starts. Leaves the opportunity to re-use assets or create something totally new or a good mix of both. My favourite ones I've done are down below from "Catemple" and "Oxygen2" with their old concept-art.
For some games I've been part of pre-production and gotten to help create moodboards and make concept art, usually make some variations. Then mix concepts or adjust based on feedback to have options for a final game asset. The Art-Director then looks at the final concepts and picks what works and sends it of for outsourcing or for us to render.
This can include making symbols, backgrounds, ideas for Bonus intro/outro assets etc. I have some concepts here from "Quackers" and "Oxygen 3".
UI Frames/Elements
Some games might need something fun to be added to sides of the grid,
or add an extra element to the game. Kept in the style and theme of the game framing the game-grid needed for both portrait and web versions.
I usually make a couple of sketchy concept versions, discuss pros and cons with my Art-Director, make whatever adjustment's needed and then start matching rendering style with the game when we agree and what we want.
These are some of my favourites that I've done for "Rex Stampede", "Toro 911", and "Langley street 23".
Fonts and Numbers
Another task I've sometimes had is choosing font or improving the text/numbers look or readability. The top numbers is what we had gotten back from outsourcing for "Shadowshifter" and then the arrow shows the work I did to improve the look.
Also added the job I did for "Ashoka X" adjused the look of the BigWins, Numbers and Bonus texts.
Mockups and Animation Assets
On "Toro 911" I went through some of our already made art and then broke them down them into animation parts.
This Included replacing and filling in what was missing from the assets or I had to add and create new parts. I kept animation in mind when I created fully new assets, like the Megaphone we used in our BigWin presentations.
Some Text-assets also needed to be cut up into seperate parts for animation.
I also got to create mockups and the storyboards for sequences like BigWins or some symbol effect ideas.
I've also done mockups and storyboards for other games like "Ice Wolf 2", "Oxygen 2", and "Rex Stampede". This to help or inspire the animators.
