Art test process: Breakdown

Let’s start this New Year with a test I completed for a company around September of last year that unfortunately didn't go anywhere. It took me by surprise to be asked to do a test after over 10 years of experience, TBQH, but I assumed that given the state of the industry today with all the AI, fake profiles, etc., I was going to get some sort of verification at some point, so I didn’t mind. The test was not a paid one, yet it didn’t bother me because that way I could use the piece for my portfolio (and this article), which at this point in my career is more valuable to me and the art community. The test was simple, in theory. The purpose was to evaluate IP accuracy, creativity, and my ability to render objects in 3D.

I hope this process breakdown gives you a new view angle when you're doing your next art test. Maybe you spot errors in my approach and would like to talk about it, which is something I highly encourage. Let's get better together and turn this into an ideas exchange!

Research:

The first order of business was to download the game and give it a try. After that I spent a couple of hours researching the game on YouTube, its player demographic, social media perception, metas, and getting overall acquainted with the IP. I was looking for player behavior patterns, and I quickly stumbled upon a big one. The game in question has over a hundred vehicles to choose from, yet the players mostly gravitate to 3 or 4. They seemed to be the most liked, so from those I decided to pick their most iconic one and use it as a base for my test. I wanted to give players what they wanted, but I also wanted my tester to know I could do actual research, like any senior should. Being a senior concept artist (or director for that matter) is not about being the best overall artist in the shop, it's more about being clever, but that's another subject for another occasion. I also noticed players preferred faceted vehicles because it allowed them to see clearly defined side boundaries. That was a clear indication, at least to me, that the creativity aspect in this case had a hard technical ceiling. If the test had been a fully open one, with no established IP attached, I would have gone more aggressive with my designs for sure.

Researching the demographic, I discovered that at the time, the gaming user base was roughly 80% male (mainly young adults) living in the USA, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. After doing some more digging, I concluded the best course of action was using Hot Wheels cars as the main inspiration. I gathered some interesting cars and took pictures and notes of the details I liked. I also got inspiration from boats, drones, race cars, anime (Redline), and Cyberpunk 2077, which are aesthetics I think would resonate with my target demographic.

Initial ideation:

I created some initial, very loose thumbnails to get the idea mill rolling. Once I found some ideas I liked, I refined them a bit more so I could get a clearer vision. Luckily, the internet has a handful of very detailed renditions of the vehicle I was going to use as a base, and that allowed me to create a game-accurate 3D skeleton to lay all my sketches on top. This way I can be creative but still be able to follow the game’s established geometries. Once you start using 3D, you don’t need to go old school and draw everything by hand like we did many years ago. Don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to.

Using 3D allows you to:

• Be efficient by not worrying too much about perspective errors.
• As the time passes, you’ll build a considerable list of tools and assets so your job gets easier and more streamlined.
• It allows you to create a confusion-free conversation with your 3D team.

Execution:

Being this for a time-constrained art test, I wanted to be able to show that my designs belong to the current game in an efficient, familiar way to the team. For that reason I decided to render my sketches in the ¾ format they have in the game. After all, most of the information a director needs to make initial decisions can be acquired with a decent, quick ¾ render. The back of these vehicles is composed of the usual turbines, rockets, and engine, and at this stage I decided not to spend energy or time on them (although I’m super clear this is the aspect players see the most). In a studio production pipeline, I would at this point ask for direction to pick a handful of sketches in order to quickly illustrate their rears (spending my budget exactly where required). Feel free to state your opinion in the comments section, by the way. After all, I’m stating what has worked for me in a GAAS (game-as-a-service) environment, where things have to move fast and with little to no waste. Was this a bad decision for this test? Maybe, who knows? Let me know.

As I said before, when it came to style, I tried to be creative, but in a way that would still fit in the current IP while still being grounded technically. Being a spaceship designer for a while, I decided to have familiar fun and go sci-fi, but sprinkled with a bit of industrial here and there. This is the tricky part with tests. Go too creative, and it will look like you don’t respect/understand the IP or technical limitations. Go too conservative, and it will look like you have fear or lack creativity.

After asking around, 2 or 3 designs were the overwhelming favorites, so I did a quick 3D blocking of them plus some variations. We’re talking about around an afternoon for all of them combined. Super simple stuff. Suddenly it got to be evident the one I was going to take to the final.

After trying some color schemes, I decided to go with a bold, high contrast Evangelion-style color scheme for the final. I always like for players to geek out, so I drop Easter eggs here and there where possible. Any Evangelion fan would pick the reference right away. Here are two of the schemes I liked the most:

Here's the final piece. Being this a showpiece, I went with a mainly orange color scheme that would contrast nicely with the green background.

And here’s the hindsight perspective. Unforgivable things that should have been done but were overlooked due to stress, lack of time, and/or other factors. It's important to be able to self-criticize and adjust your pieces accordingly. This is why every time I can, I try to work with various projects at once. That project rotation allows my pieces to "simmer" in my head for some time. That grants me a fresh view the next time I see them by triggering the "hindsight 20/20" effect. I highly recommend working this way if possible.

That's it! Thanks for taking your time to take this journey with me. As always, I hope my process can in some way assist you with yours! Do you like this kind of content? I'm not even sure that people actually care for stuff like this so please let me know. Take care and take it easy!

Cheers,

Hector Ortiz

Senior Concept Artist

https://inklinedecline.com/