Game Art for Comics

orpheus85 · Oct 2010

Hi, all I am trying to find out about the possiblities of using 3d Game Art in comic books, rather than 3d high poly Graphics. I got this idea through the Comicon Challenge 2010'.

I was searching if 3d game artists are using game art for comic book column or covers....and all i cud get is John Van Fleet, through a post in ComicBookResource fourm.
I am keen know more about this topic as i feel that this hasn't been explored properly and would like any kinda feed back or experience on it.

Thanks guys

Tom Ellis · Oct 2010

Olivier Thill does it exceptionally well, unique and awesome technique:

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=93536&page=1&pp=15

http://logan117.cgsociety.org/gallery/912211/

It's not really game art as such since it's not optimized for use in an engine.

With regards to your question, I'm not sure why you'd want to use optimized characters/environments in still/printed media. The whole idea of game art is to make the best of your triangle count / textures size restriction and the limits of your engine.

Obviously these limits aren't gonna exist if you're rendering for still images and it kinda seems silly to limit the quality/refinement of your art when there's no real reason to do so.

Take a look at StarCraft 2 for example. The realtime cutscenes consist of characters/environments which have clearly been developed to look as close to their cinematic counterparts as possible, but the restrictions necessary for allowing them to be rendered realtime result in a noticeably lower visual quality (not that they are any less awesome). Whereas on the cinematics, they'll be rendered offline and can therefore disregard things like framerate considerations (within reason of course).

I suppose you could also look at it this way; If you were tasked with creating something for PS3, you had the limits of the PS3 hardware, you wouldn't then make something specced for use in an iPhone game. Maybe you want a cel-shaded, stylized character that doesn't need to be all 'current-gen' but you'd still find every possible way to make the best use of your limits. And if you haven't got any limits... just go nuts! (Although it would be wise to maintain consideration for rendering times and topology for deformation).

orpheus85 · Oct 2010

thanks creationtwentytwo, i have been trying to find some comics which has good 3d graphics in it but the examples seemed to loose the effect of a comic and most of them were erotic.
where when u see the renders that artists generate in the comic con challenege it feels very close to the comics sketches and i find that the quality also looks gr8. yes the artists have to use some add on touch ups like photoshop and render engines to make it more like a comics cover, but i think that apart from game studios and freelance work game artist can also use their optimised pipeline to generate comics.....not too realistic...yet cool...like street fighters art..

i think once the characters and environments are made ity would me much more easy to render and execute a column for a comic art.

my main reason for such kinda idea is that i am looking forward to write an innovation paper for my studies, and there have been topics like implemeting tradional art in games, implememting 2d art in games...and i though y not think for comics...comic con, uneartyhly challenege , dominance war do give out a very awesome out put. and such kinda art would looks cool in comics as its done for games.

the main obsticle that i see here is the time constaraint. game art takes time to be made..but its do able.

any kinda advice, suggestion or ideas........

skankerzero · Oct 2010

I think it will only benefit characters that will always look a certain way, environments you will revisit over and over, or hardware like vehicles or weapons.

Other than that, the amount of work that will go into creating new environments, new characters, new outfits just won't be worth it in the long run.

The stuff you see in Unearthly or Dominance War take a LONG time to make, and in Unearthly, usually its a team of people. This is why you get nothing but poser models and CAD environments when it comes to 3D erotic comics.

One of the guys here made an Iron Man model that was used during the Civil War comics, but again, that's a character who never changes his appearance. Even then, it was always drawn over and made to look hand drawn:
(I think this is a shot of it. If not, it was used sometime around Civil War)

3D in comics is something I used to be very interested in, but it's really not practical unless you have a good budget, great planning up front, and begin building a library or assets before you even begin putting the comic book together.

If your comic takes place in generic settings, then you can always buy generic city buildings or posed people for CAD renderings from places like Turbo Squid. A good render and some filters applied, and you got yourself a quick and easy background for a panel.

So in conclusion:

3D as 100 percent of the comic? Not very practical.

3D as an aid to comics? A great idea.

orpheus85 · Oct 2010

Awesome, skankerzero, i am also looking forward for using game art as an aid for comics and not the entire 3d in comic...yes we will need a good library, planning, budget...but for example Gears of war had a comic out.....the comic could have used some assets charcaters, environ from the game, with a bit of photoshop it would look a lot like a comic strip.....

so guys you think game art can be implemented to some extent in comics......?

has any1 come across any examples of comcis where game art has been used...am at persent looking for some on the internet and havn't found any......

any more artist or concept in particular that i can look put to for this

cheers

kaptainkernals · Oct 2010

Well in terms of 3D being used an an aid in comic books, well manga in this case, Gantz is a pretty good example, this being shown to me by a friend who's really into manga:

http://ahbengsworld.blogspot.com/2009_02_22_archive.html

Pretty interesting, and the artwork is pretty decent in the end. Sorry for low quality images, haven't found any larger, the larger are found in the actual manga. Seems like the 3D characters are just used for posing and block out, and the environment being done in 3D for final output.

orpheus85 · Oct 2010

Thats gr8, its a very good example, cheers kaptainkernals.

kaptainkernals · Oct 2010

glad it helps.

I reckon if using 3D to block in concept art and illustrations is a known practice, I see no reason why it wouldn't be used in comic book art, it's just a matter of finding examples showing work process.

igi · Oct 2010

hmm this gow comic book idea is looks like worth to put some effort on it...I mean models are alredy existing,you just only need to place and pose them,take the caps and trim them with some PS filters!

Steve Schulze · Oct 2010

The simplest take on it is something like Stolen Pixels on the Escapist website which uses existing models posed in Garry's Mod.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/stolen-pixels/8239-Stolen-Pixels-237-After-After-Curfew-Pt-1
It's not exactly high art, but it get's the job done acceptably for the most part.

A friend of mine who doesn't have a great deal of experience working in 3d uses Sketchup to knock out environment assets to quickly nail down perspectives and layout for his comic Kranburn, which he then draws over.

For example:
http://kranburn.thewebcomic.com/comics/971401/chapter-2-page-6/

orpheus85 · Oct 2010

I totally agree with kaptainkernals and igi.

Jackablade, Stolen Pixels and Kranburn are a good examples for the same, cheers bro.
i really loved your friends concept and comic work.

orpheus85 · Nov 2010

hey guys what do ya all think are the major hurdles which are faced while inculcating 3d game art into comic books?

Game Art for Comics

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