Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Image source: Gnomonschool.deviantart.com
Struggling for inspiration? If you’re thinking about attending the Gnomon School of Visual Effects (or if you’re a current student), then I can think of no better source of inspiration than your fellow Gnomon students!
Gnomon School keeps a DeviantArt page where it occasionally uploads pictures that were made by students. That’s right — not a single picture on Gnomon’s DeviantArt page came from educators or alumni.
One of the coolest things about browsing through this artwork is that it gives you a taste of where your art skills will be in a few years after attending Gnomon School of Visual Effects. You may be good now, but can you pull off this?
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Image source: Gnomonschool.deviantart.com
Or this?
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Image source: Gnomonschool.deviantart.com
If you can’t then you’re going to have a rough time competing against Gnomon graduates in the job market.
But that’s enough shameless self promotion. Let’s take a closer look at some of the pictures. Hopefully, these will inspire you to think outside of the box and create compelling artwork on your next project.
Lesson 1: Put a Fresh Spin on Old Ideas
This picture by Adam Hansel takes a fresh approach to the classic capture the flag game mode in many modern first person shooter games. I’m so used to seeing space marines running around with an actual flag that it’s refreshing to find a sci-fi warrior carrying what appears to be a holographic flag.
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Image source: Gnomonschool.deviantart.com
Lesson 2: Tell a Story
At first glance, this picture by Leticia Kao is pretty simple — it just shows a small hut-like building on a cloudy day. Once you stop and consider the artwork, however, you can notice a few interesting details about the scene. It’s much more likely that the storm clouds on the left are receding, rather than rolling in. How can I tell that? The pools of water around the hut suggest that the area has just endured a massive rainstorm. The birds on the right are moving to the left, as if they’re chasing away the storm clouds. Normally, it would be strange to see birds moving towards a thunder storm, so the viewer can be reasonably certain that the storm is going rather than coming. To top it all off, the low sun on the right (presumably the east) hints that this is a new day.
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Gnomonschool.deviantart.com
The bright light and the departing storm clouds give the scene a cheerful, optimistic mood. Despite the dark shadows on the left and the weary-looking hut, the art piece makes you feel like you’ve just pushed an oppressive weight off your shoulders and you’re ready for a brighter tomorrow. Remember: the best artwork tells a story!
Lesson 3: Don’t Be Afraid to Show Your Personality
The video game industry is awash with gritty, realistic worlds full of browns and greys.
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Image source: Gnomonschool.deviantart.com
If you really want to set yourself apart, show your personality with a highly stylized and colorful work of art. These two tribal characters by Leticia Kao show beautiful contrast — the man is short, fat, and ugly while the woman is tall, thin, and pretty. Despite their stark dissimilarities, they are united by the tribal theme and playful art style. Those two look a hell of a lot more interesting than a nondescript brown-on-grey gritty FPS, don’t don’t they?
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Image soruce: Ign.com
I’m not bashing on realism and dark settings, necessarily. It’s just that you really need to use your color palette and think outside of the box artistically if you want to get noticed nowadays. Follow Kao’s example and go wild!