Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
For purposes of full disclosure, I have to admit that I have little artistic talent. I
understand some of the concepts; I can draw perspective of blocky objects using a
vanishing point, for example. I can even copy an existing drawing to some extent.
To this day, I have a fantastic painting of a pig that I made in seventh grade that was
copied from a picture in a magazine (Figure 1.4). However, that about exhausts my
talent for the medium.
FIGURE 1.4
An original Dave Mark, circa 1981.
Looking Like a Pig
Despite my dearth of ability to perform in that particular discipline, I would still
feel secure in making the claim that artists in the game industry have life a bit eas-
ier than do AI programmers. After all, they can
see
what it is that they are supposed
to be accomplishing. Before they begin to draw a pig, they can look at a pig. They
can make changes to parts of their pig that are less than accurate—in effect, fine-
tuning their pig-replication abilities. They can show their picture of a pig to anyone
else who wanders by and ask, “What does this look like?� Unless the artist sub-
scribes to a more Picasso-esque approach, the reaction should be, “Hey! It's a pig!�
(Unfortunately, my art teacher didn't buy my claim of being a disciple of Picasso.)
People know what a pig looks like. It can be rigidly defined as a collection of
expected parts. For example, everyone knows that a pig has four feet. If your pig
has five feet, one of which is located in front of an inexplicably present dorsal fin,
viewers will be mildly disturbed.
