Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
At this point, we know what the character will look like and we have a pretty good idea of
where to start. What I like to do next is compile a style sheet to hold all the relevant im-
ages I find while collecting my reference material. The Internet, with its unlimited image
resources, is an excellent source for the gathering of material. Other great sources are
magazines and even DVDs—you can get references from anywhere, really.
Looking at the information on our characters so far, we can see that Kila is a casual,
average-looking girl in ripped jeans and a T-shirt. So to start, we can go to one of the
many Internet search engines that have the option to search for images, and do a search for
“ripped jeans” or simply “jeans.” After quickly scanning the results for anything relevant
and grabbing it, we move on to the next item of clothing we want to design, and so on
and so forth. Maybe we even add a belt of some sort. After we have enough references for
her clothing, we can move on to her hairstyle, makeup, and other elements. The earlier bio
table specifies a large, gothic tattoo, so we look for references on tattoos. The main idea of
a style sheet is to gather every image you will need into one location, and you then only
need to refer to this when you begin to sketch. The style sheet is also useful for showing to
others, to give them a feel for the style of the character.
Tip
Good Web sites for clothing images are online catalogs and shopping
sites. These contain images of people in various poses wearing entire out-
fits; these pictures can also be useful references for your concept draw-
ings.
Once you have all the images you need, you can simply load them all into Photoshop and
compile them into one large image, usually an 8.5” by 11” sheet at a resolution of 300 dpi.
Then print it, and it's ready for you to use. Don't be afraid to compile a number of style
sheets if you feel you need them. Or, if you are lucky and have access to a larger-format
printer, produce one to that size.
Figure 1.1
shows an example of a style sheet layout. (Unfortunately, due to copyright re-
strictions, I cannot show the actual images I compiled for Kila and Grae but this should
give you a general idea.)
