Every week I intend to make a statement or two about the art of a recent game, and
old game, or game art in general. If you couldn't care less
about my opinion, just skip this. But I hope to put something helpful in about game
graphics from an artist's point of view. I plan on focusing on style, technique, and
representations of characters rather than all the bells and whistles.
This week's topic is Setting the Stage: Color, Light, Shadow and Mood
It's easy to look at a picture and say it's cute. Bright colors and cheery
subject matter all make it pretty easy to suggest the tone of the picture. Two weeks
ago I talked about character portraits and the importance of expressions in getting an
emotion across. This week, I will talk about how color, light, shadow and background contribute
to getting a general mood across.
Film makers know not to use lots of light and bright colors in a horror or suspense film. Nor would
they use a lot of dark in a comedy (unless it's a black comedy, of course) or lighthearted film. Film, like every other visual
medium (including games) has learned the power of setting a tone with a background or setting from the art masters. Theater depends on lighting and
a properly set stage as much as it does on the acting.
And ambitious game designers have taken their cues from these other artforms.
Take a look at an El Greco. He doesn't exactly make you feel warm and fuzzy, does he? Even his landscapes feel claustrophobic.
Now, take a look at a Reubens and see how he can take something like a portrait and still make it seem open and free. Paint style
has something to do with it, but both of the above artists have a loose style, so how do they get those moods across? Color and light. The palette
makes all the difference. There's been plenty of research done confirming that colors can have an effect on our moods and artists have
always used this to their advantage. Color can be more important than style in some instances. Quite a large percentage of RPGs have an anime-type
style throughout. The lack of realism in this style could lead to misperceptions if the artists didn't also use other means to get the correct mood
across.
The first example that comes to mind is the dramatic shift when you first leave Midgar in FFVII. Up until that point, I felt trapped, claustrophobic, and
outright depressed. When I first got out and saw the world map, I exhaled like I hadn't breathed in three hours. Suddenly there was light and air and open space.
It's that kind of impact artist go for. More than just a person looking at a picture and saying it looks like what it's supposed to look like, they want you to
feel the emotion of the picture or scene. A background should not just be for filling up space. It should contribute to the scene and add to it or enhance it.
If you take a glum character and place them in a dark setting it says one thing. But take that
glum character and put them in a bright setting and it suggests something else, even if they are still glum. The dark setting suggests the
source of his or her glumness is external, while the bright setting suggests the problem might be internal (or he or she just doesn't like the sun, heh.)
Backgrounds are a powerful tool that I often see misused. Most people seem to grasp how important color and shading is. Backgrounds aren't always essential to
make a picture work, but often they are used as nothing more than filler. This is most unfortunate.
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