WORKFLOW AND BEST PRACTICES • GAME ART OUTSOURCING STUDIO

We’d like to continue the discussion of the typical workflow in our game art outsourcing studio by concentrating more on the stages we typically go through while working on a new project today.

The first and most essential stage for us is to gather as much pertinent information about your project as we can, as you may already be aware given our estimation methodology. Please feel free to use our sample outsourcing project brief as a guide to help with the process. We move on to the subsequent stages after gathering all the visual references and confirming the technical brief’s specifics.

STEP 1 – ART STYLE RESEARCH

Consider hiring a major game art project that will require, assume that  character art pieces and an equal amount of backdrop images for your mobile game. What should we do to prevent the process from becoming bogged down by the growing number of adjustments and reworks and to guarantee that it proceeds as smoothly as possible?

The answer is – Style Guide. It could contain one or more reference assets that serve as a clear and comprehensive manual for the visual aesthetic and production process the artist should follow in order to get the desired outcome. The crucial thing to remember is to establish the Style Guide before moving on to the major production stage. When you operate with a remote team at a game art outsourcing business and need to make sure that all the artists will perform in a specific manner, it becomes even more crucial.

In the very beginning, we create a mood board to run by you all our ideas and confirm our interpretation of your vision. According to us, the Style Guide is a crucial tool that can mean the difference between a project’s success and a production’s failure. What’s more, you won’t have to keep repeating your needs to other artists in the future if you provide them this instructions.

STEP 2 – GONNA PROCEED TO THE FIRST MILESTONE NOW

As we work on it, we keep in touch to obtain your opinion on how things are going. We can even add you to our Slack channel or communicate with you via your favorite channel. This first milestone not only enables our artists to put the style guide’s concepts into practice, but also aids in process adjustments and the preparation of the more precise pipeline estimation needed for a major project.

Internal quality-control procedures being used at all times

We strictly follow the procedures for quality control as we work on the project. Before it is permitted to be shown to the client, all of the work-in-progress art must pass a series of internal quality reviews by our lead artists and art director.

Creating initial sketches

On the basis of the established visual style, we now move on to creating the initial sketches. At this point, the sketches, which show the process’ general tendencies, are quite crude. You are always welcome to check on the development and provide input to help us make the necessary changes to the artwork. It wouldn’t take long to advance if we established a style manual or at the very least identified the visual aesthetic of the art.

STEP 3 – DEVELOPING DETAILED SKETCHES

Here, you can already see how all of the artwork and components will appear. These are practically perfect in terms of shape, color, and light; the artwork just needs one or two more polishing passes. As is customary, communication is crucial, therefore this stage will require a little more time to modify the art in accordance with your feedback and needs.

STEP 4 – PRESENTING THE FINAL ART

We can finally show you how the art will look when it is finished and ensure that you are completely satisfied with it after we have verified and applied all revisions. But supposing you’re not? Following that, we’ll be happy to look over the exact instances and determine what might go wrong. However, given that we went through all of the aforementioned phases in order and had to hear the criticism at each one, this rarely occurs.

STEP 5 – EXPORTING THE ART

The final assets can be exported in the format of your choice defined from beforehand and handed in together with the original files.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Now, when we defined the visual style, handed in the first pack of the assets (“milestone”) and confirmed with you the price on the whole upcoming production pipeline, we are ready to bring your amazing game project to life.

Are you ready to proceed? Then don’t hesitate to reach out through contact@aloha3dstudio.com and tell us more about your project and we will do our best to become the best game art outsourcing studio and production partner for your team.

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