Our game designer Max abot how he started to work in AYGames

A piece of half-faded hard parchment lay in my hands. Among the hillocks of yellowed paper, stained with dirt and mold, I saw barely noticeable marks of the village.

"What an interesting combination of buildings ... I haven't been in this location yet," - I thought.

Several fancy flakes fell from somewhere above and covered the edges of the old map. “Damn, not the weather,” flashed through my head as I looked up. Hundreds of dark gray ash plumes slowly fell out of the overcast gloomy skies, slightly yellowed in the pale rays of the barely rising sun. The pinkish shine of the muddy sunrise was reflected from the slippery gray heaps along the edges of the unclean road.

"A dead place ... but someone here, you see, still walks," - I whispered to myself, looking intently at the narrow path. Spitting on left shoulder, I set off. Fortunately, I didn’t meet thugs and marauders in this wilderness. Although the treasure also did not fall once, no matter how hard I looked around the neighborhood.

The camp looked modest, but at the same time impressed with some special business charm. On the threshold, I was met by Ash Master with his companion.

The three of us went to a local herbalist to drink a cup of hot potion. A couple of sips drove away sleep and invigorated me to an adequate state. As a result, our conversation was more than successful, and the camp owners agreed to accept me to their party.

The goal of these brave "businessmen" was thoroughly impressive - their quest seemed to be a real test, a worthy test for fortitude and skill. Paying off with herbalist, Ash Master took me to meet the others, now to my new colleagues, sisters, and brothers.

“Maxim, our new game designer,” introduced me Martin, marketing director of AYGames, whose true appearance filled in the dissolving image of a fictional character. Shaking snowflakes off the smartphone screen and turning off the navigator application, I put the mobile device in my jeans pocket and held out my free hand to meet friends.

I smiled, they smiled back at me. Outside the windows of the office, the pinkish winter sun rose and the sky finally cleared.

Yes, these are the quirks of the game designer's vision - to live in two parallel worlds at once, which intersect every second.

I took the opportunity to become a part of this wonderful company only now, a few months before the release of their first, but very exciting project, which managed to break into my soul literally from the first voiced words, from the pile of the first concepts. And every day I, by virtue of my capabilities and responsibilities, try to finalize the cumulative vision of our team and make it available to all players.

Promo Art

Before I tell you about the process of the creation of promo art, I’ll explain what a fantastic beast it is, where it lives and for what purpose it exists.

Promo art is used in advertising, marketing materials - on banners, covers for CDs, in social media. It attracts the attention of potential buyers of the game.

To create marketing art, you need to completely change the usual look at drawing for games. It isn’t enough to transfer already finished concepts of characters to a bright background and add sparks and glitters. If you act this way, then, in the end, you will get only a sad copy of what has already been done, which will definitely not interest anyone.

Promo art is always a new look at the same images and concepts that already exist in the game. This is a vision at a higher level. This is an illustration in which the perspective and dynamics are more pronounced, the colors are brighter, and the accents are clearer. As the most expressive, in my opinion, and most illustrative example, I will give marketing work to “League of Legends”. Little sprites of heroes run on the playing field, merging with the same beetles as themselves. But, transferred to promo-art, the characters as if come alive, the details begin to work, their surroundings cease to be just decorations. On the faces of the characters, the emotions of rage, joy, fun, depending on the situation, are more pronounced. Sometimes they seem crazy, completely wild, but it is even good. Everyone loves freaks. In the pictures, of course.

Promo art development requires a lot of time and effort. Often you have to go a few steps back, sending work hours to the basket, leaving no good, but not best, options.

Work begins with sketches and exploring examples from other artists. From them, you can draw ideas, color scheme or posture. In the sketches made the story or small details may not yet read, but certainly, there should be a competent composition and dynamics. In order to achieve this, it is best to try to solve the composition through the spot. In addition, this tactic will help solve the breakdown of tones at an early stage.

After you complete the sketch, the approach to further work may be different: either study the pattern in gray tones, in order to paint the art later through the blending mode or immediately draw in color. Usually, the second option is more convenient for artists with academic education, and the first is for those who learned to draw in Photoshop, like me.

The longest stage in the development of art is detailing and post-processing. The drawing takes on a final form, and become unique. And do not hesitate - your promotional art is still not bright enough. It only seems so to you!

The work of the artist, as, indeed, any other employee is limited. Many people are sure, that the artist has no limits; he can reflect on each stroke with inspiration and concentration. Of course, it is not true. Perhaps, unfortunately.

I always have specific deadlines. And consequently, during the creation of a large work, I need to plan the time frame for each stage of drawing. Another equally important difficulty that an artist, who creates promo art will have to face is blurry eyes. When you work on the same project for a long time, you stop noticing obvious mistakes. Even your hero may cease to be like the hero of a game, acquiring the outlines of someone unknown from your mind, but you will not notice.

Yet drawing promotional art is fun and extremely useful. This is a serious boost to the author's skill. What artist wouldn’t want to stop drawing icons and start living life to the fullest, creating full-fledged illustrations? In addition, promo arts are well paid)