3 Types of 3D Art Styles to Consider for Your Game

When art reached its apogee in skill and detail closer to the twentieth century, the main symbol of the revision of old paradigms for many artists was an ordinary modest square.

According to Malevich, “Black Square” means zero forms, an absolute beginning. For contemporaries, this laconic drawing was the beginning of new experiments in fine arts and the end of the classical way of self-expression.

A century later, Kazimir Malevich’s square has not lost its relevance for the modern generation. Indeed, using the analogy, Malevich’s square is a pixel that created many video games art styles.

Computer graphics in games are replete with various artistic styles: Realism, Japanese manga, American comics – you can’t list them all. In this connection, the question arises: which styles are more popular? Which of them encourages users to be more willing to download games from the AppStore or the Play Market? We have identified the 3 best game art styles that are recognizable to all gamers and will always find their audience.

3D Modeling for Games

Digital artists spend a lot of time creating fantasy worlds, creatures, and characters. In other words, they work with something that does not exist, which is generally difficult. But it is even more difficult to convey what is real accurately, and anyone can google what it looks like. This creates difficulties not limited to the design and creation of concepts but also requires more costs. 3D modeling for games in Realism is a long and laborious process that you don’t have to skimp on. After all, this is our reality and should be naturally brought into the game.

3D modeling for games is an indispensable aspect of creating games in different styles, among which Realism is in the first place. In general, the popularity of this style in large countries, then in the USA, the share of games with realistic style is 49%, in China – 41%, in Japan – 22% (obviously, a subspecies of stylized graphics such as manga takes a solid share).

Not all studios have the resources to release a cool realism game and prefer to choose among different video game art styles. But now, you can easily find dozens of outsourcing studios or freelance artists ready to take on one of the most difficult tasks.

Low Poly Art

Low-poly 3D graphics are characterized by a relatively small amount of polygons, which makes characters, objects, and locations look angular. It is a whole religion. People love low poly. About two years ago, there was a low poly boom, but even now, there are projects in this style of fairly high quality. True, it is often mixed with other video games art styles or somehow modified.

Low poly is characterized most often by low-poly models without anti-aliasing. That is, each polygon is visible. Textures are not used, and Usually, each polygon has one color. Developers improvise and often get great visual combinations. The complexity of the models varies. But minimalism prevails, the “purity” of the models, which will distinguish low poly among 3D art styles.

Low Poly 3D art style is not so popular since many people consider this style unfinished and simple, which is a mistake. However, games with this kind of art graphics are in great demand and are generally easy to implement. It is only important to pay attention to optimization and story so that the gameplay harmoniously combines with the visuals.

Realism Art Style

Graphics on mobile devices do not differ in style from PC or consoles. The realism style will prevail on more powerful devices, but a good shooter or RPG can also be released on budget smartphones. Almost all high-profile and long-awaited projects come out in Realism. Moreover, the setting can be anything, be it sci-fi, western, or our time—city builders, shooters, simulators, etc.

Cartoon Style

The main feature of this style is that the image can get as close as possible to the underlying meaning. Cartoon style conveys the essence and nature of things in a simple sense, unlike other video games art styles (for example photorealism).

Forms, as a rule, are simplified: the head becomes a sphere or a circle. Objects can be flat with simplified lighting. The proportions are changing. For example, the height of people varies – it can be five, three, or two heads. Features are often exaggerated and made to be attractive yet easy to perceive. It is no secret that among other video game art styles, cartoons are more popular among children and therefore are quite difficult to implement. The difficulties lie in the characteristics of every child, psychology, and perception so that the game is visually pleasing, not aggressive, and not harmful.

Final Thoughts on 3D Game Art Styles

Low poly, Realism, and Cartoon are the most popular 3D art styles for mobile games today. Each style is popular and attracts both gamers and developers every day. But not everything is as simple as it seems. Some ideas are not easy to implement, so if you have problems with any of these styles, please check https://retrostylegames.com/ for more details and tips.