How to actually create an Art Style for your game!

This is a moderately comprehensive guide on how to create an artstyle for your game. Even though this mostly covers examples of 2D game art, both pixel and Handrawn, the principles will apply to 3D games as well.
I haven't named any artstyle genres such as pixel art or cell-shading, because at the end of the day I don't think these terms matter too much, since you can make endless of stylistic decisions, there will also be an endless amount of 'artstyles' some stylistic choices will obviously have a larger impact on the 'look' such as voxels or low-poly, but I don't think you should limit your idea of styles to such a restricted view.

[@95mcqueen5]

Your channel is one of the few that actually tackles hand drawn art, most channels out there go for pixel art, and while I don't hate it, that's not my favorite style. Keep up man!

[@Nonsensical2D]

Ye, I definitely agree. I sometimes wonder if handdrawn art is thought to be more difficult than it actually is, I definitely wish there were more handdrawn games out there... (even if they go for a simple style like mine)

[@Gatitasecsii]

Agreed with both of you and I actually think that sometimes pixel art is more time consuming than hand drawn assets... But then again nostalgia sells, and I've seen many indie devs pick really bad GB/NES artstyles (like shovel knight) and those are definitely easier.

[@adil0028]

@@Nonsensical2D it's just that hand-drawn sprites usually look ugly, with very few exceptions like hollow knight or cult of the lamb. Even yours, with the thick outline and 3d gradient, looks off at certain times.

[@95mcqueen5]

@@adil0028 Don't starve, Cuphead, Indivisible, Tsioque, Wonder Boy, Skull Girls...I never seen a hand drawn game that looks ugly. Even Among Us has a decent art

[@adil0028]

@@95mcqueen5 and then you have Nonsensical 2D's Art.

[@try2dream]

This is the most comprehensive video on game artstyle I've found on the net, that also doesnt over explain. Really great video!

[@afkarnir]

I love your way to explain. It's very clear. Thanks. (I also love how quickly you say bye 😄)

[@vcdgamer]

It's the reason why I stuck with this channel right from day one.😁

[@ZenryokuFGC]

it's so criminal how few views your videos get, please keep making content, the numbers will come. best of luck in your future efforts. thank you

[@Gatitasecsii]

Something I can definitely say I learned from you, or more, improved because of you is self analysis and reference analysis. It's one of those things that I think should be taught at school.

[@Nonsensical2D]

Thanks I appreciate it :) I think perhaps the reason I talk about it so much is because I'm not formally trained as an artist. I have missed out on a lot of fundamentals, but I have in part made up for it by just constantly looking at stuff that works and trying to learn from it.

[@user-vl8qm9el2c]

It's really nice! I didn't found needed video at my first language so started to look at en people. And you make that's so easy! Thank you 😺❤

[@SomethingEternal]

Watching this because I found myself stuck on some concepts. I like the list you laid out. It gave me a simple question I haven't asked in a few weeks: Why do I keep spending all my time on textures? I can smash out a reasonably good model (with good, but not perfect topology) in an hour and I can repeat that time and again and again. Then I spend a whole day, or sometimes even two, trying to paint/mask/program textures for it. On the other hand.. I can make procedural materials with a "clean, simplistic" style very quickly. Combined with my focus on silhouettes and topology, this IS an art style. One I keep trying to rear against, to reinvent, and yet one which I am very efficient at. I think I might just finally give in and make things the fast way. I am weak at texturing, I am strong at much of the rest. Some specific things I get stuck on (how much detail to include.) But I've noticed, it's because I'm modelling with an idea of how I will later texture these things. If I just continue on with base materials, focusing on expression via shape, profile and keeping the lighting good and clean.. I can use supporting assets, shaders and materials later on to fill in the lack of specifically painted textures. I'm starting to accept that I don't have a choice. I'll be here for years longer if I don't accept what I am good at and find ways to accentuate that, instead of continuing to try and conform to the things I am entirely too slow at.

[@karlas55]

I want so thank you! Your channel is a godsend. Truly helpful.

[@mirofronczewski1159]

I just discovered ur channel, you're doing a great job with some cozy vibes which isn't boring at all. Great work and can't wait to see more of ur videos

[@Dudebat923]

This was posted one day before I needed it... that's perfect! I love when stuff like that happens

[@chinkram]

I am always very grateful for your uploads, these videos are very helpful for me and for my silly game im trying to make. ur game is looking very promising, i look foward to play it hehe

[@greguar86]

great video! happy you re back to recording

[@ericblakenburg5380]

Great video again!

[@vcdgamer]

6:50 - 7:10 . About that bit on the horror, there are some workarounds someone can use to pull it off regardless of the art style one has. Personally my art style is nowhere close to that of horror, but for the scary scens in the game I simply had to apply some of the techniques used in most horror games as well as techniques used in horror manga. Such as using sketchy and sharp outlines for creepy objects, as well as making use of the darkness to one's advantage. I think Hollow KNight used some of these techniques as well, especially in Deepnest.🙂

[@JJ-ds2get-her]

Thanks for the reality checks. Lots of good stuff in this video. Thanks.

[@atanako8655]

thanks. very informative

[@satisho1096]

Thanks again. Your videos are very helpful. 🍻

[@fryhyte8111]

Thank you so much!

[@juniprr_zwei]

Can you do a video explaining sprite sheets in a simplistic style like this? Or any other recourses as to how to achieve this kind of character sprites/movement?

[@justdavid6678]

Thank you! :)

[@ericpatterson4248]

Very good #introduction!

[@Malak-rb6vu]

I love how you explain everything professionally ❤. Thanks, and keep up the good work man❤. Do you teach or have course please 🥺.

[@Nonsensical2D]

Thanks, I appreciate it :) I don't have a course or anything content besides this channel.

[@choppingslime]

Hi. First of all: wonderful videos, love your guides/explanations. Subscribed after the first one I saw. Regarding art style choices, I'd like to ask a question: I have been preparing myself to develop a game for quite some time, mostly by planning and organizing ideas and by learning code. However, my biggest struggle/problem, is what art style should my game be made of: pixel art or hand drawn art. I've grown up playing pixel-art games, like Stardew valley and Terraria, and many guides I have seen in the past few years strongly suggested to use pixel art, kinda like if it's easier to make or something. My game would be kinda similar to the camera/movement mechanics of stardew valley/Graveyard keeper, wich are pixel art games, and this too pushes me towards picking that art style. Do you have any suggestions? Im scared to pick and learn an art style that wouldnt be capable of rapresenting my ideas, and most importantly not being able to make the player feel the sensations/emotions I want my game to pass. I'm sorry for the gigantically long poem, after watching many of your videos I feel like you might be able to help me in this mess.. Have a great day.

[@Nonsensical2D]

My overall position tends to be that pixel art and handdrawn art are not necessarily that different in difficulty. But often when you learn pixel art you learn how to use reduced palettes and focus on making readable shapes, which go a long way to making your game look nice. those are important skills to learn when making handdrawn art as well and if you do it will probably not be that much harder to learn than pixel art, the biggest added layer of difficulty is just linework. I don't think you should feel scared frankly, the style is something you are likely to develop over time, you can always make some changes along the way, I think starting and adjusting along the way is fine, it doesn't need to be perfectly planned out from the start. As for a recommendation I would suggest you try both at least a little bit, pixel art might be slightly easier, but only slightly, I would spend a few hours on each of them, even if it is just an asset or two, and see if I like one over the other basically. Good luck!

[@choppingslime]

@@Nonsensical2D Thank you so much!

[@20.nguyenhuunamhoa48]

Im just starting to draw game arts, can you recommend some apps on tablets to draw game art and assets?

[@Nonsensical2D]

If you have an ipad i recommend procreate. That is what I use, it does cost a bit (20$~). For android i think clip studio paint or krita are the best options.

[@rhettpilcher469]

What is that more neon color palette called? I would like to use it

[@Nonsensical2D]

Sadly, i picked the colour by selecting colder colours that were either turqoise/teal or violet/purple, and then going for quite saturated colours. But I can't say it will look right if you try. There are some finished palettes out there, but I personally don't pick colour according to a fixed or premade palette.

[@10sART23]

Hey buddy how much 2d assets required inorder to create 1 hour gameplay

[@Nonsensical2D]

So I kind of talked about this in my video called "you don't have time to draw game art". It will kind of depend on the game you are making, like is it a precision platformer, a rogue-like or a metroidvania. It would also depend on how unique you want each room to be and how many assets you want in each area. With that said, I would personally assume 150-300 assets. But since I don't know exactly what you are going for I recommend you watch that video and try and calculate it given your own circumstances. Hope it helps.

[@10sART23]

@@Nonsensical2D my game is simple platformer relaxing like a Gris

[@funasylumstudio]

Out of curiosity, why did you avoid using pixel art like most devs? I admire your choice, it really makes you stand out.

[@Nonsensical2D]

I'll actually talk a bit about it in my upcoming video, but the reason for it in my case is that I have been drawing all my life, so when i started doing Game art, it was easier to stick with a hand drawn art style than having to learn pixel art. So I didn't do it out of a bold stance, I personally think that pixel art can often be trickier than hand drawn.

[@funasylumstudio]

@@Nonsensical2D Yeah, I prefer the hand drawn look a lot more. But I'm guessing pixel art is more popular because it's quicker to do and less resource intensive.

[@VinceGhossoub]

Do you offer advisory services ?

[@Nonsensical2D]

No, sadly not.

[@kibiz0r]

We already made "net code" into "netcode". Do we really need to make "art style" into "artstyle" too? And "hand-drawn" into "handrawn"? What?

[@Nonsensical2D]

That's probably just a 'mistake' on my part, Swedish concatenates words like that, so my instinct is to concatenate it if I can :)