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Since their inception, video games have provided great inspiration for offline artists and digital artists alike. Video games generally adhere to a fantasy theme, which is perhaps what makes them so intriguing visually. Often characters are exaggerated human forms, with bulging bodies, enormous power, or great speed and agility. Many games include characters of another species, possessing magical powers and skills.
Undoubtedly video games offer some of the richest character designs. Of course video games don’t stop at character design. Entire worlds are invented for these characters to inhabit, and whilst they range from the minimal, to the vast and sprawling, these worlds are often visually intriguing.
Today we’ve compiled over 50 examples of wonderful digital art inspired by the video game format. These illustrations range from depictions of famous characters, to epic battles, landscapes and even text effects.
Digital Art Inspired by Video Games
Ry Spirit is a hugely talented digital artist who has built up a Facebook following in the thousands. His work has very unique style, being both bold/colorful and cartoony. Whilst some of his work does include sharp outlines, generally his compositions have quite soft edges, with a certain handdrawn feel to them.
We get a real sense that these pieces have been ‘painted’ rather than simply filled in with color in Photoshop. The rich shadowing and textures really make this work stand out.
Ry’s work generally put characters at the forefront. Interestingly he captures each character doing something indicative of their existence. Rather than simply placing a character on a plain background, he’ll have child-Link waking up in his bed, or pokemon mid-battle.
Sandara is widely known for her detailed, realistic fantasy artworks. She truly manages to capture the essence of each character she observes. Generally her work will utilize lighting very well, engulfing dark characters in deep shadows, whilst using glows/rays of light to bring life to the piece.
There is definitely a sense of fantasy in her work, as her compositions tend to focus on magical creatures (dragons, elves, wolfmen etc…). She also tends to base each piece around a certain color palette, which evokes the mood in each composition. Below you can observe a magical couple amidst a purple, romantic landscape, or a fierce warrior, fighting through a fiery, amber scene.
Nezma (otherwise known as Nat from Canada) is a talented digital artist with a penchant for capturing the magical world of video games. Her work shows tremendous diversity, as you can see from the examples below. She ranges from soft, cartoony drawings, to sharp vector designs, and realistic digital paintings.
What is admirable is that whatever medium she chooses, Nezma manages to capture the true essence of her character. The pieces below show great attention to colors and lighting and range from cute to ominous.
DXSinfinite has some truly inspiring digital art, much of it based on video game characters. Again, this artist shows tremendous diversity in his work, and can capture an anime scene, or a highly realistic depiction of his favorite character.
His work shows great attention to form, with the vastly bugling muscles of many video game characters providing a wonderful study of the human body. We get a sense of power and energy from many of his works, and he truly captures the might behind some of these popular video game creations.
Last, but certainly not least, GENZOMAN whose works are some the of most favored fantasy digital art in the collection. His work is rich in texture, lighting and details, resulting in a realistic, yet still very much fantasy outcome. He often combines his expert shading and digital painting skills with intense light effects in Photoshop, generally used to demonstrate the explosive powers of the characters he is capturing.
The backdrops for these characters are equally rich, and really place each creation in their natural setting. Each composition typically uses very bold colors and rich shadows to capture the ‘larger than life’ visuals inherent in the video game format.
Definitely an artist to keep your eye on!
(rb)