Did some art this week. Since I'm my own concept artist/art director on this project I like to make a 'benchmark' scene that I can use as a proof of concept and keep referencing to keep things consistent. There's value in letting ideas (even wrong ones) marinate early on while I shift my attention to other problems. I've done some sketches and hacky mockups in-engine before but this week I focused on making sure all the geo/materials/scenes were cleaned up and easy to understand for future iterations.
My goal here visually is to create a style that offers the broadest possible leeway to smoosh together several different approaches to visuals. From 'exaggerated portions but detailed' to full-on abstract expressionism.
I think it's important when referencing other mediums (ex: impressionist oils, sumi-ink etc...) to try to reproduce effects rather than accurately simulate characteristics. What was the artist doing by maintaining a hard edge in one area and losing it in another? How does the medium support or complicate this intent, and why did they choose it in the first place?
All of these decisions mean something and add up to a cumulative effect of an emotional or sensorial experience of the world. Intent needs to be baked into every decision. If a style is just a filter you can easily apply or take away what does that imply about the meaningfulness of those images?