It is necessary to make sure that the graphics of your video game design should be attractive. You are investing money because you believe that the video game industry is a profitable one. Well, this is quite true because there are millions of online game players worldwide these days. All you need is to release a game that is able to captivate the attention of the target market. 

For sure, you can create a buzz when the video game you are promoting is able to meet the needs of the market. Having said this, you need to know the different 2D art styles. This is the focus of this blog article. You will know the different game art styles. Picking and using one of the styles to be revealed in this article is vital for the success of your business. Of course, you can have unmatched graphics and you can present a captivating video game through unprecedented realism. Impressing the potential market is possible when you have 2D games.

Learning 2D art is imperative as far as attracting the potential customers is concerned. Don’t let your business be left behind by the competitors. Get the attention of the public through offering interactive and artistic video games. That is why 2D art styles are significant. 

Exploring more facts about 2D art

Before we are going to discuss 2D art styles, it is apt if you are going to understand the entire nature of 2D art. It basically stands for 2-dimensional animations and graphics. The two main parameters of 2D arts are the objects and shapes of the artistic design. A particular video game is using shapes and objects which reflect 2-dimensional styles.

There are further aspects associated with 2-dimensional styles. These are the height and width of a certain video game design. You should hire a legitimate 2D artist to help you in coming up with a design that is considerate of the two mentioned aspects. Try to think of this example. You draw a triangular shape in a piece of paper. Did you know that the triangle you draw on paper reflects the 2-dimensional design which most video games and any other online content have at present? The drawn triangle is a 2D style because it has three sides. 

For the 2-dimensional style to become really attractive, it is necessary to understand the physical attributes of the design. What does it mean? It is quite necessary to have a flat surface or appearance. At the same time, the design itself of the art must be unique. Uniqueness is a required feature which your video game design has to possess. The visible objects such as line saturation, creative style, and objects should be enticing enough. Otherwise, the video game to be created won’t be able to attract the attention of the potential gamers. 

2D art styles

Can you remember that first video game you played on your computer before? What was it? Did you play at least one particular game from this list? 

The old classic 2D video games had simple objects and shapes, right? The details of the game were so simple. Does it mean that those games were unattractive? The answer to this question is no. Of course, the trend of the games before was dependent on technological progress that people had before. You cannot blame the past video games being not-so unattractive because of the limitation of hardware and software technologies. But, as times continue to pass by, the graphical aspect of the video games has emerged into a more refined version. And, as of today, the 2D video games are more refined and polished. They have become more interesting, so to speak. 

Let’s now discuss the different 2D art styles!

2D Pixel Art

Did you know that 2D pixel art is the most popular art style in video game graphics? This, being popular, is used by a lot of 2D art project designers. How is it presented? Simply put, the pixel itself is shown through a basic shape or square. There are what we call tiny characters in the overall video game design. 

Normally, there are hundreds of thousands of 2D pixel art designs being put together to form a single object. The video games in the early days were using this particular art style. But you have to understand that until today, this particular art style in video game designing is still utilized and applied. 

You are familiar with Pokémon, aren’t you? This particular video game is using 2-dimensional pixel art. Aside from Pokémon, there are other games that use this art style. Those games include Fez, Undertable, To the Moon, and Owlboy. 

Cutout art

Are you playing one of these games: Paper Mario, Sonic 4, Sega Heroes, and Don’t Starve? These are video games that use Cutout art style. Basically, this particular style is evident in most animations today. 

How is this style presented in a particular art game? Clearly put, the style itself is trying to imitate the designed images on paper. The design itself is usually cut out and pasted in a new design medium. An instance of this is when a paper-based design is imported on a computer. When the design is completed, the gamers are going to be attracted and enticed to play because of the cutout art style attractiveness. The action is going to be simulated perfectly, causing the entire game to become highly impactful. 

Vector art

Vector art is one of the most popular 2D art styles. This is actually one of the major game art styles. Did you know that vector art style is a little bit tricky? Why? Because the game artist should possess a highly specialized skill set. The artist himself should be able to utilize vector tools. The artist should be knowledgeable about the so-called special-purpose programs. 

More to say, you should know that the art style must not split the designed images into pixels. What is needed is for the artist to rely mainly on mathematical algorithms. He should be equipped with knowledge regarding data in dots, color data, polygons, as well as lines. The familiarization of the artist with respect to these aspects can effectively help him in creating a very attractive video game art for your company.

Cel shading art

This is another style which is part of the 2D art styles you should learn for your video gaming business to become profitable as much as possible. What is Cel Shading? This is an art style that has been used by many game art designers at present. The main emphasis of this art style is that it will create a 2D art style that looks like a 3-dimensional design. Meaning, there is sophistication with this game art design technique. 

A few examples of video games that are using this particular style are Ultimate Spider Man, Mega Man Legends, Jet Set Radio Future, and Pokémon X and Y. If you are playing one of the mentioned games, then you are using a sophisticated 2D art game style. There are high-level details as to the overall design of a game that is utilizing this particular 2-dimensional art style.

Flat art

Have you heard about Gravity Defied, Stick War, Nidhogg, and Flat Kingdom? All these games are using a 2D flat art style. The style itself does not need a thorough explanation because of its self-explanatory nature. Having said this, you can easily understand that the art itself is flat. The games to be presented are presenting objects and shapes in a flat realism approach. 

Monochromatic art

Monochromatic 2-dimensional art style actually does not have an exact definition to be found online. But this 2D art style is heavily recognized by a lot of video game artists. The art style is monochromatic in nature when there are limited palettes of color to be used. Actually, the color combination is very limited, i.e., 2 combined colors. There is going to be a wide-range set of tints and shades to form and create a game that is following a monochromatic 2-dimensional style.

Some of the popular games that use this art style are Limbo, Inside, One Upon Light, among others.

Doodle art

This is the last art style to be discussed here. The main focus of this 2-dimensional art style is not the unique result, but the actual game design or work content. Some of the popular games that use this art style are Doodle Jump, Krusty Towers, ToonTown, and Google Doodles. 

The image designs usually have irrelevant and unrelated features or characters. Doodle art games are using strange and abstract approaches. Designing a video game that follows this style, however, does not mean you can have an unprofitable video game. So long as the artist follows the right process and approach, the video games are going to attract a lot of potential gamers.

Conclusion

Make sure that you can hire a legit and trusted video game art company. This is the ultimate way to attain ultimate growth and success. You can try Argentics if you want a recommendation.