Game Art
20/04/2026 - 27/07/2026 (Week 1 - Week 15)
WANG JINYI / 0374697
GCD62004 / Game Art / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Game Art
TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Instruction
2. Progress
3. Feedback
4. Reflection
INSTRUCTION
PROGRESS
Week 1 - Week 2
For this project, we had to choose an existing game as the foundation and develop additional game elements for it. I do not usually play many PC games, as I mostly play competitive mobile games or simple 2D puzzle games. However, I found several games on Steam that matched the direction I wanted: TOEM: A Photo Adventure, Untitled Goose Game, and Sky: Children of the Light. I finally chose Sky: Children of the Light because I like its visual style, environment design, gameplay and overall theme.
Fig 1.1 Chosen Game Sky: Children of the Light
Since my Environment Design project is also based on Sky, I decided to connect the settings of both projects. An ancient sanctuary floats above a quiet mountain lake, separated from the world below. At the centre of the sanctuary is a circular ritual hall containing a sacred stone monument and a fountain. This place once stored the memories and life energy of an ancient civilisation.
During the journey, the Child of Light collects memory fragments left behind by ancestral spirits. When the fragments are returned to the sacred monument, the lost memories are restored and the sanctuary gradually awakens.
Fig 2.1 Moodboard
The player will also receive rewards left by the ancestors, including outfits, musical instruments, crowns, masks and ancestral honour totems. These rewards will be unlocked gradually as the player progresses through the different stages of the adventure.
I then collected references related to the character designs, environments, colour palettes and game assets from Sky. These references helped me understand the game’s existing design language before developing my own ideas.
Week 3 - Week 4
I drew several thumbnails for the game environment. At this stage, I quickly recorded any ideas that came to mind without focusing too much on details.
Fig 3.1 Thumbnail sketches
I also designed several character outfits and props. The outfits were based on the three main regions of my world map: the land, the mountains and the ocean. For the prop design, I explored three different harp shapes before selecting the design that best matched the character and world setting.
Fig 4.1 Character design and prop exploration
Week 5 - Week 6
I continued developing the architectural silhouettes and added colours to the world map. This helped separate the different regions and made the overall layout easier to understand. I also designed several creatures for the game world. They were divided into two main groups: creatures of light and creatures of darkness.
Fig 5.1 Buildings silhouettes exploration
After consulting Mr Kannan, I confirmed the final character design, the shape and materials of the prop, and the appearance of the dark creature. I also created an in-game ambience illustration. The scene shows the player collecting items and completing tasks while avoiding dark creatures that can absorb the player’s light energy. I refined several details of the character’s outfit so that the design could show more information about the character and the world, rather than looking like a normal fashion model wearing decorative clothing.
Fig 6.1 Callout sheet
In addition, I completed several material sphere exercises to practise representing different surfaces, including metal, glass, wood and reflective materials.
Fig 7.1 Material painting exercise
Project 1 PDF
Week 7
Before starting the 3D modelling stage, I refined the character and prop concepts and confirmed their front and back views. These views were used as modelling references so that the main shapes and proportions would remain consistent from different angles.
Fig 8.1 Refined character outfit & props
Then, I drew a more polished character illustration, developing the concept sketch into a finished visual artwork.
Fig 9.1 Character splash art
Week 8
I started blocking out the character and prop in ZBrush. For the character blockout, I focused on the overall body proportions, height and silhouette. I tried to solve the main anatomical issues before adding clothing and smaller details.
Fig 10.1 Character 3D blockout
The harp was also blocked out using simple forms so that I could first check its shape, thickness and overall balance.
Fig 10.2 Props 3D blockout
Week 9 - Week 10
I continued sculpting the character. Although the model had become more detailed, there were still several structural problems. Mr Kannan advised me to study the construction of fabric folds more carefully. I needed to understand where the cloth was being pulled, compressed or gathered, instead of adding folds randomly or increasing the model’s detail without a clear plan.
Fig 11.1 Detailing 3D blockout
Fig 11.2 Close up
Based on this feedback, I reviewed the main folds around the trousers, waist and upper clothing before continuing with smaller surface details.
Fig 11.3 Refined 3D Props
Week 11
Following Mr Kannan’s feedback, I adjusted the clothing folds and improved their direction and structure. I also added vertex colours to the model to test the general colour direction before starting the final texturing stage.
Fig 12.1 Refined & Colored 3D Character
For the prop, I refined several shapes and tested its colours, materials and rendered appearance.
Fig 12.2 Rendered 3D Props
Project 2 PDF
Week 12 - Week 13
After completing the character high-poly model, I reduced the polygon count and carried out retopology to create a more manageable version of the model. I exported the model in FBX format and imported it into Blender for UV unwrapping. I separated and arranged the UVs for the different character parts so that the model could be textured correctly later.
Fig 13.1 UV unwrapping in Blender
After completing the UVs, I imported the model into Substance 3D Painter and applied colours and materials to each part. I tested different texture brushes to find the effects that best matched my design. During this process, I learned how to adjust material colours, edit layer properties and change blending modes. Each setting produced a different result, so I spent time comparing and adjusting the materials.
Fig 13.2 Texture painting in Substance Painter
After completing the textures, I exported the texture maps and returned to Blender. I connected the maps to the character materials, created a lighting setup and rendered several views of the model. Then I imported the rendered images into Procreate and painted over selected areas to improve the lighting, colours and small details.
Fig 13.3 Final Rendered Character 3D Orthograohic
Week 14 - Week 15
After completing the character render, I followed a YouTube tutorial to create a rig in Blender. I connected the character model to the armature and tested the bones in Blender to check whether the mesh followed the rig correctly.
Fig 14.1 Rig testing in Blender
Fig 14.2 Rig moving testing
After completing the rigging process, I exported the character as an FBX file. I searched for a walking animation on Mixamo and downloaded it for an animation test in Unity.
Fig 15.1 Mixamo walking template
I successfully imported the character into the Unity scene, but Unity could not recognise the character’s head bone correctly. I tried checking the rig settings and troubleshooting the problem, but the issue was not solved.
Fig 15.2 Testing in Unity
I still imported the character’s textures and materials into Unity to make sure that the complete model could be displayed in the scene. I tried to connect the downloaded walking animation to the character. The animation test was unsuccessful, most likely because of the missing head-bone assignment.
Fig 15.3 Unity testing
Although the animation did not work, Mr Kannan explained that this was still a technical test. The main outcome was that I had completed the PBR character workflow and identified where the rigging problem occurred.
Final Project Art Bible
The Rookies Blog link：
FEEDBACK
Week 2: Go download steam, and play some game, Don't go with Genshin Impact.
Week 3: Your concept is there, focus on the environment and game play first. Go find some more references, go study Sky.
Week 4: I can see your game world design, you want to make it sacred, then maybe the buildings, or statues...you can draw this beautiful lady, or goddess on it, looks like she's a final boss?
Week 5: Try to differentiate your characters silhouettes. They could be tall, or short, or thin or huge...
Week 6: Better. You prefer character no.3, right? Looks plane for now, try adding some more details on your character. The monsters looks okay...
Week 7: Character is good to go. Continue refine your props. Draw an ambience visual art.
Week 8: Now you have the 3D blockout already, go study anatomy and continue sculpt it.
Week 9: Be careful with the structure of the harp.. You can study some harps on Pinterest.
Week 10: Now the character base is already there, just be careful with the dents, where the cloth was being pulled, compressed or gathered, instead of adding folds randomly.
Week 11: Demonstrated Retopo Brush in ZBrush. Mentioned about the PBR workflow.
Week 12: ZBrush crashed, requiring troubleshooting and deletion of the open-source files followed by re-download; therefore no progress update and no feedback receive this week.
Week 13: Color is acceptable...Try add textures or any details in Substance Painter.
Week 14: It is fine if your animation testing doesn't work. We just want to see if you can export your file into Unity successfully, that's the matter. You still can improve it in futures project.
REFLECTION
Through this module, I learned the complete PBR character production workflow, from research and concept design to ZBrush sculpting, retopology, UV unwrapping, texturing, rendering, rigging and Unity testing. The 3D production stage was the most challenging part. Moving between different software was confusing at first, but repeated testing helped me understand the purpose of each stage and how they connect.
One of the most stressful moments is when my ZBrush suddenly stopped working. The recovery process was complicated, and I was worried that I might lose my progress or be unable to continue the project. At that time, I was already under pressure, so the software problem made the situation feel even worse. Fortunately, my friends stayed with me, helped calm me down and searched for possible solutions with me. With their support, I eventually restored ZBrush and continued working. This experience reminded me that solving technical problems does not always have to be done alone, and the support of others can be just as important as technical knowledge.
The final Unity animation test was also unsuccessful because the system could not recognise the character’s head bone, which affected the walking animation. Although I could not fully solve the problem before submission, I still imported the complete model and textures into Unity and identified where the error occurred. At the beginning of the module, I expected every stage to work perfectly and became frustrated whenever something failed. By the end, I understood that failure during testing does not mean that the entire project has failed. The more important result was that I completed the workflow, learned from each problem and became more confident in facing unfamiliar technical challenges.
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