2025/01/13 19:48
In his senior year, he worked with Blizzard and worked for Tencent's Lilith Riot, and he said that the original art industry has changed
2025/01/13 19:48
Text/Lin Zhi
During the 6th GGAC Digital Art Competition, Grape Jun chatted with a senior art practitioner.
Tooth Wu has thirteen years of experience in the field of game art. He started his career at Kawami, when he didn't know that "game art" was a profession. However, with the drawing of "World of Warcraft" fanart, he was invited to cooperate with Blizzard in his senior year, and later gradually participated in the drawing work related to "Hearthstone".
After graduating from university, he successively worked for well-known game companies such as Perfect World, Tencent, Lilith, and Riot, and gradually transitioned from character art team leader to project art leader.
Later, Tooth Wu left Riot to found his own studio, TOART, dedicated to training students and undertaking art outsourcing projects.
He has always maintained close contact with the industry, and also shared his observation of the changes in the industry in his 13 years of experience.
Tooth Wu said that in recent years, the threshold for game art has been significantly improved, and there are two nodes, one is the widespread use of AI, and the other is that the mobile game market has cooled down and the products are developing towards high-quality products.
In addition, in the case of concept art, the role of an artist has changed a lot. From mere painters to decision-makers, they need to adapt to a faster pace of work, have a stronger ability to judge art styles, and have a deeper understanding of the project process.
The following is an excerpt from the interview.
01
Grape: After these role changes, what do you think concept artists should do to ensure that their ideas can be better understood and executed by the team?
Tooth Wu: A lot of concept artists really want the team to understand their thinking and original intentions, and I can understand that, and so do I.
In order to preserve the original design as much as possible, I think the first thing is to understand the whole team.
You need to know what your team's strengths and weaknesses are, and think about them appropriately when designing your roles.
For example, if the team's engine expressiveness and graphics are very limited, when designing a character, don't use too many details to convey your design points, but use large outlines, large body language, or memorable actions to design your character from this direction.
For example, if you feel that the team's special effects are very good and suitable for expressing a certain character, then you can design more elements to enhance the expressiveness of the special effects, such as the character's ability to release magic is more cool, etc.
You need to have an understanding of the limits and capabilities of your team, and know where your design can be best unleashed and expressed.
If your design has a lot of chemistry with the strengths of your team, the end result will often be more impressive, and the person in your role will feel very happy.
Grape Jun: After 13 years in the industry, how do you think the role of the original artist has changed?
Tooth Wu: Concept artists have gradually changed from painters or task performers to decision-makers.
Today's drawing process is faster and more compact, requiring designers to be able to quickly judge and move projects forward to the next point, an ability that relies on deep expertise and sensitivity.
While the actual drawing task is reduced, designers need to have a deeper understanding of the workflow and a better judgment of the content.
In the past, more attention was paid to the technique itself, such as whether the painting was good or not, and whether the expressiveness was strong enough. But now, most of the work on this performance is done by AI, and the industry is more focused on the original concepts and ideas of designers, and how to actually apply AI-assisted content to games.
Grape Jun: To what extent do domestic game companies use AI?
Tooth Wu: It has become common for domestic game companies to use AI in art, but not all companies are using it.
AI is mainly used in the early stage of conceptual design, especially before the project starts. In the past, at this stage, people may just talk about ideas, but now with AI, even people who don't understand art can quickly generate some general styles through AI, so that they can easily see the possible direction of the game.
In this way, the threshold for artists to participate has become lower, and many people can use AI to generate renderings, and then leave them to artists to design and iterate.
These renderings are just the starting point, though. Because the curator's dabbling in game art may still be limited, he thinks it fits the style of the project very well, and the art may not necessarily think so.
At this point, it's more and more important for concept designers to judge whether the thing is appropriate for the game, what can be implemented into a valid design, and what is redundant.
When AI first came out, you might think that AI is so fast, and my work will be completed quickly, which will definitely reduce a lot of my workload.
But really, when you think you're done, the company won't let you sit idle, you'll just put a lot of time into iterating on more solutions. To some extent, this increases the time and precision required to produce individual characters.
The overall intensity of work has not changed much, and it may even be more boring.
Grape Jun: What is the current maturity of AI?
Tooth Wu: I think it's a question that needs to be watched continuously. The mode of operation of AI is to summarize patterns through large-scale sampling, and finally generate various content. As far as 2D art is concerned, the source of AI materials is this "piece of water".
This brings up a problem: while it is now capable of generating large amounts of content quickly, the performance of AI may become increasingly limited when dealing with more abstract and innovative concepts, and even the content will be similar because its pool is fixed.
For now, this model can meet most needs, but in a few years, it is difficult to say whether the acceptance of these materials, whether it is players or the market, will still be able to maintain the current enthusiasm.
If there is no new content added to the asset pool for a long time, or if it is not possible to calculate something more innovative, the conceptual application of AI in 2D art may gradually be limited.
From a game art perspective, in the last two or three years, AI hasn't made a significant difference in terms of truly interesting or groundbreaking art output.
Especially for 0-to-1 innovative work, AI is basically not helpful. It is better at handling repetitive tasks or mass production needs, and although it can accelerate trial and error and expand thinking, in actual work, the improvement in physical sensation is not obvious.
The core competencies required by concept artists remain the same, which is what my team and I agree on AI.
Grape Jun: Will the position of original painting be highly streamlined, and will it be directly handled by the main beauty with AI?
Tooth Wu: This is actually back to the question, what is the main beauty?
The main beauty is the type of work that is coordinated and controlled, not the type of work that is executed.
Jumei's energy is to coordinate and control the overall style and the advancement of art completion, and is responsible for coordinating various pipelines such as original paintings, models, and animation effects, controlling the final output, and sometimes taking on behalf of the team members to communicate with various forces (such as planning).
Unless the game projects are very small, just one or two artists, the main beauty may be able to do it by itself.
02
Grape Jun: When you were teaching at TOART, did you notice any differences between the new generation of designers and the past?
Tooth Wu: The biggest difference between the new generation of designers and the past is that they have a much lower barrier to entry into games. Today's young people have easy access to all kinds of games from an early age, and when I was a child, although my family supported me to play games, most of my peers still had a high level of difficulty in getting into games.
This change has given young people a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of games today than we did back then. This is a good trend because they have a higher starting point and it is also easier to incorporate an understanding of the game into the design.
Grape Jun: What about mentality?
Tooth Wu: First of all, students today are more inclined to need to be recognized, and they want their work to be recognized more than some of their earlier students. At the same time, they will have higher requirements for design points, and like fresher, more interesting, and more exciting things, which also has a lot to do with the things they are exposed to.
In the past, it may have been a little bit of a sense of technology or a little bit of curiosity in the design, but now these things are completely unimpressed. Therefore, today's students are more sensitive to design and more demanding.
I think that's a good thing, because our industry will always need a higher-level, more extreme stimulus to drive growth.
Grape: Many of your students should have already entered the industry, have they talked to you about the biggest feeling after working?
Tooth Wu: The application of AI has changed a lot of work now. You may not have as much time to draw, and more time to interact with AI tools and integrate AI into your workflow.
This can feel conflicting for a lot of people, as they first got into the industry because they love drawing, but in actual character design work, drawing itself isn't the main part.
However, there has always been a conflict between game design and the hobby of drawing, and it is inevitable that you will feel this gap when you enter the job.
Because game design is essentially a kind of commercial art. Your work is for production, not just for the sake of good looks, and not for self-expression.
Mei Xuan may be more inclined to draw good-looking, appealing drawings, while concept design is more about providing guidance for production. This requires designers to have strong application skills and an understanding of the overall process.
03
Grape Jun: What skills do you think original painting practitioners need to pay special attention to in the current industry?
Tooth Wu: Since projects are iterating so fast these days, it's important for 2D artists to perceive the project. You need to know more about the genres and develop your ability to change styles quickly, but you also need to work on a particular style – which is already a very high demand.
Don't just think of yourself as someone who loves to draw, but as a game designer. The role of a concept designer is not just to draw, but to act as a creator to turn a virtual character or creature into a living being.
The requirements for oneself are not only limited to painting skills, but also need to have a wide range of knowledge accumulation, such as fashion design, history and culture, natural science and other aspects, all need to have a certain understanding.
Another important point is that you must master the process and professional knowledge of making games before joining a game company, and don't think about learning the process after joining a game company. It is very helpful that there are many more resources and ways to learn online now than before.
Grape Jun: Why is there so much emphasis on understanding the process?
Tooth Wu: Concept design is actually the starting point of the entire art realization process, and the subsequent actions, models, special effects, etc., will be based on your original concept.
This requires you to have a clear picture in your mind of what you can achieve later. You'll need to know what your character will look like in the end, and you'll also need to be able to communicate with 3D, movement, and other departments to make sure your character moves in the direction you envision.
Without this control, the character may deviate in subsequent production, or even completely deviate from your original intention.
So, concept design isn't just about sitting there and drawing, it's about anticipating the changes that may be brought about by each subsequent production process.
When designing, you need to leave room for the next steps, or make some compromises on the details to achieve the effect. For example, whether the details need to be piled up, and whether the project can restore your high-detail picture, these need to be based on an understanding of the subsequent process, not just "draw well".
These competencies are not additional requirements, but are fundamental requirements for conceptual design. Only by understanding the entire production process will you be able to optimize your design as you draw the concept so that it fits the needs of the project and effectively advances to the final production stage.
Grape Jun: How does the original artist's judgment affect the final result? Can you give an example?
Tooth Wu: Let's say you're a MOBA game, and the planner says that you want to make a character similar to Dongfang Undefeated, who casts spells with a needle and attacks with a red line.
The picture in his mind may come from the film and television works he has watched, and the undefeated Oriental he knows should be a certain look.
But if you are an original painting, you have to judge whether this image can be realized on the picture.
In a MOBA game, when the top view is 45 degrees, and the character is only the size of a thumb, it is difficult to reflect the main attack method with needle and thread on the screen.
At this time, you have to do some substitution elements, such as turning the needle into some thin swords, and the red thread into the sword that quickly draws out.
You need to make this judgment quickly to achieve a good visual performance without completely detaching yourself from the planning needs.
Grape Gentleman: How do you maintain your passion for games and drawing?
Tooth Wu: I've always thought of painting as a small space of my own, and I think basically as long as you like to draw, you can maintain it.
The reason why many people's enthusiasm disappears may be consumed by work and life. But if you think of painting as a small room for yourself, at least for so many years, I will always need this place to release myself.
As long as you keep drawing, don't just pass by in the brain, and try to implement every small concept and small idea on the pen, you will always have enthusiasm.
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