Photoshop for Games: Creating Art for Console, Mobile, and Social Games

Photoshop for Games: Creating Art for Console, Mobile, and Social Games

by Shawn Nelson
Released August 2014
Publisher(s): New Riders
ISBN: 9780133819960

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Book description

Most game artists use Photoshop to work out idea as much as to create a final product that can be used in a game. There are many ways to work efficiently in the program that can be tapped for a workflow that keeps artists productive and sane. This book takes an approach to creating assets in Photoshop that both beginners and intermediates will find refreshing. Where other books focus on Photoshop lessons or on the basics of drawing, Photoshop for Games gives you many hands-on lessons for developing artwork that can be adapted for many purposes. Full of inspiring projects, readers will find examples from comic, realistic, graphic styles, and more. Downloadable project files and videos accompany some of the tutorials so that readers can dive deeper on topics.

Whether they are developing games for consoles, mobile devices, or the Web, game artists from all backgrounds will learn the best practices to game art creation in Photoshop.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication Page
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. Contents
  6. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. How to Use This Book
    3. Installing Photoshop
    4. Downloading Photoshop
  7. About the Media Files
  8. 1. Getting Started
    1. Photoshop, the Early Years
    2. Artists and Photoshop
    3. Learning the Game Lingo
    4. Setting Up a Game Asset Workstation
    5. Organizing and Archiving Your Art
    6. Chapter Wrap-Up
  9. 2. Pipelines for Games
    1. It Starts with an Idea
    2. Exercise 1: Concept Drawing
    3. Making Storyboards
    4. Exercise 2: Storyboard Exercise
    5. Creating Animatics
    6. Exercise 3: Animatics Exercise
    7. Creating a User Interface
    8. Exercise 4: Producing Wireframes
    9. Exercise 5: Finalizing the UI and Cover Art
    10. Chapter 2 Wrap-Up
  10. 3. Game Asset Creation for Social Media
    1. What Is Social Media, and Who Makes It?
    2. The Pipeline for Creating Social Game Content
    3. Art for Websites
    4. Exercise 6: Creating a Casino Game Skin
    5. Start Decorating
    6. Back to the Spinner Window
    7. One Last Pass
    8. Chapter 3 Wrap-Up
  11. 4. Creating a Mobile Game
    1. Is That a Game on My Phone?
    2. The Pipeline for Making Mobile Games
    3. Exercise 7: Creating Assets for a Mobile Robot Shooter
    4. Creating Levels
    5. Making Props, Pickups, and Other Stuff Lying Around
    6. Exercise 8: Creating Prop Designs and Textures
    7. Creating a Crate Texture Map
    8. Creating FX for the Mobile Space
    9. Exercise 9: Creating a 2D Sprite-Based Effect
    10. Chapter 4 Wrap-Up
  12. 5. Creating Console Game Assets
    1. The Console Game Team
    2. The Console Production Game Pipeline
    3. Exercise 10: Creating a 3D Turnaround Modeling Template Sketch
    4. Exercise 11: Modifying a Normal Map
    5. Exercise 12: Creating a Texture Map from an Exported UV Template
    6. Exercise 13: Creating a Specular Map
    7. Exercise 14: Creating Animated Texture Maps
    8. Creating Marketing Materials
    9. Exercise 15: Creating a Perfect Screenshot
    10. Chapter Wrap-Up
  13. 6. Tips and Tricks for Photoshop
    1. Understanding Photoshop Brushes
    2. Exercise 16: Creating a Brush from an Image
    3. The Batch and the Image Processors
    4. Exercise 17: Modifying a Group of Files Using a Custom Action
    5. Working with 3D in 2D
    6. Exercise 18: Creating a 3D Object for a Scene with a 2D Background
    7. Exercise 19: Creating and Manipulating 3D Text on a 2D Background
    8. The Histogram, Levels, and Curves: A Graph to Adventure
    9. Secret “Insider” Functions
    10. Chapter Wrap-Up
  14. 7. How to Promote Yourself Using Photoshop
    1. Your Resume
    2. Your Reel
    3. Exercise 20: Creating Text Overlays for Your Reel
    4. Exercise 21: Your Portfolio
    5. Exercise 22: Portfolio Wireframes
    6. Finalizing the Look of Your Website Portfolio
    7. Exercise 23: Creating Assets for Your Website Portfolio
    8. Exercise 24: Separating Your Layers Into Individual PNG Files
    9. Exercise 25: The Slice Tool and How to Make a Quickie Website
    10. Chapter Wrap-Up
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: Photoshop for Games: Creating Art for Console, Mobile, and Social Games
  • Author(s): Shawn Nelson
  • Release date: August 2014
  • Publisher(s): New Riders
  • ISBN: 9780133819960