Referenced Readings

Spencer, S., 2008. ZBrush: Character Creation. Advanced Digital Sculpting. Indiana: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Although the book essentially works as a guide to get the reader familiarised with ZBrush, it holds many useful hints and techniques that can easily be adapted to Mudbox, as the two programs share many features. The author talks about the basics of sculpting, from traditional to digital, and the very first chapter is an introduction to gesture, pose and form of traditional ancient sculptures, and how digital artists can interpret this information in creating their own digital sculptures. The book also features interviews with specialist digital sculptors, who share their techniques and secrets with the reader. All in all, a most handy book for any digital sculptor, covering both basic and advanced techniques that can easily be adapted to the user's software.

Linde, R., 2005. Game Art: Creation, Direction and Careers. Hingham: Charles River Media, Inc.

There is an interesting article about light, colour schemes, dirt and scratches etc in Chapter 5. It explains how the colour theme of a picture or even a whole game can set the mood for the player/observer, and how sometimes less really is more. Chapter 18 explores some quick methods of creating high-resolution models in ZBrush, which again can be adapted to Mudbox fairly easily. Chapter 19 also gives the reader some useful tips about using normal mapping to create very 3-dimensional looking images from a flat surface.

Omernick, M., 2004. Creating the Art of the Game. New Riders Publishing.

A fairly basic book covering some of the techniques that artists in the games industry use today. It goes into some depth about the importance of good conceptual art in the process of creating a game, as well as how to turn those conceptual drawings into models and levels. The author also gives some useful hints from experience and examples from games that he has worked on before.

Pardew, L,. 2005. Beginning Illustration and Storyboarding for Games. Boston: Thomson Course Technology.

The author of this book takes the reader through a handful of different topics, from creating storyboards and level designs to character creation and environmental illustrations. Each chapter is followed by a FAQ section with popular questions spanning the content of each chapter, which (although very brief) can give light to the reader's queries.