Best Game Artists

What a good game art package includes

Game art gigs are priced per asset, per character or per set. Check that the package states:

• Assets: list of characters, items, tiles or screens.
• Style and reference pieces.
• Technical specs: sizes, resolution, formats, frames.
• Stages: sketches, then finals.
• Animation, if included.
• Source files with layers.
• Rights and AI use.

Ask for one fully finished asset first, tested in your game. A character or tile that looks great as an image may need changes once you see it moving, at its real size and next to other assets.

How to brief a game artist

1. The game: genre, platform and story.
2. Art style, with references.
3. Asset list with priorities.
4. Technical requirements from your engine.
5. Color palette and mood.
6. Deadline and milestones.

Keep a shared asset list with the status of each item: sketch, approved, final, in game. Game projects involve many small pieces, and a simple list prevents missing or duplicated work.

Give feedback in batches rather than piece by piece. Reviewing several sketches together helps you see consistency across characters or items and gives the artist clearer direction.

Plan for promotional art as well. Store pages, trailers and social media need key art, and ordering it from the same artist keeps the look consistent.

Agree on how assets will be named and organized before production starts, for example by character, action and frame number. Consistent naming saves your developer hours of sorting files, prevents mistakes when importing into the engine, and makes it easy to replace or update a single asset later without searching through hundreds of files. A shared folder structure agreed on day one pays off throughout the project.

What drives the price

• number and complexity of assets
• 2D versus 3D
• animation frames
• concept art and style development
• rights and exclusivity
• the artist's experience in games

Pixel art, hand-painted art and 3D art have very different production times. Ask for a price per asset type so you can plan scope.

Red flags

• No sketch stage.
• Assets that ignore your technical specs.
• Unclear rights or AI use.
• Art that copies well-known games.
• Only flattened files, no layers.

Check the licenses of any fonts, textures or brushes used in the art, especially for commercial release. Ask the artist to list them.

For building the game, see our game development guide. For trailers, read our game trailer guide, and for music our composer guide.

Quick pre-order checklist

• I have an asset list and technical specs.
• The style is agreed with reference pieces.
• I will test one finished asset in the game first.
• Rights and AI use are agreed in writing.
• I will receive layered source files.