The Rise of Hand Drawn Games Among Indie Developers
Hand drawn games make up a special art style subcategory of game visuals. These games demonstrate the beauty of the in-game graphics made with hands, typically achieved through such methods as drawing, painting, or sketching – mostly, in 2D format. The charm of the hand-drawn style gives modern indie games an artistic touch and helps to stand out among hundreds of similar titles in the same genre niche. In this article, the creative team of BandurArt wants to share some tips and guidance for new game artists who are eager to learn how to develop beautiful hand drawn video games.
The Variety of Hand Drawn Games in 2024
Hand drawn video games can come in many types, like puzzle games, platformers, visual novels, and others. The artistic style gives a special touch to the experience of playing these games by making them more immersive and enchanting. People who love art will really enjoy such video games.
2D hand drawn games such as Gorogoa, Cuphead, Spiritfarer, and Hades are game projects in different styles and genres, each being beautiful in their way. They demonstrate the inventiveness and skill of game makers who have adopted hand-drawn art styles to make visually striking and engaging gaming adventures.
For example, the BandurArt artists practice in such popular art styles for video game projects:
- Pixel art;
- Vector art;
- Cel shading art;
- Monochromatic or 1-bit art;
- Flat art;
- Realism;
- Cartoon art;
If you want to join the pool of creators in any of these genres, we humbly offer our art services and 2D character design packages at budget-friendly prices. Let’s create beautiful video games together!
How to Create the First Concept Art for Hand Drawn Games?
Have you ever wondered about the magic of games such as Candy Crush, Flappy Bird, or Limbo? These 2D gaming masterpieces manage to grip the love and devotion of players all around the globe with their delightful graphics and interactive mechanics.
They can be quite buck-generating as well. For example, just the single hand drawn game Candy Crush made $1.21 billion in 2021 across different mobile devices. This is a huge increase from its start with $77 million back in 2012 and it’s now among top money-making mobile games ever. So, learning how to make a hand drawn video game can become a quite profitable skill if not a full-time career.
Here is how you should start when creating your first 2D concept art for hand drawn games:
- Choose the game style you like and can (!) use for creating the concept art;
- Draft and sketch until you like the result but do not be too hard on yourself;
- Follow the color concept and choose a color palette wisely to create an atmosphere of joy or, on the contrary, horror;
- Work on the character design even if it is just the concept art. The characters grab the player’s attention at first, and only then the backgrounds;
- However, you should not forget about the backgrounds as well. Think of Hollow Knight and Spiritfarer to create truly immersive in-game landscapes filled with fine details;
- Think of the 2D game icons and items for your game project. UI design is quite important for a player to enjoy the gameplay process smoothly as well as the understandable item designs;
These are just basic steps you can use to create your first-ever concept art for hand drawn 2D games. Do not stop educating yourself at this point – watch YouTube videos, visit master classes, read Reddit, and get inspired by ArtStation and Behance. And draw every day to improve this skill to perfection.
How to Create a Visually Stunning Background for Hand Drawn Games?
To make a visually stunning background for hand drawn indie games, you need to use both traditional art abilities and digital methods.
Sketch
Initially, create a sketch of your background on paper. This enables you to make fast changes to your thoughts and set up the primary arrangement and features of the scene.
Digitize
When you are content with your sketch, convert it into digital form by scanning or using a digital drawing tablet. This should be done as a final step and you have to be 100% sure in your concept art and sketches for 2D hand drawn games.
Refine and Color
This step involves using software such as Photoshop or GIMP to polish your rough sketch by adding color. You can now put in the details, experiment with various color combinations, and establish the last appearance of your background.
Create a Parallax Effect
If you want your background to be more engaging and lively, you can think about making a parallax effect. It works by adding many background pictures into layers at various distances from the person looking, they shift at different rates so there is a depth feeling. You may make these layers in your digital art software and apply the parallax effect in your game engine.
Test
Import your background into your game engine and run a test in the game. See if it blends nicely with your game’s appearance and functions, and make the necessary changes.
Iterate
The development of the hand drawn game is an iterative process. Don’t hesitate to make changes in your background, either due to feedback or as the game progresses.
If you are facing any challenges in creating the artistic backgrounds or characters for your hand drawn game project, you should learn from the others – for example, you may check this Reddit thread where beginner artists share their experiences.
The List of Hand Drawn Games of 2023-2024
In 2023 and 2024, the games with hand drawn graphics made a surprising comeback and caught players’ attention with their special art styles and stories.
Some of the best hand drawn games that can inspire you:
- Pentiment. A story-filled adventure RPG placed in a lively portrayal of 16th-century Bavaria. The game shows off a gorgeous hand-drawn art design with touches of watercolor and carefully crafted 2D backgrounds.
- Cuphead is famous for its hand-drawn characters and animations, which bring back the feel of old cartoons from the 1930s. It has a special visual style and jazzy audio design that charms players. The last year’s DLC only proves how talented are the developers of this indie team;
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is an open-world JRPG game that is visually impressive and has hand-drawn art, only available on Nintendo Switch. It gets praised for its interesting story and amazing looks;
- World of Goo 2. The new installment in the World Goo franchise where every background is drawn by hand. You can play it anywhere – from PC and consoles to mobile devices later in 2024;
Frequently Asked Questions About Hand Drawn Games
- What makes horror games hand drawn and with a spooky forest setting so compelling?
A horror game with hand-drawn pictures set in a scary forest location can give you an experience where you feel like you are really inside the game. When there are hand-drawn backgrounds, the scary atmosphere becomes more intense because the pixelated or 2D characters and environments seem to be scarier than in 3D locations.
The dark shadows and creepy twisted trees of a forest make an exciting setting to encounter terrifying events. The indie game gems like “The Binding of Isaac” and “The Path” artfully mix these parts, making gamers feel a creepy uneasiness that lasts even after finishing the game.
- Can you recommend the best hand-drawn games for the Nintendo Switch?
The Nintendo Switch has a series of games with hand-drawn and visually appealing art style. Some well-known examples of hand drawn Switch games are:
- Cuphead – recognized for its challenging gameplay and beautiful animation;
- Hollow Knight – showcases a distinctive art style in the form of a side-scrolling action adventure;
- Spiritfarer – functions like platformer/management game but has touching storylines supported by hand-drawn graphics;
Also, you should check such indie masterpieces as “Gris”, “Rayman Legends”, and “Shantae, a Half-Genie Hero” – all available for playing on Nintendo Switch.
- What are the best tools for drawing characters in hand drawn video games?
There is a vast variety of tools to draw the backgrounds and characters on your tablet or PC, the BandurArt team recommends such software options:
- Adobe Animate which is known for its strong animation abilities and large ability to customize;
- Clip Studio Paint that many people like because it can be used for digital painting as well as comic illustration;
- Krita is a free open-source software with various brush engines and customization choices;
- Procreate is an app on iOS devices, mainly used for powerful digital painting recognized by its wide-ranging brush library and user-friendly interface;
- Blender is a versatile 3D creation software good for making more complex hand drawn characters and animations;
- Hollow Knight vs Cuphead hand drawn games – which art style is better?
Hollow Knight and Cuphead have different hand drawn art styles, each with its charm.
On one hand, Hollow Knight immerses players in a gloomy metroidvania that is expressed through detailed environments and character designs. Its 2D side-scrolling levels have intricate backgrounds, while the animations of characters display elegance and expressiveness in bringing the inhabitants from Hallownest to life.
On the other hand, Cuphead is influenced by 1930s cartoons. It has strong, over-the-top visuals similar to old animation from this time period. The boss fights to show off the special looks and animations you’ve probably seen as a kid in some traditional cartoons.
- What are the best top-down hand drawn games?
There are many 2D games with hand-drawn backgrounds, characters, and top-down perspectives. For over a decade since 2014, indie developers have created such top down 2D titles as “Hotline Miami”, “Midnight Fight Express”, “The Ruiner”, etc. These games are mostly action adventures or shooters, so you can have a lot of fun while playing them.
Conclusion
Creating hand drawn games shows how art keeps its important place in telling stories through video gaming experience. Every game with such an appealing art style – from the careful pencil lines to complicated 2D graphics – shows love and effort along with a mix of creativity and skill. These games don’t just look good; they also give players an experience that’s full of interesting stories and captivating game mechanics.
The hand-drawn games, developed with dedication and love for the art, can almost endlessly expand the horizons of creative innovation. The BandurArt team loves creating such games with 2D and 3D characters and backgrounds. Hopefully, you will be inspired after reading this guide to create one of such masterpieces by yourself.
