Game art can be inspirational and beautiful, but it can also be daunting for anyone wanting break into this industry. So where to start? I spoke to Chenrui ZENG, lead environment artist for AFK Arena, to get some advice (you can read a longer interview with the Lilith Games artist too).
Chenrui ZENG begins by saying, "Consistent practice is the key. After work, I focus on quick sketches, capturing anything from a striking landscape to a fleeting moment. The goal isn’t to create polished pieces for social media validation or pressure myself any more than I need to. Instead, I treat it as a way to reconnect with the joy of drawing".
He adds: "It’s less about technical mastery and more about keeping my creative instincts sharp. Over time, these raw observations subtly influence my work. When you remove the pressure to perform, you rediscover why you started creating in the first place."
AFK Arena has an art style influence by Art Nouveau, and some special events worked on by Chenrui ZENG have drawn inspiration from Tim Burton. So naturally, another piece of advice is to, "Start by reverse-engineering art styles you admire. Once you can replicate a style convincingly, push further and ask what if you strip back these details or add a hue to shift the mood. Tiny tweaks during this phase often spark unexpected breakthroughs."
He adds: "Most importantly, draw daily. When practice becomes as habitual as breathing, you’ll look back in five years and realise how those accumulated sketches rewired your instinct and attitude."
If you're interested in exploring game art, Lilith Games has teamed up with drawing tablet brand XPPen to launch a global art contest called Monsters Gone Wild. The challenge invites artists to reimagine some of the game's most iconic characters and creatures. For inspiration and more details, head over to Lilith Games' official website.
XPPen, known for producing the best drawing tablets like the new Magic Note Pad – a tablet I found is perfect for casual sketching and note-taking – is offering these and other tablets as prizes in the Monsters Gone Wild art challenge.
