DRock-Art: Great Game Art From China

China is rapidly becoming a huge hub for the development of high quality game content. There a number of companies, working with assets, art and visuals, helping huge studios to finish their projects on time. Among these companies is DRock-Art – a visual production studio, formed by the famous artist Nicotine. At Chinajoy 2015, 80.lv met with the artist and his colleague Johnson Li to discuss the work that DRock-Art Studio is performing now.

About DRock-Art

DRock-Art  a visual design studio. We create high quality art for big game production companies like NC Soft, Tencent, Games Workshop, Bethesda Game Studios, Bluehole Studio.

We’ve been working on concept art creation for over 4 years. We’ve created art for a number of games, including Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, Final Fantasy XIV, Linage II, Linage Eternal, AION, The Elder Scrolls Online, Saints Row 4, Darksiders 2.

We’re especially proud of working with the Warhammer 40k universe, which is so popular all over the world.

Our studio employs about 30 people. We have increased the number of services available for game developers and publishers. Drock Art can help with the production of 3D models, assets and materials as well. Usually we use 3DS Max and Zbrush as our main tools for 3d content creation. We also do UI-design and classical CG.

Production Process

Usually our clients come to us with a task and we provide the solution. We make concept art, show them different ideas and various ways of looking at the character or environment. From there we can start developing 3d models and other assets for the client.

Making concept art for the game is not an easy thing. Especially if you are working with a well established property like Warhammer 40k or AION. Before actually drawing something, we must learn the history of this game, study the story and get a good understanding of characters. It can be pretty difficult, but without this preparation you won’t be able to get good results.

We believe that nice environments for games just can’t be created without a beautiful landscape. These images should also be intricately detailed to make great impression on the players. Of course, you shouldn’t be overwhelmed by details. It’s important to distance yourself from the project once in a while and see how the whole thing looks. Only then can you create good environments.

Moving to The West

We work with various companies and various types of games. Of course, mostly our clients are big-budget studios, but we would be happy to work with some smaller indie projects. We usually charge per hour per person. We would love to work with more western companies, which are looking for outsourcing services all over the world.

Johnson Li, DRock-Art