Where Are The Artists?

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of folks lamenting how modern art (especially Modern Art) doesn’t have anything to compare to, oh, the great cathedrals of Europe—according to some, doesn’t even have a decently sized mural.  Usually comes with a lot of talk of how soul-killing Walmart and their sort are, but not always.

Besides the obvious opportunity to plug folks like Tim Jones, I think they’re simply not looking right.

 

Depending on your taste in music, you might want to mute this.  Depends on how closely you want to watch.  Either way, maximize this video, and pay attention to things like the flow of the cloth vs fur vs hair, and even how the Asura’s ears move.  Notice the background detail, from a game that was still in testing and development at the time.  Notice the way that light makes a difference.

Guild Wars 2 isn’t a top-of-the-line game, although it is fairly new and well designed.

There’s a part of the game where players go around looking for "vistas"– when you reach the vista point, you activate it, and see… well:

 

The person that made this video had their settings up a bit high, you can tell from the slight hesitations in the visual flow, but look at the detail, and how lovely most of them are.

We still have artists, lots of them.  And they’re being paid for their work.  It’s just not displayed in the form of buildings, or windows, or even on walls; it’s more likely to show up on your computer’s wallpaper.