So I've long considered a list of the top artists on TGCstore, in which art is produced for the 'Game Guru' game creation engine. There's a lot of very talented artists - all talented in their own ways. Being married to an artist, I know how important it is to stroke one's ego from time to time. While not all of them are my personal preference they all work hard and the TGCstore does a good enough job screening the bad art out (ask me how I know, hah!) that they have an acceptable level of quality for all of the artists. At no point are you going to find atrocious art that has no place in any game. All of the art has it's own style, design, and features. Some are low poly and resource minimal. Others are high poly, resource intensive works.
My list is just a product of my purchase of pieces from probably fifty plus artists on TGCstore and viewing hundreds of art pieces both in game and on the web while browsing.
I use this list as a guide towards my own purchases and recommend you do the same.
#10 - Oldpman ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/45257
This was probably the hardest one to rate. Oldpman is simply put - the most prolific artist on TGCstore.
It's like wheres waldo, only not so hard because he stands out so much
That said, proliferation doesn't equal quality - which is what my list was hoping to order in some reasonable fashion. Thankfully, Oldpman doesn't disappoint. His offerings have gotten steadily better and I'd dare say 2015 was a great year for the quality of his work. He still struggles a little with material textures mapping but overall the work is superb.
One truly great thing is if you were lucky enough to pick up his end of the year special pack, you got the opportunity to basically own an entire LIBRARY's worth of items that all have the same art style. This is hugely important when making games - dissimilar art stands out like a sore thumb.
Keep up the good work p-man and I look forward to your continued works.
Gtox is a great artist with a promising portfolio. He's got a huge array of creatures and some construction pieces as well.
The portfolio is fairly diverse going from dinosaurs to Sci-Fi style walkways.
With a pretty solid showing this was another difficult one to place. I considered swapping it around several times and eventually settled here. The primary things holding it back were model and texture style. That said, they're excellent models - I own many (mostly the fish). Moreover they're generally very useful! These are typically things you don't find elsewhere on the store and as such Gtox's items hold particular value which can't really be under-stated. His sci-fi corridor set, while a bit spartan on color, is of superb quality and build.
#8 - Henry Ham ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/56327
If there was one artist I wish had more products on the store, this would be him. He's got a great level of quality on regular, useful items that are well priced. The problem is there isn't enough of it!
Easily class-winning items on their own.
I've got a lot of Henry's free items as well from http://gamegurufiles.co.uk/models.html - they're all excellent. The impressive thing is that I can use his old stuff in modern environments with updated graphics and they STILL look good. That's the kind of quality that's hard to beat - he'd honestly place a lot higher on this list if he'd have a few more items on the list. As it is he only adds items sporadically which is a huge disappointment given I'm such a fan of his work. Well, here's to hoping!
#7 - Nomis3d *TIE* ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/186502
So let me say outright I like Nomis's style. He's got good use of texture, an eye for shape, his materials types are good... so why's he lower on the list than others?
The packs are well priced and high quality.
Well, to be blunt - there's not a lot here I can use. His work is great. But he's got very little here that's of general type. Everything fits the modern shooter or in one rare case - the medieval fantasy world. Beyond that, there's not a lot of utility. I can't re-purpose much of this for my current projects and I check his page often to see new products. Unfortunately despite my hope for new items of a generalist nature, I don't see much expansion into other genres. That's entirely up to him and we'll see where it goes going forward, I suppose. That said - he's a top shelf artist, genres be damned.
#7 FRAP *TIE* ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/59501
This was an emergency addition. My spider sense tingled after creating my list and I realized I'd left someone very skilled off the list. I knew he had to qualify as a tie and did my best to slot him into this where I felt he would be best represented. Frap has a solid portfolio and style:
As you can see, Sci-Fi entities abound, along with WWII items.
I like Frap's Sci-Fi work a LOT. It meshes well with models from other developers and seamlessly integrates into maps. They have a nice clean look and are textured quite well.
Some of his older models textures are not my cup of tea and that's quite alright by me. It seems that he adjusts his style in texturing based around the genre - which is a bit different for artists on this web store.
My primary regret is his lack of 'packs' and savings. I'd easily have owned all of his Sci-Fi assets if they were in a competitively priced pack. He also has a relatively small portfolio which limits his exposure across genres. A nice showing though, especially considering the lack of packs and small asset base.
#6 - Dagored ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/123361
Dagored is a pretty unique artist. For one, he's got massive amounts of free models available here:
https://forum.game-guru.com/thread/210761 - literally pages and pages of free models. He even built a scientist character per my request. His store has tons of great stuff that has a wide appeal or level of utility:
Chickens, skeletons, and Sci-Fi corridors - that's just the start!
All of his offerings are well priced and provide a great way to support the author.
His weak spot comes down to texturing and coloring but even that is hardly noticeable. I own a few of his individual models (I will be buying packs as needs arise). They are good models. Very good. All of them are excellent in their own right. My personal sense of style and color is the only thing limiting him at this point and I look forward to his upcoming works which seem to just continually improve.
A word of warning before proceeding further. The top five were EXCEPTIONALLY difficult to judge. They are all top-shelf artists in their own right and the minor variances between them could literally separate their works by a fraction of a percent difference. It's that close. So understand that for all intents and purposes on any given day - they could swap in a moment.
#5 - BSP - https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/124126
BSP has a ton of models - almost as many as Oldpman. The utility of said models ranges widely across many different genres. He does hold one very important claim to fame however that would have placed him on this top ten list no matter what.
BSP literally owns the weapons category on TGCstore.
Of the 31 weapons on the TGCstore - only *1* is not by BSP. Think about that. He solely responsible for one of the most important categories on the shop. That alone would have ensured a comfortable place on this list. Couple that with a huge inventory of buildings and WWII assets of particularly high quality and you have a great fifth place showing. BSP continues to improve and impress with every new release so make sure you follow him and keep an eye out for upcoming updates!
#4 - Wizard of Id ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/39010
Wizard of Id is a fantastic artist. He easily eclipses a lot of the standard artists with a keen sense of quality and color. His art is exceptionally good; the model shape and design is ornate without having an inordinate amount of polygons. In short, its well balanced with a good clean take that can be used in a wide variety of settings.
Prices are quite reasonable, as you can see.
Wizard of Id's styles are useful in a number of places but have a very clear trend towards a more modern and gritty look. They fit well in my game style and if I wasn't so hard up for money as of current I'd own that artist collection in a hurry. I look forward to slowly improving my list of "Wiz" collections as so far I've not been disappointed by a single one. Every single one I get has been very thoroughly designed, built, and tested. I've run into NO issues with any and enjoy their art style. Minor complaints mostly are around not having enough sci-fi stuff of the type that I like (spaceship vs ground base - he's got ground base down pat) and I'd be really curious to see how he handled his clutter items as well. I bet they'd be clear winners on all fronts - as the rest of his work already is.
#3 - Rolfy ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/44335
It pains me to put Rolfy in 3rd. Truly. I struggled long and hard with where to place him and he could easily be in first as easily as he is right here. The degrees of quality between these top three artists is narrow to a razor's edge.
A wide variety of extremely high quality assets.
Rolfy has talent in spades. He's a coder. He's a character designer. He's got an eye for art. He's a building designer with an eye for detail. He does things with shaders others only dream of. The list goes on and on and on. Every single item he brings to the table is worth owning.
He's even got well priced packs, if you can believe it! As to what held him back on this list aside from my arbitrary viewpoint, it mostly boiled down to price. A few of his items are a little pricier than competitive models. Do you get what you pay for? Absolutely. In no way shape or form can I say anything to detract from the quality of his work. He's a gifted artist, through and through. Mostly the biggest thing preventing him from going any higher on this list is the utility of his work. It tends to pidgeon-hole towards a few specific environments (except for generic items like the wave pack or HD skies). Even then this is only the most marginal of issues. I really wish I had the money to purchase his entire store collection outright.
#2 - Valuable Assets ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/35753
What do I say? Valuable Assets is a simply incredible artist. He offers a MASSIVE amount of quality offerings.
There's a lot more than this, I assure you.
VA is another author I have a lot of individual pieces on. I buy his stuff piecemeal and if I was a richer man would buy the '2015 Complete' collection in a heartbeat. 65 dollars for everything he's done to this point is a STEAL.
VA has done a lot of really great work but I'd say my absolute favorite is his HD roads. His road/world textures are far and away the BEST way to make a high quality game road in this engine. If you want to make something competitive with the latest AAA games - you need to visit his store.
You will never find yourself asking "why did I buy this?" with his items. Instead, you will find yourself constantly trying to find a way to inject his items into your levels. If you look at the top 'post apocalyptic' screenshots on http://game-guru.com you will notice one thing in common - they *ALL* use models from VA's shop. That's not an accident.
#1 - Errant AI ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/77474
I realize that this is probably a bit of a shock to some. I spent weeks trying to unseat this one. To move it to the number two position. But I just... couldn't. His work (while limited in scope and use) is .. flawless. Absolutely, completely flawless.
I use his stuff as often as I possibly can.
EAI has been making models, like many others on this list, for a long time with 'The Game Creators'. His work is astonishingly good, well finished, and detailed. Let me tell you about details. Details is getting the exact amount of haze on a piece of glass right. Details is about thickness of elements being to a precision you need a micrometer to check. Details are critical to me; I look at polys, shape, textures, surfaces, lighting, materials colors, etc. I spent HOURS looking at the EAI products.
My only complaint is there isn't more.
So congratulations for the best Artist of 2015 from yours truly: Mike (Aka Bolt-Action Gaming) of The Game Guru Report. Keep up the truly impressive and jaw dropping work!
Honorable Mentions
I have to say there's a lot of artists not on this list who nearly were. I struggled with what to do because I genuinely felt a lot of them deserved a mention or two. So here is my 'most' list - if you're an honorable mention realize your work is still impressive and worth a look!Most growth as an artist: Pirate Myke ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/126323
Pirate Myke has been developing steadily as an artist but in the past year really came into his own. A lot of his more recent work reflects this, particularly the patio kit which he was kind enough to send me a preview of. I remain impressed and expect more :)
Most original artist: Wolf ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/70871
I don't know where Wolf gets his/her inspiration but it's an interesting place! There's a lot here worth looking at, especially if you're into Sci-Fi as I am. The alien styles have come a long way and the models continue to improve bit by bit. In a year or so I see Wolf dominating somewhere in the top seven at this pace.
Most useful clutter and detail items: Teabone ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/45855
I own a *LOT* of Teabone's items. Like.. probably half of them? They're extremely useful, easy to fit into levels, well made, and with good texture/normal mapping. The specularity on them is particularly clean. This was a hard one to not place on the list.
Most useful world-making items: Ken Charles Long ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/27308
Or perhaps tazman? ---- https://en.tgcstore.net/artist/143240
Both of these long-time artists have huge portfolios that are well priced and bring a lot of value to your work, depending on how you use them. I prefer higher poly models but I own models from both of these artists as they are quite good in their own right(s).
Most Buildings: Disturbing13 :)
This guy makes more buildings than anyone, I think. Holy moly man. You gotta branch out because you've got a good eye and sense of design - just try your hand at something else; I want to see what more you can do!
Most really cool but needs more stuff: Jforth / Rattlecreed
Both of these guys bring a great sense of style to the party and I want to see more from them! Jforth is a personal favorite but a bit niche so hopefully we'll see more come from him soon.
Most useful cars: Pasquil :)
See my previous review.
If I missed you, I apologize and better luck next year! I have done my level best to review everyone and perform the rather difficult task of assigning completely subjective values to each one.
1 comment:
Couldn't agree more with this list. ErrantAI AKA Jake Cottton produces some astounding work of a definate AAA quality. I'd love to see more of his
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