Key Factors to Consider When Outsourcing Your Game Art Project

Last night, you had a great dream of designing a visually stunning, power-packed game art that left every player stunned, that made them say, “AWESOME!”. The other day, you woke up with a highly motivated spirit to bring this gaming concept to life.

You’re excited to share this game idea with your team, but it turns out they are all occupied with high-priority projects and have no room to begin another one. Then, a great solution strikes your mind, which is to outsource your game art project to any Game Design and Development studio.

However, you have no idea how to begin your hunt for a reliable game art outsourcing partner who can be your great ally in delivering the outcomes you need. Luckily, you don’t need to worry, as this guide is here at your rescue.

In this guide, you will learn everything you need to know about outsourcing your game art project.

So, let the hunt begin…

What Is Game Art Outsourcing?

Outsourcing game art projects refers to the practice of delegating the creation of digital game assets and artwork to any professional game artist rather than handing it in-house.

The aim of opting for game art outsourcing is to collaborate with and leverage skilled game artists and gaming studios to create high-quality visuals that meet your expected criteria.

Why Should Gaming Businesses Outsource Their Game Art Project and What Benefits They Can Get?

By outsourcing game art projects, indie game developers and even gaming businesses can benefit from several advantages, which are as follows:

Cost Effective

When we say outsourcing is cost-effective, it doesn’t mean getting top-notch game art solutions at a cheap rate. It means cost-effectiveness in comparison to hiring in-house staff and managing those talents.

With outsourcing, you get access to a global talent pool, leveraging which you can hire the best game artist from any region, which can cost you less than your region, resulting in cost savings.

Access to Specialized Skills and Vetted Talents

Game art is a super field covering many game design sub-fields, including concept art, environment design, 2D/3D modeling, character design, texturing, animation, and many more. And the field has specialized experts.

So, when you need to hire specialized game artists, outsourcing game art projects gives you the freedom to hire different remote artists from different regions who are experts in their field and up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices.

No Training is Necessary

With outsourcing your project, you can hire dedicated remote talents who are already well-versed in their field and have worked on diverse projects.

So, when you outsource your game art project to any creative gaming studio, like 300Mind, you don’t need to train them to understand your company culture and give them time to adjust. They are already ready to get onboarded and start working on your project and delivering outcomes.

Scalability and Flexibility

Outsourcing game art projects also gives you flexibility in scaling resources as per your project requirements. Also, they have the flexibility to outsource different project parts to different talents and gaming studios.

Time Efficiency

The best benefit you get by outsourcing your game art project is time-saving. When you outsource your project to professional artists, they utilize their project management skills, quick decision-making skills, and expertise to deal with the design tools, to deliver the gaming artwork within the agreed-upon timelines.

Expert Tips On Successful Game Art Outsourcing

Game art is crucial in game design, and to execute it smoothly and get an innovative solution, your game art outsourcing partner plays a vital role. So, here are a few tips to consider to outsource your game art project to your right-fit gaming outsourcing studio:

Create Your Detailed Requirement Document

When starting the search for your ideal 3D or 2D game art outsourcing partner, you need to first be clear from your end. So, this requires gathering game art requirements that can help you decorate your game and bring your imagination to reality.

Apart from game art creation requirements, you should also conduct your research on what kind of skills and expertise the game artists you’re looking to hire should possess.

In the game art requirement specification document, you should narrate your requirements in an easy-to-understand manner, so the gaming studios you’re approaching for your project can comprehend and provide you with the best-fit quote meeting your budget and objectives.

Start Your Search for the Game Art Outsourcing Partner

In the world, you’ll find countless companies providing 2D or 3D game art services, each distinctive from the former one. So, your hunt for your ideal game art outsourcing partner can be a long journey, but to cut through that distance, you need to set some qualification criteria and filters.

So, when it comes to evaluating your game art outsourcing partner, you should consider some factors, such as their staff, effectiveness, and diversity of their portfolio, overall industry experience, clientele (in written and video testimonials), expertise of their game artists, their communication skills, collaboration effectiveness, and whatnot.

By evaluating all these, you can come near to your hunt for an outsourcing partner.

Evaluate Candidate Qualifications and Expertise

Although you have shortlisted your game art outsourcing partner and have some familiarity with the expertise of their game artists, you cannot solely rely on the overall specifications. Sometimes, the portfolio may not provide enough clarity on the candidate’s competence for your world-class game art project.

It is important to seek personalized assistance to interview the talent and assess their technical skills, familiarity with game art techniques, and proficiency in using game design tools such as Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender, and others.

Conducting a thorough evaluation of the candidate’s skills will assure you that the talent working on your project is indeed the one you are looking for.

Clear All Your Doubts with Effective Communication

It’s right! You’ve created and shared a detailed game art job description (JD) with the game art outsourcing firms you’re interested in. However, you and them will always have own queries to solve.

This is even important for you to solve your queries about the services they are providing, the approaches they are using, and more. And for them to deeply understand your exact requirements to portray them in a way meeting your expectations.

So, set up your virtual meeting (project manager and game artists) and achieve fruitful communication with them to ensure effective collaboration.

Cost Factors and Time Management

After the initial meeting and understanding of the game art requirements, the next step is to know the project management approach they have to offer with milestone planning and cost estimation.

It will help you comprehend how their costing and project management approach justifies what they are promising. So you can decide whether their offerings fit your criteria or not.

Intellectual Property and Legal Considerations

Your ownership of the game art and the privacy of intellectual property should be your topmost priority, and you should never compromise on them, even if other benefits are offered.

When negotiating your game art project outsourcing with the gaming studio, ensure clear ownership and rights to the game art. Additionally, discuss and formalize legal agreements, contracts, and a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with them to protect your intellectual property throughout the duration of the project outsourcing.

Risk Management and Contingency Planning

When thinking of outsourcing not just your game art project but any other one, you must do risk management and contingency planning. And in this planning, you should identify potential risks and challenges associated with outsourcing and the respective firm.

After that, it’s required to develop contingency plans that will help you mitigate those potential risks and handle unforeseen circumstances.

The aim of creating this risk management and contingency planning is to closely monitor the progress of your outsourced project and address issues promptly.

What Types Of Game Art Projects Can You Outsource?

As you’ve landed here and are reading this blog, consider that you’ve added one more name to your list of reliable game art outsourcing partners. Because in the category of game art creation service, 300Mind can help you with the following services:

2D and 3D Game Art

Whether you require design and assets for your 2D or 3D game, at 300Mind, we have expertise in both areas with a dedicated team of 2D artists and 3D artists.

When it comes to choosing the right art for your specific requirements, we recommend 2D game art for concept art, game UI design, backgrounds, and more.

If you need designs with realistic dimensions, eye-catchy game character modeling, or anything created in a hyper-realistic manner, we suggest opting for 3D art.

Considering the current bias towards realism, you may wonder if 2D game art is still in demand today. The answer is a resounding yes! 2D games and 2D game art continue to dominate in many simpler RPGs (Role-playing games).

At 300Mind, we create top-notch game assets in both 2D and 3D art. To see examples of our work, we invite you to visit our game design portfolio.

Concept Art

Concept art is a kind of visual art that helps you bring your imagination to life in the form of assets that further can be used by animation and VFX teams to add it into films, video games, animation videos, etc.

When it comes to concept art, 300Mind leads the way with its creative artists creating imaginative, alluring game concept art of different categories, such as character concept art, environment concept art, prop concept art, equipment concept art, and more, in abstract, stylized, and realistic styles.

Game Environment and Maps Designing

Game environment design sets the entire tone and mood of your game. At 300Mind, we design immersive game environments that keep players engaged and create maps that are easy to navigate and understandable.

Read also: How to Design Engaging Game Art That Elevates Mobile Gaming Experience?

Props Designing

In a game, props can be anything. Those can be barrels, weapons, furniture parts, or anything that is used by game characters in many ways. And when it comes to props designing, 300Mind has a repertoire of props, where our medieval stylized weapons grabbed the attention of many game props lovers.

Character & Outfit Designing

Be it character art modeling for the game or any video animation – 300Mind holds expertise in designing diversified characters for different genres of video games and animation videos.

Game UI Designing

You may feel confused between game UI and game environment, but they both are really different.

Game UI covers every visual element that players interact with and refers to, which includes menus, buttons, icons, heads-up display (HUD), health bars, navigation gestures, and much more.

On the other hand, game environment design refers to the virtual world where the whole game takes place, which includes atmosphere, landscape, lighting, textures, architecture, and a lot more.

Along with the game environment, 300Mind a leading game environment design service provider can also help to design a game UI that is as immersive and interesting as the game environment.

Why Should You Choose 300Mind To Outsource Your Game Art Needs?

Now, you know a lot more about game art outsourcing and finding the best game design partner for your gaming needs, along with ways 300Mind can be your gaming champion.

And there are many reasons to choose 300Mind as your game art outsourcing studio, which includes a client-centric approach, a result oriented & highly skilled team of game artists, up-to-date industry trends and best practices, utilize cutting-edge designing tools, assurance of getting quick responses to your queries, flexibility in engagement models, and most importantly, respectful to delivering projects on-time.

So, interested in partnering with us? Contact us today with your gaming project requirements!

FAQs on Game Art Outsourcing

WRITTEN BY Dhruv Mevada

Dhruv Mevada is a technical head (Game) with more than 10 years of experience in 2D & 3D gaming/console gaming/AR/VR game design and development. He loves to explore the bleeding edge tech stuff. He is an early adopter and would like to stay up to date regarding latest trends in Industry. In his free time he can be found exploring nature.