Digital art painting skills practice for games.

As i continued to draw i noticed that for me to improve i need to push myself to do large works, and more complicated compositions. I have been looking at artworks for games, and i noticed that not only there are works that are purely for the sake of design purposes, but also illustrations that depict a 'scene' like scenario that provide the viewer a feel for the game. 

These artworks for games (APB reloaded, Saints Row 3 and Perfect world Online), are composed in a narrative format almost like a still from a piece of moving image. They are mostly used for promotional purposes for games to give advertise the genre and the essence of the game. Alot of online games also use these illustrations for loading screens, as entering different areas in the game would require a loading time, during the wait time, developers would use a illustrated image for the players to have something interesting to look at while waiting for the game to render the new area.

For me however, to paint a scene like illustration would be excellent to push and develop my drawing ability. As i not only want to create concept arts, i do want this to be an opportunity to practice and improve my technical skills. It would also force myself to not dwell on the level i am currently on, which is illustrating 1 single figure at a stationary state/pose. As in a scene, camera angle, movement, lighting would all be considered. I have previously practiced in older works i made outside of the current uni project, such as these:

These are drawings i made in tribute to the game title - Mass effect, where i tried to illustrate a scene, elements of movement, multiple figures in mid actions and more complex foreground and background relationships. I found these type of works more challenging and drive me to improve and learn. As without a solid foundation of skills, i would not achieve what i would eventually wish for career wise, to be a game artist. Therefore along concept designs i would like to create a couple of illustrations in a more narrative format.

To conclude this entry, i have started on an illustration, this is a screenshot:

some layers i have made invisible as i am focusing on working on 1 figure. There are 3 figures in total in this piece im working on, i want to practice on experimenting with light and dark, and ofcause my drawing speed, which at the moment is a huge issue. I find it difficult to amp up my work rate, which is not ideal as a game concept artist. I need to be more efficient with my working speed, and this is what these illustration practices will help me to improve on, as well as the technical skills.