Illustration for Apps, Games, and Brand
Character, environment, and icon illustration tailored to product and game needs.
Three contexts, three sets of constraints
Apps, games, and brands share illustration fundamentals but impose different constraints. Apps need small readable assets, fast load times, design system alignment, and accessibility. Games need performance-friendly sprites, animation readiness, and world cohesion. Brands need marketing impact, multi-format delivery, and long-term identity.
Nova Lab students should adapt one character design across contexts: detailed hero on a landing page, simplified tab icon, and game-ready sprite with limited palette and clear silhouette. Adaptability directly supports employability.
Style guides and app illustration
Style is a rule set: line weight, shape language, proportions, color limits, shading level, and texture usage. Document do and don’t examples in a one- to two-page guide and lock style before large production batches.
App use cases include onboarding sequences, empty states, badges, avatar placeholders, and seasonal themes. Export SVG when possible; PNG at @2x and @3x for complex raster. Specify dark mode variants and never rely on illustration alone for critical information — always pair with text.
Game art and brand illustration
Game pipelines move from concept to engine-ready assets: sprite sheets, tilesets, UI elements, and parallax backgrounds. Characters need readable silhouettes even at 32×32 pixels; test downscale early and limit palette size on mobile.
Brand illustration should feel ownable — recognizable without the logo. Apply across website heroes, social posts, presentations, and merch. Maintain core elements while allowing documented evolution in style guide version history.
Consistency at scale and portfolio presentation
At fifty-plus assets, consistency requires shared template files, palette swatches, brush presets, and regular style reviews. Outsource work needs strict style guides and approval on the first few pieces before batch production.
Organize portfolio sections by context — app/UI, game, brand — with case studies covering problem, constraints, process, and technical specs. Nova Lab graduates with samples in each bucket compete more effectively across multiple markets.
Related paths
FAQ
Vector or raster for app illustration?
Vector SVG suits flat scalable work. Raster PNG suits painterly detail. Hybrid workflows — vector base plus raster texture — are common.
How do teams maintain style consistency?
Shared style guides, template files, palette libraries, weekly reviews, and a single approval gate for new assets. Figma libraries or shared drives with labeled references help.
Does AI image generation replace illustrators?
AI helps ideation and speed, but production assets still need human consistency, technical specs, legal clarity, and brand ownership. Pipeline knowledge plus illustration skill remains valuable alongside AI tools.