This topic may be better suited for /ic/, but I’m more interested in 3dcg and this topic has a lot to do with the AAA games and movies industry. I recently watched a youtube video about the art direction of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (If you’re interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR2y8LYQK4g). A lot of cool concept art was shown in the video, and while a lot of the concept artists pulled inspiration from the trends of the time, they also pulled inspiration from many more eclectic sources and had a sense of identity to their artwork. Many games from around that time like Morrowind, the Final Fantasy series, and some of the Zelda games also weren’t afraid to get weird. I guess what confuses me is how the industry went from being so creative to now being a slop machine where everything is made by uncultured people with no aesthetic sensibilities copying the last big thing made by uncultured people with no aesthetic sensibilities. It’s like that thing where people these days end up making really ugly anime because their anime is based on other anime based on other anime instead of anime based on real people’s faces. What happened?
>>1029886money
>>1029886Wait until you find out about Luigi Colanihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVo7H3EheMY
>>1029891pretty muchmillionaires pays a bunch of nerds and artists to make things in case one of those things blows up and makes them moneyas the machine gets more efficient at identifying (and generating) trends in a given field, the freedom of the artists to do whatever the fuck they want diminishes. and now you don't even need artists anymore
>>1029886>What happened?The internet happened and you got cross pollination amongst everything by people at all skill levels. It used to be that that which reached you was part of the 'mono culture' that was curated as only highly refined things ever saw widespread and ongoing distribution to the point of growin memorable to the mass culture. Now everyone's attention is split between a thousand things and fleeting impressions that even if you see something that should be memorable it passes in a blur because you won't stop to consider it til it has time to grow a part of your mental vocabulary.But even back then ~everything was derivative including the sort of thing you talk about. Open old issues of 'Metal Hurlant' or 'Heavy Metal' as the magazine was known in the US and you'll find ~98% of anything pop culture originated there.The people doing that type of 'Advant-Garde' art is always around but you won't find them unless you specifically make a deliberate effort to seek them out now days. Also Avant-garde isn't as interesting as one may think, those big screen Hollywood adaptations of concepts that originate from places like 'Metal Hurlant' was often vastly superior to the source. Refinement and excellent execution of a concept is more enduring than novelty for novelties sake.
>>1029886if a corpo makes it it's slop. the work you crave is being made by mentally ill independent artists for passion projects that will never release
>>1029886>what confuses me is how the industry went from being so creative to now being a slop machineThey fired the creative people because they offended women
>>1029899how come /ic/ can only recommend the same three retards that exclusively draw titties instead of guys like him?
>>1029886I think there's 2 answers to this1) Risk minimisation. There's so much money going into games and movies they want to hit the broadest demographics possible, that means not offending anyone and making the output as bland and tolerable as possible. Morrowind was lucky, there has been a handful of (rpg but the world is weird) and they all bombed. The tragedy is that even indies don't escape because they don't want to fail and all ape other successful artstyles broadly.2) A lot of people have no talent but are credentialed. Weird phenomenon where people reach positions of influence but aren't actually talented and as such externalise their decision making because they don't have confidence. I think this is why every modern car looks like arse. In the past you had some guy design a car, now you have a team of marketters that are looking for some abstract external validation on their decision making.
>>1029886suits took over, people who love money and watch movies while talking and playing on their phones
>>1029886i actually disagree with you on both points. i don't like fins and moving parts and shit on my scifi stuff. TVtropes calls it the "flying cutlery spaceship": think especially about MCU ships like the main villain's ship in guardians of the galaxy 1, or whatever weird techno-fish thing that loki used to invade new york with.things used to be grounded in reality because practical effect makers had to use real life modeling kits and their designs had to be sturdy enough to exist as real-world objects. michael bay is notorious for movies with stuff that looks complex but has no form or substance to it.i still try to think in terms of a practical effect designer where greeblies are stuck onto boxes and cylinders. it works. you mention star wars episode 1, but a lot of the sets in that movie were practical effects and naboo and coruscant still based on real-world aesthetic movements (atomic retrofuturism for naboo and art deco for the coruscant).
