Low poly \ cartoon art

hello I’am creating a game with kinda a low poly style !
Idk what do u call this but I’am having some trouble making them !
I created hd and realistic models but doing this type is a bit harder since it’s straight out of my brain !

I’ll show some examples from a game called Free Realms (Shutdown in 2014)
So my question is :
What do you call this type of art
What are some ways to make them (Blender)
Do I change the high poly to low poly using external programs ?

I’ve already worked on some assets and I’ll showcase them later on when I finish texturing

 

I've seen this most commonly called a hand-painted cartoon style. Usually it's low-poly, but not always.

 

Hmmm but if I want to make it in blender ? Like what are some videos I can watch to get inspired or just to see how the process is then I’ll do it in my own

 

Ive watched it but i'am not looking for high graphic style ! if you look closely in the pictures i gave , they are very low graphic styled but nice looking the the same time ! its a fantasy game and not real style !

 

It's basically low poly art with a defined art style for the textures. Just search for hand-painted texturing or hand painted assets. Which particular software doesn't matter as much as the style you are attempting to emulate. The software is the pencil. A tutorial in blender isn't really going to help an artist create that 'style'.

 

Yes I agree ! But I have one more question ! When I texture , I F*** things up idk why but the uv mapping and the nodes I always have trouble with and the tutorials online they don’t really explain for complicated models , is there anyway I can paint with brush and the texture saves inside the model obj it self ? For example when I download an asset and place it on my terrain , it spawns with its textures and it doesn’t need me to put them in its properties !

 

I always found "pigart"'s channel on youtube interesting to watch, low poly timelapses and texturing, although they've stopped uploading of late . There's loads of channels like that though...

 

I really enjoy Lars Mezaka's low poly tutorial content.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEbQnZQQtzATJreYx78uw6A

Edit: Just saw the screenshots - I'm not sure it's low poly as such, but as TheANMATOR2b says it's probably very defined by the hand-painted textures.

For a low poly style, you'd want flat edges and sharply shaped shapes with lighting that accentuates these..

 

I like this description.

The others have hinted at this, but I want to emphasize more that the style in the game you referenced is not low-poly. They clearly just limited the amount of surfaces in their models to improve performance. The tutorial linked by Jacob_Unity is a great example of a typical use of the low-poly style-- more attention is brought to the limited number of surfaces by using lighting and shaders that emphasize the lack of roundness and by greatly limiting the use of textures, as opposed to attempting to mask it by designing textures that have more detail. Most often, high render resolution and antialiasing are used to make nice, smooth edges to really drive home that this is a modern implementation even though its appearance is based on older technology. Lots of good examples here, but be careful, because there are lots of images there that are low-poly in a more general sense than the typical style.

The concept is very similar to how low-resolution "pixel" art became a favorable style even though graphics could eventually be rendered in a high enough resolution to make pixels basically invisible.

 

Yep. It most likely is handpainted art.
And you can make that style, with both low poly or high poly objects.

The key to making that cartoony style, whether it is low poly or high poly art
is to model the characters and objects, with an exaggerated, cartoony look.
To do this, you make a 3d human model with a cartoonyish appearance.
eg. a cartoony style head, big eyes, exaggerated arms, larger than life feet etc.

Then, you paint the character/textures, as if you're painting a cartoon character.
You'll mostly use, flat plain colours for skin, with one or two hints of detail.
And for the eyes, a nice cool green or blue colour etc, with a hint of blurred white
to make it look like it's shining, or reflecting.

It's the same process, for making those cartoony fantasy like village cottages
and roads, like in the pics you posted. But you'll have to use your imagination
and get creative with the details, you add onto the textures.

 

I know this thread is old but, I decided to make a reply just because. I'm making an MMO as well and I'm making cartoonish graphics. The crazy part about cartoonish graphics is that they sometimes feel like they are harder to make than realistic graphics. It's the same as making Pixel Art, you need a realistic approach to making the graphics. As with making cartoons, even though the proportions of an object you might make aren't necessarily "correct", the goal with cartooning is to make it replicate it so that we know that it's a gun or a sword or a person, even though it doesn't "really" look like a person. Hopefully, this will help you a bit more with figuring out how to make cartoonish graphics. Good luck and enjoy.

 

@MW_Industries
Very nice advice.

But I'd also like to add, that cartoony style graphics, also need that added charm factor, to make it work right. Legend of Zelda Windwaker, and Jet Set Radio, are two good examples of cartoony styled games, with that added charm factor.

You can have a game with cool cartoony style graphics, but if it's missing that added charm factor, it'll just look like a bland game, with cartoony styled graphics.