What style of 2D graphics? Thread

So, I've been working on my indie game for a few months now, but my team and I haven't been able to get past the design and basic coding stages because we can't find a 2D artist. I ideally wanted a pixel artist to do the graphics for us, but good pixel artists are so rare these days. After several months of fruitless searching, I've come to terms with the possibility that my vision for this game my be slightly compromised by the fact that we can't find a pixel artist. The only other styles I can really think of for a 2D game would be vector art, but I would really like to avoid that. In my opinion, vector art makes a game look like a cheap flash game. However, there are games that pull off vector art very well such as VHEL right here on ModDB (and guess what... they make their graphics in flash). Also, there is the quite successful Aquaria. It is a great game, don't get me wrong, but it has that "flash game" feel that I find extremely unappealing.
I love the concept art that looks painted. Like how the newest Prince of Persia game looks, except in 2D instead of 3D. I think it would be cool to do graphics like that, but I think that would be way too much to ask of an artist.
So, I was wondering what sort of suggestions the ModDB community has in terms of 2D art style. I would like the art style to feel mature. This is not a little kid's game.

tl;dr (too long; didn't read) - what are some 2d art styles besides pixel art and vector art?

Thanks for your time!

Edited by: Dremth

dremth wrote: So, I've been working on my indie game for a few months now, but my team and I haven't been able to get past the design and basic coding stages because we can't find a 2D artist. I ideally wanted a pixel artist to do the graphics for us, but good pixel artists are so rare these days. After several months of fruitless searching, I've come to terms with the possibility that my vision for this game my be slightly compromised by the fact that we can't find a pixel artist. The only other styles I can really think of for a 2D game would be vector art, but I would really like to avoid that. In my opinion, vector art makes a game look like a cheap flash game. However, there are games that pull off vector art very well such as VHEL right here on ModDB (and guess what... they make their graphics in flash). Also, there is the quite successful Aquaria. It is a great game, don't get me wrong, but it has that "flash game" feel that I find extremely unappealing.
I love the concept art that looks painted. Like how the newest Prince of Persia game looks, except in 2D instead of 3D. I think it would be cool to do graphics like that, but I think that would be way too much to ask of an artist.
So, I was wondering what sort of suggestions the ModDB community has in terms of 2D art style. I would like the art style to feel mature. This is not a little kid's game.

tl;dr (too long; didn't read) - what are some 2d art styles besides pixel art and vector art?

Thanks for your time!

You could always go down the road of pre-rendered 3d models as 2d images, it has a really nice effect that many indie games seem to not use, granted its a bit more work but you will have a much easier time finding artists as 3d modelling is common now-days.

I definitely considered that as well, but don't you think some quality would be lost at some point along the lines?

The other option is to use a combustion effect, which is more like a motion comic like animation. Its simple and really easy to pull off but the output has the reverse effect on how it looks as it is a really awesome way to animate things.

dremth wrote: I definitely considered that as well, but don't you think some quality would be lost at some point along the lines?

Well that all depends on how you go about making the process, it would be exactly the same as making an animation using motion stills from a render. 2d animation loops using pre-rendered animations using stills. It would be exactly the same. Also here is an example for combustion animation effect I was talking about.

The comic style, while it looks really cool, unfortunately won't really fit the sort of style I had in mind.

So, by using the pre-rendered models, the game would probably look 3D, correct? I kinda want the game to look 2D, but I will definitely keep this option open.

Anyone else have ideas/suggestions?

Edited by: Dremth

Oh you can make 3d look 2d, its all in the process of modelling you choose to use. I've even done it, its not really a difficult process.

Well, I will start looking for some 3D modelers, too

Cartoons like Futurama, The Simpsons and South Park are a good example of making 3d look 2d.

South Park isn't 3d...

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I r gamer emo?

frandude wrote: South Park isn't 3d...

oh they sure have used 3d in many examples...