Danc over at lost garden has just posted a very good article on “How to bootstrap your indie art needs”

If you’re a newbie, hobbiest game developer, semi-pro, or seasoned indie you should add lost garden to your RSS feed. (If you haven’t already.) Most of my RSS feeds on my list are from various programmers, but lost garden’s focus is more to do with art/design issues and it’s nice to see the view from the other side once and a while.

Go read the article, but briefly the summary is, in order to get art assests for your game you should either:

1. Design a game that doesn’t need professional art i.e Pick a project that complements your own artistic ability
2. Use free/stock graphics where possible
3. Set up a rational budget/savings plan to hire an artist

I’ve been thinking about my next project after Caverns (which at the moment is using method 1 with a little bit of 2, and will hopefully progress onto method 3 by about the time the game is mostly finished. I’m doing most of the graphics myself until I have some money saved to get it over-hauled.)

I want to tackle a project where I can do the majority of the artwork - which means that it can’t be anything ultra difficult. I’m leaning towards doing a semi-retro, semi-abstract 2D shooter because even though there’s lots of things I can’t draw, most paint programs come with a circle and a square drawing tool.