An Analysis of Minecraft’s Art Style

There is a reason why Minecraft is one of the most successful games of all time. It supports nearly every style of play, and there is something unique about it that no game has ever captured before or since. Now, there are so many factors behind its success, but I am just an artist. I'm not a businessman nor a game developer, no matter how much I want to learn more about developing games and successfully land a sale for my own art. This means that much of Minecraft's success is beyond my comprehension, but there is one factor that I can easily recognize, and it is its unique art style.

If you are to best describe Minecraft's style, what would you call it? Well, however you would describe it, the word "blocks" and/or "cubes" will inevitably pop it. It is the foundation of Minecraft's appearance that makes Minecraft, well, Minecraft. It is a simple yet unique choice that makes the game stand out and be unique. It has a charm to it that you won't find anywhere else.

But why is Minecraft so unique? How does it work the way it does? What makes it tick? Well, after a close look at the style, there are a few details I noticed that are easy to miss when you're just playing the game.

Why I Looked Closely At It

Alright, let's be honest. Getting to know an art style intimately is not the most normal thing to do. Most people don't go around studying art styles for the fun of it. Well, I am not most people. I am an artist, specifically I am an artist who wanted to learn Minecraft's art style to better learn perspective and drawing straight lines. I wanted to get better at drawing environments, and drawing a bunch of cubes is a common form of practice for getting the skills environments require. So, I drew mobs. Then I drew more mobs. Then I drew even more mobs. I got to see details in the designs that I have never noticed before doing this. It is a great consequence of an endeavor I went on in order to grow my artistic skills, so I am here to share my findings.

Clipping

Take a look at the shoulders of a cat, then look at the ears of a panda. These two things share something with a lot of other things in Minecraft: the parts clip into one another. Clipping is a vital part to Minecraft where the cubes give the illusion of detail that would otherwise be impossible. The nature of clipping is taking advantage of the fact that it is CGI. Trying to translate the clipping aspect into 2D can be a pain in the butt, however, this is not a flaw with the style. It is a skill issue on my end.

In fact, this clipping might be the very secret ingredient that makes the style work. If the parts of a mob are not allowed to clip, then the game instantly falls apart. The animations would be restricted, there won't be unique shapes made out of cubes, and the subtle details that clipping creates will be gone. The clipping is what gives Minecraft its soul, and seeing it gone would be bland and boring. It is something so small, and yet, it would be obvious if it was missing.

Goofy Eyes

Honestly, this one is a lot more noticeable, but it is still worth mentioning anyways because of how funny and cute it is, and it is the fact that Minecraft mobs tend to have some sort of cross eye. It does not impair them in any way, and it can easily become white noise with how often you see it, but I had to draw these eyes so many times. It is a touch that is so silly, and it's even sillier that we don't take a moment to appreciate it. So, here is the moment. Here is the appreciation.

What else am I meant to say? It's just so cute!

A Charming And Unique Style

When you're playing the game, you step into a world that is fantastical yet natural. The colors are subdued and the lighting is simple. Many people call the game's graphics ugly and long for the promo style where the colors are loud. They wish for this clean, corporate look that will become an eyesore after a while. Many fans beg for this dirty, human look to go away. They are blind to the uniqueness and the charm that comes with the game's graphics as they are. But no matter what I say, I can't change these people's minds. I don't want to, either. What they think ultimately doesn't matter to me. What does matter is what I think of it, and to me, it is similar to what nature looks like.

Conclusion

Minecraft's style is its own thing. Nothing else looks like it, even those that try to emulate. There is so much behind the style that makes it Minecraft, and people trying to recreate it do nothing but miss the point. I missed the point by trying to turn these designs into drawings. Thankfully recreating Minecraft's style wasn't the full point of what I was trying to do, and drawing mobs did help with the actual point of turning Minecraft into a drawing exercise. I'm better at drawing environments than I was, and that is the part that matters the most.