TL;DR: I built a free visual reference library for game developers: natural language search, "more like this," study modes (lighting/color/composition), and image analysis that suggests ways to elevate your work as you iterate. I'd love feedback from game developers.
Try it here.
I've been a professional artist and art director for almost 20 years. And to my great dismay, I could never find enough time to play all the games that I knew were stunning and could meaningfully expand my imagination and visual library. The busier I got, the more I felt like the ideas that would elevate my craft kept passing by, unseen. That bothered me. A plight I'm sure is familiar to many of you.
So over the last few months, I took this on as a side project.
The library is designed to be actively useful during the creative process, not just browsed. Using image-based and natural-language search, you can research and prepare references by describing what you're working on - or by uploading sketches and references to discover visually similar ideas across mediums, eras, and styles.
More importantly, as you upload iterations and projects evolve, you can get distinct suggestions for lighting, color, and composition grounded in relevant, high-quality visual precedents. This gives you a practical way to answer the most difficult question in creative work: "what would elevate this?" before committing to days, weeks, or years of work.
How it works:
Natural language search - No fixed tags. Describe anything and get the closest visual matches: stunning landscapes, fantastic costume design, weapon detail.
"More Like This" - Language fails when expressing truly visual ideas. That's why every image has a "More like this" button attached to it. Robot Dinosaurs, Knights, Norman Reedus.
Study modes - Sort by light, color, composition. Want Cyberpunk 2077's strongest lighting work? Ghost of Yotei's boldest colors? Study what makes great art great.
Image-based search - Upload images (WIP, references) to find "more like this" from the library.
Image Analysis Mode - This is the main one for me: a feature for professional artists that helps you explore alternative approaches to the same frame by analyzing it through the lens of artistic fundamentals. See how improved composition, lighting, or color choices could elevate the work.
Two quick examples of what that looks like:
Example 1: Forest Scene
An example of how we can take a solid image and investigate what could elevate it to exceptional.
- Subject - considerations for narrative objects and details that could be added to the scene to elevate the interest
- Color - considerations for color choices and details that could add significant visual interest
- Composition - options for layering and foreground/background elements that could add depth and interest to the image
- Lighting - lighting ideas to push it even further
Example 2: Character Medium Shot
The character is in shade in the initial image, resulting in flat lighting.
- Lighting - suggestions on how lighting could add drama and depth
- Color - how more saturation and color contrast could improve visual interest
Cross-medium inspiration - Pull ideas from film and classical art too.
I've gotten into the habit of checking everything I work on against this library. And I keep finding ideas I wouldn't have considered otherwise - even after 20 years. That is priceless to me.
That's why I wanted to share it with you. We spend months, years on a project, yet there are only a handful of truly pivotal visual decisions we have to make. And I'd love it if we could make every single one count. Push the edge of what's been done before just a bit. And it's very hard to do if we can't even find the edge.
And if you give it a try - I'd really love your help making it better: Which games are missing? What's broken? What would make this genuinely useful for your workflow? I'd love to make sure all your favorites are well-represented.
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