So why isn't it as obvious that our non computer games have developed as much? Perhaps animation is the answer, however if you look at the fantasy realism being generated when RPGs first came out compared to the market today and you will see the difference. Look at board games from the early 70s compared to the board games of today. Look at the first set of Magic the Gathering Cards compared to the most recent expansion. Graphics have improved and that is important to note for modern game designers. You CAN'T go back a step. You have to either improve you designs or improve on older concepts of art. The phrase "You can't judge a book by it's cover." Isn't being taught to our children any more. They take products and especially games at face value. If they get burned they don't understand it was the flashy art that attracted them, they simply blame the game designer and look for the next flashiest thing.
So what kind of art do you use for games? That's hard to say. The type of art is largely dependent on the game but the craftsmanship always has to be clear, crisp, sharp, brand new, and let's hope that the game can equal the art, or surpass it. Computers can help to clear up a lot of iconography that is pencil sketched in the early stages of the game. Using Vector Graphics programs such as CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator will generate clean icons and even clean cartoonish graphic if you spend a small amount of time bending lines until they look right. Even more realistic graphics can be generated with these draw programs if you take more time, and then exporting them as traditional formats can garner you the clean graphics you wish.
