BACKGROUND BLITZ YO HO HO and a Bottle of Rum (WINNERS)

[Grok]

It's a pirates life for me...

Make a background fit for a pirate game;

it could be the gun deck of the pirate ship,
the cave where the booty is to be buried,
the tavern where you recrute your crew
or any other scene you would find in a pirates game.

To be finished by July 21th 2016 (Time for entries has ended)


Will be judged on
CONCEPT
PLAYABILITY
ARTISTIC EXECUTION

and mainly on size of bribe to the Governor of Skull Island

Voting until 31th july. Post with list of entries further down.

[SinSin]

I'm so in !!!!

[Danvzare]

Would a carnival be fitting?

[Grok]

@SinSin
Welcome aboard, matey.

@Danvzare
A carnival ye say. Arrr, how be you thinking now, matey?

[CaesarCub]

This looks like fun.
Here is my attempt:

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/HyeEpPc.png[/imgzoom]

[gameboy]

That's a very nice background, CaesarCub.

I like the theme, I hope I can find the time to participate.

[DBoyWheeler]

Well, thought I'd try my hand at this... at the very least, give me a bit of practice for doing backgrounds digitally without having to pencil first. 

Here's my attempt at it.  Basically on the beach at night, near a derelict barque--perhaps the hero/heroine would encounter a ghost pirate within?

[Mandle]

Absolutely gorgeous and slick BG there Caesercub!!!

And: DBoyWheeler...I'm loving the simple, cartoony style! I would love to play that game!

[DBoyWheeler]

And: DBoyWheeler...I'm loving the simple, cartoony style! I would love to play that game!

Thanks.  Again, at the very least, this gives me practice on how to do backgrounds completely digitally, instead of having to pencil them out first.

[Grok]

Well, shiver me timbers. Two excellent backgrounds already

Nice job CaesarCub and DBoyWheeler.

@gameboy
Lots of time left. Just do it

[Blondbraid]

I like those pictures, CaesarCub's sunset has some lovely colors and DBoyWheeler have a nice dream-like contrast between sea and sky.

Thought I could use some practice in drawing and might as well give it a go:

While I was originally going for something baroque, it feels like it turned out rather Gothic, but nevertheless I hope the it gets some of that colonial 17th century mentality across.

[Mandle]

Hehehe...somebody has been using Phrenology to "prove" the substandard I.Q. of the natives I see... It was a great excuse to justify slavery when "science" could "prove" they ranked above animals but below European humans in intelligence.

I also love the "crocodile tears" in the painting, and the poor fellow's skull in the collection.

I want to play the game where this is the bad-guy's office, and I get to play a wiley native getting the better of him!

[sketchess]

Love the atmosphere your painting transmits, @Blondbraid.
A taste of a rotten soul salted with arrogance and conceit, wunderful.

My humble self sneaks around this theme, not knowing yet, from which side to catch it.
Could use an exercise on my new tools, too thought. Could be a nice amusement in my vacation now.
Wondering what @SinSin will come up with. Tihi.

[Blondbraid]

Hehehe...somebody has been using Phrenology to "prove" the substandard I.Q. of the natives I see... It was a great excuse to justify slavery when "science" could "prove" they ranked above animals but below European humans in intelligence.
I also love the "crocodile tears" in the painting, and the poor fellow's skull in the collection.
I want to play the game where this is the bad-guy's office, and I get to play a wiley native getting the better of him!

Love the atmosphere your painting transmits, @Blondbraid.
A taste of a rotten soul salted with arrogance and conceit, wunderful.

Thanks!
I really wanted to see if I could depict a characters mindset through the environment, and create a stark contrast to the typical stuff in pirate stories.

The colonialism angle is rather underexplored in pirate and adventure stories, and I wanted to hint at the pretty dark stuff behind all the tropical colors and gleeful treasure-hunting,
and the cabinet of curiosities is meant to reflect that spirit, as well as offering some food for thought on some of the tropes in stories about "civilized" men exploring "savage" and "exotic" lands.

Spoiler

I even played with the thought of having a dead native instead of the crocodile in the painting!

[close]

[sketchess]

Huuumh. How do I get these GIMP brushes set up properly?
If there is a possibility that all bushes are not changing to the same size, I didn't see it. Do I really have to adjust it every time, no matter I change to a different brush with different size? It's annoying.

What a pity that the new shiny gems are not made for my little system. Would have loved it to try them out. *Sigh.


EDIT:
Wuh huuuh huh. Never mind. Found a solution, finally.

[Grok]

@Blondbraid
Very nice. Lot of lovely details.


@sketchess
So now that you got your brushes sorted out you are at hard work with a background?

GIMP has a bit of a learning curve to it. There are so many options and it can be hard to figure out how to use them.
I only use a small part of all the options it offers myself, and I have used GIMP for quite some years by now.

[sketchess]

Well yeah. Some sort of.

Merely, it took me 3 days to set up the environment a bit more user friendly and to get all my palettes in. But still I am not very happy with it. I think, I will never become a total fan of GIMP. Without my graphic tablet, I wouldn't use it. My favorites were always Photoshop and Corel. I hope, I will find a running version one day. Till than I got stuck.

I have a small chance to actually finish a competition background. Would be the first one ever.

[Riaise]

I've been wanting to practise pixel art, so I thought this would be a good opportunity. Here's my attempt:

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/VQXNmOg.png[/imgzoom]
Come and visit the Black Market to stock up on pirate supplies, before refuelling yourself in the Kraken Arms tavern!

And here's a bonus animated version (5 frames):
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/YYGs9wQ.gif[/imgzoom]

[Grok]

@Riaise
Very nice. Everything a pirate could wish for in one market place.


@sketchess
It took me quite awhile to get comfortable with Gimp. Hang in there.
If you want something simple that is very smooth to draw in, I would recommend FireAlpaca. I use that a lot to start off an image and then go to GIMP for effects. 

[sketchess]

@Grok That looks interesting. I keep an eye on it.
After the loss of my little gems and before GIMP, I was working with 'Paint' and 'Falcon' mostly. If I had my own 64er system, I could already use my two software packages, I've got with my tablet. Well, at least I can try them out on the one of my brother.

Whoo ya! I remember how to get a straight line working.
I agree, every step is an apprentice's due.

[Frikker]

Sketchess, also maybe check out Krita, its free and a lot of people on a Concept/digital art forum that I am oart of, say it is brilliant. Might be worth a look?

[sketchess]

Looks like a fusion of ArtRage and Photoshop to me. Very very interesting.
Guys keep coddling me.

I am still sitting on my concept art and it is driving me crazy.
I will roll back the third time by now. Feels like, I've rearranged my foreground 100 times yet. I hope, the simplest way will work out.
Well, I have to face the fact that I've become rather rusty. Don't expect to much at the end. Tihi.

[Blondbraid]

I've been wanting to practise pixel art, so I thought this would be a good opportunity. Here's my attempt:
Come and visit the Black Market to stock up on pirate supplies, before refuelling yourself in the Kraken Arms tavern!

How very cute!
I like the flag and water animations, but it looks weird that the birds just stay in one place.

[Riaise]

@Grok: Thank you!

How very cute!
I like the flag and water animations, but it looks weird that the birds just stay in one place.

Thank you! I wasn't sure whether to include the birds, but the sky looked too empty without having anything there and I haven't quite got the hang of decent looking clouds yet.

[sketchess]

Never mind.

[sketchess]

Oh man. Hahahahahahahaha.
I just can laugh about my poor self, but at least I had fun to doodle terribly. I won't hand it in.

Isn't that sad, I can't remember when I actually draw something the last time. No wait, it was an attempt of a water drop on a leaf and it must be a year ago by now. It didn't work out neither. That is nearly the only memory during 6 years. Yeah. I used to be good. And now? ......... Don't ask. Put me back into art school, man.

[Creamy]

Time to change your pseudonym, Sketchess

[sketchess]

Hahaha that was funny.
But I don't think so @Creamy. I rather would supplement it with 'an apprentice of drawing skills'.

Well I went through my old stuff in my parents house and guess what I've recovered. My mother once gave me her spare sketch book. I cleaned it up and repaired it and it is ready to use. Hundred empty pages. I counted them, tihi. I love the smell of real wood sheets of paper, old fashion bookbinding, sooner or later it must have it's 50th anniversary. I think it is time that it gets what it deserves, lovely filled pages. It becomes my new first practice journal. I will start by the very.. very.. very very basics.

My old equipment is also existing. ... Except for the chalks.

[Babar]

After so long hunting for Columbus's map to the Lost Treasure of Atlantis, finding a copy on an old deerskin in a collection by cartographer Piri Reis was a bit of an anticlimax. The spot marked X was nothing more than farmland tended to by the simple villagers who lived in constant terror of the newly established nearby pirate outpost. Still, something about the markings on the map make you suspicious. It is time to investigate this series of islands and hope you can find something that will lead you to the treasure!
Now, where to go next?
[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/1o1237x.png[/imgzoom]

Spent way too long trying to figure out a background to the map's foreground, and it always ended up looking mismatched. Finally decided on a somewhat cheesy gradient, but at least it is less distracting!

[Mandle]

Spent way too long trying to figure out a background to the map's foreground, and it always ended up looking mismatched. Finally decided on a somewhat cheesy gradient, but at least it is less distracting!

Maybe make the background a solid colour for transparency so the hands and map could be an overlay GUI?

Then again this is Background Blitz, not the GUI Gong Show...

But...I'm guessing you could sneak it in...

In any case: Great work, especially on the hands: Love the ring!

[Grok]

@Babar

Nice. That could be a very useful background in a pirates game.

[Cassiebsg]

And when we're done here, join all the BGs and make a pirate game.

[sketchess]

I still wonder what SinSin will come up with.

Thanks Frikker by the way. I finally and completely switched to Krita, it truly felt naturally from the first second. What a relief!

[Grok]

And when we're done here, join all the BGs and make a pirate game.

That's a nice idea.
Have anything like that been done here before?

[Frikker]

glad you liked it Sketchess, I heard it was nice to use. Now go make a pretty BG before the deadline

[sketchess]

And where is yours???

Guys? Didn't we had a general practise corner besides the critics lounge and the competition mode? I remember vague a basic drawing thread here in activities. Does someone know, what happend to it?

[Mandle]

Guys? Didn't we had a general practise corner besides the critics lounge and the competition mode? I remember vague a basic drawing thread here in activities. Does someone know, what happend to it?

Maybe you're thinking of the workshops that are run from time to time?

I haven't participated yet because they seem to require a LOT of work both from the entrants AND the host(s), like serious work, like you-would-expect-to-be-paid-at-some-point-unless-you-were-exactly-that-passionate-about-the-art kind of work...

I recall that the last one was about drawing a background for a port/harbour scene...and the amount of sheer effort from people in that thread made me curl up and suck my thumb every time I took a peek at what was going on...

Search it out maybe, and maybe, if thou art (or thine art is) brave enough...Canvas the community for interest in starting a new one...

Or maybe you meant a different thread....If so then apologies!

[Grok]

Well, all you scurvy sea-dogs out there that has not yet turned in your backgrounds, it is high time to get them in, or there will be keelhaulings.

[SinSin]

My entry will be here when the moon is at it's highest on the 21st night of July Arrrr

[sketchess]

SinSin you make it suspenseful.

It might was a trick of my mind Mandle. I've searched the entire Search unsuccessfully in any possible way I could imagine. Very fuzzy memories, which date back years. *shrug off

[Cassiebsg]

@sketches, this is the one Mandle was talking about:

Spoiler

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=52252.0

[close]

[sketchess]

Oh, I know what Mandle meant, Cassibsg.
No my goal was different from that. At the end it doesn't make a difference, if I just had an imagination, because my inner question has already being answered. I might settle down in the general corner of the forums. I appreciate all the help you have spend guys. Many Thanks and feel hugged.

[SinSin]

SinSin you make it suspenseful.

Don't expect a masterpiece buddy

[SinSin]

In the land of Airships there be Sky Pirates...   Ahar !!!

Know you...  that once a man sets foot on this island he be enlisted by Captain Cutlass for the rest of his sky riding days before being thrown overboard to the depths. ARRRR

FOREVER WINCHING!!

[Danvzare]

Don't expect a masterpiece buddy

You lied.
It was a masterpiece.

[Mandle]

Don't expect a masterpiece buddy

You lied.
It was a masterpiece.

THIS!

[sketchess]

Stay calm guys, no need for temper.

Glad you made it SinSin. You achieved more than I did. Well, what wasn't hard to be done anyway, actually.
First background that doesn't depends on water somehow. Really like it.

[Mandle]

Stay calm guys, no need for temper.

Sorry, but what is this in reference to? I think you might be joking, but it's hard, for me at least, to tell in text sometimes.

[SinSin]

I'm soooo confused.
I think sketchess thought mandle was angry because of

THIS!

[sketchess]

... Some sort of preventive act. I felt a negative vibration evolving. I just like harmonies more.

So, it is time to vote, like the first post indicates. I still need a little moment to make up my mind, which one I like more and why. You should too guys, I guess.

[Grok]

Ahoy, me Hearties!

TIME TO VOTE


These are our entries, and blimey, good entries they be, one and all.

1. Treasure Cave Beach CaesarCub	[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/HyeEpPc.png[/imgzoom]
2. Abandon ship! DBoyWheeler
3. The Governor's Office Blondbraid
4. The Town Square Riaise	[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/VQXNmOg.png[/imgzoom][imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/YYGs9wQ.gif[/imgzoom]
5. The Treasure Map Babar	[imgzoom]https://i.imgur.com/1o1237x.png[/imgzoom]
6. Sky Pirate Island SinSin

VOTE IN THE CATEGORIES:

CONCEPT
PLAYABILITY
ARTISTIC EXECUTION

Time for voting will end the 31th July

So, weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen!

[Danvzare]

Concept: SinSin (floating island, flying ship, animated streams of water and lava, what more could anyone ask for)
Playability: Blondbraid (It looks like something straight out of CoMI, I can already imagine what items you could pick up)
Artistic Execution: Blondbraid (There's a lot of well drawn backgrounds this time, and it was hard choosing one, but this one has a painted look that I really like)

[cat]

Concept: SinSin with Babar being a close second
Playability: Riaise followed by Blondbraid
Artistic Execution: Blondbraid with honorable mentions to CaesarCub

[Monsieur OUXX]

concept : sinsin
playability : blondbraid
artistic execution : caesarcub

[sketchess]

It was a great journey, many thanks to all of ya.
For the fact that I associate piracy with rule braking, my vote is kind of dedicated to that.


CONCEPT - Blondbraid
I was looking for the strongest story by a picture itself to be told. You truly achieved that in your background. Every detail is a piece of the puzzle and they complement each other very well. So well done.

ARTISTIC EXECUTION - SinSin
I was looking for the strongest answer for my hopes of a rule braker in terms of traditional pirate themes. The interaction of simplicity, rough but clear texture and the blurry parts working very well together. I love the way you choose to highlight the floating Island as center part, it comes out really strong. So well done.

PLAYABILITY - Babar
I was looking for the greatest possibilities to get crazy in execution of the process. Memories of Monkey Island 2 and Sam and Max popped out. They had really funny and crazy stuff going on their maps and opened up the game by it. So I put you in my sentimental favor. Your background is really fun promising and I enjoy to look at it over and over again. So well done.

[Mandle]

... Some sort of preventive act. I felt a negative vibration evolving. I just like harmonies more.

Nothing like that was happening you'll be glad to know:

SinSin said his entry wasn't a masterpiece, and we were calling him a liar because it obviously is a masterpiece.

So yeah, it was kinda a concealed compliment, but nothing negative at all!

[sketchess]

Mandle *tousle

Nice you stopped by OUXX. Hope everything worked out well for ya the last years.

[Cassiebsg]

Bluntly stealing cat's voting, because not only I agree with it 100% it also expresses my feelings.

Concept: SinSin with Babar being a close second
Playability: Blondbraid followed by Riaise
Artistic Execution: Blondbraid with honorable mentions to CaesarCub (they are just so beautiful in their own away!)

[Riaise]

Concept: SinSin
Playability: Blondbraid (honourable mention to CaesarCub!)
Artistic Execution: Blondbraid

[selmiak]

CONCEPT: Sinsin
PLAYABILITY: CaesarCub
ARTISTIC EXECUTION: Blondbraid

[Blondbraid]

Concept: Riaise
Playability: Babar
Artistic execution: CesarCub

[Monsieur OUXX]

Nice you stopped by OUXX. Hope everything worked out well for ya the last years.

Erm, sorry if I'm being rude, but do we know eachother?

[sketchess]

No Problem. (I kind of knew a very few of you better. Time passes so fast, it's remarkable. Some stayed I see, others are gone.) You might not have memories at hand, but don't let that trouble you. Just the way of life. So yes, my memories still picture a true gentleman. I don't think that has possibly changed much, OUXX.

Say, if I have to earn your short form again.

[SinSin]

Concept: Blondbraid
Playability: Riaise. (You can do more with this than the others)
Artistic Execution: Blondbraid

Some good work here people!

[Mandle]

Concept: Sinsin
Playability: CaesarCub
Artistic: Blondbraid

[DBoyWheeler]

Here are my votes:

Concept: SinSin (looks almost like a pirate-y version of Angel Island from the Sonic game universe--and that's good in my book)
Playability: Babar (could be good as an overworld map, similar to Monkey Island games' maps)
Artistic Execution: SinSin (it was a hard choice between his and Caesarcub's, but SinSin pretty much came out on top)

[Babar]

Concept: SinSin
Playability: CaesarCub (with SinSin a close second)
Artistic Execution: CaesarCub.

Great entries all around! I guess piracy brings out the inner adventurer in us all

[Grok]

The Votes are in and has been counted
The new leadership of this pirate ship is as follows;

Blondbraid  - Captain           
SinSin         - Quarter Master     
CaesarsCub - Master Gunner     

A lot of very nice entries and a good turnout on the voting
(and apparently I set out a way too long voting time).

Well done every one that participated and congratulations to the top trio.


With a final ARRR I turn the helm over to the new captain to set the course for the next background blitz.

[DBoyWheeler]

Congrats to the three winners!  Yeah, I guess Blondbraid and SinSin were neck-and-neck for a while (IMHO), but Blondbraid made it out on top in the end.

But again, congrats to them.

[SinSin]

A well deserved win for Blondbraid, well done to all who entered.

Let's see what treasures the next blitz will unearth.

   YAY

[Blondbraid]

Thank you all so much, I'm so happy right now!
I shall set sail for a new background blitz at once!

[Danvzare]

Congratulations Blondbraid, SinSin, and CaesarsCub!

You all did mighty well! As a matter of fact, you could almost say that you were all mighty pirates.

[Frikker]

Great comp Grok, and great entrys all. Well done to our winners

Btw Grok, im not sure if you noticed but I put your trophys in the thread for my bb. Same applies to Mamdle and Sinsin if you are reading

[SinSin]

Yeah dude just not had chance yet. Thanks Frikker

Usually in mobile with no imgur (gee thanks windows phone )

[Riaise]

Congratulations to Blondbraid, SinSin and CaesarCub! And thank you to those who voted for my background, it's really appreciated!