A background for critics...

[InCreator]

Well, I'm making a game with my friend now, and things are going pretty well.
Here is the bg I did yesterday, for about 5 hours... this is a record for me working on a single picture that long.

I posted gif here, but 8-bit version looks REALLY lame, so if you happen to have something better than dial-up connection,
see BMP (900 KB, same link/filename, but .bmp extension instead of .gif)

[Spiro]

Great one. If you keep that level for whole game i'll be glad to play it.
Everythig on picture looks good, well, except that wings on plane. Altough they should be broken, perspective is somewhat wrong.

[InCreator]

Wings? It was pretty much intended that way, Like these planes with one large wing over the roof. So It's supposed to be broken at two points, one of them covered by plane cockpit.
But the size of another wing/ actually the right part of the wing is a bit wrong, yeah.
Actually, I expected lot's of criticizing how flat trees look like..  

[Mage]

you could try removing those black outlines from the image

[TheDude]

I think the plane is great! The trees look a little flat because of the black outlines, maybe try removing them. Remove the black line at the top of grass too and have some grass sticking up instead.

EDIT - 2 other replies in the time it took me to type the message  

[Darth Mandarb]

I like this!

I particularly like the bullet holes in the plane.

I agree with the others about removing the black lines.  They take away from the smooth shading you've got.

Where the [unbroken] wing meets the fuselage of the plane ... there's a little problem there.  Maybe just some shading would fix that.  That's really the only area I have a problem with!  The wing's shape is seeming to get lost a little ...

Great so far!

~ d

[Andail]

As a whole, I think the picture has a nice originality to it.
I'm not sure, however, that you should keep the trees and the grass that dotted; more clean surfaces would bring some order in this scene, IMO...as it is now, I see a bit of a clash in styles here.

Also, the wing is wrong in the sense that you see the plane body slightly from above, but the wing from below, which would have worked if the plane was far more tilted. It's not a big deal anyhow.

[InCreator]

Thanks for feedback!
It was about time for me to stop aimless chatting around and show what I'm made of. Well, I removed these black outlines where possible, and replaced with planey dark blue around cockpit window.
Some vines got color too, Bent wing got shadow projected to a tree and dents, which I made to patch this mistake up a bit. I hope It's better now.

I accidentally messed up layers, so taking noise out would be difficult.

It's far away from perfect but adventure making has taught me to press on while there's enough InCpiration, and at the moment, I'm creating a BG a day, I have two main characters with complete walkcycles and after a bg or two, confidence enough to make a complete story. (for me, It's almost impossible to draw according to a fixed story, I just draw and story comes with pictures).

Updated bitmap is here...
http://www.hot.ee/increatorgamez/lennuk22.bmp

And m0ds-Andail, I suggest to make BMP-posting control work only when using img=... codes, otherwise, people cannot even post a link to bmp picture without this nag image shown.

Edit by Andail: It's not our call, but you have a good point. Perhaps CJ can look into making the bmp sign not react to the [ url ] code.

[YOke]

My 2 cents would go as such:

About the wing:
The wing is broken but the supports on this side seem to still be connected. I'm not an airport mechanic, but I doubt that a plane would fly with the wing in that angle. But there is a easy fix: break the supports and all is well! Also the angle of the shadows the supports cast seems to be off from the angle of the sun and the other shadows, also they don't follow the shape of the plane.

The black lines need to go, and you should get a different texture on the grass. Right now it looks too much like the trees.

If I'm going to nitpick, some of the vines are not as smooth-looking as the rest of the image. That's OK if they are to be used for something, but look better toned down if they are just background. Also the ocean is perhaps a bit TOO smooth...

GREAT bg!

[Andail]

Here's a little attempt from my side.
It's far from a complete image, and I've basically just used a lot of ps brushes because I'm lazy and all that.

I think the basic idea is to make better use of contrast, as well as making the dots and grains and leaves and all that just a tiny bit bigger, to increase the "order" of the image.

[Chicky]

im sorry to say andail, but i like hte brightness of increator's background a lot more. Its one of the best backgrounds ive seen in a while.

congrats on a great background

-OSC

[big brother]

Really? I think the trees (especially the leaves) look much better on Andail's edit. Most trees have much taller foilage in relation to their trunks, comme ca:

http://www.health.ufl.edu/itcenter/training/pharmacy/examples/example-trees.jpg

[Darth Mandarb]

I like the contrast better on Andail's edit as well.

The only problem I have with it is that you can see the sun in the background, so it seems like the lighting of the trees is backwards (at least to me).  The shadows should be where the hi-lights are and vice-versa.

The lighting on the path/ground works well with the position of the sun.

~ d

[Evil]

As Andail showed, the wings are off. I thought it would be easier to fix the rest of the plane rather then the large wing.



All the red lines would be your adjustments. The wing and suport arms are quite thick, thin those down for sure. And where is the prop? A little trainer like that wouldnt have turbines. Heh. Well I threw one in there just for placement. Maybe a wheel well door, or wheel, would be nice. Another thing, wheres the damage? You're mising half a wing, and theres bullet holes in it. But no broken front window, no peeling paint or steel. The guy's a skeleton, there should be some rust or something. Other then that bitching, it looks great.

[InCreator]

** InCreator sighs **
** InCreator decides to use mspaint with 16 colors next time **

Actually, good point, Evil. I'll try to change angle of cockpit and this little back wing as much as possible without loss of quality, but it's pretty painful, because plane and trees/bushes/wildlife are on the same layer.

I don't/can't use Photoshop, but have a strange feeling it would be a simple task if I could.

What's a wheel well?
Anyway, If there's some things I'm not able to draw better, I think I'll just stick to my old formula: "Something wrong with gfx? Explain it well with game story, so It'll be maybe even more interesting!", example: the fact that pilot has turned into skeleton already doesn't always mean that plane crashed a long time ago: Wildlife is always hungry...

[Evil]

Wheel well. Its the area on planes that the wheels are stored in durring flight. Theres little doors that open and close to let the wheels out. There wasnt any wheel legs so I figured thats what you where going for.

As for the Pilot, I think its fine. Rust and more dirt and such would be ideal for a major crash. IMO thats what you are going for due to the large broken section of the wing.

[Valzebnik]

Well I think it came out pretty nicely.It was 5 hours u know! And the thing with the rust and peeling paint is that after the long hours it came out so beautiful that it was a shame to ruin it! The metalic skin and the shading gives it the special touch...

P.S  I know because I'm the Co-Artist 4 the Game.

[Peter Thomas]

I like this image alot. I must admit I do like the look of Andail's grass, though. It's a little less dotty. I do prefer your trees, though. I think the contrast of styles is quite groovy. My only quibble is with the middle tree. It looks like a mushroom, in my opinion, you know - with the rounded base and top coming to a point. Maybe if you just added some height to it...

Apart from that - great work, InCreator. If the rest of the game is anything like this, you're in for a good show.