Apartment Sketch [Updated w/Colored Version]

[Moresco]

I'm playing with the colors a bit...I'll have something to show you soon I hope, gotta make dinner and do some other things here but I like this background a lot!  You know, for being new to this, you're doing a fine job...better than I had.  Anyway I'll try to get that edit done to show you here soon.

Is the reason you chose light colors because of the color layer? Because no matter how much you attempt to saturate or darken, you cannot unless you apply those changes to the layer below it, the Values layer or the BG layer.  I've never seen anyone do this before, but I guess it works for the most part...but how to change color value easily?  That's why I put everything on its own layer, which may be tedious but it works for me.  Alright back in a while with that edit.

Update
Here's the quick edit...I didn't know how to approach things with your current layers, so I made new layers via selection-copy as new layer from the color layer.  Then, I set it back at normal, adjusted the colors with your color layer on and went from there.  If it doesn't look right over the color layer, you can just grab a color with the picker, color it in, then smudge at low opacity to smooth the gradations out.



Thanks for letting me mess with that, was fun!

[Snarky]

Yeah, I don't think the coloring works at all. Which is a shame, because the sketch is great and I think the linework works fine. It does look very much like everything has been colored brightly, and then just had a darkening layer put on top... which I suppose is pretty much exactly what you did, or equivalent to it.

You need to think more about the shadows and how the light defines the shapes and surfaces. Currently I see no shadows at all. Since your lightsource is very close to the camera (which I'm not sure is a good choice), that's correct in most cases, but in places like under the table where the candle is sitting would be in darkness. As for defining the shapes, that's what I usually work in grayscale for. You don't have a lot of complex shapes, though (mostly just flat surfaces), and you use hatching for most of the other shapes, so I'm not sure how useful that is to you.

This might be a perceptual thing, but I don't think the dark areas look that much darker than the light areas. They're just shaded blue instead of yellow-green. Especially in the dark corners, I would go murkier.

You're also having saturation issues, I think. Candles cast very warm, orange light, so I would use bolder colors for things in the vicinity. The light should also bring out the color of the surface, not leave everything a hospital gray-green-brown. The poster looks like a missed opportunity for a splash of highly-saturated color.

If you're going to use this grayscale-first method, you can't simply use the values to define the regions of light. You also need to consider the inherent brightness of each surface. With all the walls, the floor and the furniture sharing the same values, you get a very washed-out look. Essentially, the grayscale version should be able to stand as a realistic black and white image.

Oh, finally, the unplugged lamp(?) on the desk completely blends in with the eyeball poster (there even seems to be some color bleed), to the extent that it looks like a big fan upon first glance. Unless you change the values and colors to make it pop more, I think you need to move it.

[creatorlars]

Thanks so much!  This is some great feedback.  Part of what I'm struggling with, i think, is that I want the room to have an otherworldly, cold atmosphere -- but instead I've chosen a lot of wooden surfaces and candlelight, which suggest browns -- and "earthy/warm" is not the impression I want to give.   Something like the character's previously inviting/warm home has now been turned into a cold, dark, uninviting place.  Maybe it's just going to be a matter of me deciding the surfaces should be painted other colors, or turning the "candles" into glowing jars of radioactive goo or something -- and/or slapping myself in the face and moving the light source, like several of you have suggested.

I think I'm going to try another one, abandoning the value map for now and trying to lay in flat colors under the line art first.  I realize that doing the "value map" method is just an excuse for not knowing what the hell I'm doing with colors yet.  I've also considered just doing a 320x200 pixel art version over the sketch.  I'll have more to show soon.   Thanks again for all your help so far.

[InCreator]

Sorry to say, I totally hate what you did with good-looking sketch.
I don't like that "scratch shading" at all!

It looks terrible and could be used only in some kind of dark horror game, and then too only with appropriate spooky lighting...

Also, how do you use character in a room with so strong perspective? Sounds like alot of zooming to me.

This way or another, you have to shade the picture. I mean, bed columns have same color on different sides, doesn't look like there's any light source or shadows at all. But going horror here, strong shadows are a must!

[Ryan Timothy B]

Alright I made a very long edit on the color edit by TheRedPress.  I have to go right now, but later I'll try to respond as to why I changed some things (The only thing I didn't touch were the candles.  Mostly because I also believe they should be moved to the other table by the poster).

[creatorlars]

Wow, thanks for taking the time... that helps me see the scene in a whole new light (pardon the pun.)  Looking forward to hearing your comments.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I figured I may as well just upload a gif to help show the difference between the two.


1: The first thing I wanted to remove were the squiggly lines you had throughout the background.  The lines on the bed were the worst.  I imagine you were trying to go for a cartoony look, or it was some kind of hand cut wood?  Either way, I didn't like them and they were really excessive.  Even on the walls.

2: The second thing I REALLY wanted to remove were all those black lines you had throughout the background.  I prefer darker colored lines (but if you want to draw great backgrounds; objects don't have dark lines around the edges in real life).

3: I really had no idea what that item on top of the bathroom door was, so I removed it.  I was going to place a vent there instead, but didn't get around to it.  I also removed the lamp on the wicker table.
I removed the fan.  It didn't look like a fan, and if it's going to be an interactive object (I imagine you pick it up), it should be drawn separately.

4: I resized the fridge to a more normal size.

The only thing I didn't play with were shadows.  But since I don't think the candle should be where it is, I didn't bother.  The candle should either be on the table, or/and on the bunk bed support beam.  It's not safe, bed sheets + fire, but it would be a nice spot for one.

Other than the things you can probably visually see why I changed, I can't think of anything else.

Edit: Oh.  Some magnets and stuff on the fridge would be absolutely excellent (just don't over do it).
I was also thinking that you should include a ladder for the bunk bed under where the sheet is hanging down.

[Krazy]

I don't know, I feel like you've kind of chiseled a lot of the life out of the image and made it very rigidly geometric and boring.

[Matti]

Yeah, you've taken the (pure) comicstyle out of it with clearing the wobbly lines and making everything more realistic and geometric.

But it's neither good nor bad, it just depends on what creatorlars was aiming for. But it seems that he likes it. I don't know, I like both. The important thing is how the characters will look like since they should fit the background.

[creatorlars]

Thanks again for the feedback.

Part of my issue right now is that I don't have a very specific style/direction in mind --  I'm just trying to develop my skills (from nothing) to the point at which I know what I'm capable of before trying to see the big picture.  I would definitely say that I was going for a comic book style look (to the point of being abstract -- think late 80's MTV)  and not realism with the pen scratch shading and bold lines.  But Ryan's redraw and feedback were immensely helpful at noticing a few things with my own image I could reconsider and I definitely learned a lot.  I think that if I am going to go with the pen & ink style, things should be colored minimally, flat and less realistic, with some bold pure black shadows -- and, I need to get better at it.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Ya, I was mainly just messing around.  I had a day off work and I really liked your sketch so I wanted to see where I could take it (and I definitely have no idea what I'm doing. just playing).
I'll agree that the wacky squiggly lines do give the background this comical feel to it.  But from the sketch I saw mainly straight ruler lined edges and figured that was the direction you wanted to go.
Either way you take it, that's alright.  I had my fun.

[auriond]

I couldn't resist giving it a go either, so here you are



I went with your earlier statement that you wanted a normally warm, cosy apartment turned into an otherworldly space. In other words, your colours are a given. One way I know of to create otherworldliness is to have incredible contrast in light and shadow. Go on, turn off the lights and hold a flashlight under your face... you get the idea

So I did the same to your picture, leaving the original colours the way they were. I just turned up the candlelight and shadow. I may have overdone the shadows a little, because they're pretty much obliterating some of the details (e.g. under the bed), but I hope those weren't important details anyway. This way it also helps to draw the eye towards the centre of the picture, where I presume most of the action will be taking place.

I also added a lot of shadows - under the table/bench, near the fridge, around the poster... to be realistic, the pool of light shouldn't have been able to reach the fridge, but I liked the effect

[Questionable]

I was going to write a long post but I think most of it can be summed up by the following:








Wow... those are some bright candles.

[Trent R]

Have you ever been in a black room (no windows) with a candle being the only light? It's pretty bright.

~Trent

[Stupot]

Those are some pretty bright candles considering they have no flame 

[creatorlars]

Presumably, the flame(s) would be animation frames, so I didn't draw them as part of the background.  As far as realism goes, I think it would depend on the game as a whole, whether or not the candle's lighting would hurt suspension of disbelief at all.  Probably not, in this case. 

auriond -- i really like the direction of your edit, it's very atmospheric and spooky, which is definitely more in lines with my original intentions.  thanks for taking the time.

i'm going to go back to my design docs again pretty heavily and hopefully have some more finished backgrounds to share in a few weeks.