Attic - Trying new style

[D · Y · D · O]

As summer is drawing closer, my designs for an adventure game have been infused with renewed vigor. How long my newfound enthusiasm will last this time seems unclear, and frankly doesn't interest me very much. Instead I'm trying to establish a new style for my backgrounds.
In an attempt to reach something which vaguely resembles the quality craftsmanship displayed in CMI, I've decided to use the following method.
I sketch the background, scan it, color it in Photoshop. I've done as much in my first try.
Afterwards I plan on inking my original sketch and rescanning it. I guess I was too eager to try out some coloring. The main point I was trying to make to my 'associate', was that relatively poor quality sketches can look a great deal more attractive with some colors put to good use.

I'm interested in anything you have to say, from the drawing as a whole to some silly little detail. I do plan on adding lots of items to crowd the player .
I'm especially interested in:
- What you think of the colors, and the method of shading I chose.
- If you think I should frame the picture at all, and if so, using blurred, dark objects to obscure the edges or use shadows to gradually darken the image around the edges and how I would go about doing this.

* D · Y · D · O takes a deep breath.

- If you think the composition works. Note: This room exists in real life, so it was more a choice of choosing a good perspective and deforming the room to give it a cartoony feel.

Anyway, without further ado:


- The black thingamabob in the top left corner is simply not yet made. I made some pictures of the actual room, but I'm missing that part. I'm going back there again to see what it looks like.
- The floor will have floorboards.

[Scummbuddy]

I think the bottom right's perspective is a little off, but overall, i really like this room.  very nice.

[danny*]

very good!!!

[Andail]

Really good, DYDO...I don't think the perspective is an issue here, since it suits the style pretty well.
The ligth-setting is remarkable, considering it all looks pretty hand-made.

My only suggestion would be that you tried to make it a bit cleaner...it's a good picture as it is, but to suit a game, you might need to reduce the sketchiness somewhat.
Otherwise, great work.

[12431]

really nice! I like this one very much!

you're good at coloring

[loominous]

I like the style except for these things:

(i) the lightning is boring imo. The lantern on the right wall could provide some nice (dark) shadows; instead the whole room seems equally illuminated by some soft lightning coming from somewhere.

(ii) the color of the outlines doesn t fit well imo. You mention that you might use ink n I guess that would take care of it.

(iii) I don t see the point of including the table in the foreground. If you d crop the pic at about halfway up of the left chair the pic would gain some intimacy I think.

Other than that I like it.

Btw, think those beams would look a bit better with some woodtexture.

[D · Y · D · O]

Thanks everyone, for the praise and comments.

Loominous, concerning your first pointer:
Lighting is somewhat of a dilemma. Since this is an existing room, I should tell you it actually has such soft lighting, the lantern on the right wall has been exagerated already.
My dilemma is to what degree I should ignore reality and push the lighting envelope so to speak. Because I agree, the lighting could me made much more interesting.

Does anyone ink or finish their sketches in some other way? I'd like to know how you people go about this.

[OneThinkingGal and ._.]

That looks very good DYDO. The only problem I see is that err...female something on the wall (maybe a poster?), its standing out from the room and becoming the focus point. Unless you want it that way.

I especially like the colouring on the chairs in the foreground and the windows to the right, nicely done.

[Squinky]

Impressive stuff...All I can say is I like the current lighting...

[Neole]

Dang thats great! Love the colors and everything else actually. The white lines on the table in the foreground stand out a bit, maybe you could color them lioght orange/yellow to fit in with the rest of the bautiful colors.

[Tjibbe]

Looks great! I'd like to see a complete game of yours some time!  

[Vel]

Woah! Looks very, very cool!