Started another background today, this is it so far. There's a lot of stuff in this one, but I don't know what else to do with it. I want this to be one of those -character is big then gets smaller and smaller as he gets further away- kind of rooms. What do you think?
(http://www.novellice.com/art/AGS%20Projects/Untitled%20No1/Untitled%20Room%20201a.png)
(http://www.novellice.com/art/AGS%20Projects/Untitled%20No1/Untitled%20Room%20201a.png)
Hmm.. what is that red stuff? Red wall with white mould on it? I mean if it is supposed to be the sky, then it is too defined.
I like the style of your art and the very defined colours and stuff. Truth to be told the sky does not really look like a sky, but it's position made me think that indeed it is one :D (not kidding here).
Other than that, the river seems to have a weird perspecitve and seems to be driping or droping or osmething, not coming closer, and the lave cracks here nad there, although a nice touch, seem a tad weird (not to mentio that they are on the river which is kidna bizare).
but I really like your style (how will it work with 2 completely different angles, the one on bird view and the other sideview?)
I think you can make multiple characters can you not? I hope so, because that is what I want to do. :p
Oh...my food is ready, so I will just say that the thing on the water is not what you're thinking. It's kind of like a plant dropping ^^
What program are you using?
I like the pixel-pushed structure along the horizon. Nice shapes and detail! The rocky area along the left side of the horizon is also nicely drawn. The green area along the left is nice too, but the extremely hard edges where it meets the water and rocks are a bit artificial looking.
I'm with Nikolas in thinking the shape of the river on the right is a bit misleading. It widens too slowly to match the perspective of the land, which gives the impression that it is falling downward instead of coming toward the camera.
About the sky- I like the clouds and colors you chose. It does sort of look like a flat wall rather than the sky though. I think part of this is because the shading under the clouds makes it look like they are casting shadows onto the sky. The lighter soft bands that run across parts of the sky add to this impression- they look like lighting on an undulating surface.
I'm not quite sure what to make of the orangey worm-shaped things on the ground in the foreground. I can't read them. Are they cracks with lava showing through them? Are they little worm-like creatures? Either way they could be made less ambiguous with some lighting.
Nice mood- it looks very mysterious, moderately dangerous, and it really invites exploration. It makes me want to go see what the building and the 'plant dropping' are like up close.
This was done all in photoshop.
Hmm I see where your confusion is coming about the "plant-dropping". That IS the orangey-worm shaped things. It would make more sense if I was done drawing the plants, and I may just completely throw the entire thing out, I'm not sure yet. :p
I will fix the river, I see what you mean now.
Hmm the hard edges, yup I see that now too. Ok not too many problems, can you all tell that the green valley down below...is well, down below the closest part brown section which is a cliff overlooking it? I hope that explanation makes sense. That's what I'm after with that part.
This would work well - I'm a little disappointed its not the same angle as your second backround, but hey, stick with what you want to do.
I like that you have got waterfalls in your backrounds - waterfalls in computer games is a little thing of mine.
If I were to make a couple of suggestions, they would be to soften the texture of the sky and to make the ground texture stuff a bit softer as well. A bit of work and this will be a fantastic BG!
Just one tip that hasn't been said yet
The river doesnt seem right to me because it doesnt seem physically possible
The river must follow gravity it seems to go up and down kinda like its defying its own weight
Tip
Define some more hills on the upper section and maybe have the river running around them
also maybe add some rocks into the water to try and add direction to the flow of water
I like your art style alot all i would like to say is work on the physics side of it and your onto a winner chappy
Sin
Flip the sky -- Ligter area is closer to the horizon.
Modified the sky, as well as a few other things. I've started working with the backgrounds in game now and it has helped me with a few things. The mountain top was fine but I made the area smaller for various reasons. There are other obvious changes, for the most part the biggest rework was the sky.
(http://www.novellice.com/art/AGS%20Projects/Untitled%20No1/Untitled%20Room%20201c.png)
(http://www.novellice.com/art/AGS%20Projects/Untitled%20No1/Untitled%20Room%20201c.png)
The rest of the edits are very good, but...
If the river at the front of the scene is getting closer to the camera rather than falling off a hill or something it needs to get progressively wider as it comes towards the front of the background.
This has been mentioned before, but I still don't think it is wide enough.
Like this maybe, but touched up and much better, with the rivers flow extending outwards as well.
(http://www.freewebs.com/markbilly/critique.png)
Tis looking Far far better now chief
keep it up should they should make a great game
Sin
Quote from: markbilly on Wed 18/04/2007 18:55:47
The rest of the edits are very good, but...
If the river at the front of the scene is getting closer to the camera rather than falling off a hill or something it needs to get progressively wider as it comes towards the front of the background.
This has been mentioned before, but I still don't think it is wide enough.
Like this maybe, but touched up and much better, with the rivers flow extending outwards as well.
(http://www.freewebs.com/markbilly/critique.png)
Maybe I'm not getting it, but I don't see what you see. I really want to, I've been staring and editing this thing for the last half hour - how can I keep it the same size at the front, conveying that a small stream breaks off from the river and continues towards the viewer and is the size it is when it arrives? I can't see this falling perception. :(
Nice edits, this is looking really good. I think the chief complaint people have with the stream is the short section of it near the camera that runs vertically down the canvas and doesn't change width very much. It looks passable to me. I think the idea is clear enough but the perspective might throw some people.
(http://img11.picsplace.to/img10/24/Untitled_Room_201c_copy.png)
A few ideas:
- I couldn't figure out where the water was coming from, so I created a lake :)
- When the sky is so red, the surroundings would be quite affected. So I tinted the scene.
- The cliff edge seemed a bit rough. I also made a couple of cracks for variation.
- Added a new version of the stream at the front. A bit rough this area, but you'd get the general idea.
- Added some definition and details to the castle.
This paintover is messy in places, and I went overboard with the smoothing-tool to speed things up. I don't really like that tool though, brings to many ugly tones in.
For the actual background, I think it's nice and very creative. It's quite a job to pull off a scene like this. In some places it seems a bit rough though. I think the major problems left are around the grass fields below the waterfall. I believe there should be more hills defined, with darker and brighter shades, not just the hard left-right smoothing. There could be more definition in the foreground to.
EDIT: spelling
Quote from: Neil Dnuma on Thu 19/04/2007 09:13:02
[img width=640
- I couldn't figure out where the water was coming from, so I created a sea :)
Neil,
Sorry to comment like this but rivers go
towards the sea and not
from the sea. They come from mountains. It seems strange to reading what you said. Cause initially I assumed that you reversed flow of the river...
Kudos on the edit and comments though :) work fine :)
It's supposed to be a landlocked body of water, a lake.
Sorry if it was interpreted as the ocean or something.
Quote from: Neil Dnuma on Thu 19/04/2007 09:13:02
(http://img11.picsplace.to/img10/24/Untitled_Room_201c_copy.png)
A few ideas:
- I couldn't figure out where the water was coming from, so I created a lake :)
- When the sky is so red, the surroundings would be quite affected. So I tinted the scene.
- The cliff edge seemed a bit rough. I also made a couple of cracks for variation.
- Added a new version of the stream at the front. A bit rough this area, but you'd get the general idea.
- Added some definition and details to the castle.
This paintover is messy in places, and I went overboard with the smoothing-tool to speed things up. I don't really like that tool though, brings to many ugly tones in.
For the actual background, I think it's nice and very creative. It's quite a job to pull off a scene like this. In some places it seems a bit rough though. I think the major problems left are around the grass fields below the waterfall. I believe there should be more hills defined, with darker and brighter shades, not just the hard left-right smoothing. There could be more definition in the foreground to.
EDIT: spelling
I really like your edits. :) Very nice and thank you so much for doing them. It should be quite rough, this is only my ninth background or so ever (and only the second to look even remotely good) and I don't draw often at all.
I didn't think to add all the things you mentioned, they're all very good suggestions. I'm especially fond of what you did with the stream and I can't understand how you thought of that - how it would be appropriate etc. :/ Very much more exciting now, and also the color of the water seems nice. The tint on the scene surprised me as well, but it also seems to add to the atmosphere greatly. The mountains (and the lake) in the background are fantastic too.
I see you added windows to the castle. :) You shaded the small area of the tallest tower the way I originally did, but I altered it because it looked weird to me.
Go with Neil Dnuma's edit, as then it completely changes the perspective of the water at the front, so we need no longer get all confused about it! :P
Yah I like it a lot, I may just go ahead and do something similar.