Background art visual consistancy...any ideas?

[frenchllama]

I'm having trouble making my rooms look like they're from the same location, or even the same game...

The game is set in a castle and thus has a dungeon as well as kitchen and other quite different rooms. My problem is that they don't look like they fit together...

This is my first adventure game attempt and although I'm completely inexperienced with this whole thing, I'd like to make the artwork as engaging as possible.


This is probably the worst one. It's a room at the top of one of the castle towers, inhabited by the queen, who is obsessed with witchcraft and the supernatural, etc etc. Basically this is why I gave it the purple colour filter, however, it just looks so out of place compared to the other shots. Without the filter it looks even worse though 


Kitchen.


The dungeon also uses a colour filter, this time blue. It works fine individually, but look at it compared to the other rooms...it looks so out of place.
If I remove it, however, then I lose the atmosphere I wanted for that location.


Stable.

Any ideas?

Feedback on anything that could be improved in each room would be great, as well as to the rooms homogeneously.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Actually, I think the first three images all show a specific style and work together.  The last one looks almost like a paintover of an architectural sketch, though.  I think the main thing is that you need to decide whether you want a more cartoony or more realistic look.  If you want cartoony, the first three work fine.  If you want realistic, the stables are the most realistic looking.  Another thing to take into account is that you've drawn several objects that would probably animate as static parts of the background, like the cat and the fire.  Making them separate objects that animate will go a long way to bringing atmosphere to your rooms.  Also, AGS allows tinting of images so you could generate a purple glowing tint in the tower without using a filter.  Aside from that, these look very good!

[Snarky]

I think the blue-green tint on the dungeon works perfectly fine (and that background is particularly nice). The purple filter on the tower room may be a bit excessive, but it's not too bad.

If you don't like the look with the filter, you might want to try adding a purple hue to the objects manually instead. That way it won't look like a single flat color filter layered on top, but more like an organic part of the room. (You could also try selectively erasing/softening the effect by messing with the alpha channel of the filter layer.) Or you could add a second light source with another color to set off the purple ambiance. For instance, there could be a green glow coming from the cauldron, casting highlights in the same way the fireplace does in your second image.

[loominous]

I think one reason why the last one looks a bit of place is the harder brush used, as well as some texture. From what I can see, the other ones use soft brushes without any texture.

Apart from the brush inconsistency, it seems like the last one also has some deviating lineart. The stronger light/heavier contrast, which is another difference, may simply make them harder to spot, but looking at the heap of straw to the left it seems very faint around bright areas.

About the colour thing, I think the kitchen sticks out the most for me, where you have a room lit up with a fireplace and candles, yet the light is very white. If you look at rooms lit up by candles or just regular light bulbs, the light is very warm. It's most noticeable during evenings when you're outside looking in, where everything looks orange. The impression is often a bit exhaggerated due to the cold light outside, but it's quite accurate, it's just that our eyes compensate for it when we're inside, and when photos are taken, the orange light is often filtered out by the camera.



I think a lack of focus in the values makes the first and second one less exciting than they could be. The somewhat washed out values seems to be part of the style, but you can increase the contrast without pushing the values more to the extremes, by increasing the contrast in the middle tones.

Speaking of values, I think it would be worth trying out some more focused/directed light, which is often perceived as attractive (it's already present in the dungeon). Right now the light doesn't really seem to originate from any lightsources, and while these don't have to be visible, it's often nice if you at least sense the sources.

As Snarky suggested, some secondary lightsources would be nice as well, as they can bring in some contrasting tinted light, adding colour variation, and since it allows for more focused light from the main light source, where the secondary light can lit up the areas in shadow from the main light source, making everything readable even in low light conditions.

All in all I think it's a nice clean style that would work really well in a game, and with more interesting lighting/colours I think they could look really great.

[frenchllama]

Ok i've only had time to tackle the Queen's room, but here's my latest edit



I really like the idea of using the cauldron to throw light on the room as a secondary light source - thanks Snarky 
I've also knocked back the purple filter as yes, it was overbearing.
Also, I've added a suggestion of where the primary light source is coming from - a high window or skylight - but I'm not sure if this works or not.
Is it too similar to the dungeon, without actually adding anything to the room?
Finally, the cat is actually stuffed, so I wont need to animate it, but to add life to the background I might look at making steam drift up from the cauldron.

Thanks for so much feedback! I'll definitely be changing the kitchen now and make the lighting more intense and warmer - that reference photo is really useful.
I'll post the edited rooms up soon hopefully.

[Snarky]

I really like the idea of using the cauldron to throw light on the room as a secondary light source - thanks Snarky 

No problem. I do think it looks more interesting now. What you have to do, though, is not just draw the light beams, but actually re-shade the objects to take into account the new light source. For example, the black shadows on the inside of the cauldron and under the... mixing thingy would now be lit by the glow. Also, the goop in the cauldron should look like it's glowing.

Actually, it might be helpful to turn off the green beams and just work on how the glow illuminates and highlights different surfaces. Then when you turn it back on, I'd dial it down maybe 50% (not let the effect extend as far above the cauldron), because right now it's a bit much.

Maybe that's what you were planning to do already, and you just posted this as a WIP to see if you were on the right track, in which case: yes, I think you are. I don't think using similar compositions as on the other screen is a problem, either. Players are never going to be looking at them side-by-side, or even going directly from one room to the other (right?), so unless every room in your game uses the same kind of light beam falling, I don't think it's an issue. I would worry more about playability: how is the player going to look walking through that light? Will it be weird or wrong?

Another thing I think could make this screen look more interesting is to frame it with more foreground objects, especially along the top. I think you can have witchy things dangling from the rafters there (kind of like this very unfinished room), and it would look quite nice.

[Jakerpot]

It`s pretty good but i didn`t liked much the cauldron light... I think it`s look more smoke, if you make it parallel would look better. In my opinion it look like a hand light form, a more smooth one is what i recommend.
You don`t need to give much attention to me, i just think it`s strange.

[frenchllama]

I've tried to take what loominous suggested and apply it to the kitchen. I think it's a huge improvement and I'm pretty happy with it now. Cheers 

Note, this is one of 5 backgrounds so the fire does actually animate and the highlights flicker accordingly.

Thanks again for all the feedback - I'll post further developments of the queen's room soon hopefully.

[loominous]

Feels much more believable, nicely done!

I think the kitchen as well as the queen's room could benefit from more effective secondary light, like from a window.

Here's an idea, which suggests a window or two in the back left:

Nighttime/evening version:



Daytime version:



The effect is really the same in both versions, it adds colour variation, brings out areas that would otherwise be concealed in shadow, and generally makes it more interesting.

I think the queens room could use a source like this, as while the cauldron adds a dash of green, it doesn't actually light up anything.

Perhaps a similar setup as in the kitchen edits above could work well in the queen's room, but with swapped light source strengths, where the dominant light would come from a window, making everything cool, and then have a candle or two to add areas of warm light.

Placing these sources far apart is usually preferable for a couple of reasons. For one, you avoid having the light source tints cancel each other out. Mixing common complementary colours, such as yellow and blue, results in grey, which isn't very exciting. Secondly they'll bring out different areas, allowing more directed/less ambient light, while still making everything readable. Directed light is usually considered more exciting/aesthetically pleasing.

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I think one problem with the queen's room is that the shading of many things, such as the pillows and drapes lacks from what I can see consistency and motivation, as if there were a myriad of small light sources present.

It may be preferable to start out really simple with the shading, where you first determine/design the lightsources based on what setup would bring out the most desirable elements in the picture, and also hide the least important, and then lay down basic shading. I often prefer to start from darkness and then add light, as opposed to adding darkness. The benefit is that each area that you then light up immediately takes focus, so you can start by adding light to the important parts, then light up the other ones as necessary. So it helps setting up the priority in the picture, and usually leads to more dramatic light, and also makes shading more logical, as you're simulating how light works in reality, where everything is dark by default.

Looking forward to seeing the progress!

[Geratuza]

not a point of painting technique: the chimney should have more depth i.e. reach more into the wall. right now there's no escape for the smoke.

the lighting in the queen's room (edit): there's a white light source to the top and a green one to the lower left, yet most of the background is purple and the door plain (daylight) brown. it seems confusing to me.

[frenchllama]

Since this location is set in daylight, i've modified the kitchen to be more well lit as in loominous' second edit.
Also changed the fireplace so it's deeper. Good point, I didn't notice that.



Should the colour difference between the window and the fireplace highlights be more obvious?

[loominous]

Should the colour difference between the window and the fireplace highlights be more obvious?

I guess your question is short for "should it realistically be more of a difference", which is hard to tell as the light coming through the window can be anything from cloudy white light, a clear sky blue, to yellow sun light, and also depends on in what amount it's coming in.

That said, while getting a grip on realism is of course nice, your taste is really what should determine how things ought to look in the end. If your goal is to create the best looking background that you can muster, then screw the rules if they contradict your design decision. If a green sky looks good, then go for it.

People are often incredibly conservative when it comes to colours, often leading to really dull palettes, where instead of creatively designing a palette that looks good, it ends up in: "well, grass is green so let's pick green from the swatches".

Which is why it's such a delight to see the work from guy's like Ben304, who treat the palette as just another creative decision, and does it well.

So my advice would be to play around with the colour of the window light until you find one that you like and go with it. If you're new to colours, it may take some time to figure out combinations that look good, but spending time doing so is the only way you'll really improve in the area (though reading an article or two on colour theory won't hurt).

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One little colour tip: Particularly in monochromatic palettes, colour temperature is really vital. This is most easily observable with stuff like candles or fires, where the hottest parts are yellow, the less hot, orange, and so on to red.

It's often easy to simply go with a filter that makes everything "warm", but you'll lose this hue distinction which adds incredibly much, and allows high saturation without feeling harsh.

In programs like photoshop you have many tools that allows you to alter the colour of different values in an area, such as Color Balance, Selective Color, Curves, Levels (individual controls).

You can apply this to all areas, such as skies, skins, water, anything really, and it'll breathe life into everything and make it more interesting.

[Jakerpot]

do you draw directly on computer or on paper first? Do you use a tablet? Photoshop? Just for curiosity 
You draw pretty weel! i can draw like this on paper too, but i never tried to scan it.

[frenchllama]

I draw it out on paper roughly, then shove in some rough colours with watercolour paint, just because I don't like colouring on Photoshop from nothing.
Also that way some of the rough brush-strokes are still visible in the final, leaving a small amount of texture.
Essentially, then I scan it and colour everything by putting in layers (at 50% opacity) of flat colour over the top of the scan, and then burning and dodging where appropriate. Pretty simplistic actually...

I don't use a tablet because I don't have one  But i'd really like to get into that at some point.