Hi all,
Once again, a rather gloomy (yet luminous) background. You should hear the wind blowing when watching that picture.
It will be animated, so that the rays of light appear and disappear slowly.
I also plan on adding birds in the distant sky.
If someone feels like animating the sea, then please be my guest as I suck at this.
And of course, post your critics. I've taken in account previous critics about both the sky (to avoid it looking like a mountain) and the way I render distant grass (so that it doesn't look like trees).
(http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/038/f/6/manor_from_the_distance_by_monsieurouxx-d3903ed.png)
A technical question: you've again scaled this image to a width of 900; why 900 and what's the original size?
If you want wind you have to animate the grass in the foreground.
Quote from: Khris on Mon 07/02/2011 09:37:18
A technical question: you've again scaled this image to a width of 900; why 900 and what's the original size?
???
It shouldn't be 900. It should be 960. I asked Paint.Net to scale 300%.
WTF?
@Cat: I know, thanks. Don't twist the knife in the wound. :'(
Ok, more crits on the painting:
I totally like the mood in the centre of the pic, the colours, saturation fit perfectly. What bothers me a bit are the two green tones on the right, they have too much blue in them i think. Also in this special light the building on the right might have some strong highlights.
Quote from: cat on Mon 07/02/2011 10:08:56
What bothers me a bit are the two green tones on the right, they have too much blue in them i think.
I agree with you. I'm trying to be consistent with the fact that the grass is greener nearer the cliff (it's not that yellowish grass that suffers from the hard winds and harsh cold light). But I'm not happy with it. I'll try to work on it.
About the manor's light: Yes, you're right.
Quote from: Monsieur OUXX on Mon 07/02/2011 09:57:35I asked Paint.Net to scale 300%.
Don't, just add width=960 to the img tag:
[img width=960]URL[/img]
Is this a cutscene or playable? Because there might be some scaling problems.
Hmm, you might have to rearrange some things. Lighthouse kind of draws the eye and makes me think it's the vanisihng point of the perspective, but it's actually slightly off, so the cliffs just on the right of the lighthouse, at least to me, lookwrong somehow.
But just looking at the picture, it looks really atmospheric.
Quote from: Khris on Mon 07/02/2011 10:29:17
Quote from: Monsieur OUXX on Mon 07/02/2011 09:57:35I asked Paint.Net to scale 300%.
Don't, just add width=960 to the img tag:
[img width=960]URL[/img]
The reason why I scale the image itself is because I want people to be able to view it comfortably even outside of the Forum (i.e. DeviantArt users). Anyway I'll check why 320 x 3 became 900.
Great image!
One minor gripe, at least for me, is the clean cut look of the pathway. For it to look like a trodden path, the edges should be a bit more scrubby/shaggy.
Another thing is something ProgZmax already mentioned in your other thread, (also a great piece!). The sky does look a bit flat, especially since you've got some light coming through the clouds hitting the ground. Some of that light should also be reflected in the clouds themselves.
Couldn't find a better reference image (http://tobebeautiful.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/storm_clouds1_7179.jpg), but maybe it helps a bit.
Hope to see this in a game very soon!
I think the detailing is lovely, but since this looks like a cut-sceney kind of image I think the composition could be stronger. I think placing the lighthouse off-centre would be beneficial, as well as adding some kind of foreground.
This is a far-from-brilliant paintover, but hopefully it shows an option:
(http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4759/cliffpaintover.png)
Did you increase the resolution for your Paintover?
This is a BRILLIANT paintover... But I can't do that!
I have the following constraints :
- The Lighthouse is not at the very end of the island. The island keeps going up, but doesn't bend to the right (that addresses anian critics and Ali's elevated cliff)
- The scene has to be consistent with another view (see the thread "Background critics: Shadow-of-the-comet-esque scene"
- The path is a path for one person (not for carriages). (That addresses Mad critics)
I like the fact that you drew the side of the manor, but then I'll have to rework the perspective (the manor becomes much bigger). I'll see what I can do.
Quote from: Monsieur OUXX on Tue 08/02/2011 09:06:27
This is a BRILLIANT paintover...
No it isn't, and my girlfriend prefers your version. I did the paintover at 900x, by the way.
I understand your constraints. Maybe I want to see this as a scrolling image, with the camera panning across to show more of the estate (and a tree in the foreground...). As it is, the manor is a bit of a tease, because it's not quite in or out of the picture.
It's very nice though, and I love the quality of light.
Quote from: Monsieur OUXX on Tue 08/02/2011 09:06:27
I have the following constraints :
- The Lighthouse is not at the very end of the island. The island keeps going up, but doesn't bend to the right (that addresses anian critics and Ali's elevated cliff)
- The scene has to be consistent with another view (see the thread "Background critics: Shadow-of-the-comet-esque scene"
- The path is a path for one person (not for carriages). (That addresses Mad critics)
I don't think the geography (which you could modify, anyway) or consistency with the other screen really constrain the composition that much. In Ali's paintover, just as well as in yours, the island could be going on behind the hill, unseen by us. And either works well with the other screen, or at least could, with minor modifications. And I really think even in the paintover the path looks more like a walking path than a carriageway (perhaps except for what looks like wheel tracks in the distant view).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there's almost a universal rule about natural landscapes, according to which the value distribution is always like this, from the lightest to the darkest: sky -> horizontal plane -> vertical objects like trees, houses etc. And here it's quite the opposite.
Here I tried to light up the sky and darken the house a bit:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5234992/lighthouse.png)
I'm not sure if that's an improvement, because the original version has a great bleak atmosphere, but i thinks it's more natural. The same goes for the other background. Hope it helps, but they are great already. :)
I really like the clouds/sky in your version, Ilyich! It has loads of depth and character and shows off perfectly what I wanted to bring across in my earlier post.
Been tempted to do this since i saw the first image, it's probably hugely obvious but I like the idea of a sunbeam focusing on the lighthouse, adds a bit of focus to the scene. (sorry for the crappy edit/imageshack hosting)
(http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1626/lighthouseedit.png)
Quote from: Ali on Tue 08/02/2011 13:48:06
Maybe I want to see this as a scrolling image
You are VICIOUS!
Girlfriends don't like vicious guys. They like guys who keep it real and don't cheat with resolutions in their Paintovers. :=
Quote from: Zooty on Tue 08/02/2011 17:20:07
Been tempted to do this since i saw the first image
It's actually kind-of-what happens in the animated version, but I definitely need to enforce the effect.
Quote from: Ilyich
Here I tried to light up the sky and darken the house a bit:
That's brillant. I didn't have time yet to rework my skies (in any of the 3 backgrounds I've posted in the last few days), and I think I'll just be lazy and copy-paste yours, as it looks perfect. However, Do you have a way to provide it without the light rays? I process them separately, still because of the animations.
Quote from: Ouxxey_games on Wed 09/02/2011 13:31:51
However, Do you have a way to provide it without the light rays? I process them separately, still because of the animations.
Nope, sorry, did it all on one layer. But I think it'll be pretty easy to paint them over. Good luck! :)
I feel like doing in Myst IV and blur parts of the scene that are not in the depth-of-focus where the cursor is located. STOP ME IF YOU CAN!
Quote from: Ouxxey_games on Fri 11/02/2011 16:48:40
I feel like doing in Myst IV and blur parts of the scene that are not in the depth-of-focus where the cursor is located. STOP ME IF YOU CAN!
I think I can stop you with one sentence: That would be a waste of your talent, sir Oux.
:)
Quote from: anian on Fri 11/02/2011 17:26:34
That would be a waste of talent
How so? I don't follow you. Are you trying to confuse me with some Jedi mind-trick?
I don't know if you ever played Myst IV, but the whole idea is that the part of the scene targeted by the mouse is the one where YOUR eye wanders. Therefore, that defines the focus depth. Therefore, everything that's not in that distance frame is blurred (out of focus).
You should check out videos of Myst IV, that's actually gorgeous. The coolest effect I've ever seen in a video game (and sadly it will be lost for a long time, with the rise and fall of semi-pre-rendered 3D).
You can't really see well here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvR-P1N2fC8
@Ilyich: I've been trying to draw a sky like yours, and I just always miserably FAIL :'(
I have to face the truth: This is beyond my skills. Worse, now I'll never be happy again with the original sky I drew :-\
I'll try again tonight. Do you have any tips? Did you use some texture effect or just plain brush/spray tool? Did you use Photoshop? (I'm stuck with an old crappy Paint Shop Pro 9 for spray effects -- and I'm not happy at all with the way it renders 1-pixel-wide lines. For those, I use Paint.net, which is surprisingly good at rendering the brush strokes, even at that tiny scale)
Ouxxey, I mostly just paint in Photoshop with standard brushes, but here I started by tweaking the colors with "Replace color" tool, and that resulted in this cool dirty layered effect. So it was partly accidental, and I'll probably won't be able to repeat it myself. But I think you can do better clouds, than on my edit. Try looking at some references. (Great tip, I know, sorry :)) I'd also suggest romanticism-era paintings, they loved dark dramatic clouds, them romanticists.
Quote from: Ouxxey_games on Mon 14/02/2011 10:03:37
How so? I don't follow you. Are you trying to confuse me with some Jedi mind-trick?
I don't know if you ever played Myst IV, but the whole idea is that the part of the scene targeted by the mouse is the one where YOUR eye wanders. Therefore, that defines the focus depth. Therefore, everything that's not in that distance frame is blurred (out of focus).
You should check out videos of Myst IV, that's actually gorgeous. The coolest effect I've ever seen in a video game (and sadly it will be lost for a long time, with the rise and fall of semi-pre-rendered 3D).
You can't really see well here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvR-P1N2fC8
...oh, I actually meant that I really liked the style and drawings and blurring the image (so it's basically less visible) would be a waste. I wasn't trying to insult you, it was a compliment.
But I see what you meant, you can always try it and see how it turns out and then decide.
> I'd also suggest romanticism-era paintings, they loved dark dramatic clouds, them romanticists.
What pisses me off most is that 2 years ago I actually found out a really easy way of painting clouds (I mean, like real-life painting). I was in the fields with my colors, looked at the sky, and thought "hey that's actually easy!". Since then I've lost that painting and completely forgot how to do. It's not the same with pictures, because in real life the perception of the actual light helps a lot having a 3D perception of what you're painting.
I'll have a look at those paintings.
And if I still fail, I'll rip them off. No mercy for romantic provocators.
Quote from: anian on Mon 14/02/2011 12:39:01
I actually meant that I really liked the style and drawings and blurring the image (so it's basically less visible) would be a waste.
Yeah yeah I got that I was just kidding. My point is that the stuff is not permanently blurred. It all depends where is the mouse. So no "talent" wasted, lol.