Background. Sigh.

[ThreeOhFour]

Hey all,

As usual am trying to improve the quality of the graphics I'm producing. I've tried painting as one would by hand and are not happy with the way these turn out, so I've tried to refine the technique I used for the Trance-Pacific backgrounds.



This is a WIP of the outside of what is intended to be a nightclub. I've used a fair few layers here, but I'm hoping to get some feedback on what to improve and what I've added that shouldn't have been added. The little logo is just a placeholder... I'm yet to figure out how to make it look like a neon light.

For reference, this was made in the Gimp.

Cheers all.

[Babar]

As it is, it looks great, but I am biased towards this sort of style. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this as a base. When I saw it, I immediately thought of some sort of train or subway station (specifically the 'stations' in The Dig, or Indiana Jones FoA).

[zabnat]

Looks pretty good so far. Only thing I noticed was wrong is the reflections as they don't reflect the shapes of the buildings.

[Dualnames]

Not bad. It needs something I think..

[Andail]

The basic shapes are good - and it's overall a good idea to start out with interesting models and not just square boxes - but you need to apply heaps of details, colours and textures.
If those are meant to be windows, make them transparent or at least illuminated. Try painting some sort of pattern on the exterior. Make the reflections less distinct, as they will appear odd with the character walking around on them - unless of course you add a character reflection too, which isn't too complicated. 

[Lt. Smash]

The borders of the stone plates are a bit out of perspective.
Texture the buildings and maybe add some of these things:
- a panel to open the door.
- duct covers.
- a street light to make a light source. btw the houses are much too bright compared to           
     the rest of the background.
- let the logo shine.
- make a backgroundlayer. if this should be night, then make stars.

otherwise very good 

[Candall]

I'm yet to figure out how to make it look like a neon light.

You'll need to give it supports so that it doesn't look like it's attached directly to the building.  They usually have a wire wrap behind them that sticks into the building and holds the neon joints in strategic areas.  Maybe have a visible control box as well.

You'll also need to make it look less like a solid logo and more like a series of thin tubes of glass with a glowing light inside.  They're never one complete image... at least none of the ones I've seen.

Finally, you need to have some of that light reflecting off the building's face.  If not, I'd put a thin, faint halo around the glowing parts.

[ThreeOhFour]

Mmm... still have plenty of work to do. Here is a quick update:

[Evil]

Looks really good. I almost thought it was 3D.

By any chance, is this based of one of Andail's tutorials? It reminds me of something I believe Andail did a while back.

[ThreeOhFour]

Glad you like the way it is turning out - this isn't based off one of Andail's tutorials as such, although I have been paying close attention to his stuff to see what he does, so you may see some recycled technique from one or more of his works.

[Buckethead]

I'm not sure about the green. Just looks hiddious if you ask me. Perhaps use a warm yellow-ish light instead? 

[Erwin_Br]

Green looks okay. For a nightclub, I wouldn't use warm colours. Bright neon lights are the way to go, if you ask me.

Anyway, the building has an interesting shape, though it looks kinda futuristic. I like it, but you could easily use this as a scene on an alien planet and I'm not sure if that's the intention.

--Erwin

[loominous]

Could we have a look at those "failed" hand painted (stylewise) ones?

I think the current style might be tough to keep from looking lifeless and empty, but it might suit the game for all I know, and it's a WIP after all.

[LimpingFish]

Looks really good. I almost thought it was 3D.

[Captain Lexington]

Looks really good. I almost thought it was 3D.

God damn you, LimpingFish.

You've killed my Blender enthusiasm.

Now I'll have to do ASCII art for my games.

[ThreeOhFour]

Hey again everyone, and thankyou for your comments.

Mr Buckethead - The green may be hideous, but I'm afraid it's staying. I wanted to go with cool colours for the lights and warm colours for the buildings, so green was the closest I was prepared to get to yellow. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Erwin - Yeah, I know that it does look kinda alien-y. I am hoping that the rest of the backgrounds will be normal cityish enough to make up for it - but I didn't want to have a shoebox shaped building because I'm bored of drawing them .

Loominous - Well, I suppose - here's one I did with brushes. It's not any better than a sketch, and the colours are awful, but it was during my planning the background. I had a lot of trouble using the brushes to get the shapes I wanted - I'm hoping to get a graphics tablet so I can draw easier that with the mouse, but until then I'm afraid it's probably going to be straight lines for me.

LimpingFish = Awesome!

On to the pictures:

Painted style as mentioned by Loominous (very ashamed of it too  )


And latest version of the background:


A couple of quick notes:

I tried channel mixing for the first time here and am rather pleased with the result (and resulting page full of scribbled notes), so hopefully the balance between the highlights and shadows etc will be pleasing.

I also wonder at the number of colours here. Over 19000?!?! I tried colour reducing with Paint Shop Pro 4, but it seems to reduce the quality to what I consider an unnacceptable point. The image is rather grainy in places, but that was intentional. Any tips?

Also, I'm thinking that polishing aside, I'm going to tentatively say that this is almost done. Are the bare-ish walls a major concern to anyone? I want to move on to other backgrounds, but I don't want to miss out on any opportunity to improve this one.

Thanks, all.

[Andail]

Your "painted" style is better than the other one. Or at least it's got more potential. Comparing the two, the first one's got a far more solid, building-like feeling to it, it's more authentic and easier on the eye.
The reason you might still prefer the other one is because you've added spectacular lighting effects which makes it instantly more impressive, but with carefully applied lighting/shading, the handpainted one will end up much better, believe me.

There are still some minor compositional flaws to it, which I might return to during the weekend, if I get the time.

[ThreeOhFour]

It would seem the "sigh" I placed in the title of this topic was not entirely unwarranted.

I was staring at the picture after I posted it (I do this to all things - the more I look at them the less I like them, it generally seems) and said to myself "This looks kinda flat".



To the GIMP I shall return.

I swear one of these days I'll be good at these things!

[Sylvr]

Would the door really have light from the neon sign above it? I just noticed. It could be just me, but wouldn't light not bounce there? It looks like the light would have to go around the wall for that. Other than that, looks good

[Sparky]

The hand painted version has some of the detail the more "perfect" current version lacks. The little imperfections give the eye something to rest on.

That said I can see why a detail oriented person would prefer working in a style like the second. And with a little detail it could easily surpass the quality of the old sketch.

I was staring at the picture after I posted it (I do this to all things - the more I look at them the less I like them, it generally seems) and said to myself "This looks kinda flat".

I do that too. It's a weird feeling, isn't it?