Background technique test

[Ginny]

Using Hobbes' tutorial on how he made the amazing backgrounds in Buccaneer, I had a go at using some of those methods combined with some of my own. The technique might be a bit too obvious sometimes, and I've noticed the transparent/missing pixel on the sofa. Posterizing a GF screenshot didn't work, especcially since it's off perspective..
The theme itself is pretty random.



C&C is very welcome Most likely I will use a different method in my MAGS game, as this one doesn't really fit my.. setting...

[Fizz]

the perspective and composition bothers me. it "weighs" too mutch on the left side in my opinion. and im personally not a very big fan of gradients, but thats just a matter of taste. hope i dont sound all grumpy

[Ginny]

Yeah I noticed how the room seems to be leaning or shifting weight (it's alive! ) to the right if that's what you mean, but changing that was too late. Gradients can be ok if they're not too obvious, which unfortunately they are, here...
My favorite part was the picture, which I smudged to give it a painted look, and I kinda like the result. The rest of the image isn't as good. A lot of it bugs me, but I can't put my finger on it

What do you think of the colors, do they fit in together?

[Fizz]

yes, the colors fit very well together. but i think theres too many variatons of (basically) the same color. you know what mean?  but yeah, i like the colors, but im not a very good color technician myself, so i wouldnt take my words too serious. wait for pessi to comment, and thy shalt be satisfied

[Meowster]

Try adding things about the room with different colours:

Lamp, light, skirting boards, mirror, chair, vase, coffee table, a few magazines, some empty crisp packets, sprite cans, video cassette cases, newspaper, pencils, pens, stains, etc.,. They'll balance the room more and add more colour and variation, and make it more interesting to look at.

I took in the entire room at one glance. Whereas in games such as Monkey Island and DOTT, there are plenty of background objects so that there's always something new that you didn't see the last time.

The background itself is good, but the smudged painting clashes a bit with the rest of it, which is quite sharp.

Finally... nice choice of posters! I should get around to playing Grim Fandango some time.

[Ginny]

Thanks for the tips The painting being smudged is supposed to indicate that it's hand painted, but I can see how it clashes with the rest of the background. Btw, do you think a background which is all in this style would look good?

Lol, the painting was first intended to be a mirror (mirror mirror on the wall ) but I felt I couldn't really make it obvious that it's a mirror and not a wondow .

As for more stuff: Yeah, I might add a coffee table with some magazines or papers. I could've also added places where the paint from the walls has faded. Thanks for the other ideas aswell, I might add some stuff to this background from time to time. As it's not for a game (and when I'll make bgs for a game I'll have them planned out so they'll be lots of stuff ) I'll leave it a bit minimalistic for now. The actual technique would look better if the gradients weren't so obvious heh.

(P.s. What are skirting boards?)

[Meowster]

What are skirting boards?

Well, anyhow, they're boards that go around the base of the wall. I think they're supposed to stop draughts and mice. They're usually painted a different colour to the wall.

Yeah, the background would set a nice style for a game. Unless it's a monkey island style game

Do americans having skirting boards?
Does Tim Schafer have skirting boards???
I don't think I could love him quite the same, if he didn't have skirting boards. Dude, only satan worshippers don't have skirting boards. Isn't that right, Boyd?

PS. Try cartoon shading the GF poster so that it fits in. It's only that is high-res Manny is 3D looking and the rest of the room is low-res 2D

[Ginny]

Rofl! Yeah, we have skirting boards I think, just never knew they were called that. Never knew what they were called, even.

Hmm, cartoon shading? How can I do that? I'm a bit new to such terms as cartoon shading, do you mean cell shading?

Yeah this style would fit in a game, just not the game I'm making now... lol

Ooh, great, another Tim fan!

[WanderLady]

Hi Ginny,

   I remember another picture you made, and I must say that you've improved greatly.

  Just some things I notice: The door is too small, and it's perspective on top is a little more slanted than it should be. Normally doors in the home aren't  far from the ceiling.
   The black outline along the walls may be apart of what's causing the disarray. I see you used a darker brown for the floor outline, so maybe use a darker beige outline for the walls to be consistent.
 
The couch is very good, very nice.
The colors are good, also, but could be less bright. They're close, though.

[Ginny]

I did use a darger beige, but i guess too dark

The couch I sorta copied : I found a picture on google and traced and colored it. Glad you like it

Good point about the door, I looked at my own doors just now and noticed they're close to the ceileing. I had trouble with getting the door's perspective right.

I'll try desaturating it a bit and see if it looks better

Glad to hear you think I've improved In turn, I remember your Background Blitz (portal), and it was great aswell as original

[WanderLady]

Hi Ginny,

I hope you don't mind that I did this. I'm better at showing than speaking, sometimes.



#1This is what I meant when speaking of the beige outline. In the original picture it is black.
#2Because the room isn't centered, but more towards the right, the walls lines shouldn't be equal. The length of the wall on the right has not yet reached the length of the wall on the left, therefore I lowered the top line, and raised the bottom line on the right wall to try and correct the perspective. (But I'm not exactly sure on this myself, so if a better artist is reading this, could you either give the thumbs down or up.)
#3This is just the door fix. I added a doorframe to give it more depth, thickness.
#4I noticed this line was black also, so I just changed to the dark brown.

Also, I only have Paint, so you may find some color splotches around the areas I changed.

[Ginny]

Wow, thanks the outlines look much better, and so does the door I'll take a closer look at it in Photoshop later, and I might to try and fix the couch too. Thanks again