I'm trying to make a nightly bedroom with the only light coming from the one window it has.
The light is supposed to be from the moon and street lamps so I thought the blue color would be the best choice.
What do you think? Do you think the room needs something more or does the coloring need some more love etc?
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a397/KoneMies/makuuhuonev3.png)
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a397/KoneMies/makuuhuonev3.png)
I am still very much a novice, and learning daily, but I like the shadow of that tree there. Very nice effect of spookyness.
-Bill
Nice start.
Some pointers:
The blues are a bit too pastel. They should probably be darker, more purple.
Try to play a bit more with your lines: the light from the window casts straight lines on your wall, maybe make 'm a bit less straight.
Add some shadows underneath the desk and other furniture: even though it doesn't get direct light, they get indirect light, which will give shadows.
One thing I DID think of, which maybe will actually mean I am contributing something instead of asking for advice :)
There is a moon and streetlight, which means technically 2 sources of light in the frame. There will be one brighter shadowset from the brighter (I am guessing the light), and one dimmer shadowset from the dimmer of the 2 (moon), which will also be at a slightly different angle.
Thanks,
Bill
Maybe I should try the more purple colours. I was trying to be too sneaky, I suppose, half of those blue shades are used on my characters jeans. :) I hope I understood the "less straight" light lines correctly.
Quote from: poc301 on Tue 21/04/2009 21:40:09
One thing I DID think of, which maybe will actually mean I am contributing something instead of asking for advice :)
There is a moon and streetlight, which means technically 2 sources of light in the frame. There will be one brighter shadowset from the brighter (I am guessing the light), and one dimmer shadowset from the dimmer of the 2 (moon), which will also be at a slightly different angle.
Thanks,
Bill
I that was a nasty, yet good, notice. I have no idea to imlpent it. :D:D Maybe some more pro artist can help me out with that idea. Thanks to both of you for your contribution already.
I think you should turn the black surfaces of the bed, bookcase and table into a dark blue. I get that they're up against a wall and therefore in total shadow, but since we can't see that 4th wall, they really stand out. The black edge of the table leg not against the wall should have an even lighter shade. Overall I really like the pastel style, it's unique and sets the mood very well.
Nice that someone other than me liked the pastel colors. :) Here's what I've got at the moment:
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a397/KoneMies/makuuhuonev3v2.png)
I took away the black, "unstraightened" the light and added a drawer. I'm suprised how hard time I'm having imagining how the indirect shadow should form under the table and the chair. Any help will be appriciated.
I like the colours too, but I have a bit of a problem with the tree shadow. I think it's a really good idea, and like the overall effect, but it looks a bit like it is growing out of the bed, rather than a shadow cast on the wall. I think the problem here is that the shadow needs to follow the contours of the room more, rather than exactly mimicking a tree.
I hope that makes sense!
If I may suggest:
(http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/608/makuuhuonev3v2edit1png.png)
I did two things here:
1. I darkened the shadows A LOT to create more contrast in the room.
2. I fixed the tree (DoUn2u's suggestion) so that it more realistically mimics a broken shadow.
Well...I tried to come up with an edit to fix some of the problems with the tree and such, but the more I kept screwing around the more I felt like that window either had to be humongous (like something from a very tall ceiling in a living room) or you'd end up with something like a bit of light shining down, possibly hints of a tree out in the yard, more like partial branch shadow, with a window border shadow around it. Right now that light, to me anyhow, just makes no sense. Anybody more experienced wish to chime in?
Also, someone suggested using multiple shadows, but shadows don't multiply, do they? It's a very clean background, multiple tree shadows would become really distracting.
Uhh, this could be a style issue but it kinda always draws my attention - the door goes right up to the ceiling, make it a bit shorter perhaps or a bit of wall on top of it. Oh and maybe a chair with a back, os it one of those ergonomic ones that bends you with the back. ;D
Quote from: theRedPress on Wed 22/04/2009 05:51:37Also, someone suggested using multiple shadows, but shadows don't multiply, do they? It's a very clean background, multiple tree shadows would become really distracting.
I think that shadows do "multiply", as in if you have a light that's not that strong and farther away and light source that's closer but more directional it would make for a darker shadow in the area of the softer shadow...wow, this was probably confusing to the rest of you. :P
But all the same, I don't think that level of detail is needed here.
I don't think you'd be able to see any holes in the tree's canopy in the shadow. It also probably wouldn't be as sharp but I don't think you could do anything about that without ruining the clean style.
One thing that bothers me - why is the electrical outlet on the bottom left darker than the light switch by the door?
JBurger's edit is great in terms of where you should take the image; I especially like how you can see the light under the door. If you were going with this though you'd probably need a second background with the door open, showing light streaming through from the room beyond.
Darker is definitely the way to go, but you need to decrease the saturation there. Way too much blue now.
Quote from: anian on Wed 22/04/2009 09:49:58
I think that shadows do "multiply", as in if you have a light that's not that strong and farther away and light source that's closer but more directional it would make for a darker shadow in the area of the softer shadow...wow, this was probably confusing to the rest of you. :P
But all the same, I don't think that level of detail is needed here.
Ah I see, it's that multiple light source detail that I didn't quite get. I will remember that.
@Jburger
Yeah, the darker colors surely look nice. I thought of adding a light underneath the door and now that how it looks like I'm definitely adding it in. ;)
@Hudders
I'm pretty sure I had some really good explanation for the electrical outlet and light switch coloring, but I don't remember it anymore. I'll look what I can do with it. :D As for the background with the door open, I'm pretty sure I don't need one because I'm going to use this one for only one scene that's not involving any interaction. However I might need to do it for a daylight version. I haven't yet decided if I want one to go to this room as a player character. :)
@Andail
I look to it
@All
Thanks for all the comments and I hope there will be even more on the way, I've noticed how much the community support helps other people to improve their backgrouds/sprites/art and have no doubt it will help me too. :=
So this is what I got a the moment:
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a397/KoneMies/makuuhuonev4.png)
I darkened the colors abit or actually I added two darker and less saturated blue's to the palette. Made the door a bit shorter and added the light under it plus I tried to fix the treeshadow as you said.
The highlights suggest a blue light source rather than a natural yellow (light bulbs, sun). You can use blue for the dark corners of the room, but the areas where light is casting on the wall and under the door need to have a definite yellow hue, especially anything bright enough to cast the entire shadow of a tree on the wall (that would be quite a strong light source).
Good point. Then again, what of the song Blue Moon? Heheh
-Bill
Quote from: ProgZmax on Wed 22/04/2009 23:14:41
The highlights suggest a blue light source rather than a natural yellow (light bulbs, sun). You can use blue for the dark corners of the room, but the areas where light is casting on the wall and under the door need to have a definite yellow hue, especially anything bright enough to cast the entire shadow of a tree on the wall (that would be quite a strong light source).
I was a bit skeptic about the yellowness (which I shouln't have been knowing your skills :) ) but atleast when I coloured only the direct light yellow and left everything else blue, it had a really nice effect.
About the tree. Do you have any suggestions for it? I think, and someone else said the same, that it adds a nice, even spooky, feeling to the room. It would be sad to lose it completely. :(
Unfortunately, right now it looks like one of those kid toys that cast blown-up shadows of things from a light source on the wall, especially when viewed from the shelf area. What you could try is to move the window to the left wall instead and have it cast a long shadow along the floor and right side of the room resembling a tree (with part of the tree visible beyond the window. This will help the viewer to understand what exactly is going on and you don't have to scrap the effect.
that tree shadow looks really wrong to me. Wouldn't it be a lot bigger if the tree was outside?
Depends on the light source :)
If it's moonlight, any cast shadow regardless of distance would be of the same size as its object, since the light is virtually parallel. (It's the same with the sun, obviously; the shadow of an airplane is never bigger than the plane itself, regardless of its altitude; the sun beams hit the plane parallel and won't project the plane any differently on the ground).
If there's a lamp post right behind the tree, it would indeed be much bigger and furthermore much more diffuse.
I think the shadow needs more blur to it, as it looks like an exact projection right now.
Apart from that, the room is too equally lit, in my opinion. If the window is the only light source, why not make the corners and walls to the right a bit darker? Don't use gradients, just add more shadows the farther you get from the window. Remember that the reasons for shadows being blue is that the blue sky becomes the prime light source. It doesn't mean everything that isn't hit by any other light automatically becomes painted clear blue. You should probably add more black as you move away from the window.
Ok so I tried a little different approach this time. I replaced the tree shadow with a two part window so the window makes the shadow. Also I made the room a lot more dark. Maybe I still should try it out with yellow light but it's kinda hard it to get the same feeling of night, it looks more like dawn when I tried it out last time.
Any suggestions how to make the change from light to complete darkness look more smooth?
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a397/KoneMies/makuuhuonev6.png)