Contructive Crits on a really bad tree.

[tombom62]

That says it all, I want to make a good KQ/QfG style scene, so I found a screen of the type of style I wanted, and made a tree to add to it for practice (the background of the scene wasnt made by me, just the tree was.

Take a look:

2x:


I know it cucks, I sorta like the trunk, but the top leves and stuff REALLY are horrible!!  Help with everything really, this is the best I've done, as you can tell I suck.

thanks in advance,
tombom

[Ghost]

The leaves are not so bad at all, and the overall colour choices are good too. Nice and saturated. Try to make the trunk thinner (you can lose a good third of it), and add more branches. Branches usually, er, BRANCH more, too, so you may want to do that.

Also, artifacts in posted pics are one big *no!*, so why not post a png instead

[Buckethead]

It doesnt look bad but the shape is wrong. Have a look at how actual trees are build up.

[tombom62]

Thanks for the replies guys, I will post my new pic after I finish it.  and I will try and compare it to real trees, and some trees from KQ mabey (?sp?)

[Klyptomaniac]

I'd say just find a tree on an image search and try and copy it in a smaller size and see what you get <:/

[Matti]

It looks a bit strange because the trunk suddenly ends and three branches are coming out. Make the trunk larger so that it disappears in the treetop.

[Layabout]

Or better still, study tree silhouette's and search for them in google images. It will give you  a foundation to build your tree, know their form, etc. The shape of your trunk is fundamentally wrong.

[InCreator]

It's awful.

Here's a 7-minute tutorial for you:

It really DID take 7 minutes. Using an hour, I could make 10 trees!

All you need is a program that allows you to draw custom brushes(Gimp, Photoshop,whatever... I used ArtGem!), spraypaint them, and use brighten/darken as processor. Ability to have layers - I used 3 - would help also greatly! If not - magic wand selector is a must.

1. Freehand a tree. Used brown color + pencil, not line tool. It gives more jagged and natural look.

2. Add branches. Branches tend to grow upwards on most trees. Fill with tree base color.

3. Now make custom brush, simply few vertical lines. I made them a bit messy to get more natural result
Then, use brush as spray, and processor as brighten/darken 3%, and paint over tree trunk. More in the middle to get cylindrical shading, darken on edges.

4. Make layer under trunk layer. Make a brush that looks like leaves. Make sure to connect them in the middle so there would be no "floating", not connected leaves. Spray them with base leaf color.

5. Using same brush, brighten-darken on base color leaves to shade them. Be gentle, those will be background leaves

6. Add another layer of leaves, this time infront of branches. Don't cover branches wholly, let some be visible. Rework with brightness processor, be more aggressive this time. Aim for cylindrical shading, brightening in center/upper side, darkening edges. Use 5% darkening leaf tool on trunk, slightly under leaves to make some shadows.

Then adjust everything, like brightness, saturation, contrast to get best result. Add about 3-6% monochromatic noise to fake some additional detail

7. (Not in tutorial) - fix all flat areas with 16px soft, 5% darkening brush, like roots and branches to make them less flat and give them more shape/round/realistic shade

Writing this post took more than drawing this tree!

[Moresco]

I like that tutorial, pretty neat.

In other news, your branches seem elastic or maybe stretchy.  It's like they suddenly shoot out like Mr Fantastic shooting his arms out to grab some coffee from across the room.  But branches can be in all types of configurations and twists and turns, so your branches aren't totally wrong but the way the leaves seem to sit in a pile on the tip-top of them really adds to the weirdness.  Good to see you're working on some art though, everyone goes through these tough stages, just keep at it.

[Oliwerko]

Saving now, InC.
A perfect example of your ArtGem skill 

[InCreator]

Looking at it now, drawn 12 minutes after waking up, it looks quite horrid to myself...  Especially leaves (too flat) and palette choice.

Drawing a bit better custom brushes and putting more care to it - while doing everything as shown - is still how I make a tree.
So, the technique is exactly correct, simply this tutorial doesn't show the best that can be done with the technique.

[Andail]

I think it's quite impossible to make a tutorial for an isolated object such as a tree, without taking into account that trees come in hundreds of different shapes and colours, and furthermore their appearences depend heavily on the environment.
You can't really present one model tree and expect it to fit anywhere. A tree can be a jumble mess of twisted branches, another can be just a huge expanse of foliage.

[InCreator]

Well, there's a reference, isn't it?
The tree tombom62 made?

[tombom62]

Well, there's a reference, isn't it?
The tree tombom62 made?

yeah, I know it's pretty bad, thanks a lot for the tutorial!  I see what andail is saying though.

I think it's quite impossible to make a tutorial for an isolated object such as a tree, without taking into account that trees come in hundreds of different shapes and colours, and furthermore their appearances (corrected spelling by me) depend heavily on the environment.
You can't really present one model tree and expect it to fit anywhere. A tree can be a jumble mess of twisted branches, another can be just a huge expanse of foliage.

Yes, I always hated my tree there, I did, personally like the colours though, I think I will try inCreator's tutorial there, then try to apply MY colour palate. 

I like that tutorial, pretty neat.

In other news, your branches seem elastic or maybe stretchy.  It's like they suddenly shoot out like Mr Fantastic shooting his arms out to grab some coffee from across the room.  But branches can be in all types of configurations and twists and turns, so your branches aren't totally wrong but the way the leaves seem to sit in a pile on the tip-top of them really adds to the weirdness.  Good to see you're working on some art though, everyone goes through these tough stages, just keep at it.

Thanks, tRP!  I agree with you on that, I am going to make the branches a bit more um.. let's say.. realistic.  And thanks again guys, I will post art tonight!  (it's early in the morning where I live, so It could be a while)

thanks,
tombom 8)

[Buckethead]

Every tree might be different but increator's technique can would for any sort of tree I think

[InCreator]

Every tree might be different but increator's technique can would for any sort of tree I think

Well, with this I agree and can prove it too:


Only exception is maybe pine (pine? sorta) - First, instead of one base color, I made something gradient-like, and second - the root and trunk shading is reworked with a soft brighten brush. Also, I changed custom brush size here and there, but this applies to all three.

But for rest 95%, the technique is same, simply with bit more effort.... only a bit.
Use less density on foliage, and you get a dead tree.

One fault here is that brighten/darken doesn't work well with all colors, better with greens and okay with blues and totally awful with reds. This is well seen on birch - neither brightening nor darkening did much good to orange color, and result still feels quite flat.

Only thing I wouldn't make with this tech are really strange trees, like stereotypical palm trees.

Cannot draw properly with Razer Krait! Gaming mice ain't for pixel drawing...

[Loki Russell]

Nice tutorial InCreator.

Cannot draw properly with Razer Krait! Gaming mice ain't for pixel drawing...

I must disagree! As I find the sensitivity of my Razer mouse perfect for pixel art. Perfect control in my opinion. Each to his own though.