Hi, I'm trying to match my friends art which is like this:
(http://i39.tinypic.com/11w4u91.png)
By converting my 3d art to images like this:
Before:
(http://i44.tinypic.com/ayxe6p.png)
After:
(http://i44.tinypic.com/24orj3t.png)
Any critique is greatly appreciated!
Have a blessed night!
I think you need to spend more time on it. Right now it's just a color block out. Show us after you try shading like the above example.
Ok, Thanks!
Ok, I added Some mountain in the BG with shading on it, Anyone got any tips on how to make pixel grass?
Also maby some suggestions on the other areas?
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/church2_zps2d4c3255.png)
PS. I'm going to fix the right side of the mountains a little more, just noticed shade 3 of the brown is a little excessive.
Perhaps try gradually adjusting the shading on the roof and walls of the building, and maybe tone down the saturation?
Roof alone:
Step 1. Count the colors on the 3D (eyeball it). I can see at least 3 that blend from left to right, and another 1 used as a shadow for under the tiles.
Step 2. Count the colors on the 2D version. Two.
Step 3. Add more variation to the 2D version, even so much as air brushing a gradient over the area from light to dark (left to right).
Step 4. Pick something other than the roof, rinse and repeat 1-3 as appropriate.
Well, I tried to do some shading on the roof and walls but I don't think I did too well.
I'm trying not to use any smudge, airbrush, or any tools that scatter pixels beyond human manual capability. "Pencil only" I Don't have any dithering tools on photoshop that I know of.
I guess I'll need to find some roofing and brick shading tutorials for pixel art?
I'm still wide open to any comments,suggestions or critique.
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/church5_zpsabf89e39.png)
I think you should work some on the windows. Windows usually show whats inside (which usually isn't all blue ;) ) or reflect whats outside, or both, depending on light from inside and outside.
That's a nice enough rock wall but the house and grass are still completely flat shaded. Just try painting and having fun. Maybe break thee perfect wireframe lines the house has at the moment. Also the perspective is pretty off from the angle you rendered but it's not too bad.
I put some touches on the windows, Thanks armageddon, maby I'll try putting some more natural randomly shaped stones on the walls, I've always been an Isometric and OCD Square, box, perfection type, So this abstract is a new and difficult think for me to grasp.
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/church777_zpscbefb5ff.png)
Ok, I tried to invent a technique on the walls but It's kind of Iffy to me, Let me know what you guys think:
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/churchbricked_zps1f4acfc9.png)
Well, my friend told me a technique to do the roof with, Now I just need to finish the windows and figure out a way to do some good pixel grass, Anyone know?
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/churchroof_zps97d3a59e.png)
PHEW!!...Hard work! Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Well, sorry to bump my own topic so much but I'm glad nobody answered that last question as I would have felt bad, My friend Toendra showed me a cool grass making technique and most of what I will need to finish, Thank you all very much for the great help!
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/Polishable1_zps7e7fb4e7.png)
I always get good honesty and critique here on the AGS Critics lounge!
Thanks a million and god bless!
-Jared
You've come a long way, I've got to admit that.
Your colors in the original 3D version are much better than what you've got now. Now it's too saturated, and the colors are much brighter. The window frames look unmatched to the wood and stone. Also, maybe you could try to match the rock wall colors and technique to your friend's designs.
Aside from that, keep working on it and I'm sure it will continue to improve.
Thanks Dactylopus, I totally agree, I'm hoping he will teach me a thing or 2 about wood :)
He's going to go over it for me and polish it so maby I can learn a bit of his pro techniques, I've found it's best to learn from example, at least for me with pixel art.
Well, I tried to take your advice and I also have another image up for critique.
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/Polishable1_zps23d6e43d.png)
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/777_zpsa222e25f.png)
Thanks!
The inside view looks good, much better than the outside and much more like the style you are trying to match.
What bugs me most about your little church's outside is that there is not a single shadow even though the roof is huge. Think about where the light is coming from and incorporate shadows. If both images are the same building (probably not), light should be shining through the windows inside and a chimney should be visible on the roof.
Sorry for posting it like that, this is actually the inside of the church,
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/Remakes/churchfinal_zps1dbb5e1e.png)
I drew this and my good friend Toendra Nulta shaded it for me and did some little touch ups here and there.
That is the inside of this building,
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/Remakes/herohutfinished_zpsa79c74e0.png)
Toendra drew this one from one of my 3D renders.
I appreciate the advice as it gets hard depending on my own eye, when I'm working on so many pieces my brain gets a little scrambled.
I'm going to add some shading now, which i had forgotten to do, so thank you for that! :D
Do you think the brick or anything else is too light/dark/discolored for his palette?
Thanks again I appreciate all advice!
Here's some more I'm working on, I can't figure out what to do for the floor on the inside cave image and looking for general critique on the outside one.
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/Remakes/Finalcave_zps793d5678.png)
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/Remakes/insidecave_zps3b95af11.png)
Sorry for posting so many at once, but I'm new to pixel art and its very hard to meet Toendra's standards!
Thank you all infinity billion!
Horrible attempt #1
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/Polishable1shaded_zpsaba0bb76.png)
Nice seeing the progress on this, it's come a long way.
The shadow in he latest image isn't going to work unless your building is one dimensional. It's also too angular and crisp given that it should be falling on the mountain (how far away is the mountain?) and grass. At the moment the shadow looks like a part of the building rather than being cast by it.
I would suggest making it softer and using a darker tone of the colours in the scene (shadows are not black, or grey). Also think about the building as a 3D shape. The roof overhangs the wall so that would cast a shadow also. Remember there can be more than one shadow and they can overlap. Work out where your light source is so that the shadows fall the right way - given you've gone for top left it will either be towards us or towards the mountain.
What are rendering this in? The sharp light and flat textures make me think Bryce or similar, you need to get rid of those strong shadows.
And when you decide to do something of better quality, download Blender and start there + some inspiration/tutorials for handpainted textures:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89131
http://wiki.polycount.com/TexturingTutorials#Painting_Stylistic_Textures
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88996
AND GO! :grin:
@ StrayDogStrut
Aha, thank you very much for the detailed critique!
by darker tone of the colors in the scene did you mean under the shadow?
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/shadedchurch_zps11167a7c.png)
@anian
This is blender, but what I'm doing is trying to get rid of the 3d by painting over it, mostly with pencil tool in photoshop.
This is what the original 3d image looked like:
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/test1_zps63137257.png)
I've been using blender for about 10 years now and I'm a super fast modeler with it but were trying to go with the sierra style on this game and i've tried every possible option with blender like, no anti aliasing, no textures, no shaders, but still end up having to hand paint them to get the real sierra look with a lower color palette and unfortunately theres about 20 rooms in my game that are 3D so im having a pain in the rear trying to convert them all to 2D to match the rest of the game. The reason being we got a highly talented 2D artist who has created a massive amount of 2D rooms for us! :D
I thank you greatly for the links, I'm also working on a 3D FPS "Revelade Revolution" using the sauerbraten engine and was wanting to learn a little more about higher quality handmade textures :D
The problem here is while your 3D mountain has a texture, it still is flat while the pixel mountain looks like it has a lot of ridges. Try to follow those with the edge of your shadow. Think of it like casting light and shadow on folded curtains. But you are making great progress, the colors look much better in the latest picture.
The inside cave image looks quite nice. The only thing that bugs me is that the ground looks like it's asphalt. If it's still the natural ground, it should be the same color as the walls. Other than that, the texture is nice.
For the outside cave view, it looks too much like a bottomless hole. Maybe you could color in a few pixels inside the opening and have it go darker and darker (and be sure to not make it a hard edge). Also, the entry on the inside looks square while the opening is rounded. To make this work, you can paint more earthen pixels inside beyond the first wooden beams to suggest that the cave already went on for a few meters.
Generally speaking, remember that there are no hard borders anywhere in nature. Mountains don't just grow out of the ground, they are connected. Grass doesn't stop growing just because there's a mountain. Rivers are bedded inbetween two slopes rather than a dug channel and so on.
Thanks a lot!, I went and held an object in front of some curtains and shined a light on it and the shadow lowered at the top portions of the extruded area and down at the bottom of the extruded area, like this.
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/Polishable2_zps41f5a2ca.png)
I also drew some awesome little flowers from one of Anian's recommended tutorials!
Tried to add some depth to the cave entrance:
(http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p707/Jared_Gristina/Finalcave2_zps7644d64c.png)
PS. Anyone know how I add that code for images to have 4 different sizes on them?