greatly reworked background- new style

[ace monkey]

i've posted a background like this countless times but could never get it quite rite. well i thought about it and came up with this:



hope ur not fed up of seeing this background 

[seaduck]

OMG not THIS background AGAIN!!Ã, 

[dsg_charly]

Nice, just one question:

Is the little wood house an office, cause the window looks like a counter. In that case, why not putting a pannel advice, uo the window or on its left ?

[Dr. Scary]

Looking much better. I for one support your idea of reworking the same background over and over again. As long as you can keep your motivation up it's a great way to gage improvement.
On to the critisism:
- My main point of critisism is the colors. They are flat and boring. When you chose a cartoony style you should back it up with the colors you select. Right now the only things that seem like they have the correct color are the boxes and the roof. (I really like the roof, btw)
- The boards on the shack wall are a bit too big for my taste, even if it is cartoony.
- Likewise the window frame and the frame around the hatch on the Coke machine are too thick.
- Very niggly, but... inside the Coke machine hatch you have used outlines instead of solid colors to define the shape. It's the only place in the background you have done this, so it kind of sticks out.
- The city in the background could use some kind of solind ground underneath it. I think it would be visible from that distance.
- Finally, you have some color bleeding around the edges of your objects that should be fixed in the final version, like some bright pixels between the shack and the concrete.

[ace monkey]

i'm not sure wat i should do to change the colours- maybe a quick colour-over?
as for the outlines in hatch on the fizz machine- how many shades of gray can i use without i looking all same-y lol. i think thats y i used the lines, but your right, it does stick out
the boards on the shack- should i reduce the height ( put some horrozontal lines in i.e) or the width, or maybe both (say no for the last, thats a lot of work lolÃ,  )Ã, 
dont worry about the bleeding, i'll get some bandages, lol, seriously i'll fix it for the final version.

here's the update

[Drawken]

Here's a quick color over.
As pointed out already, your colors are way too dark, so I brightened things up.
In real life the closer objects get to the horizon, the lighter and less saturated they become.
With the sky it's the opposite, the closer to the earth's surface it's lightest, and farther away it's darkest.
The bubbles on the soda machine were the same exact value as the outside coloring so I brightened them up.
The smoke stack thingy should be casting a shadow, same with the roof and boxes. (I do admit the box shadowing isn't accurate.)
As far as coloring goes, I made the boxes more of a yellow color so they wouldn't be the same coloring as the shack.
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The shack right now is very nekid. The way you have the scene framed, whatever is put on that blank wall in the center will be the center of interest, so I would suggest moving the window to that spot then putting a poster of some kind next to its right.
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LINK: original color value

LINK: crit color value

[JustLuke29]

It looks pretty nifty but you need to think about the framing of the scene, specifically how large the main character sprite will need to be to fit into the background. For a character to match up with the perspective he will need to be so large as to take up almost the entire height of the screen when standing next to the vending machine or elsewhere in the foreground. Also the boxes may entirely obscure the character at times (depending where the player clicks, of course.)

One more point about the framing and composition of the scene; the angle and position of the vending machine and shack naturally leads ones eyes over towards cityscape on the horizon. Is this intentional?

The ground seems a bit too plain. I realise that you are aiming for a clean, cartoony look but you could add a few sparse stones, bumps or cracks (for example) to break up the monotony of the grey (but don't over do it!)

[ace monkey]

Also the boxes may entirely obscure the character at times (depending where the player clicks, of course.)

the player won't be able to move behind the boxes as soon as he almost dissapears behind the boxes they will go to the next room 

i personaly don't like the colouring much, on the recolour. ok let me be more specific- i like the wood on the shack, dont like the colour of the boxes (why have you assumed there shud be a shadow cast that way?) the sky is way too bright blue at the top, the vending machine is too dull i feel. overall this just doesn't feel right if you know what i mean?  i admit it does need brightening up so i'll try and do something about it

P.S - dont think im not grateful for your comments and recolours, i am. thats y im going to do a recolour of my own and try to come to a compramise 

[ace monkey]

heres an update. i changed the colours to make them brighter and stonger. what do you think?



i am thinking of putting in some gradients and other shading detail but for now i have exams to revise forÃ, 

P.S: what should i do about character style? heres a concept from before i drew this background:



paintovers (or new concepts) welcome. i want this to match the background, but simply getting rid of the black out lines creates detail problems. i really need help on this.

[Andail]

This background has been treated so much I would almost suggest doing a complete revamp. Keep all the elements, but go for a totally different approach. Toss around them, alter perspective, view-points.

This picture has been beaten and battered, give it a rest now and start anew!

[ace monkey]

ye ok but wat about my character problem?

[jasonjkay]

ye ok but wat about my character problem?

Havent you already made a post for this charachter at
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=26641.0
Id suggest using the replies on that topic.

[ace monkey]

no that was for a different game that i've put to one side for now. this isn't the character im using for this game, i just want some ideas about how to create a character to match this background. i posted the char concept so ppl could do paintovers or something, and to give them an idea of the cartoony style i'd like to use.

so... using characters with black outlines on this sort of background

     - Good idea
     - Good idea but needs work
     -Change it
     -THATS TERRIBLE FOR THE BACKGROUND!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? (lol)

[jasonjkay]

Ok I understand now. Id say use the same style but change the black outline to a darker version of the inside colour.

[ace monkey]

here's a quick concept



what do you think?

[ildu]

- Too much detail on the shoes
- Lacks hands
- Unproportionate (but that's up to you)
- Standing a bit slanted
- Ear could be a bit lower
- Pants could go lower at the back

[ace monkey]

thanks for the crit but this isn't really a serious concept, this is just a quick drawing, for ppl to judge wheather the style of the character matches the style of the background. i'll take that criticism into account when i start drawing my proper character.