Help making these backgrounds more better..er.

[LRH]

So I've been extraordinarily busy with school and whatnot (bagged myself a 3.73 overall GPA so far, woot!) but I've decided I really, really miss making AGS games, even if it's not my greatest talent. I'm working on something that will require MUCH simpler graphics, takes place entirely in first person (I hate animation with a burning passion) and uses an even smaller resolution than what I've been working with.


Here are several backgrounds I've drawn up so far, all scaled up 3x.









I'm actually pretty happy with them all, but I want to keep improving. I guess what I'm asking for are some pointers, little things that I can add or tweak that go a long way with my style. I've already learned so much from asking for help here in the CL, such as the glass effect, the washed colors, perspective, and how I draw my windows. I'm excited to take it a step further, especially when you consider what this style evolved from!

EDIT: Just realized I uploaded a few with artifacts. Derp. Sorry about that, just ignore them I suppose.

[Calin Leafshade]

Ok a few technical issues.

first the resolution is very strange, and not supported by AGS

second you dont need to manually scale up images for the forum. just use the image tags like this

Code: ags

[img width=600]imgurl[/img]

if you scale them yourself it makes it difficult to do paintovers, especially when they scaling has been filtered.

[Monsieur OUXX]

Here are several backgrounds I've drawn up so far, all scaled up 3x.
I'm actually pretty happy with them all, but I want to keep improving.

Are these teh entire backgrounds, or are they truncated?

[Anian]

1.
- door has no handle,
- the alley on the left might not be at a wrong perspective but it looks weird, I suggest lowering the horizon line and making it so the bottom of the fence goes behind the trash can, I think it'll give a better..er sense of depth
    - just move the entire part that's suppose to be in the alley (including the whole fence) and move the down, then draw in the gap that's left at the top
- the window on the store on the right, should be a bit lower (the height of the bottom of it should at least be half of what you've drawn). just look at the windows on the bar next to it and imagine how high that shopwindow would be placed in real life
- the pavement is strange, the building doesn't end like that, just make it all one surface and split the path into big square blocks (just draw 2-3 lines that cross it)
2.
- underline under the Happy hour sign is maybe a bit too crooked
- the mirror should be bigger (in height)
- the stools are maybe too high, or the bar is too low
- I'd add a beer tap (or a coffe maker, depending on if it's just a nightclub type bar or a coffe shop type thing), just to add a bit of more interest to the scene
3.
- perspective is all over the place,
- chair/bench thing seems to be missing a leg, or the leg is not touch the wall properly
- door is taller than the hall enterance (look at the top line of the hallway and then look how tall the door is)
- evidence room should be under a security lock (maybe a slide car or number pad lock thing by the door, you don't have to make it locked and insert a puzzle but an intent to keep evidence safe should be displayed
4.
- unless the room is in a semi-basement, the window is too high up (if it is at the basement, than it's the wrong kind of window to put there, it'd probably the on that opens only at the top, so noone can get in)
- the paper like thing on the top of the desk has the wrong perspective on the right side, or at least it looks weird

Hope that's of some use.

[LRH]

Thank you very much all!

Colin- Thanks for the tip on sizing, I wasn't aware of that. I know the res isn't actually supported, I should have explained in greater detail. I'm basically going to bump it up to 320x200 and leave the rest with a black border.

Monsieur- Yes, these are the backgrounds in their entirety.

Anian- Woah, thanks!

In the first picture, I was kind of trying to imply that that's one of those swinging door type things, do you think it would look better if I put some more obvious hinges on it or something? Looking at it again, it would be really hard to just guess that it's supposed to be a swinging door.

I might play with the perspective a bit in the first one as well.

I like your idea about the coffee maker or beer taps, or both.

I think what you're seeing in that last picture is my attempt to make it look as if light is shining in the room from the window.



In any case, thanks a lot all of you, I'll try to get some edits up later today based on these tips.

[Monsieur OUXX]

The reason why I asked is similar to Calin : They look like the frame has an unusual resolution/angle.
Anian gave useful tip. To me, the most important is to carefully position you black lines in order to avoid clusters of black pixels or irregular "steps" in your diagonals. that always looked awful.

[LupaShiva]

Dont use only lines, use some shadows, and resolution is weird but in general quite good 

[Pinback]

I quite like the last pic, I think the lack of lighting/shadow is the main thing you should tackle to improve these.

[theo]

* Try swapping your black outlines for dark tones of the objects color. Black 1 px outlines rarely look good when found allover the place in an image.

* Know where you've got your light sources and don't be afraid of giving them some effect. (this also means: don't be afraid of making areas that aren't lit, darker.)

[LRH]

You've all given great input once again, thank you. I'm still playing with them. As far as y lighting effects (or lack thereof) I'm honestly not quite sure how to go about it. At the moment I'm using a combo of MSpaint and Gimp. The gimp effects seem too harsh and overbearing on such small resolutions, and in paint, I'm really having issues making subtle lighting effects. I mean, see those crappy gradients I made? bleh.

[theo]

You don't need magic tools to draw light, just select a brighter value of the same hue, and paint with it!

[Jim Reed]

Acording to some artists, having the darker tones shift their saturation towards more saturated, looks better. Folowing the same guideline, the lighter tones should be less saturated.

Going even further, the dark tones should also shift a bit to colder colours, whilst the lighter tones should shift towards warmer colours. (I'm not really sure why, but it does looks kinda better).

Choosing three tones:
A) Only changing luminosity
B) A + adjusting the saturation
C) A + B + shifting the hue a bit

[Khris]

Jim Reed: Are you sure that the darker shade is supposed to be more saturated? That sounds wrong according to my gut, eye and what I've read on other forums.

Hue shifting simply also mimics reality; sunlight is pretty much white with a bit of yellow, so stuff exposed to sunlight is a bit warmer/more yellow.

Domithan:
So these backgrounds are going to end up as being 200x160 with a big black border?

[LRH]

Jim Reed: Are you sure that the darker shade is supposed to be more saturated? That sounds wrong according to my gut, eye and what I've read on other forums.

Hue shifting simply also mimics reality; sunlight is pretty much white with a bit of yellow, so stuff exposed to sunlight is a bit warmer/more yellow.

Domithan:
So these backgrounds are going to end up as being 200x160 with a big black border?

Essentially, yes.

[LRH]

Sorry I haven't had much time to work on these, but I have taken a few things into this edit.  That video I made took longer than expected!



Also, I wanted to include some shading on other object where appropriate, such as on the desk. I might upload an attempt at that as well.

[Jim Reed]

Domithan, you may think you slipped a fast one on me, but I can see you are improving =P
You have a firm grasp on 1 point perspective, and you started to pay attention to details.

Yet, I cannot overlook this:


@Kris: Now that you mention it, I'm not really sure anymore. If you ask me, I'd just paint it all black and white.

[LRH]

Unfortunately I'm not sure what you're pointing out in that paintover.

[Cirius]

Compare the end of Jim's counters with your own. The counter at the back in your first attempt appears to be embedded some way into the wall, whereas the one in the foreground does not appear to meet the wall.