I've got this mourge...

[Rincewind]

...Well, ahem, no - Not a real one. But I have been working on some new backgrounds for Trailing Blood, which actually is a bloody miracle, since I have been down in one of the worst creative lows of my life. I got absolutely nothing creative done for a long period of time, and that included anything for the game, I'm afraid...  

But as I said, here is the latest little thingy I've been doing - As the topic line implies, this is supposed to be a mourge/autopsy-place, and so far I have very few ideas on what to put inside it. It is, in other words, very clean. A bit too clean.  

So give me all your ideas, critics and suggestions - I need it...

[Alynn]

A few metal carts with tools on them, jars of organs and stuff...

[big brother]

You could add a dark foreground with like heads in jars and stuff.

[PureGhostGR]

I like the image so far, and I agree with both what Alynn and big brother said.

Here are some ideas to fill in the spaces, roughly outlined:



I am suggesting you a more greenish shade because it gives of a destressful feeling.. perhaps a more rotten green would imply dirt as well.

A curtain would be a nice (if not typical) way of framing the picture an balancing the posters "white" areas.

The "Some sort of light" box is just an idea of where you could add a ceiling lamp or perhaps a reference point if you decide to add more dramatic lighting.

Your work to this point is very good. Everything is clean and crisp, and you've even added careful hints of shade in it.

Keep it up.



edit: spelling

[kaaZ]

good background...I like it. PureGhostGR's addition makes it even beter. You could for instance open one of those ' body drawers' slightly just yo give a hint of what could be hidden in one of those. Like Ghost said framing the picture a bit more would be a good idea...
What would you expect in a morge..maybe some severed body parts on formeldahyde.. ? hmm maybe not...but it would add to the atmosphere....Anyways I think since it is supposed to be a creepy place it deserves some creepy additions...

Good job relay like it so far..

[Scummbuddy]

They probably have drains in the floor so they can hose down the place if the saw blade starts to splatter.

[electric_hare]

Try doing a Google image search for 'morgue'. I got two severed heads on the first page.

I like PureGhostGR's suggestions - especially the cutting basin. Not too sure about the curtain though. Not much call for modesty amongst the dead! Maybe a clock over the door to balance the white of the poster instead?

Cheers

- Graham

BTW - is this going to be a modern 'in use' morgue (should therefore be relatively clean), or something older and scuzzier?

[Rincewind]

Hey, thanks a lot to all of you for all the suggestions!

Alynn:
Hm, yes, I was thinking of doing some stuff along those lines. I'll probably add some jars and things to the shelf.

Big Brother:
I tried doing dark foreground stuff, but it just didn't look right - Maybe I'll try it again. But I don't think I'll add any heads... It's a mourge, not Frankensteins lab...

PureGhost:
Ah, cool changes! I like the greenish shade, and the curtains are a great idea - I'll definately add that.
You are probably right about the light source as well. I'm always bad with those things...  

Kaaz:
Glad you like it, and thanks for the suggestions!

Scummbuddy:
Ah. Drains - Check. Thanks!

Electric_Hare:
A clock is a good idea - I might add  that.
And yes, it is supposed to be a "modern" mourge, although somewhat used, since it is in a small town, without many resources...

Well, I gotta go now. School calls.

[Rincewind]

Allright - Here we go with an updated version. I changed the colours to a bit more greenish tone, added stuff on the shelf, added a blood-stained curtain in the corner, a holder for various instruments, a drain, notes on the wall and on one of the body-containers and also the good ol' slab-for-the-dead.  
PureGhost, I hope you don't mind that I used your door-structure - It was just what I needed...  


Anything else? All C&C is welcome, as always.

[TheYak]

You ought to make use of the new 32-bit/alpha support and put some walk-behind jars on that front table.  

Actually this suggestion comes from the thought that the BG looks too much like a frame (everything to the edges and a nice open spot in the middle).  Maybe this could be fixed by having something intruding upon the foreground w/o dominating it.  One idea, maybe a medical-study style skeleton-on-a-hook just barely visible (or as a dark shadow) towards the bottom-left. [edit: A medical examiner might use such a skeleton if he were performing an autopsy and wanted to see the bone-layout, etc.]

Just an idea.. as it stands, I think the image would work great in the context you describe.. nice color usage  too!  Not many full-saturation colors.

[Rincewind]

Hm, not a bad idea - I was thinking of doing some "close-up" foreground stuff, but I figured it wouldn't look very good...  Still, I could give it a try - I really like the idea of having a skeleton of some sort, although I'm not sure that they really use them in mourges... But, hey, I'm no expert, so who knows?

And thanks a lot for commenting! Constructive critisism is the best thing to get my creative juices flowing... Hehe...
(As a matter of fact, I've probably learned more about proportions, perspective, colouring and just general drawing techniques here in this forum than I did during my three years having drawing classes under a teacher who was professional "artist"... No names metioned...)

[electric_hare]

How about a tiled floor, to make hosing all that blood-n-gore down the drain a bit easier

If you like the idea, feel free to use/adapt this version. I tried for a very subtle effect, really just trying to make the floor look a bit 'busier', using the same colour that you used for the ground shadows.

BTW, I took my construction lines from the door frame, which highlights a slight perspective problem with the table legs and the box in the foreground. I altered the box, but left the table. With such faint lines, I think it looks okay. Oh, I also moved the drain a little bit so that it's sitting in the middle of a tile.

One other small detail, as the shelf is casting a shadow down onto the wall, then the table should probably be casting a shadow onto the wall as well.

Cheers

- Graham

[Kweepa]

I-Spy I (part of the RON series) has a nice morgue made by Cornjob.
Take a look at it here.
It shows a couple of nice details (lighting, jars, the autopsy table).

http://www.junk.dk/reality/index.asp?foo=details&bar=96

Steve

[Rincewind]

Electric_hare:
Hey, that's a nice edit! I really like the tiled floor - I usually suck at doing those, so I try to avoid them... But I think you hit spot on in your edit, it was just what the picture needed, me thinks...
And, yes, I almost suspected there was a slight perspective error... Heh.
I'll see if I can try and fix that. I have been doing some changes already, adding stuff to the table and the wall, and also trying to add a jar in the foreground as Yak said. (That didn't work very well - I'll see if I can get it to look decent enough for publishing it here...)

Thanks for the critics, man!

Steve:
Yeah, I played that one - Great game, as is the mourge... Thanks for the tip - I had almost forgotten how it looked... Hehe.

[Rincewind]

Ok - Here's the latest update/edit:



Besides just making the picture a bit taller, I also added the changes done to the floor by Electric_hare, (Again, thanks a bunch!) and some stuff on the table and on the wall, plus that little jar on the bench.
Which actually happens to be the part I'm most concerned with - It just doesn't look right. Any suggestions?  Maybe I should change the greenish colour?

[Alynn]

The angle of the sides of the table is just too acute, just looking at the pic you can tell the Vanishing point is somewhere in the top right side just eyeballing it it nearly seems like it is on the intersection of the cross...

Try pointing the sides of the table so that if the line was much longer it would intersect where the cross intersects...

Hope you understand what I mean

[Nine Toes]

Yes, Alynn is right...

I was going to suggest scrapping the whole pic, and start over using the vanishing point method... but that is a little bit extreme.  It's really not a bad pic at all the way it is.  It's pretty much in perspective, with the exception of the tables, etc., they just need a little work.

[Rincewind]

Aye, I get exactly what you mean - I realized that a short while after posting it... Oh well. I'll see if I can correct the perspective issues, but I really don't think I'll scrap the whole thing - I'm really pleased with the rest of it... But thanks a lot for your comments, none the less!

[electric_hare]

I think scrapping the whole pic would be a bit extreme!

If it's any help, I've tweaked the perspective on the table and the bench. However, in order to have the table go off the edge of the screen as it did originally I had to get a bit creative - turning it into a longer table with six legs. If this table is for performing autopsies on though, that would probably be more accurate.

I also added a thermometer - since this is probably the kind of place were temperature is a big issue

As before, keep anything you like, ditch anything you don't like.

Cheers

- Graham

[Rincewind]

Hehe, yep, so do I...
I like the changes you've done to the slab - I have already done something similar to it, but I think I know how to improve it even more now.
The table isn't supposed to be used for autopsies, but a lenghtening like that is a good idea anyway - I'll do a bit of editing there as well...

Dig the thermometer too - I'll definitely add one!

Thanks for the comments, man! Appreciate it!