The rough of this bg is unfinished, and I didn't want to post it that way but it's giving me so much trouble that I felt like I could really use the help.
(http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/3254/quarters1copy2ul.gif) (http://imageshack.us)
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(http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/8012/quarterstimes21tq.gif) (http://imageshack.us)
(The blank area at the bottom is where the iconbar goes.)
It's probably not clear, but the light is supposed to come from those vertical light blue things in the top corners. They're gel or gas lights (like halogen lights, but, you know, futuristic, heh)... I think I shot myself in the foot making them the light source because I'm totally lost as to how to shade things, and lost as to how to detail the things that are very much in shadow. Any help would be appreciated, but help on those topics would be especially appreciated.
I haven't attempted to add much texture yet because I've been trying for several days with these issues and haven't been able to move past them.Ã, :-[
EDIT: I changed the lighting around. I think it looks a bit better, but it still needs a lot of help. :X
It's hosted in ImageShack? Then you'd be better off just copy-pasteing the hotlink 'cause I can't see anything detailed.
EDIT: I'll make a paintover to show you what I mean, but I have to go to school. :)
Er, sorry. Grabbed the thumbnail links instead of the regular ones. :-[ Fixed now.
OK first thing that struck me was the cair looking strange at the wrong angle I think.
Next up with th elighting i think there should be a light to dark gradient on the door aswell on the wall around those light bars...
Some texture / panels etc wouldnt hurt the walls.
Last thing on the light bars should have a much lighter line in the middle of them? I am not sure how these lights should function however since they are gel lights.
The funny yellow panel on the right should emit some of its own light too.
Ps: Looks good I like it almost as it is.. of course change is alwways a good thing.
Needs more robots.
Its not that we see the chair from the wrong angle, but it doesnt match the perspective of teh rest of the drawing.
The drawing looks very good other than that.
Maybe you can make the walls look more interesting, or add a light.
I agree on the chair, and the desk looks a bit funny too...
~Yurina
I think this is shaping up quite nicely ^_^. Ã, I like how there's an odd couple feeling in this room (one half's messy, the other neat). Ã,Â
A few things:
-what kind of room is it? Ã, At first glance I thought it was supposed to be some sort of prison cell, but then I saw the TV (? Ã, I think it's a TV) on the floor. Ã, If it's intended to be a more comfortable kind of room, maybe add some home-y details, and if it's a prison, maybe take out the widescreen TV ^_^. Ã, If it's supposed to be between the two extremes, like military quarters, I would take out the TV and add small personal items, like photos, or a poster. Ã, It depends on what you're going for.
-those grey blocks next to the beds--what are they? Ã, I'm finding it difficult to determine the shape of them because the lighting seems inconsistent, and the downward slope seems a bit strange to me. Ã, Additionally, the one on the left is much closer to the wall than the one on the right, which is okay in itself, but this room seems to be going for a symmetrical look
-the chair is too small in comparison to the beds. Ã, (and why is there only one chair if there are two people living there? Ã, ^_~)
Good work so far, keep at it! ^_^
EDIT: was it supposed to be a desk? If so, then many of my points can be ignored ^_^
MashPotato-- Thanks! I actually feel a bit better about it after some of the replies here. Even though there are problems (which I knew), there don't seem to be as many glaring, horrible defects as I thought there were.Ã, ;)
I think of the types of rooms you mentioned, military quarters are probably the closest to the feel I was going for. It's a civilian operation but very plug-and-play as far as people are concerned; I was looking to avoid a warm, lived-in look. Probably most of their possessions stay in those footlockers under the beds, and as I hope is apparent, the beds themselves fold into the wall so that the room can be used for storage or something else if no one needs to sleep there.Ã, HOwever, I am thinking of adding more personal items than I might otherwise, to add aesthetic interest.
And yes, that's supposed to be a desk. Suggestions as to how to make it look more desk-like (so it's not mistaken for a television) are welcome.
There's only one chair because it's a desk and meant to be used by one person at a time. ;)
In regard to the size/angle of the chair, as has been mentioned by many people here... my vanishing point is somewhere close to below the intercom on the far wall and I fussed a lot with the angle of the chair in relation to it. That's the best I could get it. I'd really love to see a paintover, or even just a collection of lines, showing how to angle/size the chair better.
Yurina: I do want to make the wall more interesting but I'm not sure how. The Spartan nature of the habitation prohibits me from putting in any really obvious decoration, but I'd like to texture it somehow... I'm just not sure how to do that. Maybe a knee-level panel that goes all the way around? Hrm. Suggestions?
The background is very nice, but the chair seems very small compared to the door and beds. And I'm not quite sure what is happening to the wall behind the yellow bed. Is the bed placed against the wall or out on the floor?
Also, the characters will be very big in a bg like this. I figure the character will be about 90px when entering the door and bigger when walking towards the player. Since you should draw the character in the size it will be at the biggest (so you'll only scale down, never up) you will have a character about 120-130px tall; over half the screen tall.
But mostly; nice pixel skills!
I'd say:
- add (1 or 2) horizontal edges to the wall with contrasting shadows.
- change the colourtone of the walls a bit, they look exactly the same as the beds.
I'll do more suggestions when they come to mind.
~Yurina
Okay, here's an updated version. I added:
--light on the wall
--some personal items
--some grunge on the right side bunk
--a brighter indication of light
--different shading on various objects
--panels on the footlockers
--a computer terminal (it will be an object IG but it'll be there)
--new chair I hope is proportioned and angled better
--shading and texture on the door
Thanks to everybody who made suggestions! Please let me know if this is an improvement at all with the light/shading and the texture, as well as overall interest.
(http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/3571/quarters15xg.gif) (http://imageshack.us)
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(http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/8051/quarters1big7tv.gif) (http://imageshack.us)
Those new details looks cool. Your rendering is great, what's lacking is good perspective.
Do you realize that to be in scale to the room, beds and door, your character needs to be about 120 pixels tall in the foreground? In relation to that, the desk is vastly underscaled.
I'm working on an idea how to arrange the camera and furniture differently, I'll post it in a few minutes..
EDIT:
Another thing that I don't understand is why the holes in the wall cast shadows on the wall??
Ok, as I promised... some rushed sketches
(http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/2337/room1b3yj.gif)
Well, this was my first idea, I straightened up the perspective, and tried to make the room shape more interesting. The desk in the foreground bothers me, though. Without it maybe....
Second attempt:
(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2761/room27db.gif)
I rearranged the furniture and used a completely different perspective... oh-oh I didn't realize it was for a Enterprise-like ship, so I made it a little green and dirty-looking.
Anyway it's generally the SHAPE of the whole room is what can make it really interesting... cubes are boring. And some pipes, conduits, (or architectural elements and displays in case of a ship with more polished design) are another thing to spice things up.
However, even in my attempts, the character needs to be scaled rather drastically across the room, which bothers me a bit. Another thing is that he might be too big when he's close to the camera... since the room is physically small it might be a good idea to scale it down, and not have it filling the whole screen.
(http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4217/quarterspaintover3wh.png)
(http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4217/quarterspaintover3wh.png)
First of all, you've done a fantastic job, but when I saw this I couldn't help but tinker with it a little. All I basically did was make the lights brighter, and have them shining on things. Then I got a bit carried away and did soft reflections and secondary light sources and things like that.
I also altered the picture of the blonde girl... on the basis that with purple sheets, people are already going to think this guy is gay, so why not give him a hot girlfriend? I think he deserves it. :=