Background critics : Atlantic Ocean plain/top of cliff

[Monsieur OUXX]

I feel like doing in Myst IV and blur parts of the scene that are not in the depth-of-focus where the cursor is located. STOP ME IF YOU CAN!

[Anian]

I feel like doing in Myst IV and blur parts of the scene that are not in the depth-of-focus where the cursor is located. STOP ME IF YOU CAN!

I think I can stop you with one sentence: That would be a waste of your talent, sir Oux.

[Monsieur OUXX]

That would be a waste of talent

How so? I don't follow you. Are you trying to confuse me with some Jedi mind-trick?

I don't know if you ever played Myst IV, but the whole idea is that the part of the scene targeted by the mouse is the one where YOUR eye wanders. Therefore, that defines the focus depth. Therefore, everything that's not in that distance frame is blurred (out of focus).

You should check out videos of Myst IV, that's actually gorgeous. The coolest effect I've ever seen in a video game (and sadly it will be lost for a long time, with the rise and fall of semi-pre-rendered 3D).

You can't really see well here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvR-P1N2fC8

[Monsieur OUXX]

@Ilyich: I've been trying to draw a sky like yours, and I just always miserably FAIL  :'(
I have to face the truth: This is beyond my skills. Worse, now I'll never be happy again with the original sky I drew 

I'll try again tonight. Do you have any tips? Did you use some texture effect or just plain brush/spray tool? Did you use Photoshop? (I'm stuck with an old crappy Paint Shop Pro 9 for spray effects -- and I'm not happy at all with the way it renders 1-pixel-wide lines. For those, I use Paint.net, which is surprisingly good at rendering the brush strokes, even at that tiny scale)

[Ilyich]

Ouxxey, I mostly just paint in Photoshop with standard brushes, but here I started by tweaking the colors with "Replace color" tool, and that resulted in this cool dirty layered effect. So it was partly accidental, and I'll probably won't be able to repeat it myself. But I think you can do better clouds, than on my edit. Try looking at some references. (Great tip, I know, sorry ) I'd also suggest romanticism-era paintings, they loved dark dramatic clouds, them romanticists.

[Anian]

How so? I don't follow you. Are you trying to confuse me with some Jedi mind-trick?

I don't know if you ever played Myst IV, but the whole idea is that the part of the scene targeted by the mouse is the one where YOUR eye wanders. Therefore, that defines the focus depth. Therefore, everything that's not in that distance frame is blurred (out of focus).

You should check out videos of Myst IV, that's actually gorgeous. The coolest effect I've ever seen in a video game (and sadly it will be lost for a long time, with the rise and fall of semi-pre-rendered 3D).

You can't really see well here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvR-P1N2fC8

...oh, I actually meant that I really liked the style and drawings and blurring the image (so it's basically less visible) would be a waste. I wasn't trying to insult you, it was a compliment.
But I see what you meant, you can always try it and see how it turns out and then decide.

[Monsieur OUXX]

> I'd also suggest romanticism-era paintings, they loved dark dramatic clouds, them romanticists.

What pisses me off most is that 2 years ago I actually found out a really easy way of painting clouds (I mean, like real-life painting). I was in the fields with my colors, looked at the sky, and thought "hey that's actually easy!". Since then I've lost that painting and completely forgot how to do. It's not the same with pictures, because in real life the perception of the actual light helps a lot having a 3D perception of what you're painting.

I'll have a look at those paintings.
And if I still fail, I'll rip them off. No mercy for romantic provocators.

[Monsieur OUXX]

I actually meant that I really liked the style and drawings and blurring the image (so it's basically less visible) would be a waste.

Yeah yeah I got that I was just kidding. My point is that the stuff is not permanently blurred. It all depends where is the mouse. So no "talent" wasted, lol.