Here is a background that I am making for one of my games:
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island.gif)
I pretty crap at doing backgroundsÃ, :-\.
So tips on how to improve my art etc is wanted.
Hmmm... depends on the style you ultimately want to end up with. A biggie though would be lighting & shadows. Pick a sunlight direction and start adding some shading - it needn't be complex - if you want to keep a simplistic style then it could just be a case of one lighter tone and one darker tone per colour.
edit: also (art package dependent - not sure if I would be arsed to do it in PaintÃ, ;) ) it'd be nice if your clouds had some transparency (just at the edges) and softness (er, and lighting).
I like the concept! Perhaps some indication of rock on the underside of the landscape would help too.
Good luck! Keep it up!
Crap? Crap? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
That's an incredible starting off point. It may even be an incredible stand-alone background but for a few things:
The "smoke" from the pit (I assume it's smoke. Can't really tell). You should add it as an animation in-game, or atleast make it "thicker".
I think you have a few perspective issues (the "4 stone slabs" place stands out the most).
What you should do now is go into more detail, like you did with the stone slabs place. Make the side of the hills facing the sun get more light, and the other side, less light. Same with the clouds. Some texturing (like you did with the stones) would also be a good idea.
What program did you make this background in?
Quote from: CaptainBinky on Thu 09/03/2006 14:52:16
Hmmm... depends on the style you ultimately want to end up with. A biggie though would be lighting & shadows. Pick a sunlight direction and start adding some shading - it needn't be complex - if you want to keep a simplistic style then it could just be a case of one lighter tone and one darker tone per colour.
edit: also (art package dependent - not sure if I would be arsed to do it in PaintÃ, ;) ) it'd be nice if your clouds had some transparency and softness.
I wants it to be a little bit cartoonish style.
I using Paint for now, I lost Photoshop when I had to format my computer way back, but my brother got it so I will ask him for it..
Iam really crap at shading, (I tried to make the sun come from top left , if you look at the stones in that circle it is lighter where the sun would hit and darker the other places.. thats the only part I done that on.)
any good shading tutorials out there?
(been on the thread with all the links but I gave up looking for some cause most of the links are broken etc..)
Babar:
I used Paint... and my mouse.. *Whising I had those pen thingies (forgot the name :-\)*
and yeah its smoke :).
Tried to do some changes:
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island2.gif)
Also removed the smoke and made seperate pictures of it, (animating, tried to at least, Ill add it soon..)
Oooh, that's starting to look nice - perhaps a slightly less dark shadow colour though..? And I'd suggest darkening the colour of the rock underside to match your "things in shadow" tone.
Cool stuff though :)
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island3.gif)
Changed all of the shadow colors, made the ones over the grass a bit lighter green, and changed those that was black to a darker color of what the shadow is over...
Cool stuffÃ, :)
How's about now adding a bit of detail to the rock underside? I think it needs a second tone now you've got the shadows in there. Just something to idicate that this is rock (I assume it is rock?).
For example, the perimeter of the grass is quite round. Adding a bit of uneveness will give you a mechanism for putting some rock lines into the cliff and implying a bit of texture. It doesn't have to be complex...
(http://www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au/cartoons/new/2005-01-18%20Latham%20let%20go%20Carr%20ALP%20450.JPG)
Thanks,
no its not a rock actually, it is supposed to be "ground".
that you grow plants in etc.
Oh! My appologies! I saw the image as some kind of floating grass plain!
Ignore me then! ;D
Quote from: CaptainBinky on Thu 09/03/2006 16:46:13
Oh! My appologies! I saw the image as some kind of floating grass plain!
Ignore me then!Ã, ;D
Well its floating for sure up in the skies :P.
I wonder how to get a good "ground" feel on it....
I think you'll need some sort of "underside" just to ram home the point the the brown ground area is on the same level as the grass. If the landscape is essentially a floating disc, then give the disk a bit of depth with a bevel, and maybe a bit of grass hanging over the edge.
Couldn't really find a good picture to show you what I mean, but...
(http://perso.ens-lyon.fr/florent.bouchez/discworld/images/a-tuin-the-turtle.gif)
you see here that the discworld itself has a rim around it.
As far as implying this is ground, I think if you made the border between the grass and the soil a bit less regular, then this'd help identify the soil as soil, so-to-speak.
edit: additionally, if you added a bit more soil into the grass part of the image, it'd identify that colour with soil - specifically around the edge of the lake (maybe not all the way round..? Alternatively, you could try having the soil continue around the disk more, like up the left side or right side a little more. Because it's only currently at the bottom, it does look a bit like the underneath - hence my confusion.
Hope this makes sense, and is helpful.
Added some trees on the hill in the back to the left.
and also added houses, fences and some flowers around.
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island4.gif)
CaptainBinky
I dont exactly understand what you meanÃ, :-[ :(
Okay, what I mean is (excuse the incredibly crude mockups)
I thought that the grass had a rocky underside...
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/island4_a.gif)
When I think you mean something more like...
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/island4_b.gif)
Adding a bit of depth to the surface (like where I've put a (very badly drawn) darker edge around the bottom) helps make the grass and soil feel like they're on the same level.
I like the little details you're adding!
ooh, thats what you meant by rock?
well, you was right about that, just though its not JUST rock.
its supposed to be "soil".
If you see what I mean?Ã, :-\
Quote from: Peder Johnsen on Thu 09/03/2006 17:48:06
ooh, thats what you meant by rock?
well, you was right about that, just though its not JUST rock.
its supposed to be "soil".
If you see what I mean?Ã, :-\
So hang on, I'm getting confused ;D are you going for something more like the first picture or something more like the second (or neither)?
Quote from: CaptainBinky on Thu 09/03/2006 17:51:32
So hang on, I'm getting confusedÃ, ;D are you going for something more like the first picture or something more like the second (or neither)?
More like the first one :).
But it is hard for me this part... :(
think of it this way, is it a big hunk of sod ripped up from the ground? or is it more a flying golf course? and that dirt area is llike a sand trap, (or dirt trap)
Quote from: lo_res_man on Thu 09/03/2006 18:07:19
think of it this way, is it a big hunk of sod ripped up from the ground?
EXACTLY! :P
Quote from: Peder Johnsen on Thu 09/03/2006 18:00:07
More like the first one :).
Okay :) In that case, the effect doesn't need to be complex...
(again, please excuse the crude mockup)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/island4_c.gif)
added some more trees...
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island5.gif)
CaptainBinky
Thanks, Ill try and do something out of what you done there :)..
Iam using PAINT so not really many tools I can use :S..
Hey, that's pretty cool! :) :) :)
Quote from: CaptainBinky on Thu 09/03/2006 18:20:19
Hey, that's pretty cool!Ã, :)Ã, :)Ã, :)
Thanks,
ok, so I looked at your pic, and tried to make something similar:
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island6.gif)
Nice one! That definately "says" rocky/soily underside to me now! :)
Quote from: CaptainBinky on Thu 09/03/2006 18:27:35
Nice one! That definately "says" rocky/soily underside to me now!Ã, :)
Thanks!
hmm, any ideas what I should add now?
I got basically all I had on my sketch on there now..
And just cant think of something I could add for it to look less "empty" and "undone".
How about adding a few more trees which aren't on the hills - like a little forest or something?
hmm I thought about, I will see what I can do :)
Here is the new picture, the first forest I made looked just wierd so I made it like this instead...
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island7.gif)
that looks cool. i would make that forest even thicker, thus more trees closer to each other. you shouldn't be able to see the ground through the trees. ;D
Quote from: Mordalles on Thu 09/03/2006 19:51:42
that looks cool. i would make that forest even thicker, thus more trees closer to each other. you shouldn't be able to see the ground through the trees. ;D
ok :P, Ill add more trees :).
did a try....
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island8.gif)
any good?
Trying to make something on the right end of the island..
Looks a bit wierd right now maybe?
Any ideas how I can make it look better etc.?
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island9.gif)
I really like it. It's a change from room interiors and even when I saw the first version I liked the composition. You definitively have an eye for aesthetics/drawing.
The path that goes through the green hill/forest bugs me at the moment. You could always curve it around ior make a tunnel (if it's a hill). The brown structure is not in the same angle as the rest of the drawing (due to it's roof).
Quote from: biothlebop on Thu 09/03/2006 21:35:39
I really like it. It's a change from room interiors and even when I saw the first version I liked the composition. You definitively have an eye for aesthetics/drawing.
The path that goes through the green hill/forest bugs me at the moment. You could always curve it around ior make a tunnel (if it's a hill). The brown structure is not in the same angle as the rest of the drawing (due to it's roof).
Could you pls show me on the image?
Iam a little bit confused :-\.
I think that's the shadow of the hill, bio. What bugs me is, that the path disappears, when it reaches the hill.
But it's a nice screen. The colors, you chose, please my eye. Maybe you could add some shadows to the clouds as well.
cheers
nihilyst
Quote from: nihilyst on Thu 09/03/2006 22:16:03
I think that's the shadow of the hill, bio. What bugs me is, that the path disappears, when it reaches the hill.
But it's a nice screen. The colors, you chose, please my eye. Maybe you could add some shadows to the clouds as well.
cheers
nihilyst
I will make the path go around instead of just stopping up, (I was just a bit unsure if I was gonna do something special or not, so I just put it there. But I cant seem to come up with anything so I will make it go around. or just remove it...
Thanks :).
Ill try :P
I tried to do some work on the clouds, but dunno if it turned out so goodÃ, :-\.
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island10.gif)
Gotta try and do some shadows of the trees on the hill to the left now....
[Edit]
Done the shadows of the trees on the hill.
(http://koti.mbnet.fi/el_tonic/new/theedit.png)
I made the vertical lines of the house straight down so if you go with something like that, it would be easier to add windows and stuff. Otherwise, I would have probably used three-point perspective, with the vertical point below the island. Nothing beats pixel by pixel pushing.
Looked at yours and changed the house a bit to this:
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/island11.gif)
[Edit]
Added a darker green color around the whole "island".
Ok, so I guess I gonna go for that background now, I dont needs it to be super perfect. :)..
now I went over to the stone place.. I found this really hard , cause I dont really know how to get it to work with the characters, (last background diddent need to look so good for characters since it was a "map".
this one though was harder...
(http://arnjeir.borgarholt.info/ags/art/stoneplace.gif)
wont add so much more to the picture, but might need to be redone a bit or?
would it work?
Very nice background, once again!
An idea: instead of just showing the grass as a darker patch on the borders of the grass, make clumps of the dark grass all over.
I like it. I would just like to comment the clouds. i know clouds are supposed to be white, but that's not so good concidering it's a cartoony style. It would be better if you added some more white-gray lines and little fluffy stuff ;).
But overall it's a good picture.
(http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/8179/help2ff.jpg)
I thought the grass looked too empty and made this too show you. plz dont make it this way coz its crappy and pretty ughly :D (i mean the texturized stuff)
Thanks to replies!.
[Edit]
Found out it will work ok this background so I will use it, I dont have forever on me to finnish the game.
And it this will be the first game I do absolutely everything on myself so, I dont want to put to much press on me by getting everything perfect. I got the characters to worry about :o, cause Iam REALLY crap at that!. but I will try and make something out of looking at other charcters, might be easier then :)
you make me worry about my chars :P
Corey, isn't it rather green LEATHER texture?
Grass needs a texture (of which Corey spoke) but -for better results- you should add some (grass) brushes in random places. I saw the tutorial somewhere on board here, but I can't tell you if it still exist or whether the link works. Search. Relief can become more interesing if you put some hills/downhills and trees here and there. Sampling a forest tile and using it as a brush should save you some time.
PS: Is that a MAGS game?
Quote from: Skurwy on Sat 11/03/2006 14:27:20
Corey, isn't it rather green LEATHER texture?
Grass needs a texture (of which Corey spoke) but -for better results- you should add some (grass) brushes in random places. I saw the tutorial somewhere on board here, but I can't tell you if it still exist or whether the link works. Search. Relief can become more interesing if you put some hills/downhills and trees here and there. Sampling a forest tile and using it as a brush should save you some time.
PS: Is that a MAGS game?
ummm, yeah it is... :o
just needed some words on these 2 pics, rest will be secret :P. just needed to learn some basic stuff, and thought I could learn it by posting my art here so people could tell me what was wrong...
Quote from: Skurwy on Sat 11/03/2006 14:27:20
Corey, isn't it rather green LEATHER texture?
yeah it is but i couldnt find anything that looked like grass more and I just wanted to show it was too empty. I know u shouldnt use yukkie textures like that :P