(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/livingroomline.PNG)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/livingroomline.PNG)
The colors and all that stuff aren't final, just using them to get a rough idea. The room seems rather empty however. Any ideas on what to add to give it a more inviting feeling? I was considering a lamp on the near wall by the kitchen or perhaps some electronics under the tv. That might make it seem cluttered however. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
It wouldn't hurt to put something under the tv, you've got the room and it wouldn't clutter too badly. And maybe a light switch next to the doorway leading to the kitchen (unless this room is from my first apartment. I only had one switch in each room, and I even had one that was near the top of a door. The renovators were on crack I guess :) ) And I'm pretty sure you've got plenty of room to put a table or lamp on one or both sides of the couch without cluttering either.
I like your style, it's nice and clean, but a little texture on the carpet in the room would probably help bring things a little closer as well. I'm not sure if it would fit with your style though.
This is linework for the most part. No texturing at all at this stage. I will experiment a little with side tables and see how it turns out.
If I may make a random suggestion - put something in the left doorway. Either a door or the next room visible. Less black = less empty.
Also, perhaps a plant? Something not rectangular?
Yep, there will be a door there. Just filled it to get a rough idea.
I think the scaling is the problem here. You have a giant TV covering 2/3 of the wall but your couch is tiny. The room also feels a bit too deep. Maybe you could make a dedicated TV room out of it, like a home cinema, because at the moment it feels a bit too busy for a living room. I'd say ditch the left door completely and bring the back wall a bit forward. Maybe add a video projector to the ceiling. Move the refrigerator into the corner.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Copy_of_bg2.PNG)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Copy_of_bg2.PNG)
I added a piece of furniture under the tv. I think that really brings the room down to size. I experimented a bit with hardwood floors, I think that also makes it seem a bit better. A throw rug is probably all that is needed now to make it more inviting. When I start to do colors and textures I will make it a lot warmer. Cool purples and browns seem to make it look desolate.
Edit, added rug.
Why is there nothing in the shelves?
They are going to be objects or added when I do the coloring.
Just some shading advice to give it some more feeling ...
(http://www.twin-design.com/ags/help/moox_help01.gif)
There's a pretty good foundation here, just needs the details (which you already know)
A ceiling fan and some ceiling texture or tiles would help break up the monotony of the top half of your picture. Also, as previously mentioned the scale of some of the objects (most notably the speakers) is way out of balance with the rest of your picture. I don't know anyone aside from Doc Brown with a set of speakers as tall and almost twice as wide as a human. Most of the objects seem like you made them without any real scale comparison. My advice is to:
a) Create a character sprite before you create backgrounds
b) create the furniture around that character's dimensions while keeping in mind scaling.
The background could be interesting once you take into account an actual character and design the room around that character.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Copy_of_bg3.PNG)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Copy_of_bg3.PNG)
Going to be redoing the kitchen wall and I need to finish the shelves/sharpen some areas up.
I think the texture on the back of the couch is a little strong, but otherwise it's shaping up nicely.
The top of the backward cabinet should be lighter. Personally I don't think the kitchen wall needs redoing, maybe just some other colors for the tiles.
Your living room though is too unsettling and turbulent. It does not feel like a room I could relax in after a day of labor. Wood paneling is a good idea for a corridor, but looks out of place to me in a living room. Why not a use a carpet?
Also the stripes on the walls (in pink no less) are just hideous. Sorry, but they really are. A wallpaper could work wonders here. Most people like white and shades of white with subtle beige tones.
Hopefully this didn't sound too harsh. Good luck.
Before you start applying random textures to everything you really should pay attention to the scale of the different elements in your room as well as how you want the lighting to look. Applying textures like you have without taking a light source into account means that:
a) Your room is either lit at all points or
b) Your room ignores lighting
I made an edit taking into account the size of the left door and resizing different elements until they met with the scale of the door. This included reducing the height of the kitchen entrance (most doors in houses will remain the same height even if they vary in width) as well as the size of the speakers. I then added a light source (ceiling fan) and lit the room very simply from that source. This was easy since my room has a ceiling fan and light positioned in the center of my room, so I could just look at how the light hit the ceiling/corners and objects in my room as a reference.
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/mooxroomshade.png)
The worst thing you can do is apply textures to a background before it's ready, especially noise-filter textures. They take a lot of effort to remove if you did something wrong and the most important thing is they won't make your room look good if you don't know how to use them properly. The best way to handle them if you use them at all is to apply them on a separate layer AFTER all the lighting/shadowing and linework is done and then see how they look.
Here is a version with a low noise filter added as a separate layer and a layer for bringing out shadows/highlights. This is just a quick example of how easy it is to worry about noise textures later.
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/mooxroomshade2.png)
That ceiling fan should be seen more from beneath, Progzy. Apart from that, it's an excellent rendition.
The lighting also helps creating what was lacking in that picture before, namely round/organic shapes.
Including just a few shapes or angles that aren't perfectly straight or square helps making the atmosphere more lively. Especially when all the furniture has the same colour, you'll run the risk of making it appeared to be built up of boxes.
I would go even further with lighting and introduce a second lightsource from the kitchen. This light could be more sterile white, while the living room light could be of a more warm yellowish hue, which I think could make a nice effect.
I usually make the fan blades bend down a bit because perspective-wise, having the blades angle upward against the ceiling looks weird to the eye (imo). A secondary light source would be fine but would be more complicated since you'd have to figure in how each light source affects the area where they interact. I'd definitely recommend against going with the same color selection for the furniture, I just kept them as they were because I was illustrating scale/shading rather than overall improvements. Different color furniture and more of it would help complete the room.
The enormous size of the speakers is intentional. I do like the idea of a ceiling light however when I was planning it I was thinking a window on the wall where the camera is. Something along the lines of this. Just a quick render, just to show what I mean. I understand what you are saying about the kitchen entrance being high, however in most of the houses in my area large openings such as I depict are a common architectural element. I will experiment a little with ceiling mounted lighting. The roughness of the surfaces from the noise is also intentional, instead of a warm inviting room I was thinking along the lines of turning it into a cold desolate one.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Copy_of_bg1light.PNG)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Copy_of_bg1light.PNG)
You should then choose your colors along more blueish lines. (For the cold room)
Did you try anything that ProgZ mentioned?
@ ProgZ love the edit.
ProgZ edit is brilliant.
My advice would be to get rid of the patterned walls, and the textures. You can more easily add dynamic lighting then, even from the window you describe if you like.
At the moment however, the window lighting doesn't seem to have any affect on the room, besides a reflection in the floor (maybe darken the room, add shadows then pick out the bits the window would highlight). Also, you want your light source from the window, however the room would still have lighting, even if it was currently turned off (I don't see any, and it has a light switch!).
A quick thing you could do is to lighten up the whole room: furniture and wood floor like ProgZ has done, this gives a more natural feel, as at the moment the colours in the room seem to clash.
My advice on the high entrance to the kitchen would be to go for half way between the two styles. Maybe a high arched entrance?
Anyway, you have the beginnings of a great background.
Another lighting issue I'd say is the kitchen or whatever is next to it is very bright. This would almost certainly cast some light through that big entrance on the right.
Check out loominous's tut or partial tut in this thread for lighting : http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=31936.0
It's brilliant.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/lightingpreshadow.PNG)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/lightingpreshadow.PNG)
A rough lighting job with a ceiling mounted light. Need to do some shadows and touch up a few areas.
Edit: A different tone I think makes it seem much more comfortable. I think I am going to have to change the wooden border on the floor.
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/bg5.png)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/bg5.png)
Your house seems to have a bizarre composition.
The lounge opens into the garage...? Or is it the back garden?
It's nicely done, but I think a corridor would be more apt.