Outdoor background.. [EDIT : Now with clouds!! :) ]

[poc301]

Hi everyone,

I am now on my 3rd outdoor background ever, and believe I am starting to get the feel for it.  I wanted some C&C if possible since something on this scene just isn't meshing..

I am not terribly happy with the tree on the right side of the screen, and I am a bit unhappy with how my grass came out. 

The hotel in the background is just the hotel the player is staying in.  This is the screen between the hotel and the warehouse.  As such, I can remove the hotel, as I am afraid it is cluttering the scene (without the hotel, it looks a bit bare).. 

Also, clouds...  Should I put some in?  If so, what is the best method?  Solid white, then blend it out around the edges to make it look a little fluffier?



Thanks,

Bill

[Anian]

Hey, well you're getting better with every background. 

You should try to make some foliage endings on the tree, make it a bit more detailed as you did with that bush (the one that's on the left at the end of the fence). It would make it look less cartoony. Also just a wee bit of the wood breaking through (so it doesn't seem like all those leaves are just floating in the air), but be careful not to overdo that.

Well I think what's "off" is some perspective issuses - the left wooden pillar is crooked (or maybe it's supposed to be, not sure and some of the white fence pillars have that problem), the lines on the pavement should be a bit thinner as they move away and also horizontal, it will kida mess up the drawing but this way it looks as if it's on a slope.
The brick pillar in the fence looks like a flat surface and not like a brick square, you probably just forgot to correct that.

I don't know if it's correct because I don't get what those 2 gray lines are in the center of the screen.

As for the clouds, I would say yes if you had some program with layers so you can make it blend, but as is maybe better to avoid (or you can just try and see if it fits or not).

[Hudders]

Desaturate your colours and probably darken them a bit also. Get rid of the brickwork in the middle of the fence.

I'm not feeling your shadows, particularly the one from the powerline that goes onto the building's roof. I don't think there should be as much contrast - you'd be better off doing them in a darker shade of the colour the shadow crosses rather than grey or black.

[Takyon]

I think you should add a few clouds. Personally I find the best way to create clouds is to start with a outline with a low opacity then work my way inward putting it up slowly and going over each spot. I've only had photoshop for about a week though so I'm not the best person to ask but I thought I'd give some advice as I believe you're just starting out to right?

Below are some examples of how I've progressed with creating clouds. In the first one you can tell how a solid colour isn't very aesthetically pleasing. Although these are more a cartoon style it might be of some help.

[poc301]

Thanks so much for the suggestions.

I adjusted the tree on the right, the bush in the middle area, fixed the fence, adjusted the lines in the sidewalk, adjusted saturation/brightness.

I still see a problem with the fence I need to work on, the one post is a little off..  I also am going to work on the shadows a bit and work on adding clouds (I use paint.net, so I do have layers), but this is what I've fixed so far based on suggestions.



Thanks again guys!

-Bill

[Hudders]

Looks better already.

Try to stay away from gradients though.

[S]

Try to stay away from gradients though.

Disagreed. I think this gradient works.

Is the picture painted from a photograph?

[Hudders]

Disagreed. I think this gradient works.

How!? How does the gradient on the grass make any logical sense? The gradient on the sky looks OK I guess, (although it would look better without it), but I can't find any argument to support the one on the grass.

[poc301]

How should I do the grass or sky then without a gradient?  The sky I assumed would NEED one, since the colors do fade naturally in the real sky..  The grass I was kinda at a loss about..

The original image was a bastardized photorealistic pic I had before I re-did my art style for the game.  It was used for influence ideas on what to do.  I changed it up a bit to make it a little nicer and fit the game a little better.


-Bill

[S]

OK, to specify: the sky looks good. The grass gradient should be reversed, so that the darker bit is further away, but on a bright day like this, even that would perhaps not look quite right.

But for your graphics style, which is much more design-y than naturalistic, I don't see any problems using gradients.

[Hudders]

The grass should be a flat colour. The light is coming from the sky, (where the sun is...) so it doesn't make sense to reverse the gradient either. If you must use a gradient on the sky, it should be more subtle.

[poc301]

I am changing the grass some, making it a flat single color and trying to add some texture to it..

As for the sky..  I did some google searching for "afternoon sky" and got a ton of pictures.  They all show lighter skies by the horizon, and darker up in the higher atomosphere :

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Lithuania/photo584606.htm

http://www.flyoverpeople.net/images/E-Sky0925.jpg

True, some aren't as big of a color change as my gradient, but some are.  I dunno what to do with the sky..  I do like the gradient, but.. Hmm..


**EDIT** I just tried several different shades, and with the sky darker overall, it looks less sunny and bright, something I do not want to do.  I think I will be leaving the gradient alone in the sky.   Time to add some clouds!



-Bill

[poc301]

So I have just done my first cloud.  I am okay with it, but I would appreciate some comments/critiques.  They look a little .. Un-fluffy I guess.  I tried using an airbrush tool to make them but they looked way too much like balls of cotton in the sky.  So I ended up using a solid bubble with rounded bumps and then darkening them to add some depth.



Thoughts?

Thanks!

Bill

[Moresco]

So I have just done my first cloud.  I am okay with it, but I would appreciate some comments/critiques.  They look a little .. Un-fluffy I guess.  I tried using an airbrush tool to make them but they looked way too much like balls of cotton in the sky.  So I ended up using a solid bubble with rounded bumps and then darkening them to add some depth.

Thoughts?

Yeah, make the clouds more atmospheric, a bit less like cotton balls sitting in the sky, and more like blobs of air that are somewhat transparent and don't have hard edges.  I would begin painting them with a brush set to a low opacity, like maybe 10-20% or so.  You can even use a 5%-15% smudge tool to stretch them out or make them wispy.  Just experiment, but think atmospheric...or look at reference.


Also...

As for the sky..  I did some google searching for "afternoon sky" and got a ton of pictures.  They all show lighter skies by the horizon, and darker up in the higher atomosphere

The sky as it goes up into the atmosphere is bluer because of increased chances for blue light to scatter - this happens as the waves encounter nitrogen.   As you look on the horizon, there is supposedly less nitrogen or more chances for other particles to encounter and scatter light, and more red light from the sun passes through as well.   Really red horizons are often caused by smog. 

So yes, your gradient is correct and fits in the image, I wouldn't bother changing it.  The grass gradient could be correct if the really close foreground is shadowed by buildings across the street or something, and more light hits in the distance.  Only, you'd have to fix all the shadows to make something like that work.

[rbaleksandar]

lol The clouds remind me of those used in Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

[poc301]

lol The clouds remind me of those used in Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

LOL!  Yeah they do!  I didn't realize that hahaa.


Thanks for the info theredpress.  I am modifying it now.

-Bill

[poc301]

How about this cloud setup.  I changed opacity and darkened and wisped some of it..  I think it looks much better.  I think the scene is about done!



Thanks,

Bill

[rbaleksandar]

Hmm, I remember I saw a very nice tutorial for making clouds with GIMP somewhere on the internet...Will look for it and post it here. These look much better.

EDIT: Here. It needs a little bit of work to look good on your background though. You can also apply the sky-technique in this tutorial.

[poc301]

That is pretty cool, thanks

I don't have Gimp (I know it's free), instead I use MS Paint, Paint.net for layers and ArtGem for lightening/darkening.  My ArtGem is unregistered so I can't save anything (I screenshot it and edit the captured screen in MS Paint to get it useable).  Artgem unregistered also doesnt allow more than 2 layers, thus paint.net

Thanks,

Bill

[Babar]

Why not just use a simple 1 program (GIMP) then, with all these features?

Also, your shadows are still very odd. They're very dark (you should make them more transparent, or make them a shade of the object that it is covering).