Small Detective Office Background

[DonB]

Hello all,

Background: Office of Detective Roxy
(1-men-occupied office.. only one room)

I have made this background in paint, this is actually the first I make with paint, but that doesn't matter now, don't crit too hard on me please, the room isn't completely finished yet (posters etc. need more details, like a gun for example, or some bad guys mugshots, there need to come a chair for behind the desk and one in front of the desk, maybe some papers on the desk), i need some textures i think on the floor but I don't know how, also, I think the room needs shadows.. but I can't seem to make it right..

I know the perspective ain't exactly perfect, but I don't think it's very wrong for a cartoon-stylish game..

Perhaps someone could add some texture to it on the floor for example?
I tried it a thousand times but it doesn't seem to work out good,

..and what about a small lightening effect?

The white stripes by the window are supposed to move when it's finished, so it's raining outside..





x2:

[ildu]

Looks pretty good. These are my advice:

- Turn down the contrast of the floor. Right now it's the brightest and most colorful thing in the office. You don't want people's eyes to be directed to the floor, do ya? And also, don't make it orange. A tainted green-white checkers pattern with noise would look much better and would give it some texture.
- According to the perspective you are using, the desk edge closest to the camera is way too low. This is easily fixable with some vanishing point work.
- I  love how the foreground objects are black, but you should add some variance. Only have black on surfaces away from the light. So basically you should color the sides of the objects with a dark color and the tops of the objects with a lighter version of that dark color.
- The actual door in the indentation and the lower edge of the top doorframe is not in perspective.
- The wallpanel in the base of the walls are of different color. If the idea is to have varying colored walls due to difference in lighting, shade the walls evenly.

And here are some suggestions:

- The cord of the telephone could run across the floor, adding detail.
- The lamp could be closer to the center of the room. Then it would look more logical and actually look better.
- The window on the door could be larger, transparent and bear the name of the detective.
- The window on the wall could be transparent and show a vague image of a cityscape.
- This is quite obvious as you said, but add detail. Perhaps a coatrack, diplomas, plants and a chair would suffice.

[DonB]

Look, that's what I call good advices.. like I told ya I ain't good in perspective or shadows, but I will try to make the floor a more neutral color, the texture on the floor tho, I still don't know what texture I should use,Ã,  I think You are very right by the shading colors and stuff, also about the foreground, will edit a lot..
The rest of the tips I will all take in consideration with love too,
The suggestions about window named Detective Roxy and phone line cable and stuff I think are very useful..

"A tainted green-white checkers pattern with noise would look much better and would give it some texture."
Could you show me an example from the floor?

a second version will be up within some days

Any more comments people? Good or bad..

[Darth Mandarb]

The first thing that jumped out at me was the pull-string for the window.  You have it going behind the window shade.  This would be inconvenient!

I did a fast paint-over for you (feel free to use any/all/none of it):


- fixed the pull-string
- added shadows/shading
- added gradients to walls/ceilings
- added in a floor style
- changed the outline of the window shade

[ildu]

I'm making a paint-over as we speak...or I speak...or actually I write. Anyways I'll show you some of the things I'd change.

Darth, isn't the curtain string supposed to emerge from the end of the curtain? I think that's what he was trying to make.

[DonB]

Wow.. very nice.. the floor creates the detective office atmosphere a lot more too I am gonna use much of it and learn from it, thanks Darth..,

and I'm very curious after your paintover Ildu

[Darth Mandarb]

Darth, isn't the curtain string supposed to emerge from the end of the curtain? I think that's what he was trying to make.

Ahhh ... I see what you mean.  It's one of the kinds where you pull down and it goes flying up and rolls up!

Well in that case, I'd suggest moving the pull-string to the center!

[aussie]

IMO you should probably try to shorten the table a little bit. You could also make the vertical part of the table (the one facing you, with the little brown squiggles) a bit 'taller'. That would significantly improve perspective.

I'm assuming you will include a chair at some point in time.

I wouldn't add textures. They just don't work unless youu make them yourself.

For the rest, I think it's excellent.

And I love Darth's paintover. I always do.

[DonB]

Good idea Aussi, will try and see how it looks, thanks

[Evil]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v458/evil1359/don_office.png

Love Darth's edit aswell. But the desk and window were a little obscure. Just a quick edit.

[ildu]

Ok, so I went a little overboard and got too excited and I spent way too much time and too much artistic freedom. Anyway, I hope this doesn't seem too smug or like I'm stepping on anyone's feet, because I kinda took this as a personal undertaking.

I started doing the paintover, and I realized the perpective had to be done again, so after redoing all of the perspective I started adding color to the objects and before I knew it I was adding new objects. So after that I just couldn't leave it without the transparent windows. Finally I spent way too much time doing the shadows. And alas, I'm still not satisfied with it, and it's not even my background. The shadows kinda ruined things. So here's the paintover:



And here's a link to the Photoshop file. It's got all changes on separate layers:

http://users.evtek.fi/~ilarim/paintover.psd

Feel free to use any part of the image. I won't mind one bit. Oh, yeah, I couldn't be arsed to draw the telephone on the desk. And also, I'm pretty sure Photoshop forced me to use other than 256 colors.

[Mordalles]

wow, i love the city through the window. and the shadow from the door showing the letters on the ground.

[Mugs]

DonB, your BG seems interesting, and you don't need to do something as detailed as ildu's paint-over.Ã,  What I would suggest (with minimum effort), I would fix the desks since it's the one thing that really seems out of perspective (try to make it look like ildu's modification.) Another thing you could do would be to change the colors a little(a few posts above might help you with texture), but to me it doesn't matter that much (it depends how far you want to go, if your character doesn't have much detail, you probably wouldn't want to go too far with your BG.Ã,  )Ã,  Ã, 

[DonB]

Wow again, I'm overwelmed Ildu, just when I thought Darth's floor was so good, you bring out this, the window I already thought about that way.. it's very sweet.. will try to mix up Darth's, yours, mine, and the rest of the posters ideas here together for some fine bg..

I see you have spend very much time on this repaint, very appreciated mate.., this also goes for Evil, I ain't forgetting you Nice re-perspective of the desk..

Either way.. you guys have given me much to think about, thanks a lot.. will post a second bg soon..