First Background

[SudsyBoy]

I'm pretty unsatisfied with the hill in the foreground, specifically the upper edge separating it from everything else. Done in Photoshop 7. Any pointers on that as well as anything else would be well appreciated.

[bicilotti]

Any pointers on that as well as anything else would be well appreciated.

No pointers (yet), but you'd probably want to upload a .png instead of a .jpg (artifacting).

[SudsyBoy]

Ah, sorry, new to this. I've gone and changed the format.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I'm sorry.  But I almost get an underwater seaweed feeling here.  But seeing hills in the background, I'm guessing it's a desert/beach scene or something?
Let us know.

[SudsyBoy]

It's a fanciful dreamscape, meant to look outlandish but not so absurd as to disrupt any vivid inference on the player's part.

[cat]

Is it day or night? I can't say from the picture. The bright yellow hills and the dark sky don't really fit I think...
If you want the hills to be lighted by a very strong lightsource (bright spotlight,...) the items on the hill need loooong cast shadows in the other direction.

[Ghost]

Fancyful dreamscape... makes me think of the MAXX a bit.

I tried a small and quick edit repaint, just to show some points.



- a lighter palette, but with only a few colours, will look very good in most low-res games, and here too. I used no true black, only shades of orange/brown. You could safely remove two or three colours from my edit, by the way, and still achieve great results.

- I'm no big fan of blurring and the burn tool, which I think you used. In low-res art it pays off to place your shades by hand. Mine are a bit off, but I hope you get my point.

- the "annoying" separating line in the foreground hill can simply be left out-lead into a darker shade of the same colour, presto. That was isn't there can't annoy you.

- a dark silhouette against a dark background is risky- someone with a monitor that is only a tad darker than yours will see nothing but black. Also, a lighter sky compliments the "desert" environment, in addition to being complimentary colours (blue/orange). These work quite well.

- any fancyful dreamscape without wobbly balanced rock structures is *not* a true fancyful dreamscape!

[SudsyBoy]

I'm quite aware of colour theory, and technical considerations notwithstanding, a blue sky just doesn't mesh with the story's cosmology, story, characters, music or anything else already in place. Aside from that, what program did you use to make the second background? Photoshop seems pretty counterintuitive when it comes to making clean edges, like that.

[ildu]

Photoshop seems pretty counterintuitive when it comes to making clean edges, like that.

Use the pencil, turn off anti-aliasing or use hard-edged brushes.

[Ghost]

Indeed, this was done in Photoshop 4. Pen tool, one pixel. Holding Shift while clicking makes nice, clean shapes. A steady hand, too.

[InCreator]

- I'm no big fan of blurring and the burn tool, which I think you used. In low-res art it pays off to place your shades by hand. Mine are a bit off, but I hope you get my point.

I absolutely disagree.
When done correctly, soft brushes and brighten/darken method is WAY better than any manual shading.

Also, I prefer original shading over edit. But try to mix manual shades into darken thing. I mean, keep shade areas just like on Ghost's edit, then apply soft darken over it. Shadows should still be quite sharp, not such a blur as on your initial image. Follow the edit here.

And keep that level of detail in horizon area too.