Outline colour

[gameboy]

Hey there CLers!

I did some background art for a game a while ago. I was going for a very simple style allowing me to produce a large amount of art in a short time, so I used black outlines on everything. I was kind of happy with it, but a friend of mine suggested I use a different colour instead of black. A dark purple-ish tone, in that case.

I tried it out and I think it looks pretty good compared to the one with black outlines. What do you think about using this kind of tone? Is it okay, or should I try and use some other colour to make it even better?

Also, I kept the original black outlines for characters, 'cause I thought it helps them stand out a bit. ...or maybe they stand out too much?

[Armageddon]

I think that it looks amazing. I've always liked when people just slightly change the outline color to a warm red/purple. Adds a nice feel. Also the game looks pretty awesome. The only think i would add is an outline in the first picture where the booth and the base of the booth meet, the color change looks odd.

[Ghost]

Coloured outlines are a great way to make everything blend much better, and you're using it to great effect. I would go ALL the way and use tinted character outlines, too, but that's a personal opinion. Right now the characters do stand out, but it's not jarring because the background outlines are also quite dark. It's not "standing out too much", but it could be interesting to create a mockup screenshot for comparision.
Also, I really like the minimalistic but stylish... style. It doesn't look cheap but very oldschool; good palette setup there!

[Anian]

Ok, I'm definitely in front of the screen too long these last few days, but I really don't see the difference that much...maybe just slightly, but barely noticeable. I had to sample it in PS to see.

I mean even colors with more difference "seem" the same depending on the colors surrounding them, but this really is just a slight change in my opinion. I guess I'd notice it if the 2 images were next to one another but in this case, you might as well go with the one you think looks best since it's more a very subtle effect rather than a big change.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I think the backgrounds have a nice simplistic design that the character sprites play well off of.  Have another look at the back end of the car in the street scene though; you may notice something missing .

[Chicky]

'we have snobrds' I dont why, but that makes me giggle.

I too find it a little hard to notice the dark purple, certainly looks like black to me. I guess this sort of subtlty needs a well calibrated monitor.

[Khris]

Yes, I'm still on a CRT and the background's outline color is indistinguishable from black/the character's outlines.
I really like the style though, great work!

[gameboy]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions, everybody! I'll get back to work now.

I guess I just have a very bright monitor, because I can see a very clear difference between the dark purple and black.

[edit] Okay, now on a different computer with a different monitor I too can see that the purple appears to be almost black. I may try and brighten the purple just a little bit and see what happens.

[Matti]

Very nice backgrounds and characters, as always 

Your outlining in the first screen is inconsistent, at least a bit confusing. I'd change that.

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/3Vc7c.png[/imgzoom]