MS Paint/ professional background look

Chicky · Tue 29/07/2003 19:13:25

Hi all,

just wondering how many people use ms paint for their art in their games. Personally i do and my friends think my art is great , but what really is the advantage of using say psp for backgrounds?

*new question*
scroll down to my next post

cheers for any replys

- a chicken

Archangel (aka SoupDragon) · Tue 29/07/2003 20:09:19

The tool I find myself using most often that isn't in MSPaint is the Magic Wand tool - this allows you to select a region of just one colour (like a flood fill, only it selects stuff instead of colouring it in). Also, I think layers are pretty neato, and I use them all the time for colouring, drawing perspective lines, and keeping original scans underneath what I'm working on. Other than that, there's not much that PSP, Photoshop and others can offer the pixel artist.

agsking · Tue 29/07/2003 20:17:00

Many people use mspaint for backgrounds, its a great tool.
But the advatage of psp or photoshop is it can use layers.
Layers are very cool, I was a little sacred of them at first, but they are VERY useful when you get used to them. They save you lots of time animating, and if you don't like part of a picture you made, like say a house, just delete that layer. Layers do other cool things.

Those programs also have neat features (like unlimited undo

) that can help you move on and become a better computer artist insteat of being stuck with the same old tools like paint (not that mspaint is bad, I love the thing). Theres alwase something new to learn.
They are expensive though, around the hundreds but you can just download a pirated copy

Anyway, I recommend photoshop of paint shop pro, but thats just me.

Paranoia · Tue 29/07/2003 20:19:01

i use a combination of PSP and ms paint, i tend to use paint to resize things and clean up the edges, and the first draft of the background scenes, PSP i use for shading, creating the objects (using layers) and general BS! i seem to be cursed with white outlines on my sprites, how do u turn the anti alias off?! animation shop for animation frames and intros
i also use truespace for 3d scenes (moving on to 3d max soon) and poser is handy for 3D figures, but its a pain in the ass to use

agsking · Tue 29/07/2003 20:24:12

Use the pencil tool

EDIT: Sorry Paranoia, that's photoshop, in psp go to "Tool Options" and change the "hardness" to 100.

Archangel (aka SoupDragon) · Tue 29/07/2003 20:30:47

I use the GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/~tml/gimp/win32/) - it's just as powerful as PSP, but freeware. The only catch is, since it's ported from Linux the interface is a little... quirky ^_^

OneThinkingGal and ._. · Wed 30/07/2003 03:27:01

I use PS and PSP for serious work, but paint is great to doodle in and if I want to just want to play around to get the initial composition right. Somehow the lines seem to look nicer in Paint.

PS and PS have layers, better colour selections, better blending options and opactities that let me do much more than I could with paint. ._.

Femme Stab Mode >:D · Wed 30/07/2003 07:01:39

I used MS paint for my first game but now I only use it to clean up the edges. I miss the magic wand and the filters so now I'm trying hard to learn to use photoshop.

* Sasha can't wait untill she gets the drawing tablet she was promised

Captain Mostly · Wed 30/07/2003 07:30:36

MS paint has so many hidden details to it! I love it!

Like the right click function on the rubber tool! That's so clever (although I over-use it)!

I love working with it because EVERY TIME I think I've got it sussed, I work out another cool thing I can do by combining a few of it's options!

The only thing I ever use psp for is the fancy filters you can put on things (like blurring etc). But there's no sence of achievement using that. Where's the skill?? Certainly not in my drawing!

Gilbert · Wed 30/07/2003 07:51:14

Heh I like the right click rubber tool too, that's how I make coloured outlines, though the Stencil function of DP is far more powerful (another feature overused by me). Too bad my office computer is messed up so M$Pain always crash for me. :'(

Trapezoid · Wed 30/07/2003 08:35:36

What the hell's the rubber tool?

Gilbert · Wed 30/07/2003 08:47:48

Heh, "eraser" if you cant stand teh word "rubber"

Chicky · Wed 30/07/2003 10:33:04

nice one!

wow i got a lot more reply's than i expected , i mainly use mspaint for building structures (bendy line tool kicks a$$) but the magic wand tool (psp) i find very usefull for filling block colours. Also its really useful that you can edit colours picked up with the popett on psp.

*new question*
i've recently been playing games like search for sanity and aprentice, now seaarch for santy is obviously hand painted backgrounds but aprentice has really professional like backgrounds but it looks like they're computerdrawn. How do i get such a nice effect on my backgrounds which looks so damn professional.

cheers

a chicken

plasticman · Wed 30/07/2003 12:48:43

Quote from: Captain Mostly on Wed 30/07/2003 07:30:36
MS paint has so many hidden details to it! I love it!

Like the right click function on the rubber tool! That's so clever (although I over-use it)!

I love working with it because EVERY TIME I think I've got it sussed, I work out another cool thing I can do by combining a few of it's options!

The only thing I ever use psp for is the fancy filters you can put on things (like blurring etc). But there's no sence of achievement using that. Where's the skill?? Certainly not in my drawing!

that's so true ! you can even learn to use the aerograph (spray ?) tool to make cool dithering and stuff like that ! it even has spline curves !
and i hate misused filters !

agsking · Wed 30/07/2003 14:59:02

Quote*new question*
i've recently been playing games like search for sanity and aprentice, now seaarch for santy is obviously hand painted backgrounds but aprentice has really professional like backgrounds but it looks like they're computerdrawn. How do i get such a nice effect on my backgrounds which looks so damn professional.

Well, you must practice practice practice, even in real life, on paper. I also recommend Deluxe Paint II. It dosen't use layers and runs in DOS, but its good when you know how to use it, Monkey Island 1 was made using dpaint. You can get real professional art using it. Also, Photoshop seems easier for the kind of stuff you want to do.

Rincewind · Wed 30/07/2003 16:04:00

Well, I use MsPaint for basically everything, both backgrounds and sprites. That depends both on that I find it easy to use, I like the style it creates, and because I'm to much of a lazy cheapskate to buy a "real" paint-program...

WanderLady · Wed 30/07/2003 18:59:12

A question I have about paint - if you don't mind, oversizedchicken - is about choosing colors.

Games like "Apprentice" always seem to have the right....beautiful colors. I know they can be chosen in paint, but how is it done? Or even in the other programs. Not technically, but artistically.

And if you see this, agsking or gilbot, why is dpaint good? What can it do better?

Las Naranjas · Wed 30/07/2003 22:03:58

I wonder how many people here did buy PS or PSP.

undergroundling · Wed 30/07/2003 23:43:32

I bought Photoshop 6 and the upgrade to Photoshop 7.

Well, okay, I didn't, but my dad bought them for work and brought them home for me to install on my computer.

But it sorta counts.

Gilbert · Thu 31/07/2003 02:05:51

Quote from: WanderLady on Wed 30/07/2003 18:59:12
And if you see this, agsking or gilbot, why is dpaint good? What can it do better?

DP can do much more than M$Pain, though actually using a small subset of its function is already enough, and it's designed for indexed colour pictures (so no true/hicolour crap, for the PC version at least), whereas support for index colour in M$Pain is extremely poor, which is the case for 90% of window$ programmes. Finally, DP is for DOS, which is what I REALLY need.

Paranoia · Thu 31/07/2003 11:46:04

i didn't 'buy' PSP7 it came from kazaa, (please don't turn this into another right or wrong thread) but i wise i had the money and would gladly buy the newer versions with all the backup, its the second most used program on this PC.

Paranoia

Chicky · Sat 02/08/2003 22:03:08

To wanderlady

About your question for choosing the right backgrouns colours

well ... a while ago i had the problem that all my backgrouds seemed darker on other peoples computers, its kinda off topic but this is where psp came in handy. A lot of art programs have the option to edit light colour gama ect this is somthing that paint misses it can be very handy. Also on psp you can edit poppeted colours which paint lacks.

to your question, i find it handy to take a print screen ( the button on your keyboard that says prt sc) of a game that i really like and compare the colours of buildings ect. i use block colours for the main buildings then out line them in a darker version of the colour.

If your still stuck here's a wise word some AGS'er said to me once 'try searching images google for sam and max for some ideas of how to draw that style'. so if your looking for cartooney style try 'sam and max' or 'day of the tentacle' and if you want serious style try 'indiana jones and the fate of atlantis' or 'beneath a steel sky'.

hope this novel

helps a little and keep with AGS.

A Chicken

Snake · Sun 03/08/2003 06:39:00

@Chicken

I scan my pencil-drawn BG's first (usually I trace them in black ink afterwords). I open them up in PSP7, (which I downloaded the trial at Jasc's site, but did the bad thing and downloaded a crack

Suck my meat!1!) darken the pencil, resize accordingly (for 320/240, etc...). From there I color them in MSpaint and do touch ups such as burring and frigging with different color tones and balancing using PSP7.

For an example, visit the link in my sig and look at the screenshot. Some of you may think it's crap, but I'm very proud with how it came out.

--Snake

agsking · Sun 24/08/2003 03:20:54

Heh, don't ask why I revived this old thread.
I just like the topic.

Quote from: WanderLady on Wed 30/07/2003 18:59:12
A question I have about paint - if you don't mind, oversizedchicken - is about choosing colors.

Games like "Apprentice" always seem to have the right....beautiful colors. I know they can be chosen in paint, but how is it done? Or even in the other programs. Not technically, but artistically.

And if you see this, agsking or gilbot, why is dpaint good? What can it do better?

Dpaint is good because what gil said, and other neat things like gradients (YES, I did say gradients). People say they shouldn't be used often but you really should if you want the classic look of MI or FoY. It also has so many cool hidden features. I love the thing :'(

Also if you want natural, beautiful colors, just look around you. See what color things are. This by itself helps a lot for me anyway. Look at other games who do it well, experiment.

Anyway, since I found out about the neat features of "the eraser" my life has never been the same. I'm a changed person I tell you.

Esseb · Sun 24/08/2003 13:22:18

What the heck is right clicking with the rubber supposed to do? Seems to work just like left clicking.

12431 · Sun 24/08/2003 18:32:31

reply to Esseb: if you mean in mspaint, you can choose to replace one color. the top color is the one you remove, and replace it with the color of the eraser.

plasticman · Sun 24/08/2003 18:38:25

oops.

QuoteA question I have about paint - if you don't mind, oversizedchicken - is about choosing colors.

Games like "Apprentice" always seem to have the right....beautiful colors. I know they can be chosen in paint, but how is it done? Or even in the other programs. Not technically, but artistically.

open a background that you like (or any other pics) in your program, then select some colors in the image and look at them in the color-palette. pay attention to the HSV values.