A new art style - need critic

[Sam.]

im vaguely arting for a game that im working on (whilst not working on MINIron or AOK )

its for a "series of unfortunate events" game, a better one than the already commercially released one.

the characters:


olafs mansion


i want it to stay greyscale, it started off black and white, but the characters get lost in it, i kinda like the sketchy look, is it just me?

[mysterybowler]

I really like the style. It suits the subject matter. How about, instead of just grey scale, using muted colour for the backgrounds and try making the characters bigger. This may help to distinguish them. I would like to see some more art work for this. I like the way you are going. Great stuff to translate into an adventure game. Do you plan on being able to switch between characters? They could work as a team, each using their different abilities to solve the puzzles.

[Corey]

u know... before i had even read what you said I already tought:" hey that looks like series of unfortunate events". And I really like the style too

[DonB]

I really dig it, but what about;
-making the characters normal pixel style, so they won't get lost in the bg
(perhaps that screws up your idea tho, then don't do it)
-do one color in the black and white background, like only an orange door or something, that will break the boringness of black and white and actually make it look very good i think., or maybe make the characters in color, so the black and white breaks too..

Anyway, you did a very good job on this background, I like the style and the greyscale..

[Sam.]

what do you mean by "normal pixel style"? im trying a NEW style, including the characters...

thanks for the advice, im working on a new version

[DonB]

Okay, like i said, if you really wanna keep it original, keep the characters this way.. but perhaps coloring them would be nice.. they are kinda identity-less without having more color or outbreak from the background imo..

With normal pixel style i ment your avatar for example

[big brother]

Try not substituting a medium-dark gray instead of black in the background, so the character outlines don't get muddled. You could also try tinting the characters if you want them to stand out, but don't want to color them traditionally. Each character could have a different hue, differentiating them more.

Alternatively, you could reserve 4 shades of gray for the background, and four totally different shades of gray for the characters. Ex: 4 lighter gray shades for bg, 4 darker for characters. That would be a good way to cultivate clear contrast, while keeping your style unique.

I think the sketchy characters will work better against a clean background, or clean characters against the sketchy, but if everything's sketchy it'll just be confusing to the player.

[Nikolas]

I love the new style! I just love it!

Just one question about the characters. Since they are empty, other than their outline, does this mean that they are also transparent? That would be interesting, but would be much more difficult to differentiate from the background. If not then I think that BBs advice is the best (reserving colours and all)

[Sam.]

no, the characters middles are solid, im thinking of going with bbs idea, im working on some stuff now

[InCreator]

It will work if you remove black color from bg's and make whole thing grayscale or some tone, not a mess of contrast.

Then the characters will stand out.

[Sam.]

an update, i like this one, i thought mostly all grey with important accents in black?

example:

[Chicky]

Far better.

[big brother]

It's much easier to read now, but the original problem (though minimized) is still present. What happens to the characters when they walk in front of the curb or the gate? Suddenly they lose form, and the scene becomes confusing.

If the background black was a gray with a lower value than the other gray outlines, it might work.

[MarVelo]

Really love it, but I think you need just a little darker on the grey.

[Nikolas]

You know, one other idea would be to have color on ALL the backgorund (grey scale, but no matter what tone really, as long as it isn't very dark) and since the only white is what's inside the characters, they will be distinguished immediately.

I just saw the word shite in my post. That was a typo and have no idea what I was thinking...

[MarVelo]

I agree with Nikolas


something like this

[Sam.]

im afraid i disagree with the dark thing, i really like whats going on now, like pencil sketches (if youve read the books, you'll know what i mean)

here is an EARLY version of an indoor scene, nowhere near fnished, but i must sleep now, (bout half an hours work)


does the style still fit?

[PsychicHeart]

There is no emoticon for what i'm feeling... oh wait, yes there is

[mwahahaha]

Yeah, i like those pictures, I think you're certainly achievig what you're aiming to.  But you could try putting some colour in the interactive objects maybe.  A bit like the colours in Sin City.

My cutscenes for my game are using that sort of style.



The background is only red because he's been shot in the leg with a tranqilizer dart by the Mafia. Normally it's grey or black.

[Kinoko]

I REALLY like that style, Zooty. The problem I have with the "new" ones (the lighter colouring), although I agree you should totally keep going in that direction, is that the pictures look uncompleted still. The contrast between the grey and black outlines is far too strong, and I think there need to be some different tones.

I'd really like to say I'll do an example of what I mean later, but I won't have time ... still, keep going! It's getting there!