Wizard's room for c&c

[ivan]

Hi, i'm new to the forum, and this is my very first post here
I just wonder to hear what do you think about this background from the game i'm currently working on.
Well, it's going to be the room of the main character (who is (or atleast tries to be) a wizard), which is situated in some old castle.

I know there are some mistakes... But I can't see exactly where they are... Just the whole picture doesn't look good for me. I will be very pleased if you would help me to find them and give me an advice to how eliminate them.



and 2x



Ehm, and sorry about my poor english, it's an foreign language for me.

[ildu]

I think it looks fine. As far as composition goes, I would probably make the window's left edge visible and possibly add something to the right of the door to establish that you can't exit to the right. Of course to add depth, you could add foreground objects. You could also add some more objects to the room, scattered around, if you really need to. The doorway would also look a bit more appealing if it wasn't totally black. But otherwise it looks good. Nothing structurally wrong pops out.

[Nikolas]

I think that the closet is seems ready to fall. Only that. And somehow because of the anlge of the camera view, the floor seems a little tilted. But there is nothing wrong with what you idd, but rather what decisions you made.

But regardless of what I say above, it seems really nice, with a little more detail (items, maybe, some animation) it will be fine...

[Kweepa]

I think the main reason the picture "just doesn't look good" (don't get me wrong, I like the image) is that the walls and floor are all the same dull grey colour. At the very least, you could light the walls according to a scheme like this:



However, since this is supposed to be an old castle, I'd make the walls out of stones and the floors out of flagstones. Like in this (very rough) sketch:



The floor also takes up too much of the image, thanks to the high camera. And given the high camera, there should be a horizon visible out the window.

And in a castle, I doubt there would be a staircase cut out of the corner of the room like that, unless it was wooden.

[Moox]

Add some forground objects in black, all thats really needed.

[DonB]

Add some forground objects in black, all thats really needed.

I coudn't agree more.. looks excellent.. but ildu got a point with adding an object to the right to block the enterance there (people might want to go outside the screen because there aren't any objects).

[bspeers]

I'm no art expert (my art is terrible, awful, bad, and disturbingly poor in terms of composition), so these may not be errors, but I tried to figure out what it is you might not have liked.



First, the vines and the glow in the left-top area.  It's a bit confusing where some of that light is coming from.  You can see that there's a glow beside the window, but the walls are quite thick--it seems unlikely that the sun would be hitting the wall at such an extreme angle at that time of day.  How does it get against the flat part of the wall?  Some shorter light might help.

Also, the vine appears flat on compated to the rest, for whatever reason does not seem attached to the wall.

At the back of the room, there's the bookshelf, which again is really good, but the shelf seems to poke into empty air a bit where I circled it.  It could angle more down to seem attached to the slanted wall.  As it is it seems a bit fat on that end.

The biggest problem (and they are all minor, it is a fine room) from my perspective is the way the perspective cuts off at the bottom.  It feels as if we're about to fall off the picture, because the angle is so sharp towards the front of the room (circle 3).  It seems as if there is a fairly radical slope, which is unexpected in a castle tower.

That all could be wrong though--that's from a non-artist's perspective LOOKING for problems, because you stated you had some.  Ignore me if I'm totally wrong.

[sergiocornaga]

I think the outlines just need to be darkened a little.

[seaduck]

Hi,

your picture is beautifully rendered! The reasons why it doesn't look exactly right are more factual and conceptual.

In a nutshell it looks more like a typical student's bedroom in the present, in an attic of a common house. Why?

- the furniture is modern rather than middle age (both by shape and by type/selection)
- the shape of the ceiling indicates a typical 20th century saddle roof
- the window shape is a >=classicist (arguably renaissance)
- the single-colored rug is so 20th-century

It's also a bit too bright and not messy enough for a wizard's room. Where are the cat skulls, the potions, all the big leather-bound books? Those books on the shelf are school textbooks, not magicians books.

My advice would be:
- change shape of the ceiling - either use vaulting with visible ribs, or bare truss (i.e. ceiling=the roof's wooden underneath).
- consider changing the floor material to tiles or wooden planks
- add a frame to the door
- change the shape of the window to something castle-like - roman, gothic, or something
- add a frame to the window and shutters or panes (consisting of lead-cast glass circles)
- change the perspective as to make the floor area smaller
- change the furniture shape to something more rough or ornamental
- change the rug for a persian
- add lots of wizarding stuff everywhere


Oh and don't mind me, your picture is really nice, especially for a first try! Good luck!

[CoyoteJack]

I also might add that I assume the building is made out of stone, yes? I do not know (repeat, I am not sure, not at all, maybe someone with a bit more, ahem, "cred" in this area can back this up or totally debunk), but I have a feeling it'd take a hard-working mouse to make an actual hole like that in a stone wall, especially considering how thick it looks from the window edge.

Other than that, and the poster above me summed it up masterfully, it's a wonderfully executed first try that with some touching up could be something quite, quite special. Good job.

[ivan]

Wow, i've never expected to receive so many replies in only one day!
Thank you all guys for those helpful advices! Now i can clearly see the mistakes i've made while i was making the room.

In the fact, i'm really not good at drawing, and here lies the source of the two biggest problems mentioned here:
1.) The perspective is wrong, camera position is too height. Character will probably look odd moving there. I'll try to fix it, but i'm not sure, if i will be able to...
2.) Yes, room reminds me some student's room much more, than wizard's one. It will be hard to fix, because it includes redrawing of nearly everything, but i will do what i can, and we'll see...

And also there are some other problems:
- more items -- i will add some... some magician's stuff as was mentioned and maybe some rocking-chair
- the doorway -- i will draw some regular openable door, so no such a darkplace will be there
- stones -- yes i know, it looks like a normal modern building as it is, but i'm just not able to draw some good looking bricks there... i will try it again, while be making new perspective, but i'm afraid that the result will be very strange looking...
- some object at the right is needed -- that's it! will add some.
- the vine -- oh, i will just remove this horrible thing, seems really odd and completely useful.
- and finally the mousehole -- it has to be big, because of the mouse, which is... uhh... bigger, than other normal mice. But you're right, that it's not the right wall for that... So i will draw it somewhere else.

Thank you all again, now i will try to make new version this week and post it here as soon as it will be done.

[Corey]

nothing in this room reminds me of wizard stuff...

[Sean]

Love it. Don't go ruining it with changes now will you?