New Room

[lo_res_man]

I agree o great and mighty moderator. khrismuc and Ã, Damien were been VERY rude. Tanker has come a long way in a very short amount of time. His sense of colour has improved, his perspective has improved. While at the same time he has ALREADY created his own style. I say kudos to tanker. For hard work, his own style. And for a desire to improve. I say we give tanker a round of applause! [claps hands in circle ]
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK TANKER!! 8)

[TheYak]

Taking up the advice of not playing moderator, I've wiped my post.  In summary:

Why respond with unhelpful insults? If you think there was no effort made, ignore the thread or mention that it could use more work before C&C.

Tanker: You're getting some of the fundamentals and I'm glad to see you're doing your own artwork.  Don't fall into the trap of using techniques to disguise shortcomings.  It may look cliché but using perspective or isometrics can be entertaining and give a more polished look.  1-point-perspective is a pretty quick study and all that's required for your recent two rooms. 

I whole-heartedly agree with Andail's recommendations concerning the skewed lines.

[Damien]

To keep it short:
I'm sorry you took my comments that seriously. I edited the unhelpfull parts out of my post.

And Yak, don't take up that prejudice because of one person.

EDIT:
I never said his BG or his style look bad, or that I won't help 'because my art is superior to his'. Also, I never mentioned the perspective, I don't have a problem with it being "wacky".
Sorry for sounding harsh, but emotions are hard to convey through text.
What I wanted to say is that a 10 minute modification could make it 10x better looking, I don't mean a modification of his style, but simply adding more details like:
-wood boards where the walls meet the floor - 2 lines & a flood fill
-electrical outlet - 1 rectangle, 1 flood fill, 2 dots
-bigger windows - 5 lines, 1 flood fill
-cracked walls - few freehands

Some bigger mod's:
-maybe a lightsource inside the room, at least it seems it's in the room looking at the shadows, then you could also add a switch to the wall
-if you want to stich with the lightsource coming from the outside, there would be a highlight of the window shape on the floor

That's all, take it easy.

[Huw Dawson]

Although I think Tanker's room looks a bit... Primitive in my eyes, I think that it actually looks decent. I cannot ever get rooms to look good, and I think that room is downright respectable, espessially for what some of you would consider a "n00b". Being unfriendly to someone who's trying to improve - even by very experienced members of all people, is downright unfriendly. I personally think that that room could be improved dramatically. Maybe a picture on the wall, or some form of foreground piece?

Tanker, what do you use to make these backgrounds? Just interested as a fellow forumer.Ã, 

[Estaog]

After reading all of your posts, i came up with this:


(As you can see i havent totaly forgotten about monkey island.)

Oh and thanks for sticking up for me you guys, i really hate it when i try hard and people still mock me.

And Huv i use ArtGem for the detail and Paint for the tick lines.

[Khris]

The pig's shadow should look like this:


As the window (sun) is the only lightsource, there can't be any distinct shadows outside the beam of light that's shining through it.

Also consider that a background pic should only consist of static items. Did you paint the doll, closet doors and wires on a different layer?

[Al_Ninio]

The poster on the door doesn't quite seem to fit the background's style.
also, the bed's shading is incorrect (i.e. lighted part is facing away from the window and shaded part towards it. Should be vice versa).

Nice, background, overall. Very cute style.

[Ozwalled]

If you're actually keeping that longpig in there, consider that it does clutter up the walkable area of the room more than a bit. Also, it doesn't really fit the thick outlie style.

And the light switch, I'd say should be coming from a bit lower in the wall (assuning that's what it is). And it wouldn't be likely to be looking like that, either. From the opened light switched I've seen (i.e., minus the faceplate), they more or less look like a rectanglar hole with a vertical piece of metal in the middle; and in the middle of that piece of metal is the plastic switch. To see for yourself, either unscrew a lightswitch faceplate and take it off, or better yet, take a run down to your local hardware store.

[Andail]

I'd always thought it an US stereotype that this part of the world contains extremely tactless and rude people:

Now I'm reconsidering taking up this prejudice.

Hm, please don't vent more US prejudices in the future. I just hate them.

Some people were rude, yes, and they were being told off by a moderator.

And to explain the clause which I put in the rules years ago, about how you need to put down a certain amount of time and energy in your artwork before publishing here.
Some people won't bother to c&c their own pieces, so they post them prematurely and let other people suggest all the improvements. This is often the case with very small children.

So, is this the case now? Nah, not really. Without exaggerating Tanker's achievements so far (the way I find  lo_res_man and Yakspit are doing) he's displaying a certain dedication and will to learn and improve.

So, to break down:
1. Don't be unnecessarily rude
2. Don't play moderator
3. Be careful not to publish your artwork before you've given them lots of time and scrutinising.

As for the piece now.

Skewing lines is a good way of making a background less stiff, but I would recommend slightly bending them instead of just tilting them.
The outlining is too thick. You could also try using outlines in darker shades of the colours they surround, instead of just pitch black.
Establish vanishing lines and correct your perspective. I know you wanna go for the whacky cartoonesque style, but believe me, learn the perspective and your backgrounds will improve by 150%.

Please do these adjustments and get back to us.
Good luck.

[Estaog]

Final version:



It looks more wacky now with the new outlines, and its really the style im aiming for.

[Ubel]

Not final version yet! The pig's shadow is still not correct.

[Peter Thomas]

I agree with Pablo I think this is the style you should be aiming for, since it seems to come naturally to you, but that shadow is not right and really does grab more attention that it should because of it. All that needs to be done is make the darker parts of the shadow the same colour as the lighter part, and it'll look fab.

Also, I'm not 100% keen on the door-poster. It's a really different style to everything else in the room, and it actually took me a while to figure out that it was meant to be a part of the picture.

Apart from that, I'd say you've found your niche I like the monkey-island doll idea, I think that's cute. A sort of "easter-egg". Keep up the good work!

[Ozwalled]

Again, I stress: if you are going to adopt a style of "thick outlines" then try to stick with it. The pig, the lock thing, the (lightswitch) and the doll have thin outlines. Theposter doesn't even have one (not to mention that yeah, it looks way out of place). And that shadow -- as the others have said: PLEASE fix that. It jumps out at me as being really bad, and takes away from the picture immensely.

I'd also use a slightly darker outline for what I'm guessing is a sheet hanging out from under the bed's blanket (I'd somehow not noticed it before now, but I find the lack of contrast makes it look odd).

And again, considering the walking space. Is there even enough room to have your character walk around the pig to get from the door to the cabinet to the lightswitch?

Please don't consider this one finished -- it still could really use a little extra work to finish it off, whether or not you post the progress here.

[Estaog]

I fixed the shadow and fixed the sheet. Wait, you guys know this is just for practice right? I am not going to use this in games or anything, just for practice. I also found this toturial :
http://www.geocities.com/pscribetute/index.html
Will this help me with my progress ?

Oh and i didnt think it was necessary to post the image here, as i only changes the shadow.

[aussie]

Yes, the tute will help you greatly.

I've never seen a better one!

!!1!!1111!