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I was also going to suggest meditating. It's a great way of attaining more calm mind.

Basically, it's true that anger is of no use. In fact, it practically always makes things worse. However, contrary to what it would seem - it is very essential.

Anger is a way to deal with the problem you're having. If you don't deal with it (if you don't get angry, for example), the stress condition won't be able to wear off. So, if you control your anger to the point that you choose to ignore the whole situation and just walk away in angry state of mind, you need to let it out somehow afterwards. Perhaps by meditation - thinking about why you got mad and if there really was any need to, how you got through it and become content with the situation. In other words, so that the whole situation doesn't make you angry at all, that you see it was totally useless for you to get angry in the first place. If you don't deal with it, you won't be able to get through it. Well, time heals wounds, but it will take quite a while and that kind of conflicts might pile up in longer period of time.

That is why I have started meditating. In army I was put up with enough anger to get someone into hospital in the most optimistic case. But luckily, I was able to control myself always without harming anyone, or even showing my anger. But as I didn't get to express my feelings or let the steam out in any way, the stressful situation stayed. And over time stress causes physical symptoms.

So, the moral of the story: remain calm, don't hurt anyone, but nonetheless: deal with the situation! In one way or other.

That is really good for a first try! I'm impressed! You've got a real nice texture on the sand.

The single one thing to make it EVEN better, would be adding contrast, as GinnyW pointed out. Make the darker spots even darker. Currently, there aren't any shadows that you could easily make darker. If you'd like, you could add them. You could shape the dunes even more with them.

At this point I'd like to add, that if you ever feel uncomfortable with the result of your image or you will have to draw something you're not very good at - use reference! They're a great source of detailed help, as images are worth thousand words.

For this subject, for example, I used Google's image search to find the following images:

http://www.photo.net/photo/pcd0738/great-sand-dune-hills-dark-16.3.jpg
http://www.cometchaser.de/namibia1998/dune.jpg
http://www-robotics.usc.edu/~shrabar/images/namibia/big/dune-2.jpg .

Examine them for a while and apply what you've learned to your image. And in this case, I think the shadows would be the thing that makes your image different from these. I know, different doesn't mean bad, but you need contrast to make the image read better, in my opinion.

The other issue is the water, it seems. I didn't recognize the water at first either, it took a bit of deciphering. You could start with Andail's suggestion and make the shore line more horizontal. Often you can get what you want only with shapes. Which means that DYDO's suggestions should also be added. You wouldn't have to even touch the colors.

However, if you'd like to reinforce the watery look, you could add some blue on the bottom of the image. This is due to the fact that water reflects when you look at it at small angle. The smaller the angle, the greater the reflection. This means, that on the bottom of the image, the angle you're looking at the water is pretty big, there's practically no reflection at all - the 'local' water color shines through. That would be deep blue, or any color you wish, but blue probably conveys the message the best. To accomplish that, you can use two layers. The bottom layer would be the deep blue, and the top layer would be the reflection. Now, erase the bottom part of the reflection layer with a soft brush, so the blue color shows through. I hope that makes sense. Looks a bit more like water.

Here's what I got with these things in mind:



I was also going to post the .PSD file so you could see how I used the layers, but unfortunately I saved the one with flattened layers, so the layers were lost.

I can't see the images anymore.

I hope they start working soon, so we got do some criticizin'. But by what I saw yesterday, it was kick-ass. The only thing that caught my eye were the 'lava shins' and the highlights on the face. I don't think the high value is the problem, but perhaps have it show a bit less, so there's more of the mid-value showing.

Or something, hopefully the images start to show.

I'm totally with Salvius.

No matter how the issue is presented, people should keep calm. "That sucks", doesn't contribute to the discussion even as humor, in my opinion. When it comes to something like this (personal production that is made with best intentions, so to say), people take offence very easily. I'm very surprised to hear that from Grundislav and Unilin. Whereas, I might instantly take it as fooling around, Slamgrinder might not. I'm not saying you should stick a disclaimer in every post. I'm saying: keep the posts matter-of-factly on this board, please!

Anyway, I think we should give all the credit to Rodekill, Esseb and especially MrColossal for helping him out! Too often we only notice the bad things instead of good.

I hope were not scaring anyone from posting on this board with these discussions. I don't know if we're getting a bit too harsh on what to post and what not. But to me, it all seems to come down to this: keep your posts on-topic and keep the tone of your post positive! It's hard to go wrong with that in mind.

Here's a link to the Deluxe Paint, if you still need it.

I just tried it with PSP and the closest I could get was the following.

1. Make the gradient.
2. Add noise - 10 to 20 units (can't remember if it was percents or something else. )
3. Colors -> Decrease Color Depth -> X Colors. It lets you choose the amount of colors, depending on the colors in the gradient, choose 20 to 30.

It's not the same pattern as in Monkey Island 1, but it definitely is closer than with millions of colors.

I also tried it with Photoshop and the result was very close to DPaint's one, which surprised me. Not that it would help this matter, but anyway.

Dpaint's not abandonware? Well, that explains why it was so hard to find.

Great stuff, Ian! Your help is greatly appreciated!

It's great to see how the images change so much, yet remain faithful to the originals.

I noticed you're using the burn tool. Whereas I can't disagree with the result, I must say that it's usually better to manually pick the shade color. With the burn tool you can't take the sky's blue color into account, for example. Although it doesn't show at all in this image, it might in other images.

It's just something that one might want to take into account as they're getting better (referring to those who read your tutorials). More control is never for bad.

Anyway, I'm really glad to see this new forum born! Hope you manage to get enough time for it. Six hours for the background image is quite admirable!

Sure!

Here's the package of brushes I always use: http://pelu.jns.fi/~teropa/Misc/PessiCustomBrushes.abr. It only works with Photoshop 7, I hope you have it. After importing the brush set, you should see the Watterson brush as the last one in the catalog.

I'm keeping it brief for now as it could be you don't have PS 7, or that you want to know exactly how the brush was made etc. I would only answer questions that don't need answering.

Thanks again for the comments!

Loominous: You really know what you're talking about - thanks!

And when it comes to cartoons, Mr Eric Colossal can not be wrong either!

Eric, I was actually going as close as Bill's style as possible, so I guess you could say I wasn't just inspired. Anyway, I think I'll leave the style experimentations here. I've got one more great custom brush to use and I've learned a lot. I just used it for sketching yesterday, and it did awesome job on my creativity. It somehow nails the shapes down so well.

Till next time!

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

Here's a new one. I tried to achieve more credible style with custom brushes and looser strokes. The previous one was made using a regular 1-pixel (pressure sensitive opacity) brush and it shows.

Tell me what you think!

Earlwood: Check Google's directory for Ascii to image conversion programs.



A colored version (quite a long shot, but hey! ):



Hmm... That tree on the right. Probably should've left it out.  

I'm with Eric on this. One-word answers or qustions do not qualify as posts (besides encouraging ones, if there really isn't anything to criticize). For example, Evil asks "AA?". I'm not actually even sure what he means. But I take it he wants to ask "Anti-aliased". So... Uh, that would probably be "Make those one hundred and thirty three frames anti-aliased?". Wait, that's not a question. OK, just kidding. I'll stop messing around. But seriously, as pointed out in the rules somewhere - form full PHRASES. You have the keyboard for that. It's getting out of hands. The whole thing, that is.

Darth Mandarb, you're kidding, right? (In case not, read Flippy's last post.)

As for the black area - I like it. I know it might seem useless, nothing happening there and all that, but I think it really adds to the composition. I have no theory on this or anything though, it's just my opinion. I really like it.

I think the animation kind of jumps when the droid is going on the letter D. Not that big an issue, really, just thought I'd point it out. Otherwise the motion is really smooth! I can easily believe there are a hundred frames there.

Other than that, I don't think it's a bad idea to work on a signature animation. I mean, it is very probable that Flippy wouldn't have used that time working on the game. At least that's the case for me often. He did learn something valuable from the animation, didn't he? At least the fact that he could use layers to make the process easier.

Eric probably can help you out better how the layers could have made the work a whole lot easier. The only thing I can think of is that you make two layers with the droid on both, then have the other one 50% transparent and move the droid on the other layer one pixel left and down, for example. After you've saved the image, make this layer 50% visible and move the other one. Placing the droid would be much more stress free.

Actually, I'm not sure, do you mean you still don't have a decent paint program or that you don't how to use layers?

Anyway, keep it up, Flippy!

That is spanking, Mennuz!

I think the animation is really great. It's really personal, it looks natural and cartoony.

Now, I have something to add too. I think the lines for the mouth and the nose could be darker. I've learned that when it comes to human portraits, the most important part is the face. If using traditional media, one would add the most detail there. Here, I think you could make the features a bit more definite, as I didn't even see them at first. It was after an instant that I took a better look and saw them. And after that I more like imagine the features there than actually see them. Which is fine as well, as it adds more of the imagination factor (one thing that makes books great), and that's, of course, assuming my inspection is even correct.

Anyway, just my two cents. Pretty much the only thing that I would change. Impressive work, Mennuz!

PS. I just realized it could also be because of my monitor's contrast. Helm once pointed that out, and he was right, actually.

Hey, sorry to butt in, but does anyone know how much it would cost to travel from Stockholm to Gothenburg?

Would it be more than 200 euros both ways?

Thanks a lot for the criticism, guys! Especially, Loominous - fantastic input!!!

I agree with all your points. Actually, right after 'finishing' the image, I noticed it was too empty and clean, so to say. As you pointed out, the lines are too thought-out and not spontaneous as Watterson's.

The other thing that I really want to get right are the values. Watterson gets the values right in unequalled fashion with only black and white. I suppose it's because of the skill of leaving things undrawn. As in, leaving the area white.

Anyway, thanks for the input, I'll try to fix those issues on my next image!

I just borrowed a couple of Calvin And Hobbes books from my friend and I wanted to try the same style, cause I really love it. It's really amazing how great an artist Bill Watterson is.

Just thought I'd share the result with ya'll. I think I'll draw some more of these. The style rocks so much.

Sorry for the weird post.

I just read it over and I must say it doesn't really get my original message through. Heh. I just wanted to encourage you to go. And I'm glad you are going.

Have a good one!

Please do!

I don't know, we'll think of something. I think I might be going to Sweden this summer. On a cruise or something like that. I try fix something (money) by then.

Just make sure you won't come up with an excuse to not go watch your friend's band.

I remember when I didn't used to go anywhere on fridays, for example, when my friends were hanging out and drinking and all that. Then once one of my friends practically forced me to go and I've been there with them since then. If it gets boring I'll just call my friends if they're doing anything interesting and join them if they are. You just have to give yourself the first push to get going.

I must admit I'm not getting a whole lot of art done because of that, but right now I just want to do what I really like. And nothing beats hanging out with people.

I'm afraid I won't be coming. Just to inform all those that I've said I would be coming.

It's actually due to the fact that Ghormak isn't going. Somehow I don't have the urge to get the small loan for the trip anymore.

It sucks, but at least I'll get my drums updated sooner.

Have a great Mittens, guys!

Great tips, Timosity!

I just wanted to reinforce the fact that it's really important to not get depressed. As Timosity said, get off your ass and do something.

I actually am a bit ill because of depression and stress. It was because of the goddamn army. It got really boring for me in the last few months, seeing the same faces all the time, doing the same things each day. It sucked.

If anyone here has been in army, they should know that it's also extremely stressing in other ways as well. Sometimes you get really pissed off, but you can't do anything about it because it would result in military offence.

These two together, boredom and stress caused me to get a bit ill. It's nothing big, but I really would like to get rid of it. Basically, it's the symptoms of flu, plus dizziness, memory blocks and even kind of twitching of muscles.

Luckily, I've got lots of friends and I even got out of the army about a week ago, so I've started to get better all the time. The symptoms are almost all gone, though it might take a little while for them to disappear for good. Anyway, I've learned that the best way to relieve stress and boredom is to hang out with friends and also do stuff you like. Like, drawing or playing an instrument. Even AGS forums seem to work great for that. One of the best sensations I have got so far have been because of helping someone out. It's weird, but I'm glad it's that way. I probably should hang out more in the Critic's Lounge.

Anyway, good luck with finding friends and activity, Trapezoid. Just remember to not get bored and wait for it to go away. It won't, in most cases, unless you do something about it.