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I've been under some stress lately.  The day I joined the forum was the day after my wife gave birth to our baby, 10 weeks premature, by emergency ceasar.  Two days before I joined the forum, a friend from childhood who was more like a brother was murdered.  I was really in crisis mode come to think of it.  I had some thoughts I'd been thinking about AGS, and some tutorial material I was working on, and I basically created an account, splurged it all onto the forum and made a complete dick of myself.  I'm sorry for that.

I'm presently 400km away from home, living in a tiny student bedroom with my wife, with a crappy internet connection to keep me sane between hospital visits.  My 5 yo daughter is 400km away, living with "grandma".  We'll be up here until our new daughter is mature enough to be transferred back to our local hospital which is still 3 or 4 weeks away.

So I know it's not adventure game related stuff, but I guess I want to explain why I've been a grumpy argumentative dickhead of late.  I'm normally not this hard to get along with, just a lot of stuff has changed unexpectedly and in such a short time.  I want to put this behind me and try to show people a different side...  Basically, this adventure game stuff is keeping me together right now, despite the fact I originally started the game as part of a side-job for a magazine I write for.   The editor has told me not to worry with it but I get relaxation from drawing rooms and scripting dialog, seeing other peoples creations and talking about it is fun too.

I just worry that I've messed things up by starting out on the wrong foot.  I hope I can make the record straight with this post.  I feel I have a lot to offer the community over time, but I don't want to have to struggle to prove myself against a bad first impression.

I hope this makes sense and doesn't sound like pathetic whining, but if it does, then hey, I wear my heart on my sleeve sometimes, take it or leave it (also sometimes I have a hard time censoring my thoughts though I do try...)

Peace all.

P.S.  I should add that I do not want any pity or remorse or sympathy or anything like that.  Just understand this is not who I normally am and I am still finding myself.  That is all I wanted to say, but I had to explain it because I felt just saying it like that wouldn't be credible.

Here is my first attempt at an animation.  It's not quite what I was trying to do, but I ran out of time.

Engorged Hemorrhoids
Vial of DMT
Soylent Green

I like the justification to go with it too

I never really thought that deeply about southpark before, thanks for sharing your work Wayne.

I have NO IDEA what it is, to be honest.

It's a monkey hobo with bloody lips thing.

Last time I drink-n-draw.

I'm a well adjusted child...

Ok I thought he said dumpster diving outside appartment blocks.  After a few beers things seem clearer.


(edit Apparently in the US this is not illegal.  In Australia and I believe the UK there have been prosecutions for taking taking trash from people's bins, dumpsters, etc especially potentially useful (albeit destined for a landfill) materials)
Just a sidenote - taking trash from dumpsters is illegal...  It's technically owned by the person who owns the bin.  And once it's collected by the council / city, it belongs to them.

Just thought I'd mention that one, but otherwise...  Go right ahead.  I've taken coil wire from several abandoned microwaves for evil electromagnetism projects, I'm sure people aren't going to miss an old piece of junk they chucked out.

Hey...  What about wreckers yards?  I mean how small does this steampunk stuff need to be?  How about some nice big gears from a worn out old gearbox?  Wreckers yards will be stocked with them. (automobile wreckers yards are common in australia, not sure what they're called in the US)

Oh....    Those corner TV repair shops usually run by one guy, generally they have stacks and stacks of crap they don't need.  I get stuff from them all the time, just bits and pieces like a single female RCA plug (yes you can get them at Dick Smiths / Radio Shack), but ever try to take in a VCR and sell it to them?  They say "Look out the back" and out the back is absolutely packed full of old junk.  Ask them if there is anything they don't need that has cogs and gears in it, you'd take it off their hands.  It's definitely worth a shot.

Anyway... good luck with your steampunking, I'd be interested to see what you come up with.

Thanks again forum

I had a slight issue with the hat too, but given all the hatty criticism already delivered and the fact the author said "I've finished" I kept it... well... under my hat...

*ba-bum-crash*

You're gonna drop it but you're gonna make a final point.  That's basically a shut-up-here's-what-I-think-don't-disagree-because-I-can't-be-bothered.  You could just say as much and be honest.

Anyway you make some good points.  And I completely agree with this being the best drawing of the four guys I have ever seen.  Seriously this is an awesome pic.

I find the thinner Cartman much easier to relate to.  That was one of my first impressions was, hey, Cartman isn't this fucking fat cunt, he's a real person.  I had a mate at school who was large, we used to hang around and call him a stupid fat ball of lard with his own gravitational field, and draw Cartman-esque pictures of him...  uh, I think he was a mate.  We used to hang out after school and play Star Control melee.  But he was more like this picture here than the morbidly obese cartoons we'd draw.

Which is why I can relate to this Cartman more...  I think he's just more human, less of a fat freak and more of a person with a slight weight advantage who people just take the piss out of.

But I'm gonna drop it you know because mumble mumble something ok I hate you.

not really.  Disagreement is the mother of all understandings.

The bamboo ?  Hm I would have overlooked that as a budget crap option but seeing what you have done here...  I am seriously reconsidering that perspective.  Thanks

cheers frenchllama, good feedback

I did put a slight shadow under the sign but it really doesn't work in its current form, I'll try to improve it.  Also good point with the color balance...  Maybe if I desaturate some things?

Thanks I'll have a good think about this.  I see he does have a rather large torso now that you point it out.  I'm not sure how I would go about aligning the shoulder to perspective, especially considering the perspective will be different in each room the character visits...  Actually how do you deal with that?  Is there a special local perspective that generally works well for a range of room perspectives?  By this I mean, I will keep the same side on view of rooms, but some may have a skewed or squashed perspective for effect (i.e. not intending to be anatomically / physically correct in all circumstances)...  So what perspective works for a character?

Thankee

I'm designing a main character for my game.  This is my first attempt at drawing a person for a long time.  I traced over a sketch made with graphite pencils.  This would be the standing still, talking to the player pose.  Do you think it would be quite hard to animate this guy to walk, talk and so on?  Should I keep the basic shading or go for something more or less complex?  Any tips would be appreciated.

The style I am going for is cartoony but with more realism vs caricature.  The character should be casual but intelligent, easily approachable, like the average mid-to-late-20s guy you might work in an office with, someone you can relate to.  I hope I have achieved this.

This is one of the rooms in my game, which I won't announce until I have more to show for it.

But I want to get the general style in check.  I kind of like the distorted perspective to add a cartoony, offbeat feel to the scene.  What do you guys think?  Should I go for a more realistic perspective?

I think it works but I'd like some other opinions, even though the game will be free I want to achieve a commercial quality.

Forget the filters! That colored pencil looks awesome! The road looks kind of strange with the bold contrast of the redish areas. Same with the tree.

You should totally make a game in this style. I'd be interested to see your approach at making characters or a GUI.

Well yes... if thats the style he wants...  I should add that the drawings themselves are pretty good and could be used as-is for an interesting and unique style.

Edit: I'll stop trying to stir things up.  I really don't know what the situation is with the recent incident beyond what I have heard on the news.

I don't know, looking up "steampunk parts" on ebay gave me a lot of items that weren't necessarily that expensive. Under 10$ (buy it now price) for an oz. of vintage watch parts doesn't seem all that unreasonable.

Other than that, I'd recommend finding a local flea market. Tons of things has interesting gears in them (engines, clocks, meccano sets, mechanical toys), and as you don't need them to be in working order it should be possible to find something cheap. I also recommend rummaging through the bulky trash at apartment complexes, it's amazing what you can find. Most of the stuff will be newer electronics (I find a lot of fully functional stereos and speakers), but once in a while you find interesting vintage stuff - once I came across an old cash register which would probably have been a treasure trove of steampunk parts.

Whilst rummaging through trash also be prepared to discover mountains of shit-filled nappies, condoms wrapped in tissue, rotting vegetable waste and human remains.  Occasionally you'll find a disused credit card and some bank statements carelessly left un-shredded, and perhaps an old passport photo or two, very handy for identity fraud...  what hey what?

Honestly though there are lots of throwaway items containing cogs and gears and so on.   Open up an old CD-ROM drive you are sure to find something in there.  Floppy drives also have plenty of moving parts.  Old tape decks and walkmen...  Old VCR machines...  These things I am sure you will come across if you keep your eyes open, and without needing to dive through mountains of steaming refuse (though I don't doubt its a great way to discover interesting things).

If you use photoshop (I haven't used PSP for a while but it could work in the same way), try selecting the different areas with a polygonal lasoo and using smart blur, especially for areas like the tree-tufts, grass areas, and the road.

I think that could work to even out the colors...  But you may need to do some work to restore shading details, using a darken / lighten brush.

Yes but it's a moot point, considering the intent was obviously to draw a more realistic version of the characters.  A realistic person drawn with the proportions of the cartoon-cartman would snap at the knees or be unable to stand without a scaffold...

Impressive!

I wish I had a tablet - I've been looking at the Wacom Cintiq 12WX but it's too pricey right now...  Maybe down the line I could afford it.  What tablet did you use to make this pic? 

Anyway, back to the point, I think you've put some effort into this pic and it shows.