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I play music and build music and video-related analogue electronics.  At my dayjob I'm a Flash designer/programmer.  My degree is in film, but I don't make movies much these days...

some pics from a synthesizer event...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29424740@N04/sets/72157606636293150/ (me in the purple shirt)

music stuff...
http://www.myspace.com/theundoingofdavidwright
http://www.myspace.com/warwizardsmusic
http://www.myspace.com/phantastes
http://www.myspace.com/phantomtrax

I agree -- I would definitely make any text-based content that will be updated often fit into a straight HTML text area.  You don't want to have to edit and export an image slice every time you update the content.  Should be fine for the big yellow/black section headers, though.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Part of my issue right now is that I don't have a very specific style/direction in mind --  I'm just trying to develop my skills (from nothing) to the point at which I know what I'm capable of before trying to see the big picture.  I would definitely say that I was going for a comic book style look (to the point of being abstract -- think late 80's MTV)  and not realism with the pen scratch shading and bold lines.  But Ryan's redraw and feedback were immensely helpful at noticing a few things with my own image I could reconsider and I definitely learned a lot.  I think that if I am going to go with the pen & ink style, things should be colored minimally, flat and less realistic, with some bold pure black shadows -- and, I need to get better at it.

I think this looks much better, great job!!  Colors look great and it feels much more "solid."  I think you're going to find your "sleekness" in subtle details, rather than drastic changes.  If you don't like the way it's going, try comp'ing out some different ideas from scratch instead of trying to force this one.  (Just my advice.)  The Web2.0 gradient look, if that's what you really want, is very simple, just pay attention to other sites and it's easy to replicate.  I tried to do something like it on this site that I did last year: http://www.funimation.com/shuffle

My main suggestion from here is to vary the subheadings/body type a little more.  Everything looks bold right now, and this decreases the contrast between elements.  For example, in the spotlight where it says "Drive" and then "Tune in Daily..." I would unbold the "Tune in Daily..." paragraph and make it a point or two font size smaller.  Just keep priority of visual elements in mind... right now the first things you see are the big bold yellow headers -- which is perfect.  Now you want to make sure the user can easily scan those spotlight titles next.   I would consider adding a box around the "News" area to match the "What's On" area as well.

Wow, thanks for taking the time... that helps me see the scene in a whole new light (pardon the pun.)  Looking forward to hearing your comments.

Thanks so much!  This is some great feedback.  Part of what I'm struggling with, i think, is that I want the room to have an otherworldly, cold atmosphere -- but instead I've chosen a lot of wooden surfaces and candlelight, which suggest browns -- and "earthy/warm" is not the impression I want to give.   Something like the character's previously inviting/warm home has now been turned into a cold, dark, uninviting place.  Maybe it's just going to be a matter of me deciding the surfaces should be painted other colors, or turning the "candles" into glowing jars of radioactive goo or something -- and/or slapping myself in the face and moving the light source, like several of you have suggested.

I think I'm going to try another one, abandoning the value map for now and trying to lay in flat colors under the line art first.  I realize that doing the "value map" method is just an excuse for not knowing what the hell I'm doing with colors yet.  I've also considered just doing a 320x200 pixel art version over the sketch.  I'll have more to show soon.   Thanks again for all your help so far.

Hi Zooty!  I have been a professional web designer for 10 years, I think your design looks good -- but you need to simplify the design elements so they feel like a cohesive whole.  Usually it's best to pick 2-3 colors, and 1-2 typefaces and just go from there.  Here's a couple suggestions, take them or leave them...

1) The header of the site and the content area do not match.  You need to pick one direction or the other and stick with it.  It seems like you're struggling for the site to have "more" so that it doesn't appear boring or flat, but with web design it's more about keeping things subtle and simple in my opinion.  Make some simple "design rules" for yourself and stick to them.
2) I like the header design, and I think it matches the flyer well.  Try redesigning the content area and keep everything to white/black/yellow.  Consider using a readable, gray shade of text on a white or black background to make it sleek and easy on the eyes.  The yellow and black contrast well to make a header that really pops.
3) I know how much of a pain it is to design long, horizontal headers.  I suggest making the width of the whole site much smaller and using the space better. Increase the size of the two heads so that they feel like they're the same "weight" as the title.  Maybe try stacking the elements on top of each other to create more dimension and decrease vertical space (Girls beneath the nav bar, title overlapping it on top, etc...)
4) Get rid of the gradients (like the yellow behind the DJs) and go with chunky solid color shapes like you've done with the title.  The two styles aren't working together.
5) The chunky solid shapes aren't web 2.0, but web 2.0 gradients/reflections/shinyness looks like shit and I like this much better, so go with it.  Just my opinion.  
6) Think about negative and positive space, and how you can alternate it to create contrast among design elements.  In other words, think about the white areas around your black chunky shapes as shapes too...

I know I probably repeated myself a lot here, but it's early in the morning.  Hope this helps a little.

Thanks very much for the feedback.  Ryan, I agree with you -- I think this could be much better and with stronger detail.  I am a complete newbie, so I'm trying to figure this out from the ground floor -- I know nothing about painting other than the dozens of tutorials I've read over the past several weeks, and my idea of coloring is still not much past "coloring book".   I guess I should find more stuff I like and replicate it as close as possible.  If you could see an alternate direction for this sketch/bg please post some examples!   I'd love to give some different methods a try.

Here is the PSD if anyone would like to screw with it:
http://www.larsattacks.com/apt_int.psd

There are layers for Background tint, Grayscale values, Colors, and the Line work.

For the life of me, I am having a really hard time with colors for this scene.  I guess part of it is indecision on my part of how I want the entire game to "look".  Here is a version inked by hand and then colored in Photoshop.  I do like the grungy/messy inking job to add some texture.  There will be animated candle flickering going on, but for now just imagine those candles are lit... the colors are supposed to be surreal, but what do you guys think?  What are the weak points and problem areas?  It still seems very unfinished but I don't know what to try next.

I colored by doing a grayscale value map and then painting over on a "Color" layer in Photoshop.

I love the minimal colors/shapes/type of the title screen!  Looks great.

That's very cool, did you draw this in Flash (or Illustrator)?

Thanks again for the great advice!

Those stairs have been a pain in the brain -- thanks for the reference photo.  I did another version of this scene and am still playing with it, but i like the general composition.  I think it will help to work on it in the right resolution, so that i have some sort of judge of how much detail to add to the background buildings.  

GarageGothic, that tutorial was very helpful -- I thought I'd read just about everything to be found around here...  Been going through all the posts in this subforum slowly.  I agree that I don't want to lose the pencil texture -- the setting needs to be gritty (but not "realistic") and the pencil seems to work well for that.  I will do some of the coloring and then decide if I need to redraw it or not.  I was going to make a lightbox this weekend for this purpose.  

Steve, yeah -- it does kind of look like a flashlight right now.  I plan to blend the hard edges, and probably decrease the value range a little bit so that it looks more like candlelight.  For this scene I really wanted to emphasize what an "ordinary apartment" would be like after a few days without electricity -- so from a narrative viewpoint, the candles and lack of electric light are what I want the player to notice first.  The two items you will be able to interact with will be a pile of clothes on the floor and the fan on the wall.  Since these are things you are supposed to "look for", I didn't want to place them right dead center in a spotlight (you do know you're looking for them, so it's not an unmotivated pixel hunt.)  While I definitely see your point about a boring value distribution, I think the insinuation of a "first person" angle sutures the player into the character's viewpoint a little (within the context of the candlelit room as a whole.)  Let me know if I've misunderstood you.

Just for kicks, does anyone have any suggestions/ideas on what kind of sprites you imagine in this sort of environment?  I really have no idea at all.  I've got a sprite/animation artist, but it'd be good to give her some references to work from as this isn't her usual area of expertise.

Due to an artist friend's suggestion, I decided to start with a value painting of the scene with just grayscale values.  The idea would be then to smooth out the gradations (due to diffused candlelight) and then set the "value layer" to multiply in Photoshop while painting pure color values underneath.   Something seems weird about it to me so far though... thoughts?



And for fun, the sketch of the exterior... very rough.



For this game I needed a band name that sounded over the top, but in a cool/ridiculous way rather than a corny/cheesy way.  If that makes sense.   Hence, "Wet Retina".

Tuomas -- I'll post as a 24-bit PNG next time.   Thanks for the tip.  The original scans are in PSD format and 300dpi, so I'll probably work off those when actually getting into the painting...

Thanks for the compliments on the sketch, however I must admit that my "steady hand" is a ruler...

Awesome, thanks for the feedback!  Yes, there are definitely a few perspective issues I need to work on in the final drawing... this was drawn fairly small on paper, but I am going to draw it bigger for the next go.  Thanks for pointing out the proportion issues on the table and fridge, I had not realized it. 

The "Do Not Enter" sign is the bathroom.  In the world of this game, there is (as of recently) no electricity, gas, running water, etc -- so our protagonist's bathroom is not a place anyone wants to be right now.   Also good excuse to not draw the bathroom, which is irrelevant to the plot (same for the "kitchen", which I framed out of view.)   I tried to hint at this in a couple places in the design of the room, such as with the unplugged lamp, candle-light, battery-powered mini-fan above the bed, etc.   So in addition to dark/moody, I guess my coloring job needs to reflect a very dirty, stained, dusty appearance.

You're right though, it's a 1 person flat or as we call them in Texas, a "loft" or "efficiency".  Some of the older buildings around here are converted into apartments, and those do have wooden-planked floors, so that's what I'm going for here.  I will save rambling about my game for another thread, once I have a demo or something, though.

I've been meaning to learn how to draw for many years, and when recently deciding to surmount an adventure game project, I decided it was time to try.  This forum and many of the links from it have proved to be incredibly helpful, and I'm very grateful for the resources and knowledge I've gleaned here.

Here's a room sketch for a location in the game I want to make.  I am still trying to find out what direction to go in terms of resolution and artistic style.  I know there aren't any "right ways", but currently I like the look of 640x400 backgrounds with digitally colored pencil drawings.  I would do 320x200 pixel art, but am afraid to lose the natural quality of the lines.  I tried inking by hand before scanning, but realized pretty quick I need more practice at that, and it seemed to flatten out the pencil lines too much.



I am stumped where to begin with color.  This room is supposed to be dark and moody, lit only by the candles in the foreground. 

Anyway, any critiques of my drawing and suggestions on how to improve it, as well as suggestions on a fitting color pallet are greatly appreciated.  I am planning to redraw this scene much cleaner for a finished version, but as I'm very much a beginner and don't have anyone else to go to for critiques, I'd love your feedback.

Lars

That's definitely enough to satisfy my curiosity.  Thanks for humoring me.

Ahhhh.... that makes sense.  I guess when the room loads or the game is compiled, the grid is assembled with each tile being "walkable" or not, and pathing looks in 8 directions from the currently occupied square?  That would probably run a lot better than my line-of-sight method which seems to require too much calculating at runtime (and of course avoid having to place nodes manually.)

I'm sad to have missed out on the past 10 years.   Definitely something special here, I've been playing through a lot of the games. 

I have a fondness for beer and onion rings too, and should you ever venture near Denton, TX -- definitely glad to provide.