[Black Squirrel]

One of the first things you learn when learning to sprite is that pillow shading = bad. Not to mention it's saved as an unusable JPEG.

[BadCopNoDonut]

Black Squirrel, on Dec 12 2008, 02:02 PM, said:

One of the first things you learn when learning to sprite is that pillow shading = bad. Not to mention it's saved as an unusable JPEG.

Let me just say, I'm not a newbie at art by any means. I just wanted to get SOMETHING out there in hopes that people will work with it. While this was a bare-bones concept I put up, I have yet to see a whole lot of art put forth from anyone else so... I'll put some out myself. People are free to amend it and alter it if they get ideas, don't like the style, etc. I'll give it a shot and see what other ideas I can do and put em up for people's perusal, however there's only so many ways to make bricks unfortunately, so my hands are kinda tied.

As for .jpg, I'm aware its not really useable outright, but photobucket won't leave it as .bmp. At some point I'll convert it to .gif which is more useable. I'm just lazy, have been busy with finals and projects, and various household things I have to take care of within my apartment, and as such have sort of done this stuff on the fly up to now. And Blue Cheese, the different shading idea is a good one. Its definitely worth considering if others think so too.

Now I'm going to grandstand a bit, and put out a general message to everyone who seems to comment in all the threads about this project... I'm tired of people simply talking about this and that and not bothering to make any new art or alter existing ideas. They just say "No, you should do this", "No, leave it alone", and don't really bring anything to the table. If you have a different idea? Great! Take a little time and try and draw it/sprite it, even if it doesn't turn out the best. Someone will be happy to work with it and change it if it needs a little tweaking or if they wish to expand upon it. Don't be afraid to put stuff up just because you don't have mad art skills like Rika_Chou, StephenUK and such. And quite frankly, while I can't make any admins/mods do anything, I hope they crack down more on it, because next to nothing is getting done on this project because everyone wants to talk, nobody wants to actually make stuff. Social loafing perhaps? I just fear that this project, which has a hell of a lot of promise, is going to end up imploding or getting dropped due to lack of interest in actually making stuff. Don't let that happen guys.

This post has been edited by BadCopNoDonut: 12 December 2008 - 03:55 PM

[FinalBeyond]

.png would be the best format for sprited media. I believe that even Paint will save in that format.

[BadCopNoDonut]

Ha ha...indeed you are right, FinalBeyond. Thanks for the heads up! Now...as I said...I would rework the bricks a bit. Is this better?

[Blue Cheese]

This isn't a whole lot different except I added a little edge to the crack.


And here's one with a discolored brick. I don't know if you're working with a limited pallet so that color might not even be usable but you get the gist.

Looking at a bunch of pictures of ancient Roman bricks I found a lot of common elements

The bricks themselves are a lot flatter and longer than modern bricks and, over time, have become varied in topography. I'm sad to admit that getting that look just right without using a million colors is kicking my butt and might just be beyond the scope of my ability. I'll keep giving it a shot though...

This post has been edited by Blue Cheese: 12 December 2008 - 05:13 PM

[BadCopNoDonut]

[Blue Cheese]

Looks delicious to me. It's distinct from Aquatic Ruins too, that was a big worry of mine. Is Sonic too vivid compared to the tiles though? It looks great to me but you know...

[BadCopNoDonut]

[Black Squirrel]

It's still pillow shaded



Now... not so much

[Jayextee]

The bricks need more contrast.

(Can I get away with a five-word post if it's still constructive? =P)

[BadCopNoDonut]

Jayextee, on Dec 13 2008, 09:09 AM, said:

The bricks need more contrast.

(Can I get away with a five-word post if it's still constructive? =P)

Ha ha, I doubt anybody is gonna mind, Jayextee. What do you mean by more contrast exactly? Stronger variations in color?

[Blue Cheese]

It does look better but the light source is coming from the opposite way as on the little crack on the brick and Sonic himself. But then again, looking back at the actual games, that doesn't seem to be an issue so nevermind.

This post has been edited by Blue Cheese: 13 December 2008 - 10:59 AM

[Jayextee]

For starters, what I see there is mostly midtones -- this sort of low-contrast approach should be used for the backgrounds, where it is not important for details to be distinct. What I'm getting at is that the light tones should be probably a shade lighter, and the dark tones a couple of shades darker, with anything in between adjusted to being out the small details more. It's the foreground, clarity is a priority.

The pillars are good, they have the light/dark balance I'd expect, but the bricks look washed out and a little too 'watercolour' for my liking. Not a bad thing for a background, as I say. But foregrounds need more range.

[Blue Cheese]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too when I asked if Sonic was too vivid in comparison. I should have phrased it better.

[Matwek]

some quick grass/moss and colour changes.
Also added a couple of screen shots of the Alundra type theme we were origonally aiming for in this level.