9 replies to this topic

[11clock]

I'm a horrible artist, mainly because I lack the patience to draw and because I have a minor case of OCD, so it's irritating for me to draw anything complex. For the past several months I've been trying to find an art style that looks good and is simple for me to use. I've been trying this art style for a while now, but it's not getting positive feedback:





Any suggestions for art styles I could use that don't require much effort? I've tried to draw all fancy, but it's just unbearable for me. I'm a programmer, not an artist. I need something simple and yet still pleasant to see.

Edited by 11clock, 21 May 2012 - 09:51 PM.

[hbryantlanier@gmail.com]

I'm a horrible artist, mainly because I lack the patience to draw and because I have a minor case of OCD, so it's irritating for me to draw anything complex. For the past several months I've been trying to find an art style that looks good and is simple for me to use. I've been trying this art style for a while now, but it's not getting positive feedback:





Any suggestions for art styles I could use that don't require much effort? I've tried to draw all fancy, but it's just unbearable for me. I'm a programmer, not an artist. I need something simple and yet still pleasant to see.

That looks very good... perhaps just add shadow to them or just a black elipse under the character against the ground and stays on the ground... i dont even know how to do that but u ought to.... wut i like doing is draw a simple image and take a grey color and starting from the bottom make my own shadow... This looks real good for menu button sprites...

[Reketh]

I am actually really digging that art style, in all honesty it has a very old DOS old-timey feel. Like the very first Pong game. All I would be able to tell you is definitely shadows from the above post, and maybe some background rather than the blue sky, or maybe just some clouds.

[NicroGames]

It's decent, I guess, but the character and the enemy looks too messy IMO. The hair on the character, and the legs on the enemy, is what annoys me the most.

Edited by NicroGames, 25 May 2012 - 10:05 AM.

[icksel]

I fooled around a bit with the image, trying to come up with some ideas.



Image 1 is the original pic
Image 2 is altered slightly. You might consider rounding the edges, as well ass adding minor details and shapes to the sprites and backgrounds. Replacing black lines with dark coloured lines is also a good way to pretty things up
Image 3 is altered again. If you want simplistic, then you might consider doing away with outlines. flat images are a great way to stay simple while still looking good.
Image 4 is just image 3 with gradients added to the sprites and backgrounds. It takes very little effort to do, but adds a bit of depth to the picture.
Image 5 is image 2 and image 4 combined. Outlines with gradients.

The bottom row shows what happens when you play around with the colour palette a bit.

I hope this has been helpful

Edited by icksel, 26 May 2012 - 11:18 AM.

[NicroGames]

...as well ass adding minor details and...

Haha! You said ass!

Edited by NicroGames, 26 May 2012 - 03:36 PM.

[11clock]

Thanks for the replies. Right now I'm considering adding shadows and trying out the style shown in Image 3 of icksel's post.

[x-death]

i see what your trying to do. and the whole comic book black lines effect your doing is a very retro thing to do. carnivac is the artist that comes to mind when i think of that.

anyway you were looking for feedback. so yeah i think, right now you just need to practice a little more on actually shading your sprites. because honestly right now the lack of detail on the sprites is whats hurting you the most. having a simple style and doing absolutely nothing are two very different things.

looking at my pixeljoint or deviantart galleries might help you a little there. as i have a simplistic style myself. as you said your a programmer not an artist. well we have that in common. put as a programmer i take it your a person of logic right? well look at it this way. say you were learning about something new like some kind of advance collision or something that was totally new to you. well what would you do?

simple, you would do some research. ask around, test and see what works for you. well research should get you enough help to see how people are doing tiles. i recommend looking on pixeljoint. and search for something with a low color count. because thats the stuff thats probably going to help you the most. then look at some tutorials, and you go from there.

you'll find eventually you'll run into a style that works for you. i find 8 bit kind of style fits me the best. i sometimes have to make my own colors but thats what works for me. you might find it the same way. now i took the time to edit your image a little. using the colors you had already used. and i didn't put much work into it. i made one quick and simple change that you'll notice instantly.



see by adding the blackline to seperate the stick and the platform. we give the illusion that the stick isn't fused to the very side of the platform. but is actually positioned somewere in the middle. and as for what i did with the top of the platform, well i think you'll agree that looks good. basically by making the lighter area smaller then the darker area we give the illusion that its actually a floor.

i didn't put much work at all into this, but i think by doing it i might have helped. anyway this took me about a minute to do and that was simply because of how long it took to keep switching between colors and color the lines needed. so hopefully i've been of some help.

Edited by x-death, 29 May 2012 - 11:03 AM.

[11clock]

Alright, thanks. I have an idea to add a little more detail to the game by adding a black-to-transparent gradient overlay, sort of like the scanline overlay that is already there. It should add a little more detail without me having to go back to every image I've made. I've seen several games that use this effect and it looks good.

I'll see if I can do some research on different art styles and techniques. I'm also aiming for a retro style.

I have a friend who is working on redoing the graphics, too. They look good so far and I may learn a thing or two from them.

[x-death]

Alright, thanks. I have an idea to add a little more detail to the game by adding a black-to-transparent gradient overlay, sort of like the scanline overlay that is already there. It should add a little more detail without me having to go back to every image I've made. I've seen several games that use this effect and it looks good.

I'll see if I can do some research on different art styles and techniques. I'm also aiming for a retro style.

I have a friend who is working on redoing the graphics, too. They look good so far and I may learn a thing or two from them.

you are right, scanlines do look good. and they do add a little more detail to the images. but the effect doesn't really work if the image has no shading at all. because it just looks out of place. with retro it really depends on what kind of style your looking for. but typically retro games all have a few things in common.

the art uses very few colors, and they use those few colors well. now each retro console used a specific palette. which you should be able to find only if you do a search on google. however if you really want to find your own style you just have to find something that works for you. and the only way to find it is by trial and error.

id have done more work on that image but it would have required me to redo everything, and even pick the colors again. so i didn't bother. good luck with this though.