Live Background Development Series! (SPOILERS)

[Lambonius]

First color WIP.  Just basic color blocking to set up the palette.  The grassland palette consists of yellow-green sun-beaten grass, dry cracked dirt patches, pale grey rocks, etc.  I picture the homestead as cracked yellowed plaster with a rough thatch roof.  The lightness and vividness of the colors should decrease noticeably as you go further back in space (atmospheric perspective.)  This helps separate the foreground and background visually, and creates more of a sense of distance.  The paler you go, the further back in space objects will appear.

You can pretty easily color a black and white sketch like a coloring book by creating a new layer in Photoshop or GIMP and setting the layer mode to Multiply.  That allows you to color underneath the black lines, as if the original black and white layer was a transparent overlay.

The next few phases should see the textural details and lighting really start to come together.

[KuroShiro]

Looks very nice. If I might make a small suggestion, I think the foreground grass would look good with a slightly darker green, to accentuate the 'misty' effect of the BG scenery. Though those probably aren't exactly the final colors anyway.

[Lambonius]

Looks very nice. If I might make a small suggestion, I think the foreground grass would look good with a slightly darker green, to accentuate the 'misty' effect of the BG scenery. Though those probably aren't exactly the final colors anyway.

Yeah, definitely.  Once the grass has been properly texturized, there will a much fuller range of light and dark variation to it, as well as warm and cool variation with patches that are a bit more brown, some a bit greener, etc.  I have a system I usually like to follow when doing grass.  For the basic color blocking though, I just pulled a color sample from one of the adjacent screens that was already finished.  The color that's on there now is probably one of the brighter highlight shades from the complete grass texture. 

Here's a bit of a texture sample of a patch of ground from one of other scenes in this area to give you an idea of what it'll end up looking like.  There's a bit of tree root, stone, and some nice pretty flowers in there, too.  Ha! 

[Lupin]

I've thought of a small idea, considering that this has been abandoned for some time, could there be hints of something living in the hole of the roof, like a nest or something?

[Lambonius]

Here's an in-progress look at the addition of value and texture.  Nothing is final here, obviously--I'm still cleaning up and adding texture.  I tend to work very sketchily, picking at different areas bit by bit, polishing as I go, etc.  One of the things I love about digital painting is the ability to just quickly rework areas on a new layer on the fly, without having to worry about ruining something if it doesn't end up working out.  Cast shadows and such are pretty much the last major thing I take care of, so elements like the fireplace and chimney will end up more realistically in the shadow of the rest of the house.

I like to do nearly all my painting with a one-pixel hard brush.  It's great for applying detail and texture by swapping between low opacity blacks and brighter colors.  You want the hard brush because of the edge it creates--it avoids the characteristic "fuzziness" that happens with a lot of amateur digital painters.

My day job has been kicking my ass these last few weeks, so I haven't had as much time as I would like to be able to work on this.  This next week should be a bit lighter for me though, so hopefully I can get more frequent updates in here.  Anyway, more to come! 

[Lambonius]

So, I had a big chunk of time today, and actually ended up finishing this sucker up.    I may have a few more in-between states sitting around my desktop if you guys are interested, too.  I'm happy to answer any questions about it, or about painting techniques or whatever.  Let me know! 

Also, I'm open to feedback or any suggestions for additions/improvements.  Hit me if you've got anything! 

[KuroShiro]

Nice! That was done impressively quickly.

Since you asked for comments, let's see...

It might just be a trick of my eye, but the perspective/angle of the fireplace in the cabin looks a little weird to me. Kind of hard to tell w/out seeing it in game though, and I didn't notice it in previous version so it's probably nothing.

One thing I liked in the early sketches was the misty look of the far background elements -- it'd be cool if you could restore a bit of that to the final version, where things seem a bit more clear. Of course, it depends on the atmosphere you're aiming for with the scene.

Otherwise it looks really good.

[s_d]

I'm hesitant to comment on this series at all, on the chance that critique would get you second-guessing yourself, Lamb.  After reading Lupin's comment, I also noticed something odd with the hearth and chimney.  The angle is in line with the back wall of the home, which makes sense, and were it facing into the home, we'd not see the inside of the hearth.  So, it makes sense logically, and looks really good by itself, but is conspicuously standing out, and I can't put my finger on why...

Also, I'm really enjoying how the mountains are coming together!  On the far side of the gorge, it looks like moss and other hardy vegetation is beginning to appear on the craggy cliffside... awesome.  The red flowers coming up the side of the farmhouse are a lovely touch, a nice splash of bright color drawing the eye to details of the crumbling walls and sagging roof.

The regularity of the updates & refinements is highly welcome.  I look forward to them.

[Lambonius]

I think what's creating that effect with the fireplace and chimney might be the highlight on the wall to the right of the fireplace.  I was trying to go for the light that would be coming through the whole in the roof, but I think I need to reposition the highlighted section a bit, because it does give the effect that the wall of the house is at a different angle than it should be.  If you look at the bit of wall to the left of the fireplace--that wall is the correct angle, and corresponds to the angle of the fireplace.  The highlighted wall to the right, however, seems to protrude a bit.  It's a trick of the lighting that should be pretty simple to fix.  The pile of debris inside the house is further confusing things, I think, because it blocks any view of where the wall meets the ground.  I'll fiddle with as soon as I get a chance.  Good eyes, people! 

[s_d]

Yes, I totally see what you're describing... and I think you're right.  It kind of makes it look like the highlighted section to the right of the hearth is actually an external wall facing the cliffside, resulting in it looking a little like the hearth & chimney are located outside of the house proper.

I was just looking back, after showing it to my wife, and we noted that if you like, you could also build up the ruined wall attached to it just a little more.  That might reinforce the fact that it is truly inside the house.  I don't think that would damage the sense that the hearth is stronger than the surrounding structure, which you're portraying.

Edit:  If you'd be willing to share those other in-between states, I'd be interested in seeing them!  If possible, it would be most interesting if you could number the filenames, or somehow otherwise indicate in which order they occurred.  I must say that the time-lapse art videos are some of my favourite parts of this Kickstarter experience.  This particular thread is great because it's like one of those videos, but with in-depth "director's commentary" 

[Lambonius]

Yes, I can certainly post a few others.  I'll see what I can do later on today when I get back to that computer.  I was thinking about adding just a bit of the door frame, like in the original old sketch, but was concerned about it blocking the fireplace (which is the important interactive feature here.  I have a few edits in mind and will post a tweaked version soon. 

[Blackthorne]

Here ya go.  A quick look at the others.

<a href="http://youtu.be/sHLBQPdOn9k" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://youtu.be/sHLBQPdOn9k</a>

Bt

[Lambonius]

Nice!  That's perfect, Steve.  Yep, those are pretty much all the various places I had saved and sent Steve WIPs.  I don't have anything else other than that.  It's a fun way to watch the evolution of the screen, definitely.

Like I said, I am planning one more pass to incorporate some of the feedback and ideas given so far.  So stay tuned for that!  Thanks, everyone! 

[s_d]

You GUYS.  Wow.  That's exactly what I wanted, but was unwlling to ask Lamb to spend time on (because... hell, it's enough of a distraction listening to my bullshit, but "please craft a lovely time-lapse montage... oh, and nice score teaser would be great too" seemed beyond the pale. 

Because these tend to be very focused and short videos, I was able to share it with my little kid, and she adored seeing it come together.  Mrs SD ("Lurker") also wanted me to pass on the message to Bt that she likes you more every day, and to Lamb that your talents are highly appreciated and your work is incredible.   

[Blackthorne]

Aw, it's nothing.  You asked for something, I had the materials to put it together.  No biggie.


Bt