The Resource WIP Thread 3

Some rough designs for a man-eating plant enemy:

Which design is best?

I say B&C are more menacing :) (If you can combine in animation it should also be very interesting!

@Pine Towers Nice! I've been working on remaking the 2k and 2k3 graphics to work with the DB32 palette. We should chat in private about it. You've got some weirdness with shadows on some of the objects like the vase and the chair backs. The chairs are flat so it works better in a limited palette to keep the shading supporting that flatness instead of trying to imply a gradient. Use the light color to highlight the entire top edge and take out the curve on the right edge and it will look better. As for the vase, I think you don't understand how it works as a 3D object. Studying some references would be helpful.

@Anisoft I like the new one a lot better, but they are both pretty functional, looking mostly like two different body types instead of a good or bad base. I think the new one's upper arms should be two pixels longer.

@Nutty171 They mostly look like animation frames for the same monster to me. Try pushing the differences even further, you'll have an easier time seeing what you like and may find a new idea that brings it together. One could be big and all curvy s lines, another could be all triangular, one could have eyes, ect.

@Marquise* Really? Those two happen to be my least favorite. :p

@Sharm I'll try to develop them further. Again, these are rough base designs, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time on them. :)

@Nutty171 , I really liked (d).

@Sharm , I'm too much an amateur to even consider working with you in such endeavour that is remaking 2k/2k3 in DB32.. I'm flattered about the invite.
Your tips are also always awesome, thank you for your guiding.

@Anysoft, I really liked both, and see the improvements on the left one, but can't offer much support beyond that. Keep up the good work!

Alright, made some new designs, and polished some old ones a bit. (pardon the messy coloring, I was kinda rushing)

Note that I'm trying to decide on one or two designs to use for only one or two enemies. So if you like some aspects of one design, but other aspects of another one, let me know. :)

D2 and G2 with a bit more roundness like G1.

Waiting for the next level. Impressive.

Working on the plant enemy... Only shaded the head so far, and not yet the inside of the mouth, as I need a little advice. Something about the way I handled the shadows seems off to me.

(Also I haven't added eyes yet, not sure if I'll do that or not though)

@MobileSuitSonic Sorry it took me so long to reply. You still haven't answered all my questions and skipped over the ones I needed answered the most but I'll just tell you the simplest method and hope that it suits your situation.

When you scan in your drawing, do it as large as you can get it and still work with it. Then set it to grayscale. Now you can adjust the levels so that the black and white points are as close to the same spot as you can get. There will be lots of jaggies and stray pixels but if you scanned big enough they won't show up later. Now be sure that the layer has an alpha channel (it's not always default) and use the color selection tool to select all the white. Hit delete. Now when you shrink the image to the size you actually want it the shrinking will add some nice anti-aliasing to your lines and there will be no random white or grey spots.

:( ... meh... been working on these a few days. Im probably gonna try to redo the trees. What do yall think, any advice?

What a fun look! Are you set on the color choices or can they be tweaked? Because that's a lot of really bright green and it'd be straining to look at for too long. If you toned down the saturation it would still look cheerful but be less painfully bright.

Making the trees a darker version of green would be a good idea. I also agree with Sharm, turn down the saturation a skoch. ("Skoch," of course being a technical term; it means a little bit. Don't ask me the proper spelling for that.)

@Sharm - you think it looks ok? Besides so much bright green? I was having second thoughts about all the black outlines, and I just kinda feel like the tree in general just... don't like "right". :/ anyway, I used only colors from Dawnbrekers 32 color pallet, I was trying to stay with in those confines... but basically, I'm pretty sure I used EVERY green it had, lol. I will edit it with your advice in mind :) thank you so much .

@DavidFoxfire - lol :3 , I knew what our meant! I will try it. Thank you too. :)

There's probably a few things you could do to make it better if you wanted to really hunt for it but I worry about suggesting anything that might mess up the great aesthetic you've currently got.

Since you're using the DB32 palette you're going to have to get used to using colors outside of the expected ramp. Colors are very contextual so play around and see what else works. For example there's a nice dark greyish blue that works great in a green ramp too, you could use that and shift the whole thing a little darker.

@Sharm Thanks for the feedback! Sorry for the delay, I had been trying to fix it up a bit more before requesting more feedback.
@KayZaman thanks!

I made a bunch of changes to the base, eye position, shading, slightly shaving of pixels in areas. Then tried making a pose. I also added hair.

I also tested changing the eye position, which I think fixed the direction she was looking. I may use the higher up eyes one for facing at the screen for a animation, rather then a default position.

Nice! BTW the version with her hands on her hips has a completely different arm length than the other one. You'll want to keep those consistent.

Your right, that arm was looking a bit weird anyway so its convenient to fix. Any suggestions on how? I assume I should raise her shoulders a bit, and make the angle wider for the arm.

Edit* Which variation of head do you all prefer? Different eye position and or shading

To make room for ? . . oh, I see the problem. Women's arms are built differently than men's arms to make room for the hips, they rest at a slightly outward angle instead of being straight. Just put in a bend at the elbows and you'll have plenty of room and you won't have to change the shoulders or upper arm angle at all.

I prefer #1 or 3 personally, with a preference towards #3. It's hard to be certain though, I'd need to see it in the intended environment to really know what would be best. If you were to put the hair back on them all and slap in a quick background map, things should be easier to see.

@Sharm

Okay so this is a test map... The lighting is actually dynamic and working btw... and it can look weird sometimes but its the price I pay for wanted something with a bit of depth.

The game will also have fake character shadows, and better AO on the feet.

Maybe I should move them away from the window more for you to see better lol

Edit* I actually mask shading on feet to a gradient, so it doesn't look weird like it does now. I forgot to fix that.