As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

SENTRY FUCKING DUTY + halftone doggie

2

Posts

  • redraptorredraptor Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    We had a deal!

    redraptor on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Ah okay time to pay the piper. I've got something for you.

    So Here's a quick and dirty tutorial on how I made these. Lets draw a goomba.

    First off think of a color scheme. Any one will do. Don't limit yourself, just use the first two colors that pop in your mind, one light one dark. Use the paint bucket to fill in your entire workspace with the lighter color, and then draw your subject in the darker color. I chose pink and purple, they look nice enough, although slightly girly. It's just going to be your base layer anyway, so noone will end up seeing it anyway. If we were going to preserve the linework we would set it to multiply, but I want shapes to define this image not lines. Alright so I've got my basic composition laid out. It's wobbly and not much to look at, but that's okay. You'll be tinkering with everything as you go, so don't sweat the details at this stage. Just make sure you have all the elements you want to include in place so you don't start adding things all willy-nilly later on. Try to include a foreground and a background so that the main element of the image feels like it belongs within an environment, and it isn't just floating around on a jpeg. Get ready to add colors.

    goombalicious1.jpg

    Now we start adding some flat colors. We'll be refining them later, so for now just use the colors that you think make sense. You can start to perfect your shapes now, so if any of your original lines don't feel right now is a good time to tweak them. When you're slapping down the color make sure you put them on different layers because it will make everything more manageable down the line. I've added 4 more layers on top of the original sketch. The goomba, the ground and mountains, the clouds castle and moon, and the background color. As you are applying try to use the colors in more than one place because it will help unify the image. I didn't do this so much. For the background color I used a gradient. It looks bad. It's okay we'll fix it later. Shading here we come!

    goombalicious2.jpg

    Okay so I added some shadow areas as well as some highlight spots. You may prefer to put them on different layers but I just started shading right ontop of the layers I already had. At this stage you really just want to think about how light is being cast in your scene. I'm no master of light source but I tried to add contrast to the appropriate areas. The goomba, castle, mountains, flagpole, clouds, and mushrooms all have a bright and dark section. I darkened the eyes and mouth and added more detail to the castle, teeth gums and shoes. I added a glow around the sun by just making rings that got lighter as they got closer to the moon. I also combined the castle/sky layer and grass/mountain layer into one environment layer for simplicities sake. Let's keep it going.

    goombalicious3.jpg

    Now that we have the shapes and colors developed to a decent point, it's a good time to pull back and look at the image as a whole. I can see that there are some areas that need work. Like light areas that aren't bright enough or shadow spots that could be darker. When I zero in on areas I want to work on I zoom in pretty close and use a small brush. I try to make the highlights blend into the midtones and shadows smoothly by sketching lots of little scribbles. I added more highlights to the goomba, mountain castle, and mushrooms. I also pick some darker colors and apply those around as well. Try not to add white or black when you are choosing your shades because it always ends up looking like you used the dodge and burn tool, which is not good. Instead of just making the castle a lighter blue where I wanted it to be brighter, I used yellow. In the areas I wanted to be darker, I added purple. The more color variation the better. I refined the grass and flag a little more. I wanted as few actual lines as possible, so I shaded the clouds with purple so that the swirls were still noticeable without the hard edges. I also used a gradient map on the background color so it faded from a pinkish hue up to a purplish purple. Hey, look at that, it's almost done! Once the texturing is added we can finally go to bed.

    goombalicious5.jpg

    Remember, Photoshop filters are not your friend. They can be okay if used conservatively, but often times they are best avoided. I have found a pretty good alternative that gives a more authentic effect. I colored in half a page of regular paper with a blue crayon. You could use anything though so go wild. Different media like colored pencils on different kinds of paper could yield interesting results. You will just want to make sure that the texture is consistent and evenly distributed, you don't want big sections that are dark or bright. Scan in your texture at a high resolution, I did 400. Keep this file in a texture folder and scan in some more textures whenever you feel like it. This way you'll have a bunch of texture choices at your disposal whenever you want them. You should end up with something like this.

    texture1.jpg

    Now that we have our custom texture, I'm going to apply it to my layers separately. So drop in the texture image and I make sure that it is covering the entire canvas. Now make enough duplicate layers so you'll have enough for each element. I'm going to do three, one for the goomba, one for the environment and one for the background sky. First I'm going to add it to the purple sky in the background. Since the purple sky takes up the entire canvas and is below all the other layers, we can just apply the whole texture to the whole sky. Before I do that though, I do another gradient map on the texture using my pink and purple tones that I had already settled on. It looks like this.

    texture2.jpg

    Then I hide the other layers and play around with the layer settings. Try scrolling through some different options like luminosity, linear burn, hard or soft light, multiply, or hue and see how the texture affects the layer underneath. Many of them are going to dramatically alter what you had before, so I usually set the opacity to around 30 percent. Use more or less depending on how noticeable you want the texture to be. Subtlety is definitely the way to go. Once you are satisfied, merge the texture with the background layer. Now it looks like this...

    texture3.jpg

    The reason why the blue crayon texture is there is because I am not very good at explaining things. Alright so when I told you I made duplicate layers, I used the magic wand tool to select the areas around the objects so I could delete it. For example, to get an area of texture that would only cover the goomba, I go to my goomba level, and use the wand tool to select the area around the little guy. With the entire area around the goomba now selected, I can go to the duplicate layer and hit backspace. Now you have the blue texture in the exact shape of the goomba. I used another gradient map on the texture that reflected the colors of the goomba. A dark brown and a light yellow. Play around with the layer options and opacity again and merge the texture when satisfied. I used even less opacity on the creature because he's the main figure and I'd rather the texture be stronger on the other elements, like the sky. Now lastly, add texture to the environment layer, use a light to dark green gradient map. Tweak it until you are happy, and merge that too. The reason why I apply the texture to each element separately is because I like to adjust the amount of texture on each piece of the image independently. If you were to just use one layer of texture on the whole image, you wouldn't be able to use more or less texture on certain parts of the image.

    Now that the all the work is done and the texture is laid down I take a minute to tinker with the levels and the saturation a bit. Whenever I make an adjustment to the image I go back to edit> fade. This way you can see the difference of your alteration, and pick a percentage somewhere in between. You can also change the mode to luminosity, multiply, hue, etc in this mode as well, and sometimes that can lead to some interesting visuals.

    Done!

    goombalicious6.jpg

    And that's pretty much it! I hope it made sense and was helpful in someway to someone. It was kinda hard to explain some parts of the process because they're second nature for me to do, but not so easy to explain. If I can make any of it more clear just let me know.

    Thanks for all the comments!

    earthwormadam on
  • Bionic MonkeyBionic Monkey Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited December 2008
    Thanks a bunch guys, your words are kind. As for viewing the images, you can try here but, but I'm not sure that will work for you either.

    Oooh Zelda would be so much fun I might do that.

    Do it. Doooooo iiiiiiiitttt!!!!

    Bionic Monkey on
    sig_megas_armed.jpg
  • AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    edited December 2008
    That, or Metroid. Metroid has a lot of weird little buggers.

    Antimatter on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Mm yeah Metroid would be cool too. I love Sheegoths.

    earthwormadam on
  • RubberACRubberAC Sidney BC!Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    You should just do Lovecraft instead.

    RubberAC on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    I don't know much about that so I think I'd have to do some research first. I'd want to do the stories justice, so I'm going to hold off until I can manage to purchase some of his books. I do have a gift certificate to Borders, so I'll check it out.

    earthwormadam on
  • JohnTWMJohnTWM Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Remember, Photoshop filters are not your friend. They can be okay if used liberally but often times they are best avoided.

    Was this a subtle political joke about how liberals are actually more conservative than so called conservatives these days?
    Also your explanation about textures was awesome. Not only was it helpful in a technical, how do you do this sort of way, but it also finally drove home how much of a difference it makes in the final piece!

    JohnTWM on
  • NibCromNibCrom Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Thanks for the tutorial.

    NibCrom on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited December 2008
    Ah that was supposed to say conservatively, but my democratic nature got the best of me.

    Glad you guys found it helpful though.

    Alright so here's one last entry, so that SMB2 doesn't get snubbed. This one coulda used a bit more developing but oh well...

    bonus - shy guy

    shyster.jpg

    Known as a Heyho in Japan, the Shy Guy comes in many shapes colors and variations. They are one of my favorite enemies, and without Mario2, they would have never come to be. They don a hockey mask which covers their mysterious face. Something about the simplicity of their design makes them so memorable. Even though I really don't hold SMB2 in the same regard of other games in the series, I do appreciate it for what it is.

    earthwormadam on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    So I think I'll just make this my new thread for now.

    I've got a submission on threadless up for voting for the next couple days, and I'd like to get some feedback from you guys. Some people at Threadless left a few comments about making it smaller and putting a halftone on the steam. I kinda like it how it is what do you guys think?

    earthwormadam on
  • ShiboeShiboe Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    The shy guy is pretty cute, not liking it as much as the others though, think it's the colors, but I'm too horrible at color theory to explain why.

    As for the shirt, I'm really not a fan of the idea, and the thing looks a bit too sterile. I think it's the simple straight lines and ovals, I mean, I know a cup looks like a cup, but I think something far more menacing is in order to pull this off. Like way low mouse view looking up at giant angry cup, or overhead angled view if teensy cute/savage little cup. Straight on comes on too stale IMO.

    Just my thoughts, keep it up mate. ;D

    Shiboe on
  • NappuccinoNappuccino Surveyor of Things and Stuff Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Well, that T certainly looks like the style of T threadless tends to print. I kind of like it but something just seems "off."

    If it strikes me, I'll be sure to post what the "off" thing is.

    Nappuccino on
    Like to write? Want to get e-published? Give us a look-see at http://wednesdaynightwrites.com/
    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    There's also the possibility you just can't really grow a bear like other guys.

    Not even BEAR vaginas can defeat me!
    cakemikz wrote: »
    And then I rub actual cake on myself.
    Loomdun wrote: »
    thats why you have chest helmets
  • desperaterobotsdesperaterobots perth, ausRegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    The most obvious problems for me are the handle and the lip of the mug.

    The handle would be too thin to stick a finger through it, despite looking like relatively thick ceramic, the lip of the cup is weirdly two dimensional. There is nothing to imply the thickness of the ceramic. It's like a paper cup with a thick ceramic handle. Wack.

    Also, the details on the mug dont seem to make sense. It's a cylinder, but the eyes/mouth/writing look too flat. They don't seem to conform to what the shape of the mug should be. It's awkwardly flat.

    desperaterobots on
  • bionicbionic Washington StateRegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Your Mario enemies are awesome! I wish I had been checking the forums to see the countdown. Blooper and Kuribo's Shoe are my favorite. Also your tutorial was great :)

    bionic on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Shib - You're definitely correct about it not looking menacing enough. If I end up reworking it, I think I'll go for a rougher style and change the perspective so that he's more imposing. Thanks for the crit.

    Napp - I think it mainly the angle of the ovals. I should've spent more time getting those angles right. If I come back to this piece, I'll make sure I improve on that.

    DR - Mm it is reading pretty flat. Another valid point. As for the handle, I wanted it to be coming out from behind the cup, which is why the finger hole is so small, but it does look like it's just a really small handle. More great tips for next time, thanks!

    Thank ya Bionic!

    earthwormadam on
  • NappuccinoNappuccino Surveyor of Things and Stuff Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I think I just realized what my main problem is. The mug isn't short enough. Or, it isn't think enough to imply how short it is because right now, it's shape doesn't imply "mug" to my eyes.

    Nappuccino on
    Like to write? Want to get e-published? Give us a look-see at http://wednesdaynightwrites.com/
    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    There's also the possibility you just can't really grow a bear like other guys.

    Not even BEAR vaginas can defeat me!
    cakemikz wrote: »
    And then I rub actual cake on myself.
    Loomdun wrote: »
    thats why you have chest helmets
  • redraptorredraptor Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Maybe think about refining the joke abit, or adding a few more characters. The single dude is a little simple, and maybe an ensemble cast of a few dudes would be cooler.

    redraptor on
  • L.E.O.L.E.O. Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    the idea of making the mug shorter is good. my idea is; give the mug a six pack and pecs, gangsta.

    L.E.O. on
  • CrowlestonCrowleston Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I'd actually like to see that as a mug.

    Crowleston on
    useless but necessary objects of society.
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Thanks for those crits, the shirt didn't do so hot for voting so I suppose it does still need a lot of work.

    Here's another project I have started, and it's still in doodle phase so crits will be helpful. Under the suggestion of RubberAC I picked up a Lovecraft book, and I've already flewn though it. It was a great read! I think I'm going to develop this image into a mock cover so I might be able to put it in my portfolio...

    clthulhuparty.jpg

    I'm going to refine this one a lot more, so feel free to point anything out before I get too far. The people around the fire are eventually going to be dancing naked and The trees spouting out of the swamp are going to need a lot of work too, along with the roots. I'm thinking about adding one more color, to help darken the area around Ol Cthulhu.

    earthwormadam on
  • Arden CaneloArden Canelo Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    What are they burning, some kind of obelisk? And is this a spirit of Cthulhu? The current color goes well with a swamp theme. It makes me think "wise from your gwave" a little bit.

    Arden Canelo on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Yeah it's one of those monolith thingies. I was going for a sorta resurrection/summoning feel.

    earthwormadam on
  • D-RobeD-Robe Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I like the shadows the figures are casting. I can't wait to see what you'll do with the colors.

    D-Robe on
    Cheese.
  • NappuccinoNappuccino Surveyor of Things and Stuff Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Becareful when you shade the fingers. Right now, it looks like, physically, they are reaching over the fire, but the shading says they are behind the fire. The same goes for his forearms (i think)

    Nappuccino on
    Like to write? Want to get e-published? Give us a look-see at http://wednesdaynightwrites.com/
    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    There's also the possibility you just can't really grow a bear like other guys.

    Not even BEAR vaginas can defeat me!
    cakemikz wrote: »
    And then I rub actual cake on myself.
    Loomdun wrote: »
    thats why you have chest helmets
  • GrennGrenn Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Firstly, I am a massive Lovecraft fan, and plan to have some HPL inspired prints out at some point this year... the only thing delaying me is that I'm wary of the style in which I work, as I don't think stylised or cartoony renditions work too well... this is completely my own opinon, of course - I'm aware that some people like the modern interpretations.

    I like the composition and feel of the image but be wary of the style, especially if you're going for an old Lovecraft book-cover look.

    The first thing I thought of when I saw it was those little monster finger puppets:

    finger-monsters-Web-200px.jpg

    My approach would perhaps be a little different -- rather than it appearing as if Cthulhu were being summoned somehow (which isn't entirely in keeping with the lore), I would just have lots of vile, billowing smoke coming from the monolith swirling to form the vaugue outline of Cthulhu. OR perhaps the visage of Cthulhu looking down, and with the tentacles intermixing with the smoke tendrils, to hint that his presence is there rather than his physical being.

    Great work so far though, I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

    **Also, on a seperate note - check out some of the radio dramatisations done by the HP Lovecraft Historical Society, they're really quite impressive.

    Grenn on
  • BedlamBedlam Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    EEEEEEEEEE!

    That is pretty great adam.

    Bedlam on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Thanks for the comments.

    Napp - I'm definitely gonna try to work on the arms and fingers a bit because the light source ain't quite right, as you pointed out.

    Grenn - Great points! I'll try to make him a bit more foreboding as to hopefully lose the resemblance to those finger puppets. I'm not really happy with how the form is rising out of the monolith so I think I'm gonna try to implement some smoke as you suggested. I wasn't really trying to make them summoning Cthulhu directly, so much as his spirit.

    Thanks agian, that was really helpful. Oh and updated:

    clthulhuparty2.jpg

    earthwormadam on
  • SurfpossumSurfpossum A nonentity trying to preserve the anonymity he so richly deserves.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    This thread is now clearly NSFW.

    Also that new dark shade really helps. I would suggest making the colors on his hands one shade darker, see if that works out the lighting issue.

    Surfpossum on
  • Arden CaneloArden Canelo Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    For a swamp it could use a little more elaborate root structure from the trees. May be just me.

    Arden Canelo on
  • KendeathwalkerKendeathwalker Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    the trees look like pillars.. might want to bring some more organic shapes into it.

    Kendeathwalker on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Surfpossum wrote: »
    This thread is now clearly NSFW..

    boobsNbutts

    Yeah I'll definitely do something with the trees, I hadn't noticed that before. Thanks!

    earthwormadam on
  • SurfpossumSurfpossum A nonentity trying to preserve the anonymity he so richly deserves.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Surfpossum wrote: »
    This thread is now clearly NSFW..

    boobsNbutts

    Excuse me, the gentleman all the way to the right has quite a distinct dong.

    Also, to be constructive, your stars are where your trees should be. Also, I rather like the pillar trees, but maybe having branches instead of the stars would make them look less manufactured.

    Surfpossum on
  • RubberACRubberAC Sidney BC!Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Oh awesome

    P.S. you spelled again wrong.
    yeah.

    RubberAC on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Ah I guess I used all my spelling effort trying to get Cthulhu right. Damn. :/

    The stars are definitely going to get an overhaul, and maybe some planets too. Branches are a possibility.

    Update coming soon!

    earthwormadam on
  • Bionic MonkeyBionic Monkey Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2009
    Not an artist here... but keep in mind where you have stars placed, and where the tree canopies should be.

    Bionic Monkey on
    sig_megas_armed.jpg
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Yeah I put those there as some temporary placeholders. I refined the image quite a bit, finished the sky, and fixed the hands and trees. I also used a colored pencil for some texture.

    clthulhuparty5.jpg

    I originally wanted him to look more slimy and scaly, but I think this is about as far as I'm going to take this piece. I always start to lose interest when it really comes time to buckle down on something.

    I have a image progression on my blog if anyone's interested. Thanks for all the input everyone, it was quite helpful!

    earthwormadam on
  • CyberMonkeytron3000CyberMonkeytron3000 Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I'd buy that for a dollar!

    I really like the way it all turned out earthworm.

    The only thing that i would fix is showing the top of the monolith. It just throws the perspective for me by not showing the top edge.

    CyberMonkeytron3000 on
  • ChicoBlueChicoBlue Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Hot damn. That rocks.

    ChicoBlue on
  • u63ru63r Jon "Bad Wasabi" Wood Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    What ChicoBlue said.

    u63r on
Sign In or Register to comment.