Picture of....

I am really getting the hang of photoshop :)

Tell me what should be improved.
I think I have a Roman theme going on, I think I will make a game out of it.

quote
I am really getting the hang of photoshop
/qoute

nope, you don't... hehe
well try to give the colums a vol. look (shade the borders), and the sky doesn't really fit into the 'scene' IMO - a lil to fluffy-bunny-like... .

P.S.:



just a fast one... i'm not PS pro either... :(

It looks ok, but I think your emboss/bevel effects are a bit 'hard' (Since you mentioned PS I assume that you are using layer effects for this). Try softening them up a bit adjusting the transperancy for highlight/shadow and fiddle with soften/spread parameters. I guess this is supposed to be used as a background, and you do not want your backrounds to be too high in contrast since that will make it harder to see the characters etc.

Ás marcus mentioned you also have to take the volume of the objects into consideration (In all directions. Not just up/down which is what you,re doing with the bevel/emboss effects. Volume in the left/right direction also matters). A column is a cylinder and you somehow need to emphasis this (As in Marcus example)

Keep it up!

//PetBom

Well it's a good start!

Not bad :) (pixel art in photoshop is not the easiest thing, even with filters)

It might actually work better using a gradient on a seperate layer, then use blend modes and/or transparency.

overlay mode and 30% transparency seems to work ok.



*edit*
I noticed actually that the pillars are not identical, you could get away with making them identical and then using one copy multiple times.

The pillars are identical, as in each one is the same.
Each bit is actually a seperate image, the pillars are one image, the ground another and the sky. You are viewing a snapshot I took out of on blitz, all tiled images. Each layer goes at a different speed, when you press left or right.

I said pillars, what I meant to say was the bits at the top and the bottom of the pillars.

If I select one of them, the same selection doesn't fit over the other ones

I updated it(see first post).
I dimmed the sky and did all the things you guys suggested. Now all I need is an annimated character. :(

I would still add more detail to the grey parts. A couple of layers of textures on them would do them good. Grain, bumps and cracks and such.
This detail can then be enhanced by giving them a good fine rubbing with a shading and lighting brush.

The lens flares in the background are funny. It gives me the impression it was placed quickly to get a nice effect.

What you want could be done very easily in something like poser, or you could get some stock art to start with.

(alternatively, draw it yourself, but it will take a lot of work to get it looking nice)

looked good the first one, and slight revamp looks good. Much better than what I could do ;c)

Sigh.... I am REALLY bad at making characters. I will never get a good animation to go along with my background. :(

I have completed it.

I have added some shading and warping and burning, changed the sky and added texture to the colum peices. If anyone wants to see how radical it is moving, download it(left and right to move): http://members.shaw.ca/paulleduc/files/RomanDemo.zip
For a larger picture you can click here: http://members.shaw.ca/paulleduc/randompicspage.html

you seem to be relying too much on bevel and emboss. try taking a mid grey , add a bit of noise , then add a texture fill on anew layer, knock the opacity down to about 5-10 percent and then you get a much more subtle effect.







did these a while ago

Hey Ruz, it looks like you know a lot about photoshop|paint shop pro... do you know some good tutorial for beginners?

And good work po, couldnt make it better ;)

there are so many ways to do stuff, its hard to give you a generic method. But in general for the more cartoony texture, get your colours right first, ie the right tonal range for your game. test it in game and then add the details.
for example the first one of my three textures abvove was a plain colour base, then added a grey layer over the top( overlay 10-15 percent). added some noise, then used the pixelate filter. then use bevel and emboss(the simple one).
The second one was a result of me painting the brick shapes in a a loose manner on a grey background then 'simple' bevel and emboss, 'not' using the layer bevel and emboss.

These are just texture bases, you obviously can overlay more stuff on them to add color variety also.
the 'maximum' filter can also be handy to make your texture more 'blobby'

Thank you :) it doesnt seem very hard to make nice textures if you know how to use the different tools ( noise etc )

yeah it a bit hit and miss. I sometimes just can't get a texture looking right.I have yet to hand paint a decent rock texture.though it can be done.
I believe programs like bryce can create nice textures.
I sometimes render textures in 3dsmax also. you could create a realistic brick wall in max, setup the lighting nice and render to a 512x512 texture.
max has lots of procedureal textures like 'smoke' and 'stucco' for example . these can make good texture bases.



try and run an emboss filter in pshop on this texture. ie stylise\emboss.
try the angle 'up' and 'down' and you can get two different rock effects. this was doen with 'smoke' texture in 3ds max

Scrolling demo was really good. Smooth as silk on my system. I like the 'old skool' look.

Crap! ive lost my Pshop cd :( ill save the image until i find it again though. Thanks again :)