AuthorTopic: Castle for Red Wizard Island  (Read 3745 times)

Offline r0ber7

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Castle for Red Wizard Island

on: April 11, 2012, 02:29:16 pm
Hi. Red Wizard Island is a game I'm working on.

This will be the king's castle.



Not satisfied about the doors & windows yet. Other than that I think it turned out pretty well.  8) Any suggestions for the doors/windows?

Offline Facet

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Re: Castle for Red Wizard Island

Reply #1 on: April 12, 2012, 01:27:23 am
Great looking demo, I'm always up for some magical abuse ;D.

I have a couple of ideas for the windows and whatnot, but more importantly I should point out that the way you're shading things at the moment (slightly lighter on one rim, slightly darker on the other) is not that descriptive of form or a lightsource. If you imagine your castle as a collection of simple geometric forms you should have a better idea of how to do things. Note that highlights/shadows don't work equally and in opposition; shadows describe form and highlights describe surface texture. You can also use highlights selectively to draw attention to where you want it as I've done with my windows. Most of the time, or when not considered for some particular purpose it's assumed that the light is approximately top-down as midday so your shadows are mostly going to be skirting the bottom of forms or cast downwards from any protrusions.

I roughed out some of that shading stuff in the top portion of my edit (the desaturated blue on the walls is to suggest reflected light) and proceeded to doodle in a sort of Shantae-like direction in the bottom bit because castles are pretty fun to draw :P, I also included a bit of architectural embellishment for a more expansive feel.  



Edit - I should probably stop trying to explain things past my bedtime, reworded a bit.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2012, 09:39:05 pm by Facet »

Offline r0ber7

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Re: Castle for Red Wizard Island

Reply #2 on: April 12, 2012, 10:16:38 am
Wow, thanks!  ;D

I actually did the same thing with the windows and door yesterday, forgot to post it here.



I know the shading could be better, when I get the time I'll get to it.

Offline Facet

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Re: Castle for Red Wizard Island

Reply #3 on: April 12, 2012, 09:19:02 pm
No problem, I hope the bunch of floating stuff is useful for demonstrating why and where I put my shadows. I should probably have mentioned that the leftmost bauble is an example of a high constrast metallic material.

Other stuff I forgot to mention; some context for your work (player character, indication of background & other game assets etc.) is extremely important for relevant critique. The whole thing is pretty dark and could be lightened up for use on a regular blue-sky background if that's what you're going for, also the door looks pretty outsize for the little wizard from the vid. you linked ;).  
« Last Edit: April 12, 2012, 09:41:36 pm by Facet »

Offline r0ber7

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Re: Castle for Red Wizard Island

Reply #4 on: April 13, 2012, 10:08:55 am
No problem, I hope the bunch of floating stuff is useful for demonstrating why and where I put my shadows. I should probably have mentioned that the leftmost bauble is an example of a high constrast metallic material.

Other stuff I forgot to mention; some context for your work (player character, indication of background & other game assets etc.) is extremely important for relevant critique. The whole thing is pretty dark and could be lightened up for use on a regular blue-sky background if that's what you're going for, also the door looks pretty outsize for the little wizard from the vid. you linked ;).  

Thank you. I am working on it as I write this. The shading is something I have problems with sometimes. Right now I'm trying to make it look less flat as a whole. The darkness is on purpose, the whole game takes place during the night. The door is completely out of proportion, yes, but that's what I was going for. ;-) Nonetheless, I might change it into a gate.
I've opened your edit in my program and I've been scrutinizing the way you do shading. Really well done. I especially enjoyed seeing the golden bauble, and the example of that you showed. This is a part of lighting I've never before used in my images, makes things look really shiny! I'll remember it.
I'm also going to steal the way you placed the stones around the door, looks better than my effort.  :) Same with the additional walls & towers, they do add to the picture and I was thinking of doing something like that as well. Thanks so far, will post my next effort here soon. :)

Offline r0ber7

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Re: Castle for Red Wizard Island

Reply #5 on: April 13, 2012, 07:04:05 pm


Little guards for context, but mostly for fun. Thanks to Facet for the great suggestions which have made this. Couldn't have pulled this off without you, especially the golden thing. I'm pretty much content with how it is right now. Maybe I'll change the gate back to a door, but other than that, I'm satisfied. :)

« Last Edit: April 13, 2012, 07:06:25 pm by r0ber7 »

Offline Phlakes

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Re: Castle for Red Wizard Island

Reply #6 on: April 13, 2012, 09:31:44 pm
One quick question, will it always be on a black background?

Offline r0ber7

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Re: Castle for Red Wizard Island

Reply #7 on: April 13, 2012, 10:11:23 pm
Not black, but dark. Most of it will be night sky, black with some blue/purple in it and stars. Still have to draw that. Then some darkgreen trees like you see in the video I posted.

Offline Phlakes

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Re: Castle for Red Wizard Island

Reply #8 on: April 13, 2012, 10:36:54 pm
Alright, because the colors are all really dark. If it's for a night scene you should be good.

Offline Ryumaru

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Re: Castle for Red Wizard Island

Reply #9 on: April 13, 2012, 11:39:21 pm
If it's going to take place at night, I would try to involve some more exciting light situations, such as fire light, distortion by fog ( even if non PA) and moon rim lighting. as it stands right now, your image appears to be a normal daylight image, with the brightness turned way down.

Also, I much prefer the gate to the door.