[Concept][WIP] Revamped project approach, comments/thoughts appreciated!

[skaytr]

Hello people, Got miself a tree.

Not sure about leaves yet, I'm thinking for a larger tree that the clusters would be spread out vertically, and less like a giant broccoli.
I Plan on painting the leaves, but I'm not sure that I like the shape right now.

The trunk is however much more finished.

And the cast shadow is subject to change with the shape of the leaf clusters/ Branches. I Plan on setting up a quick 3D model to render a proper cast shadow for reference when its finished.

I'm thinking its a little too saturated also...

And I'm really not sure about the Rim Lighting. I Suppose I'll have to wait until the leaves are finished to get the full RimLight effect, and I'd probably have to make the shadow a bit darker so it doesn't seem out of place.


First Version                                                                                                                              Final Version


Thanks again!

[YellowLime]

New threads about trees always seem to be popping up around here Figures, since they're so difficult

My opinion on the leaves of the tree:
The contrast level between the darkest and brightest shade seems too big to me.
And, the blobs of lightning aren't matching the silhouette of the leaves. So, either change the blobs or change the silhouette

[skaytr]

Hmm, I'm not quite sure what you're refering to. The small blob in the middle is the only one that seems off to me, the otheres seem ok (keep in mind that those blobs are just to pick the colours as I render those areas, the light blobs towards the bottom wont be as broad)

And towards the edges I can see some clusters that would have highlights rolling around them too.

I see what you mean about the contrast though, Thats super easy to change.

I'm already working on some leaves, Might have an update by tonight

Thanks!

(Suuuper quick edit)

[Night]

The main problems I see in this tree are the textures and perspective.

Now, assuming that the perspective is 3/4, the roots would never appear in such a way(they look almost as if they're viewed from the front), you can fix this by, firstly defining were they will be placed with a circle or whatnot, and then actually draw them along the circle.
The crown of the tree also suffers the same issue with the perspective, but that's mainly due to the way that the light source is displayed, try making the very top of the crown (with also the lower part of the crown that the light hits) be brighter than the rest.

The only issue I'm having with the textures so far (acknowledging that you barely did anything with the crown by now), is the tree trunk itself, you usually wouldn't encounter such tree trunks, the lines would usually go almost completely straight.

Here's an edit, just so that some of the stuff I said would make more sense. 

[skaytr]

Hmm Very interesting!

I totaly agree with the perspective, I was way off >.< (something I'm still working on. Alotttt.)

Il keep in mind the lighting on the leaves as I render them, and as for the trunks anatomy, I was going for something like these:




I do see though I  Need at least SOME Vertical growth XD

I'l see what I can do..

VERY much appreciate your thoughts kind sir!

Edit: Aslo I just noticed that My roots where just like pointy tendrils laying across the ground, I got a bad habbit of drawing that on trees, il make them round as if they were actually going underground. GAH your edit looks so goooddd haha

[skaytr]

So Last update today. So tired. 

I took lots of things into consideration.
-The Tree now has much more form
-perspective is fixed
-Removed a few knots
-Added twisted linear fibers, which I like ALOT ( still staying along the lines of vertical forms, but more interesting)
-Dun dit an awesum tree.
-Sleeeeeep...

The fun starts tomorrow, LEAVES baby. Leaves.

Here she is:



UPDATE: Final version baby! Tree.2.0 !

Theres a few things I'd change in the formation of the leaves now that Its all together, but I feel at this point my time is better invested in creating other assets for my game. I had allot of fun making this tree, but it is after all just ONE of many assets haha XD Regardless, I learned allot, all thanks to you guys!

Cheers!

(Il be back)

[Cyangmou]

I simple don't know why you choose pixel art as a medium. Your tree has a size of 512x512(!) which is in terms of pixel art really huge and it looks like oekaki. It's made with pixels, but I personally won't call it pixel art because there is no pixel-level work.

Your last edit (the one with the "rendered" leaves) looks flat, has sloppy forms and also the wrong perspective (night already pointed out what you should do).
The only thing which is outstanding on the art is it's huge size - which could also be misunderstood the way that you don't know what's the purpose of pixel-art. Big resolution doesn't make better art - all your drawing weaknesses are also much more obvious the bigger you get.

Even if you'd apply now some pixel related technique (which doesn't make any sense for this huge resolution except wasting time) it won't get significantly better because as it looks you really have to work on your art basics.


We have lots of new people in this forum who are starting with grass textures, paths, trees and environmental stuff without even thinking about the character graphics they will use. Have you thought about your characters yet? Have you thought about how big they will get and how many more frames you need to get a smooth animation compared to smaller ones that they look believable or smooth? Have you thought about all your size relations which are usually established with character sizes? A game without animations is kinda boring.

The main problem is that a game don't consists out of a tree, a grass texture, a path, a crate, a barrel, a house and a character. This doesn't even makes 0.1% of the whole game. If you can reduce the time you spend on one game asset even a few seconds you'll save lots of hours if not days if you use your complete project as benchmark.

Reducing the resolution by half means for pixel art cutting down the total amount of pixels by 75%. The amount of pixel increases and decreases by square.
Ask yourself following questions if you actually trying to finish your game:
-Would I rather have one 64x64 texture or 16 16x16 pieces in the same timeframe?
-Do I want to work 12 years or 3 years on the graphics for my game?

The next thing is that it doesn't really make sense for most pixel artists here to help you with edits because they are usually know the sitze/work ratio and edits for this huge resolutions are taking also really long.

From my point of view you have only 2 possibilities:
-abandon pixel art and use digital painting or another technique if you want to keep the resolution
-resize it to a fitting resolution and use defined pixel art.

[skaytr]

So basically ive just wasted the last few days?

This is by far the be biggest sprite in the game. How else do u make a giant tree?

I honestly dont know what to say to your comment...  i feel like im takin two steps forward and three steps back


And the reason i choose pixel art for my game is because i love the old school style, and it massively reduces the sizeo the game. But clearly i have no idea what im doing, maybe I should take up knitting or something...

Edit: i thought i DID fix the persective

[Cyangmou]

why would anybody start a game with a huge tree? Is the huge tree the main character of the game? appears it more than once or on every screen of your game? Is it important graphics wise? Does it provide gameplay? Can you interact with it?
Without a human next to it it looks like a tree nobody can't say if it's 2m 50m or 5000m big - there is no clear size reference. From the coloring it also seemed more like the standard tree in your game and not like the huge world tree from some tales-

If you are going for a retro feel, look at some retro games and their trees (resolutions). The comparison is 1:1.



Yeah you fixed it within your crude edit a bit, however You don't maintained it in your last render - you derivated from your rougher sketch.

[YellowLime]

Cyangmou is basically right, your resolution is just way too big. Even if it's supposed to be some big-ass, monumental, game-defining tree, it's still too big. Half this size would be good. Define the size of the rest of the game.

If the workload increases exponentially with size, I'd say that the "impact" increases logarithmically-- ever so slowly after reaching a certain top. And I'd say that your size is way past that top.

Though I think he was being a bit too harsh on the "it's obvious you gotta rework your art basics". I think they're mostly fine!

In any case, I'll have to say I'm impressed with the tree
As you said; "then I wasted these last days?". Fixing this giant to pixelart quality would take you a couple more of those.

Finally, a retarded thing I couldn't help myself not doing: