[C+C] [WIP] Rock Tileset attempts and frustrations

[tiffybits]

Good Morning All!  This will be my first post ever here! I have been trying to make a platformed mockup , a passion project for fun, about a treasure seeking astronaut who goes into different planets (each planet has its own theme), and seeks out a treasure chest (Space pirate  ) . The first planet I want to design is going to be a simple rocky planet , I kind of had the moon in mind for the exterior and a rocky cave look for the interior. I have been practicing drawing rocks all yesterday but Im not very happy with how they keep turning out. My main issue at the moment is the rocks not all looking the same, and getting the tiles to be seamless. Here are my attempts so far:

1st


2nd


3rd


4th




Attempt at Dirt + grass using Pyxel Edit



I like where Im going with the 4th one so far, and its the one where I adhered most to a reference.  I would appreciate any advice on how to get "rockier" rocks, or just any advice in general. Thank you !

[yrizoud]

The first one is the most pleasing, it doesn't look artificial.
To make repeating patterns, use any graphic editor which lets you preview what happens when the tile is repeated horizontally and/or vertically. Lots of programs will update the view while you're drawing, it's the most comfortable.
Grafx2, Pyxel Edit, Pixothello, Cosmigo ProMotion... all have this feature.

[tiffybits]

Thank you for the advice  Im a newbie so I've only been using photoshop, but I see a lot of people on here use other programs that seem more catered to game dev. Im going to have to try some other programs.

[MysteryMeat]

The first one is the most pleasing, it doesn't look artificial.
To make repeating patterns, use any graphic editor which lets you preview what happens when the tile is repeated horizontally and/or vertically. Lots of programs will update the view while you're drawing, it's the most comfortable.
Grafx2, Pyxel Edit, Pixothello, Cosmigo ProMotion... all have this feature.

Another method I use when  using programs is to set up tangent points, like in this picture here:

This method can result in some pretty obvious tiling, but working like this can get you in the right mindset for planning out where it all links up.

[tiffybits]

The first one is the most pleasing, it doesn't look artificial.
To make repeating patterns, use any graphic editor which lets you preview what happens when the tile is repeated horizontally and/or vertically. Lots of programs will update the view while you're drawing, it's the most comfortable.
Grafx2, Pyxel Edit, Pixothello, Cosmigo ProMotion... all have this feature.

Another method I use when  using programs is to set up tangent points, like in this picture here:

This method can result in some pretty obvious tiling, but working like this can get you in the right mindset for planning out where it all links up.

Thank you :-) I really appreciate the tip!

[tiffybits]

Thank you guys for the tiling suggestions they've really helped! I especially enjoy using pixel edit, I've started a dirt/grass tile, and here is how its looking so far, I really like how the dirt tiles