Need help in making this cupboard more "Woodish"

[Muscles]

Hey, Yesterday I've uploaded this couch, and you guys helped me a lot in perfecting it, thanks a lot <3
I've continued drawing the interior stuff, and now I made this cupboard, it doesn't look that bad, but I'm stuck here a little bit, because I have a feeling that it does not really look like that it's made of wood.

Are there any technique or something to make it a woodish feeling? 
or is the problem is the shading again?

It's for a horror game, in a dark room, where the only light source is coming from the ceiling.

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Sharm]

What sort of viewpoint are you going for?  3/4ths like an RPG or front on like a sidescroller?  Orthogonal or with perspective?  Because the top suggests RPG orthogonal but the shelves are front view in perspective.  Either way with overhead lighting your top planes should be lighter than the sides.  If the object is facing the light I also like to get rid of the outline and instead highlight the line between the top and side facing the light, it makes it really pop out.  If you're going for RPG then you'll need to add a lot more to the depth of those shelves, they should be almost as deep as the top is, the difference between them only the thickness of the backing.  If it's side view then your top should be only as deep as any of the shelves.

Your current shading does have some issues.  What's casting the shadow all around the top of the cupboard?  On the corners of the drawer section?  The front edge of the shelving sides?  The answer to all of those should be nothing, there shouldn't be shadows there because there's nothing getting between those places and the light.  To get the shading right you've got to think about the path that light takes and how much would be blocked by what and by how much.  If you can't figure it out then that's the lovely thing about references.  You don't necessarily have to.  If you have troubles finding some online, creating some with a flashlight and any bit of shelving would help.

Besides sorting out the shading and perspective, I think what would help this piece the most is giving those edges some actual thickness.  Right now they're a single pixel thick, and it makes it all look a bit like it's made of cardboard.  Making those edges thicker and shading them will go a long way towards making it look more like wood.

As for texturing, it's like adding in the highlights and shadows for the grain of the wood.  Cracks are shadows, bumpy up parts highlights and such.  I like to do more to the edges since that's where the wood will weather fastest, making the grain of the wood stand out more.  Before adding any shading in figure out which way you think that grain would run first.  Keep in mind that usually wood grain is cut so it runs parallel to the longest edge.  So on that top bit you'd want the grain to run left and right instead of up and down.

[eishiya]

You haven't posted an update on the couch. Show Pixelation what you've learned from the feedback before you ask for feedback on something else xP It's a little discouraging otherwise. Plus, if you start working on another asset before you've figured out how to fix the problems on the first one yourself, you'll just end up repeating the same mistakes - and you have.

The shelves on the cupboard don't appear to be as deep as the top of the cupboard would suggest. Might want to fix that. Or is that top section not the top of the cupboard?

It's almost impossible to see anything because it's all so dark. PJ's light background is certainly a factor in it looking so dark, but if this is meant to be viewed only in a very dark context, perhaps you should post it with a black buffer around it.

The shading is definitely a problem, I wouldn't have guessed the light source is above the thing. Think - where would the shadows be? Would the depths of the shelves be getting any light at all?

With wood, colours are probably the key component. The texture is rarely visible at these scales and people can spot wooden furniture even when they're too far away to see the texture anyway. That's because wood tends to have a pattern to the colours - dull, if any, highlights, warm browns (though the value can vary), dull shadows. Wooden objects also often have slightly rounded corners.


I can do an edit for you, but I'd like to see you try with these things in mind first - and I'm also not sure what's going on with the perspective xP I'd also like to see an update on the couch, to see what you've learned and what needs to be explained better.


Lastly, I think it would be better to keep all the posts about assets for this project in one thread. They provide context for each other and can show your progress. Critiquing things in isolation is more difficult, and you'll just end up getting a lot of redundant feedback.