C&C for my tiled background

[Huge]

Hi all.
I've quite new to pixel art (art in general too), but I would like diversify my skills and thought the tiled background contest would be a good place to start.

I have had a go and would like to know if I'm on the right track, or whether I start again.
Obviously I'm not ready to give up my day job, but and C&C would be nice.

[goosemonger]

Not bad, I like your brick and tile textures, but you got some weird perspective going on there. There seems to be several different vanishing points.
If you have buildings with dimension you need to use the isometric diagonal lines that are 2x1 pixels, rather than what you have here, 45° 1x1 pixel. But if you do use 45° lines, they should all be consistant ie. the roof and floor of a building would be parellel and the same length. Otherwise if you have a vanishing point (if you are new to art follow this link for a definition) all lines that are not horizontal of vertical should point to that.

Sorry if my c&c is a bit rusty, I haven't done it in a long time.

Keep up the good work!

[robalan]

@goosemonger:  I suspect that the odd perspective is because it's for this contest.  Correct me if I'm wrong, Huge.

Now for the art:
-The art looks pretty nice; I especially like the grass and stone tiles.  You may want to increase contrast, or even add more detail, on some of the brick tiles, especially the front of the barbershop.

-Speaking of the barbershop, the perspective on that is off, if it is intended to have a gabled roof.  If it's intended to have a different roof, feel free to ignore this next comment.

To draw a roof in perspective, especially in a funky one like this, several steps are necessary.  I started with a simple box onto which I plan to put the roof.  I then marked the center of the gable face and drew a line up to where the ridge should go.  I then connected that to the box, removed the guidelines, copied the gable to the other side, and cleaned up.  The next step would be to divide it into tiles, texture it, and so on.  (Please note: when I drew this, I was not thinking about tiling.  If it were intended to be tiled, I would have used much cleaner dimensions.)

-You may want to consider removing the black lines at the base of the barbershop and around the door.  They detract from the image a bit.  The ground line could be easily removed or even just replaced with the interior detail color from that face of the building.

-The buildings seem like they're floating.  I don't know how you're doing on tile count, but you may want to consider adding shadow tiles.  They might help in holding the buildings down.

Overall, this is a pretty nice tileset.  You've done a very good job at getting a lot of details into 40 tiles, which is commendable.  Good luck in the contest!

[Huge]

Hi,
Yes, you are right.  As it is, the barbar shop has a flat roof at the front and slopes down at the back.
I might just go for the square look (running out of tiles).  My intention was to allow different scales in the foreground and the background - perhaps not possible with 45 degree lines/limited tileset.
Shadows would be nice too - i'll see if I can squeze them in.

[Huge]

Ok, I tried to add some shadows - not too sure about colour.  I think I have fixed the perspective on the shop at the front, and I also toyed with the building at the back to put it more in style with the sample image (not sure if it's better).

[.TakaM]

you didnt really fix the roof at all.. you just made the building really thin..
also I dont like how the buildings further to the back are smaller, sure its logical. but not for an oblique perspective game.
and if it comes up, yes i know my buildings were smaller in the background, but that was because they were actually in the background, and not on the playing field.

anyways, yeah, it doesnt look too bad other than whats already been said

[robalan]

The barbershop looks better, but it would help define the perspective of the roof if the texture of the roof followed its perspective.  Right now, the roof texture is implying a 45 degree angle, the same as the primary perspective.  This is not the angle the roof is on.  Also, I like the shadows, but they are going the wrong way.  Your shading on stuff implys light coming from top-right-close to viewer, but the shadows imply light coming from top-right-far from viewer.  In other words, the shadows should be behind the buildings, going up and to the left.  Another thing that I failed to comment on last time: the color of the building in the back is a bit bright; you may want to tone it down a bit.  Nice job overall!

[Huge]

Thanks a lot for all the comments.  The shadows should be going up - and left, but then I would not have been able to draw them on the top left building.  I can't slip anything by you guys, can I 
I guess the perspective/isometric option is also not so great either, and I can't really picture a pair of ninjas fighting in front of this, even if they were purple.
So I might just stick a fork in this one, but I must say it was a lot of fun actually posting something and getting quality comments.  I'll see if I can get something better going.