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The most common question I get asked about the game Faery Tale, is How did I do the graphics?

The short answer is Photoshop.
-- Every image is a multi-layered photo-manipulation that was heavily filtered multiple times to make them look like fairy tale art.

I'm a big-time art nouveau fan, as in the art of Alphonse Mucha, so that was the style I was aiming for.



While I am not about to give away every single secret to my techniques, mainly because they took months of experimentation to figure out, I am willing to reveal the basic process.

It all begins with Photoshop and quite a few Art Plug-Ins, such as:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Topaz Labs: Clean 3, Adjust 4, and Simplify3
Alien Skin Snap Art 2
Imagenomic

And yes, I used ALL of these plug-ins for each image; background and characters.

The most important part of the process, however, is the Line Art. That was done using the Color Sketch action from 10 Sketch Effects, a Photoshop actions set that is available free on Deviant Art.

How I do it:
-- In Photoshop...

Stage 1: Pick a good image.




Stage 2: Photo-manipulate the image to suit your needs, then duplicate the finished image so that you have two layers.




Stage 3: Make the lines on one layer.




Stage 4: Clean and Darken the lines, then Art Filter them to make them look more like a sketch.



Stage 5: Art Filter the untouched layer to make it look like a painting or drawing, or both.




Stage 6: Put the Lines layer on top of the Art layer. Set the Lines to Multiply, then Merge the layers.




Stage 7: Soft Light artistic textures over top of the whole thing to make the image look even more like art.



All done! Click HERE to see full-sized image.


The Secret to Clean Character PNGs.
-- One of the most common problems with using an image that was originally a photo for something like a character or free-floating object, is that damned White Outline that tends to show up no matter how closely you clean it.

I got around that issue by first cleaning each image at 300 magnification, and using the Eraser tool -- NOT the Outline tool then hitting Clear. Yes, it's a pain because it takes a while to do, but it's the cleanest you will get it, and you won't get a ragged, pixelated edge.



Photo-manipulate as needed...

Next you add Inner Glow set to a Dark Color. I like to use a dark red or brown on character images because it blends well against skin tones.





The Dark Inner Glow effectively erases any white that might have snuck in despite your cleaning efforts.



THEN art filter your PNGs to your heart's content. Just be aware that many art filters will ADD a white outline that will need to be cleaned off again.

Once you have finished Art Filtering your images, add inner glow AGAIN, only set to Black this time.



And there you have it, characters that actually blend in with their backgrounds.

Enjoy!

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Ookami Kasumi ~ Purveyor of fine Smut.
Erotic Visions ~ Visual Novels

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"No amount of great animation will save a bad story." -- John Lasseter of Pixar

I have been a big fan of your photo manipulations, so it's great to see the process. Thank you very much for sharing!

<_< >_> *steals trade secrets and runs away*

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The other 1/2 of Cyanide Tea l My Deviantart Account I My Tumber Account I Break Chance Memento I Ristorante Amore

I'm glad you liked it! (I hope I don't regret it.)
-- Even though this is a bare bones tutorial, I don't go into what art filters I use where, it might at least provide some ideas to those using photos for backgrounds. It's not a perfect solution by any means, but this style would work with drawn characters a little better than some filtering techniques I've seen.

_________________
Ookami Kasumi ~ Purveyor of fine Smut.
Erotic Visions ~ Visual Novels

• What kind of Fiction should YOU Write? [Quiz Game] ~ PG
• The Erotic Story Generator ~ R-18
• The Visitor ~ Classic Horror/Vampire ~ PG-13

"No amount of great animation will save a bad story." -- John Lasseter of Pixar

Haha XD
But it is very interesting to see what can be done with filters. I might have to give this a go and see what I can get when I mix with my usual techniques. I like the control my usual backgrounds give me but my god they are time consuming. Nanoreno might give me a good opportunity to try it out. It's good for people to experiment anyway, spoon feeding won't help them learn how to figure out what to do to make things work. Thanks again.

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The other 1/2 of Cyanide Tea l My Deviantart Account I My Tumber Account I Break Chance Memento I Ristorante Amore

I would love to see what you come up with! I may be clever with Photoshop, but you're 10 times the artist I am. I couldn't even begin to make backgrounds the way you do. Forget about characters.


Agreed! Personally, I'm very interested to see what people do with this.

_________________
Ookami Kasumi ~ Purveyor of fine Smut.
Erotic Visions ~ Visual Novels

• What kind of Fiction should YOU Write? [Quiz Game] ~ PG
• The Erotic Story Generator ~ R-18
• The Visitor ~ Classic Horror/Vampire ~ PG-13

"No amount of great animation will save a bad story." -- John Lasseter of Pixar

WOW - that photo is beautiful....and getting to stage 5/6 OoO!
this looks cool

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When I first saw it it blew my mind away. It's a Hunting Lodge, would you believe? It's called Amalienburg. It's a small building set in the woods of Schloss Nymphenburg, in Bavaria, made in the Rococco style.


The transformation is a bit dramatic. I'm glad you like the effect!

_________________
Ookami Kasumi ~ Purveyor of fine Smut.
Erotic Visions ~ Visual Novels

• What kind of Fiction should YOU Write? [Quiz Game] ~ PG
• The Erotic Story Generator ~ R-18
• The Visitor ~ Classic Horror/Vampire ~ PG-13

"No amount of great animation will save a bad story." -- John Lasseter of Pixar

Wow, I like the effect of the background pic. Definitely bookmarking this just in case.

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Very pretty style to be honest though I really like the background at stage 5 the best; without the lines. The lines are a bit much for a background imo. I think if you just added the final step (lights) to stage 5 it would look perfect.

Good idea with the outline effect on characters! It's funny how unnoticeable it is when you don't think about it, but without the outline the character doesn't fit in as well. Lovely!

Bookmark away! If you do decide to try it, I'd be very interested in seeing your results.


Thank you!


Doing it as you suggested results in this.


View Full Size

Your mileage may vary, but I don't like the lack of detail.

However, setting the lines to 35% Opacity brings those details back without overpowering the art layer.


View Full Size

I really like this effect. In fact, I may have to do it this way from now on...!


Thank you! Truthfully, I was merely looking for a way to get rid of that white outline that seems to always show up when you put them in Renpy. It's one of my happier accidents.

_________________
Ookami Kasumi ~ Purveyor of fine Smut.
Erotic Visions ~ Visual Novels

• What kind of Fiction should YOU Write? [Quiz Game] ~ PG
• The Erotic Story Generator ~ R-18
• The Visitor ~ Classic Horror/Vampire ~ PG-13

"No amount of great animation will save a bad story." -- John Lasseter of Pixar

Thank you OokamiKasumi, I love you <3

I took some pieces from what you explained and it worked brilliantly! I think it shaved 8-10 hours off my work time. Thank you!

Here is what I did. There is a fair bit of painting involved but I experimented with the filters as well to see what I could do about laying done base colours. It's a much more efficient way of getting things done, I must say.



Also, hunting lodge? HUNTING LODGE!? O.o That's one fancy hunting lodge.

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The other 1/2 of Cyanide Tea l My Deviantart Account I My Tumber Account I Break Chance Memento I Ristorante Amore

OokamiKasumi
;_________________________;
How could you?
I tried out filters on photos and now I'm really tempted to just throw some photos together, merge them into one and the filter them instead of drawing. Dx
(And here I told myself that I'll definitely draw the BGs for practice.)
But with the BGs look ideal - my ideal "drawing style" in just a few clicks.
(Gotta resist this sweet temptation... I'd have the BGs finished in a few days...)

Nah, but really - thank you for this. =)
I'll pay more attention to filters from now on~ =w=
(I was also very impressed - never thought you could make a photo look so painted.)

Auro-Cyanide
Great result! *___*
When I first saw it in the game thread I thought it was a photo - you know, in the painted way.
(How do I clarify it? I was sure you painted accurately enough to look like a photo, not that it was a photo that was edited.)
Painting on it was a great idea too - it looks really natural. =)

- R.

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Newest Update: "Interface preview + WIPs" (13. 9. 2012)

OMG... Yes it did! That's gorgeous, AND it goes well with your characters.


You were taking That Long to make a background?! Holy crap...


Gorgeous!
-- I knew the instant I spat out how I did it, someone would run off and do it 10 times better than me. ~sigh...


No lie on the efficiency, especially if you have a lot of background images. Photo-doctoring is still something of a time-consuming stage, (NO photo is exactly right,) but if you set up an Action, the filtering process is done in SECONDS!

The hardest part is finding images with the correct angle of Perspective. I can fix it when the the top of the image bows out or in, but too many people take pictures from a Standing position and look DOWN on their subject. This screws up the perspective every time. Unless the character is 7 feet tall, they will NOT look right against such an image.


Yep, a hunting lodge, owned by a Queen of Bavaria, and parked on the corner of the palace grounds. You should see some of the others!


Simple: I am an EVIL influence and I LOVE tempting people to the Dark Side.


Which is Exactly how "I" do it! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa....!


Okay, so I'm good with Photoshop.
-- My specialty is writing, not art, and I am Not Alone. I don't know about the other non-artists, but I for one have no interest in giving up on game-making, or settling for a crappy-looking game simply because I can't draw. Or worse; pay someone to make backgrounds and characters for a 30 minute game I may not ever complete.

My work will never look like something from an anime, but that's okay because I doubt I will ever write a story that will need those sorts of characters.


No, you don't. The backgrounds of many commercial games here in the US are Photo-manipulated together then Art-Filtered. Check out Gardens of Time, an online hidden object game owned by Playdom. Almost all of that game's Hidden Object backgrounds are photos pasted on a SketchUp or Daz backdrop then art-filtered.

So no, Don't Resist. Really.


You're welcome.


Do that. It'll save you time and grief in the long run, especially if you plan to make more then One game.



There are some amazing (read: expensive) programs out there that do incredible things.

_________________
Ookami Kasumi ~ Purveyor of fine Smut.
Erotic Visions ~ Visual Novels

• What kind of Fiction should YOU Write? [Quiz Game] ~ PG
• The Erotic Story Generator ~ R-18
• The Visitor ~ Classic Horror/Vampire ~ PG-13

"No amount of great animation will save a bad story." -- John Lasseter of Pixar

Yeah, backgrounds to tak a while -.-; That's why I'm very happy to find a quicker way. I'll outline my process too when I have some time after NaNoRenO since that's only fair I still haven't figured out how you did yours though and they have such a beautiful style about them!

Pfft, I want a hunting lodge like that o.o

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The other 1/2 of Cyanide Tea l My Deviantart Account I My Tumber Account I Break Chance Memento I Ristorante Amore

I didn't give you all of mine, so only a sketch of your process is fine for me.


It's the specific art plug-ins I use, seriously. TOPAZ <-- There's your clue.


Me too. ~! *whine*

_________________
Ookami Kasumi ~ Purveyor of fine Smut.
Erotic Visions ~ Visual Novels

• What kind of Fiction should YOU Write? [Quiz Game] ~ PG
• The Erotic Story Generator ~ R-18
• The Visitor ~ Classic Horror/Vampire ~ PG-13

"No amount of great animation will save a bad story." -- John Lasseter of Pixar