Crescent Moon: The Truth of Feelings

[grim_reaper]

In the end of the world, a girl is kidnapped for her power which she doesn't know by herself. In the meantime, she finds something strange with her feeling when she meets her kidnapper. Will she know the truth of her feeling?

Yes! Finally! My first (published) Kinetic Novel was finished. But anyway... this is not much of MY project, cuz I got the story from my friend, who's a fanfic writer, so that will explain about the characters' names and places.
Soo... The background arts are very poor, that's my fault, I can't make something better with Paint (blame it to my school which don't teach their students to learn Photoshop or others, while I'm too lazy to learn by myself. )
Well, with no Character Art, I was forced to make it in NVL mode, but that doesn't matter for me, at least I learnt something new (I'm not programmer, so this thing is new for me).
This is version 0.8, and the main reason about the version number is that this Novel needs much more development, especially in BG Art and Character Art. If you can help me, please tell me, I'll appreciate that much!

http://www.4shared.com/file/116721093/f ... _08-R.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/116721561/9 ... 86tar.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/116722282/8 ... R-mac.html

***
v1.0
I know it has been more than a year...too late. But I made the newer version, which has better Backgrounds (using photos, not Paint, of course.). So, if you care enough, get it below
Windows
Linux
Mac

[azureXtwilight]

Soo... The background arts are very poor, that's my fault, I can't make something better with Paint (blame it to my school which don't teach their students to learn Photoshop or others, while I'm too lazy to learn by myself. )

LoL, the same goes with my school. I'm currently downloading. I'll tell you my opinion later on XD

[KimiYoriBaka]

The backgrounds are pretty creative, but the quality is well beyond what can be blamed on not having photoshop. It looks like you only used the default 16 colors. What you need to do is go up to the colors menu and click "edit colors." Then a window will pop will up that shows about twice as many, plus a button that says "Define custom colors." If you click on that you'll get the same type of color scale that photoshop uses. The difference is just that you have to use them manually, rather than using all the fancy tools to simplify things. If you look at the two pics I posted on the art dump thread, you can see two examples of coloring in paint.

I think, specifically, the two things that would have improved your backgrounds is some spamming of luminosity (which you can change by number in the colors editor) and a bit more work on getting the perspective to seem natural. They all seemed a bit awkward. If you have any access to a scanner or tablet, those would very much help.

[Vatina]

Also, if you know how to use paint, what stops you from using something like photoshop/gimp? You don't have to use all the fancy extras

[grim_reaper]

LoL, the same goes with my school. I'm currently downloading. I'll tell you my opinion later on XD

As far as I know, Indonesian IT Education System (College excluded) only covers Ms. Office, Pascal, and HTML...

The backgrounds are pretty creative, but the quality is well beyond what can be blamed on not having photoshop. It looks like you only used the default 16 colors. What you need to do is go up to the colors menu and click "edit colors." Then a window will pop will up that shows about twice as many, plus a button that says "Define custom colors." If you click on that you'll get the same type of color scale that photoshop uses. The difference is just that you have to use them manually, rather than using all the fancy tools to simplify things. If you look at the two pics I posted on the art dump thread, you can see two examples of coloring in paint.

I've tried to use those custom colors, but I just used some darker colors, not a transition ones. Wait, I've seen your pic on the art dump, about that little girl. Was that drawn by hand?

I think, specifically, the two things that would have improved your backgrounds is some spamming of luminosity (which you can change by number in the colors editor) and a bit more work on getting the perspective to seem natural. They all seemed a bit awkward. If you have any access to a scanner or tablet, those would very much help.

Alright, so, color and perspective, right? Wait...how to make it more 'natural'?
Uhmm...that's the massive trouble. All I've got is a standard 3-year-old computer with no Internet connection.

Also, if you know how to use paint, what stops you from using something like photoshop/gimp? You don't have to use all the fancy extras.

Right, I'm going to try that. Any tips on using photoshop or gimp to make a better picture?

[KimiYoriBaka]

I've tried to use those custom colors, but I just used some darker colors, not a transition ones. Wait, I've seen your pic on the art dump, about that little girl. Was that drawn by hand?

yes. If you look closely, you'll see the imperfection in the buildings due to my lack of skill in drawing straight lines. However, I only drew the black lines. The shading was done while coloring it in paint.

I've tried to use those custom colors, but I just used some darker colors, not a transition ones.

I'm not sure what you mean by transition colors, but it sounds like when you drew the background you only thought to use one color per object. That is a good way to start, but you need to then adjust the parts that either curve or bend. It's not just transitions, but also different surfaces usually have completely different shades. For example, in your pic of the room the main character stays in while at the witch's place, assuming the light is coming from the ceiling the floor should be the brightest surface, then the wall across from the window if the moon is out, then the back wall, then the wall with the window, then the ceiling. Of course these differences don't all need to be shown, but making every surface of the room the same shade causes it to feel like a scene from an old sega rpg.

oh, and my other pic on the art dump (two pages before the one you mentioned) is actually a much better example. I did do both manually, though, so if you try that method it will take much longer than gimp/photoshop. To give you good idea how much, the girl I drew with braided hair has 10 shades in her hair and 9 shades on her skin.

Wait...how to make it more 'natural'?
Uhmm...that's the massive trouble.

try drawing the room your computer is in using the line tool. Especially pay attention to any pictures or windows you see and try to make sure you get them exactly the right size. Real life experience really helps.

Any tips on using photoshop or gimp to make a better picture?

there's a tutorial in the art dump for coloring characters on photoshop. You could try experimenting with that to see how it can be used for your own purposes.

[grim_reaper]

yes. If you look closely, you'll see the imperfection in the buildings due to my lack of skill in drawing straight lines. However, I only drew the black lines. The shading was done while coloring it in paint.

Well...Actually that 'imperfection' makes it perfect...

I'm not sure what you mean by transition colors, but it sounds like when you drew the background you only thought to use one color per object. That is a good way to start, but you need to then adjust the parts that either curve or bend. It's not just transitions, but also different surfaces usually have completely different shades. For example, in your pic of the room the main character stays in while at the witch's place, assuming the light is coming from the ceiling the floor should be the brightest surface, then the wall across from the window if the moon is out, then the back wall, then the wall with the window, then the ceiling. Of course these differences don't all need to be shown, but making every surface of the room the same shade causes it to feel like a scene from an old sega rpg.

oh, and my other pic on the art dump (two pages before the one you mentioned) is actually a much better example. I did do both manually, though, so if you try that method it will take much longer than gimp/photoshop. To give you good idea how much, the girl I drew with braided hair has 10 shades in her hair and 9 shades on her skin.

Man...that sounds hard...
Well... I'm trying to fix some pictures...

If you see it carefully, the colours of the wall are different right? I made it a bit rough, actually. Using Paint to change several colors, then using some filters from Gimp, to lose some lines in the wall, which I used to make the different colours. Instead, I lose some other lines.
Then I tried on other pictures...

In this pic I used almost the same method with the first one, nut here I also used 'Wind' filter from Gimp.

try drawing the room your computer is in using the line tool. Especially pay attention to any pictures or windows you see and try to make sure you get them exactly the right size. Real life experience really helps.

Hmm...sounds interesting. Gotta try!