Color Lines vs. Black Lines

Use this forum to help develop your game-making skills, and get feedback on writing, art, music, or anything else you've created that isn't attached to a game in progress.
Locked
Message
Author
NeryNight
Regular
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 12:57 am
Projects: Love Struck (GxB)
Location: A small apartment, in a small city, somewhere in the planet.
Contact:

Color Lines vs. Black Lines

#1 Post by NeryNight »

Hey guys! :)
I really want to know your opinion on an art dilemma. I am currently working on the sprites for my GxB game "Love Struck."
Last night I finish coloring Seiya's sprite, but I would like to know what you think about it. I did it in two different ways. The first picture is outline with black and the other is outlines with the respective colors.
Which one do you think looks the best?
I still need to work a little more with it, but I need to decide which one to use as a base. Help me with your comments please!
Attachments
Seiya 1.png
Seiya 2.png

User avatar
Camille
Eileen-Class Veteran
Posts: 1227
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2011 2:43 pm
Completed: Please see http://trash.moe
Projects: the head well lost
Organization: L3
Tumblr: narihira
Deviantart: crownwaltz
itch: lore
Contact:

Re: Color Lines vs. Black Lines

#2 Post by Camille »

In general, I prefer colored lineart, but I think the colors you're using for the outlines are a little too light for perfection.

User avatar
Aleema
Lemma-Class Veteran
Posts: 2677
Joined: Fri May 23, 2008 2:11 pm
Organization: happyB
Tumblr: happybackwards
Contact:

Re: Color Lines vs. Black Lines

#3 Post by Aleema »

I'm a weirdo that likes black lines, but more people generally prefer colored lines. Makes it look more like professional art or something? But I agree that if you darken the colors on the lines, the above sprite would be fine. (I dunno, the skin lines seem okay, but the hair, for instance, jumps out as not dark enough).

NeryNight
Regular
Posts: 43
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 12:57 am
Projects: Love Struck (GxB)
Location: A small apartment, in a small city, somewhere in the planet.
Contact:

Re: Color Lines vs. Black Lines

#4 Post by NeryNight »

Thank you for the tips. It really helped!
I'll go back to work on it. :D

Fawn
Moe Imouto
Posts: 911
Joined: Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:38 pm
Contact:

Re: Color Lines vs. Black Lines

#5 Post by Fawn »

Colored lines usually look the most natural and can help make the picture look more 3D, But, make sure they're not too light. Yours should be a little darker for better line emphasis. Also, it's best not to color the lines before shading- You should make sure the fit the shading colors too, not just the fill colors :)

0ion9
Regular
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:17 am
Contact:

Re: Color Lines vs. Black Lines

#6 Post by 0ion9 »

Just brought these up in GIMP and fooled around. IMO this looks most professional:
The 'colored' image with 33% opacity atop the 'black' image

(Incidentally, my layer opacity slider has left the GIMP room. Bizarre. (So I had to use a hack with layer masks to get that 33% opacity.))

Shading the lines themselves according to their relation to the lightsource also helps greatly with making the image pop. It doesn't need a lot of shades -- 2, 3? to make a big difference in the readability of the image.
Attachments
black+ (color@33% opacity)
black+ (color@33% opacity)
Seiya 1+2.png (147.53 KiB) Viewed 1775 times

lordcloudx
Eileen-Class Veteran
Posts: 1406
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2006 12:47 pm
Completed: http://rd2k2-games.blogspot.com

Re: Color Lines vs. Black Lines

#7 Post by lordcloudx »

Hmm... a little suggestion (and please try to respect this, fellow artists. No need to attempt to demean my suggestion in order to prove that yours is the most correct... ahem... moving on)

Try going with the black outlines and then adding in at least a 1 pixel outline to the outer edges of the sprite to make it stand out a bit more? The downside of course is that it will instead serve to make it look more cartoony and cel-shaded, but the sprite itself might mesh better aesthetically with the background that way.
How do you make your games? I see. Thank you for the prompt replies, but it is my considered opinion that you're doing it wrong inefficiently because I am a perfushenal professional. Do it my way this way and we can all ascend VN Nirvana together while allowing me to stroke my ego you will improve much faster. Also, please don't forget to thank me for this constructive critique or I will cry and bore you to death respond appropriately with a tl;dr rant discourse of epic adequately lengthy proportions. - Sarcasm Veiled in Euphemism: Secrets of Forum Civility by lordcloudx (Coming soon to an online ebook near you.)

User avatar
15385bic
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 771
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:39 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Color Lines vs. Black Lines

#8 Post by 15385bic »

i have that same dilemma sometimes - i still cant decide which is better but black lines are just plain easier so i often stick to that due to sheer lazyness XD

Locked

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users