Lemma Soft Forums

Posted: **Sat Dec 01, 2018 10:51 pm**

Hello, all. I've been working on my commercial game and finished some character art. I placed them onto some background art that I've already bought, and thought "Oh crap, it kind of clashes." I was expecting them to go together better. While the difference in art style somewhat bothers me, some of the friends I asked for feedback said that they didn't mind too much. I'm curious what you all have to say. Is it a tolerable clash, or do you suggest I buy completely new art? (I've tried for hours to look for a character art style that matches the style of background art I have, but it's pretty distinct, and not a lot of art styles go with it unfortunately.)

I'd appreciate it if you could take a quick look at some of these screenshots taken from my game. Please be as honest as you can, and thanks for your time!

Posted: **Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:20 pm**

I dont like the middle one, the camera angle/perspective seems odd for the character art, like the camera is looking down but the character is in typical perspective. Also, I don’t like the rendition of the clothes hamging on the wall, it is too painterly and not defined enough compared to the others.

Also, the character seems too small or low in the bottom image. Again, the perspective doesnt seem to fit the character art. There are some posts here on horizon lines and perspective for character art and backgrounds. Personally, these things havent affected me for awhile as I draw all my art and my recent games use a very flat style.

I’m sure most people playing probably wont care too much, though.

Posted: **Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:30 pm**

ComputerArt.Club wrote: ↑Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:20 pm I dont like the middle one, the camera angle/perspective seems odd for the character art, like the camera is looking down but the character is in typical perspective. Also, I don’t like the rendition of the clothes hamging on the wall, it is too painterly and not defined enough compared to the others.

Also, the character seems too small or low in the bottom image.

I’m sure most people playing probably wont care too much, though.

Thank you for your feedback! I also think the one with the hanging clothes is pretty bad, too. Unfortunately, the main character will have to spend a lot of time there in the early game

. I might try to ask for a redo on that particular background. As for the character being too low, that is intentional. I was playing around with the character sprites, but I appreciate the note anyway.

Also, I added another screenshot for everyone to give feedback on.

Posted: **Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:38 pm**

Honestly, I think it's fine. The only thing that annoys me is the way the characters are too low on the screen.

Posted: **Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:45 pm**

AstralWire wrote: ↑Sat Dec 01, 2018 11:38 pm Honestly, I think it's fine. The only thing that annoys me is the way the characters are too low on the screen.

Thanks for your feedback! I've been playing around with the sizes and positioning of the character sprites, and I haven't found the sweet spot yet. Now that I look at it, though, the sprites could be bigger. I'll try playing around with them some more.

Posted: **Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:33 am**

Unfortunately, they do clash. It's not terrible - but it is kind of distracting. From the style of your sprites and their flat shading, plus color drop shadow outlines - not to mention your text box design, it seems you are wanting to go for a more stylized clean style. The painted backgrounds are at odds with that. Getting rid of the colored drop shadow around the character sprites would help them blend a little bit better with the painterly backgrounds.

The perspective and style of the middle image (with the hanging clothes that dominate the viewer's attention) reminds me of Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles. That's probably not a good thing in this case, though.

And I agree with everyone else that the character sprites are too low - at least in the third image - the problem is more likely that they are too small. Generally you want the top of the screen to be just a little above the head of the tallest character in a scene. You want the player to feel like they are up close to the characters, participating in the conversation - not eavesdropping from across the room.

Posted: **Sun Dec 02, 2018 6:12 am**

Eirrir~hihi! *me waves* I second the shading. I also think bringing in the color pallets closer to the bg (specially in the shading) will help (she really looks good in the warmer bgs too). Im glad the project wasn't dropped the demo was super interesting

Posted: **Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:49 pm**

LateWhiteRabbit wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:33 am Unfortunately, they do clash. It's not terrible - but it is kind of distracting. From the style of your sprites and their flat shading, plus color drop shadow outlines - not to mention your text box design, it seems you are wanting to go for a more stylized clean style. The painted backgrounds are at odds with that. Getting rid of the colored drop shadow around the character sprites would help them blend a little bit better with the painterly backgrounds.

The perspective and style of the middle image (with the hanging clothes that dominate the viewer's attention) reminds me of Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles. That's probably not a good thing in this case, though.

And I agree with everyone else that the character sprites are too low - at least in the third image - the problem is more likely that they are too small. Generally you want the top of the screen to be just a little above the head of the tallest character in a scene. You want the player to feel like they are up close to the characters, participating in the conversation - not eavesdropping from across the room.

Thank you for your feedback! I was told by a friend that the color drop shadow helped to bridge the gap between the two art styles. Here's how it looks like without the shadow. From my untrained eye, I can't tell if it's better or worse. Still, I can tell that some part of the art direction of my game needs to change, so I guess I have a lot to think about.

Posted: **Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:54 pm**

D-Feith wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 6:12 am Eirrir~hihi! *me waves* I second the shading. I also think bringing in the color pallets closer to the bg (specially in the shading) will help (she really looks good in the warmer bgs too). Im glad the project wasn't dropped the demo was super interesting

Oh, Sei is that you?! It's good to hear from you again. Thanks for your kind words. I've been on a bit of a hiatus because of school, but I'm back to working on the game. I'll try to take your advice and play around with the shading, make the shadows a bit darker, and see how it goes. Best wishes!

Posted: **Mon Dec 03, 2018 2:13 am**

I feel ya I had a haitus too glad your back <3

Eirrir wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:54 pm
D-Feith wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 6:12 am Eirrir~hihi! *me waves* I second the shading. I also think bringing in the color pallets closer to the bg (specially in the shading) will help (she really looks good in the warmer bgs too). Im glad the project wasn't dropped the demo was super interesting
Oh, Sei is that you?! It's good to hear from you again. Thanks for your kind words. I've been on a bit of a hiatus because of school, but I'm back to working on the game. I'll try to take your advice and play around with the shading, make the shadows a bit darker, and see how it goes. Best wishes!

Posted: **Tue Jan 08, 2019 4:55 pm**

They clash yeah, but like others said it's not the worst thing in the world!

For me personally, I like to stray away from heavily influenced anime art styles in general, and these characters fit under there.
I love the style of the background art, it's gorgeous, and I'd love to see the artwork in a style more fitting to it. Again though, heavily biased

They do seem small and too short on the screen too. At the same time though! Which style of art do you feel covers your Vn better? I think that'd be a better question to ask to help decide whether or not you'd want to order new character or background artwork.

Posted: **Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:15 pm**

To be honest I would say not at all! It looks better with these simple lines and simple shading sprites than it would look with a more photorealistic syle. To be honest, I like it very much this way!
Go for it, my friend!

Posted: **Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:19 pm**

I don't know about the clashing but I do see that the border color around the girl seems to blend into the main character a lot making it look all mixed up and murky rather than clear and bold like the guy with the green border

Posted: **Sat Jan 26, 2019 6:26 pm**

I sort of... expect the background and character art not to match? It's neat if it does but so often it doesn't. I think what you have looks pretty good.

Posted: **Tue Feb 12, 2019 9:23 pm**

Don't mind it so much. You can help with readibility though. BG's seem fighting for attention with CGs, dunno if that's on purpose.
I'd give little bit of haze/dust/light scattering in outdoor location. For small indoor locations little blur maybe ? or subglow behind characters.
Really even pushing back dark values on BGs will help. Any way You choose to do it

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