What do you think about combining digital art characters with traditional art BGs?

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YaminoOkami
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What do you think about combining digital art characters with traditional art BGs?

#1 Post by YaminoOkami »

So I am currently making a VN that has characters done in a digital art format while BGs are done traditional way and I wanted to ask people for their thoughts on how it looks. Would you buy a VN with this kind of art?

Note: Currently I am using temporary version of BGs that are only pictured with a phone, I plan to scan them eventually before releasing a VN, so they will be of higher quality in a final version.

https://image.ibb.co/jU62AJ/4.jpg

https://image.ibb.co/j52CQJ/2.jpg

https://image.ibb.co/i6cOXy/1.jpg

https://image.ibb.co/dVEFed/3.jpg

Inksword
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Re: What do you think about combining digital art characters with traditional art BGs?

#2 Post by Inksword »

I think they work okay as-is, but there's a few things I think could improve their cohesion! Right now they do clash a tiny bid, with the traditional backgrounds being more textured and rough, and the digital art being very bright and clean. I would suggest two things. The first, is to reduce the saturation on the colors for the digital art. Because you're working with light with digital art, it can create extremely bright, extremely pure colors that just aren't possible in traditional art. It's one of the big strengths of digital art, which means it's a shame you'll have to pull back on the colors, but if you want it to blend a bit more with the background, it's a good idea to use darker duller colors.

The second thing you can do to help them blend a bit more is to add a texture to your sprites. Pick a good grunge or watercolor/paper texture and overlay it to help give them a little bit of the same roughness you'd get doing traditional art. If you're using Photoshop, here's a quick tutorial on how to do it here: https://digital-photography-school.com/ ... photoshop/ However, this tutorial really overdoes the textures for emphasis, I'd make sure whatever texture you choose is at 50% at the MOST. I usually set mine below 25% even.

Also, are you taking photos of your backgrounds or are you scanning them? You have some blurring and darkening around the edges that could be fixed with a good scan. Like I said though, they don't look awful as they are and would work fine as a first project!

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DrKittenPHD
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Re: What do you think about combining digital art characters with traditional art BGs?

#3 Post by DrKittenPHD »

I can see myself playing a game with this art.

Inksword covered any of the criticisms I would have thoroughly enough that I don't want to repeat what they said. You might want to brush up on anatomy and figure proportion. Your figures and their hair seem a bit stiff. In particular, the shoulders of your figures look unnaturally sharp and tense.

However, I will say that I appreciate the design of your BGs. The BG with the crystals is especially a cool, creative design, and I like the outfit design (the black and gold outfits from 4.jpg are striking). This creative eye will serve you well as you continue improving as an artist.

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