Lemma Soft Forums

So, I am doing a visual novel written by me and someone else, but without counting my friend, there is no one else helping on the project. So, that means we have to do everything by ourselves, including the art, and none of us are perfect in this area.

But, I do know how to draw things using a "base". So, I decided to make the backgrounds of the VN, while my friend would do the characters sprites. I took photos of environments that are similar to how I picture the locations of the story, and made a lineart of one of them (which is supposed to be the main menu's background) in Photoshop. Later I put on some textures, added lightning, added some new things, and such.

You can see the original photo here: http://prntscr.com/kv6cpx , the lineart before adding the last few elements to it here: http://prntscr.com/kv6cwx , and the final art here: http://prntscr.com/kv6da6 , just for the sake of comparisons.

While I definitely do not see it as "bad" and actually quite "good", I still feel a little bit "disappointed" with the final art. It doesn't feel "natural" to me, and I don't know if people would find it "good" or "eye-catching". So, I want to know your opinion: Does it look good? What else can I improve in the next BGs I draw?

I should start with the disclaimer that I am not an artist, and I'm not great with art terms and all that. But, I do like the art style that you have here quite a bit.

I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "natural," but I think that not all art has to look natural; what will be important will be whether the style is coherent throughout the entire VN.

Is this a horror VN? That's the vibe that I'm getting from this.

I'm not an expert myself, but I honestly like what you have so far!
Maybe you could try putting a little space at the top of the text and align the slant with the slant of the book's page itself? And maybe increase the brightness of the picture? Then again, if it's a game with an overall dark theme, this would work.
And I agree with Zelan in the need of keeping this coherent. Just make sure to somehow maintain the same vibe with all consequent pieces of art you make.

Hey there!

The art looks great. I think it looks fine. If you plan to keep it consistent, then the yellowish green tone of the images should be coherent with other images you'll be using in the game. I also agree with modifying the brightness of the photo. It comes off as too dark so somehow it's hard to read through the text. How will you have your main menu GUI for this? Will you rearrange the buttons, or adopt the default renpy main menu screen? Because if that would be the case, then you might need to move/adjust your alignment for the photo a bit so that it does not get cut off if ever.

Good luck!