Respectful Shout out to you Graphic Designers.
Ive learned pretty quick that you cant just throw some stuff together and go "woolllaaa". Im learning that there is more to graphic designing that what meets the eye. Well maybe "Meets the eye" isnt the best phrase to use. Because that is what it is about. "What meets the EYE"
I was wondering if some of you GS users who are graphic designers could join together in a thread relating to graphics. And discuss on things like color schemes color choices. examples of different types of art. Example: What is Art Deco? When to use borders around your objects. When and when not to use gradient... etc etc. Just a few pointers from time to time. Maybe pic out some previous submitted art work and talk about what you would have done. I bring this us because I just h ad my artwork critiqued by some users and I already learned a lil just from that.
Now if a thread like this already exists please drop me the link.
A Graphic Designers "Rules of the Road".. " How to proceed" type thread.
I was wondering if some of you GS users who are graphic designers could join together in a thread relating to graphics. And discuss on things like color schemes color choices. examples of different types of art. Example: What is Art Deco? When to use borders around your objects. When and when not to use gradient... etc etc. Just a few pointers from time to time. Maybe pic out some previous submitted art work and talk about what you would have done. I bring this us because I just h ad my artwork critiqued by some users and I already learned a lil just from that.
Now if a thread like this already exists please drop me the link.
A Graphic Designers "Rules of the Road".. " How to proceed" type thread.
Comments
I would also be very interest to read more about common practice and general rules of thumb. Knowing WHY something I did looks good or doesn't look good might be a nice change from just knowing it does or doesn't look good.
(My degree was in graphic design, but then I went into animation (and then into music))
Im actually in the works making a Ipad version of my ABCs Mix and Match
Kinda like watching my wife use google, she just doesn't know how to ask the right questions.
I'm not asking for anything free here because I'm more than capable of producing good art, but I think @Jeffnichols' idea could be useful for the many young and ambitious GS users who would like to improve their art skills and understanding.
Art is so subjective it usually requires an intuitive eye or a more detailed explanation as to why something is or isn't working. Sometimes both. Where as programming is more logical and easier to say why something isn't working.
Maybe lessons on color palettes, composition, art themes, typography.
I'm sure they exists for free somewhere around the internet too. I'll try and find some good resources to post.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ArtistechBooks/videos
I think it needs to be a bit cleaner. Maybe only outlines on the outer edges and let the colors themselves separate the inner details.
Lol !
I am going to have to be brutally honest again (which I think is of infinite more value that a queue of people saying 'awesome man!').
The bear illustration is uninspiring, the colours are muted, the palette is muddy and the bear is flat and characterless, the lines don't always meet their targets, the miter limit is set wrong on line ends/joins, the feet pads are inconsistent . . . etc
Sorry ! Don't kill me for my honesty, lol
Have a look at the bear on the left, I don't actually like it (the nose looks a little weird to me), but can you see how - in compassion to yours - it has depth and character ?
Ends? Joints? Miter Limit?
See now we are talking about things that would be perfect for the Graphic Designer Thread.
Although, he does work quite well as an unsuspecting serial killer bear. I mean, just look at him. He could suddenly pull out a switch blade and no one would be the wiser with that expressionless face. Kinda like that weird guy that stares at you when ridding on the train or bus. :P
It's doesn't matter what software you're using, you can do all this stuff in any software, vector based, raster based, pen-and-pencil-and-a-piece-of-paper-and-a-scanner based.
The reason the two paw pads are not lined up is not because you don't have Illustrator, nor is the choice of colour palette or the dead stare of of the bear's eyes. 8-X
The way I work is as follows:
-Work the way you work best. I start with pen and paper. I hate pencils and it's tough for me to get an idea to come out right if I can't use my hands natively to draw it. I start on paper and pick out elements that don't look right. I try again.
-After multiple drawings and having improved on every bit I don't like I'm usually left with something I do like. Not always anything like the first drawing but always better.
-I import the drawing into the program I prefer (flash) and begin to trace my paper drawing. This way I know what it should look like and adjust my lines and curves accordingly.
-I sometimes have to start over a couple times to get it just right.
An example of "it's not the tool but how you use it" is I mainly rely on 3 tools in flash; they are as follows:
-Line
-Brush
-Fill
The only reason I shell out my monthly fee for Flash is that when it's time to animate I'm already familiar with Flash even though I'm sure there are better animation tools on the market.
If you've got an iPad you should try 'Paper', I use it for doodling and sketching everything - the tools are insanely simple, they really limit you, no masking or layers or . . . . anything, just some paper and a few pens, great for scribbling.
The main page is all me. The Fish is my wifes work. She did all the subject material. Fish, Boat, Violin etc etc. I did UI.
http://handstylus.com/about.html
I think you should jettison all these provisos, nor make this a personal thing (by that I mean don't factor yourself into how you see the work) - see the work as disembodied, nothing to do with you, make it stand on it's own merits, leave all the . . . 'I have no money' or 'I am only 12' or 'this is just a puzzle' or 'I am not a designer' or 'I haven't got Illustrator' (etc etc) . . excuses aside - as I've said elsewhere your audience, your customers won't be factoring these things in, as valid as they may be, they either think something is good or bad on it's own merits.
One key to good design is a ruthless attention to detail, that something is a puzzle shouldn't effect the quality your lines, and even if it did a good designer would sweat over and find a way to make the lines join up and round off nicely at the ends.
Would you believe me if I were to tell you I spent 2 weeks just on the anti-aliasing quality of a green cube ? Not the cube itself, nor the colour or shading, but just the quality of the edges ? Ok, fair enough, but you are in a market where there are people who will find a way to implement a similar system and make the bear look 3D, and those people will be usurped by the people who are prepared to sweat over the details and make the bear 3D and animated, moving around as you drag the pieces over - and those people will be usurped by some guy somewhere who actually has a 3D singing and dancing bear . . . etc etc. You are going the right way, asking for feedback, starting this thread, keep going, you might be very surprised when you look back on your artwork in 6/12/18 months and see how much your graphics have moved on. Let me show you where (from your customer's point of view) "Hey, but it was free !" should go when it comes to judging graphics:
"Sure it's not great, but I've got no money to hire a pro"
"Sure it's not great, but I'm only 12"
"Sure it's not great, but this is a puzzle"
"Sure it's not great, but I am not a designer"
"Sure it's not great, but I wasn't feeling well when I drew it"
"Sure it's not great, but it was free !" ←←← right here
"Sure it's not great, but I haven't got Illustrator"
Your audience won't know the art was free.
Like you say, you are not a million miles off, you just need to work at it, refine your ideas. The fact that you are alive to your shortcomings puts you way ahead of those developers who solider on without ever questioning whether some part of their project could be better.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL
http://www.youtube.com/user/sinixdesign
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/
These are for guys that already have a grasp on the fundamentals, but for those who don't, get some Andrew Loomis books, and go to life drawing sessions as often as possible. You gotta learn to draw from reality, and then you will be able to make your fantastical creations better for it.
Myself and another artist that works with me have begun a weekly challenge to tackle the fundamentals in a systematic manner as a way to cement our knowledge and sharpen our skills. We call it the Go Big or Go Home challenge, and it's being held at www.penciljack.com forums at the moment, but I'm thinking to expand it and perhaps create a FB page. Our first challenge was on classical composition techniques, and the next one will be on perspective. If anyone is interested then PM me and I'll update you on the details as we prepare the next challenge.
It was an entire separate forum that dealt with design only. They had some tools (apps) that helped with color palate and placement of objects within a scene.
I'll see if I can find it in my history and pull the link.
Master the principles of observation and then create your own rules. Like Picasso did
It's a mac program called ColorPalette. Drag your graphic (pic) into the program and it gives you a scheme of colors to work with. This is so you have something that is pleasing to look at and any contrasting colors will be the attention getter.
For designing the layout there are some conventions that are followed. Much like conventions for web design. I say convention because these are not hard rules. They can be broken and work.
I did a search for game layout and ran across several sites that reviewed device games. Some of the better ones explained why they thought their selection was the "best". Some came down to art, game play, or layout.
Layout and game play is going to be dependent upon your genre and view.
A top down layout will be slightly different than the same game with 1st person view because of available real estate.
What I did find was a certain convention being followed. I say convention because it doesn't seem to be a hard rule, just something generally followed.
Scores, levels, lives, health meters etc. seem to be kept in upper right or left. Occasionally, one of these is top center. It also looks like there is a general rule with the size. Based on my calculations it seems to be roughly (or larger) 88px for retina iPad and 64px for retina iPhone (nav bar sizes), but no smaller. Some games did go out to about 125px, but I didn't see any go larger than that on an iPad.
Any kind of important information seems to be kept on the left. Makes sense because most countries read top left to bottom right. A couple FPS games had information on the right side. Primarily weapon or view switch. This also makes sense because the majority of the population is right handed.
I mainly looked at handheld devices. If there was any kind of d-control it looked like all game information was kept above the center line. Which again makes sense because the players hands would be in the way. If it was touch (click) or swipe control then some less important information dropped to the below the center line.
That's what I found over the past couple of hours.
I would recommend finding some games that were successful within your genre and view (top, side, person) and find some promo video's or screen shots and look at the layout. If you have a pixel ruler you can measure for height and width of certain elements (okay, some math is involved with this step).
If possible look at reviews. Find out if any users had layout complaints or are requesting additional functionality (I call these free development tips).