Plokman's Backgrounds and Sprite testground

[Plokman]

As it will most likely help me out I thought I'd show off some of the backgrounds I've made for myself and friends.

Custom

The L.O.D (Level of Dimension)



Was a tron inspired thing then it became a total new thing. Kudos to my friend G.B.A http://www.smackjeeves.com/profile.php?id=7660 for the name.

Ancient Electronic Shrine



I was watching a LP of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and I liked the idea behind the Logbox 720 world so I made this for my Flying Chaos comic. I have a story behind it but that be spoilers.

The Cosmic Interstate



As a fan of Archie Sonic I had to make this for Sonic Re:Gens. I of course based it off of the version shown in the Scourge storyline of Sonic Universe.

Cyberspace



A bit unused but its meant to be a non Isometric version of MMBN2's Net area. Not much to say on this on as I have yet to use it proper.

Edited

White Space Green Hill



Made for Sonic Re:Gens much of it is custom but the Green hill parts belong to Sega.

[Shade]

Hi there. I'm seeing quite a few problems with these I'm afraid.

@Ancient Electronic Shrine
The background is very jarring to the eyes, most likely because of the many bright colored stripes. The part where something would actually walk on shows absolutely no depth whatsoever either, and looks particularly flat in my opinion.

@Exodus Gems
Nothing to say other than the fact that there's not much to them.

@The Chamber of Exodus
It looks like you just placed a bunch of random blue lines and it makes it look kind of ugly and unappealing.

@The Cosmic Interstate
Once again, I believe you're having an issue with depth, looks flat again.

[Plokman]

Hi there. I'm seeing quite a few problems with these I'm afraid.

@Ancient Electronic Shrine
The background is very jarring to the eyes, most likely because of the many bright colored stripes. The part where something would actually walk on shows absolutely no depth whatsoever either, and looks particularly flat in my opinion.

@Exodus Gems
Nothing to say other than the fact that there's not much to them.

@The Chamber of Exodus
It looks like you just placed a bunch of random blue lines and it makes it look kind of ugly and unappealing.

@The Cosmic Interstate
Once again, I believe you're having an issue with depth, looks flat again.

@Ancient Electronic Shrine
Fair enough. I was kinda worried about the Depth as well. Hmm I'll try to fix that with the next floor of the Shrine.

@Exodus Gems
Honestly those are kinda tacked on. I never even gave them a real purpose for th L.O.D so Yeah.

@The Chamber of Exodus
Huh I tried to give it a pattern guess it kinda failed there. Other than that how does it look to you?

@The Cosmic Interstate
Hmm now again I was worried about that. Hmm I need to get a better grasp on perspective. My next angled background will do a better job.

[Garamonde]

I also notice you use the line tool a lot in most everything. Don't do that as it makes everything look blocky and unprofessional. You want things to have more curves so they'll look natural. One solution is to roughly sketch the basic shapes of your sprites by hand, add details and then refine the outlines. This way you shouldn't end up with anything too stiff, hopefully.
There also isn't much in the way of shading, and what little there is doesn't show any depth. Most of it's very flat. You don't shade an object just to shade, you use shading to help define the shape of the object.
You also need to learn about lightsources (which is explained in the spriters dictionary), because your gems, as well as many other parts of your backgrounds are pillowshaded and have banding. All in all it's really just a bunch of straight lines with flat shading. Black outlines also help in making it look flat, so try to get rid of the black, and instead make the lines a darker version of the base color (make it darker than the shading too).
So with that ends my observations. Hope that helps at all!

[Cobalt Blue]

you really need to drop aside the idea you can do backgrounds properly until you can actually grasp the concept of depth. on these first screens. the random gibberish you tried on them is terrible, and does nothing but take any kind of readbility it could have. the lack of shading is also a concerning issue: there is basically not a single attemp to properly shade anything. at all.

a more indepth study of what you have posted here so far tells me you literally can't draw anything that doesnt involve the line tool and a huge, striaght line followed by other geometric shapes. in fact, the only thing thats not a perfectly tool-generated geometric shape is a megaman sprite edit. wich it being an edit(and a bad one) shows again you havent even tried to work beyond the line tool in MSpaint -i'm going to guess you're using the Windows 7 one, judging by the color scheme you have here-. that, and the absurd amounts of white canvas wich is the result of using MsPaint.

in addition of what mighty said, you really should stop now on this and consider if your intention here is to improve, get feedback or simply display your talents. if your goal is any of the first two, then do as she said and read the spriting dictionary here on the site, take a look at some tutorials on the net (i'd recomend this one http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_ob...g_grid.php ) and come back when you feel you can improve the quality of your work, either in a serious attemp to improve or as a casual interest onto how you can make things look prettier.

however, if you just came here -again- just to display your super background skills and you have no plans on improving these nor take them seriusly, well, then consider them being an awful pile of shit thats not worth a single dime.

[Plokman]

you really need to drop aside the idea you can do backgrounds properly until you can actually grasp the concept of depth. on these first screens. the random gibberish you tried on them is terrible, and does nothing but take any kind of readbility it could have. the lack of shading is also a concerning issue: there is basically not a single attemp to properly shade anything. at all.

a more indepth study of what you have posted here so far tells me you literally can't draw anything that doesnt involve the line tool and a huge, striaght line followed by other geometric shapes. in fact, the only thing thats not a perfectly tool-generated geometric shape is a megaman sprite edit. wich it being an edit(and a bad one) shows again you havent even tried to work beyond the line tool in MSpaint -i'm going to guess you're using the Windows 7 one, judging by the color scheme you have here-. that, and the absurd amounts of white canvas wich is the result of using MsPaint.

in addition of what mighty said, you really should stop now on this and consider if your intention here is to improve, get feedback or simply display your talents. if your goal is any of the first two, then do as she said and read the spriting dictionary here on the site, take a look at some tutorials on the net (i'd recomend this one http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_ob...g_grid.php ) and come back when you feel you can improve the quality of your work, either in a serious attemp to improve or as a casual interest onto how you can make things look prettier.

however, if you just came here -again- just to display your super background skills and you have no plans on improving these nor take them seriusly, well, then consider them being an awful pile of shit thats not worth a single dime.

Harsh but helpful. I never said I was a great background maker just that I could. the topic tile "Plokman's Grand Backgrounds" Was meant to be catchy not bragging. Well if I need to improve then I need to improve. The thing is Depth is a harsh Mistress to me. Same reason I'm only a simple edit as a sprite. I know one thing is clear from what you said here. Backgrounds are what I'm going to work on as far as improving. As I go along I'll ask for crits and such.

Hmm I have to ask do you think I should try to do a sidescroll style first? I'm only asking as I have a bit of a better grasp on that.

[Cobalt Blue]

no, read the tutorial i just posted there because you basically have no idea at all how to sprite/do backgrounds/shade/anything else related to spriting besides picking colors and drawing lines.

[Plokman]

no, read the tutorial i just posted there because you basically have no idea at all how to sprite/do backgrounds/shade/anything else related to spriting besides picking colors and drawing lines.

Hmm very well. I'll do this first thing tomorrow.

[UnHolyDarkth]

So you've come to improve and the first of the stages you post is completely made from another spriters resource spritesheet?

Don't do that again please.. Thats not a form of spriting in this community..

[Plokman]

So you've come to improve and the first of the stages you post is completely made from another spriters resource spritesheet?

Don't do that again please.. Thats not a form of spriting in this community..

Uh wait you think I posted that after I said I would improve. No that was part of my original post and I fully understand that its unacceptable. Only one I did.

Edit: I removed the offending background.

[Goemar]

I find title of this thread very misleading...

Instead of repeating what others have pointed out (aka, it's time to start again) I'll say this... How would Plok keep a cloak around him once he threw his hands and feet?

AND I will also say, welcome to the world of spriting. Do your homework, ignore most family/close friends who will say everything you do is good, accept everything you do is going to be criticised (in a good way... mostly. It'll be criticised honestly anyway) and get ready to work your arse off...

... or just run away, a lot of people do that.

[Cobalt Blue]

ignore most family/close friends who will say everything you do is good.

i believe what you meant to say is

"learn to filter praise and encouragement from actual criticism."

wich inturn, aint something exclusive to spriting, but is rather something you develop as an actual human being.

[Plokman]

I find title of this thread very misleading...

Instead of repeating what others have pointed out (aka, it's time to start again) I'll say this... How would Plok keep a cloak around him once he threw his hands and feet?

AND I will also say, welcome to the world of spriting. Do your homework, ignore most family/close friends who will say everything you do is good, accept everything you do is going to be criticised (in a good way... mostly. It'll be criticised honestly anyway) and get ready to work your arse off...

... or just run away, a lot of people do that.

Well maybe. I mean I was only trying to be cleaver with the title. Not a show off or anything. I aim to be a writer first and a spriter second. Oh and thats not Plok. Thats Plokman. Yeah I know real creative. But hey its me.

Thanks for the welcome and I will say I've been with Smackjeeves for ages so I know the subject of comicing well. But the other side of it I'm jujst getting a start in as I always found what I needed online here or elsewhere. But now I want to branch out and do more creative things like my friends on SJ.

I know so many do. But I never truly quit. I may go into a depression and break away for a bit but never quit.

ignore most family/close friends who will say everything you do is good.

i believe what you meant to say is

"learn to filter praise and encouragement from actual criticism."

wich inturn, aint something exclusive to spriting, but is rather something you develop as an actual human being.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[Plokman]

Ok been trying my hand at some sprites. A few who are in the same style of spriters said they aren't terrible so I thought I'd sow what I got.

A attempt at Mod Gens style of the character Socket.



A Oc of mine Crystal.



I hope this is better as I do think these might be a good style to work with.

[Cobalt Blue]

are these sprite edits? because they look like sprite edits.