This here tablet thing I have

[ntw3001]

So I got this tablet, right? Right. for my first project, I have decided to transfer my children's book from scruffy, pencilled-in story pad from Asda with future storyboard on stolen school text book to flash new computerised files. This is page one.



Miguel is a shy, unsociable vole who lives in squalor. The fellow who reads the weather forecast is Pierre and that moon-shaped object is his entire head and body. The giant streak on the floor appears to be an unfortunate side effect of the saving-to-GIF process.

I will have to figure out tricks of lighting and things. I can't decide whether to have the room illuminated by the TV alone, or to enlist the help of a single naked bulb. I'll probably go with the TV-only plan because it means I don't have to figure out how to deal with conflicting light sources when I probably ain't drawn a thing with colours this millennium.

[DaVince]

My first reaction when opening this thread: whoaow. I love that style.

TV only sounds best. There's not much room for a bulb (well, except if it's hanging from a long wire I guess). Still, having this pic in the dark would seem like a nice choice, I think.

[giantsfan97]

I AM EXCITED TO SEE THE NEXT PAGE

[Null]

I like his headphones. What program did you use to do this? "Asda"?

[jvcc]

NEXT PAGE NEXT PAGE NEXT PAGE

[ntw3001]

I like his headphones. What program did you use to do this? "Asda"?

It is, uh, Corel Painter Essentials. It seems to work fine, except the inability to rotate the brush. That is a shame.

Maybe I need to deheadphoneise his arms a little. I could make them beefy, like beef. Nah. Headphone arms will be fine.

[Binkatron5000]

I like his headphones. What program did you use to do this? "Asda"?

Maybe I need to deheadphoneise his arms a little. I could make them beefy, like beef. Nah. Headphone arms will be fine.

They also sort of look like a piercing!

Great stuff, make more! Hurry!

[ntw3001]

Okay so I played around with the washes and such and I made some light:



I'm not sure if it's depressing enough yet. Also, I am still plagued with messy saving-as-GIF problems.

Wait, the front of the box is just a mess in all formats. Let me fix that.

I fixed it. You can't see.

Okay, I fixed it more. Now Miguel's head is not turned in an awkward way, which makes it much much easier to do such things as highlights.

[Binkatron5000]

LIGHTING IS ENJOYABLE, YES.
And the floorboards are super.

[Clueless]

LIGHTING IS ENJOYABLE, YES.
And the floorboards are super.

[ntw3001]

Here is my current desktop!

[giantsfan97]

I shall now look at each of your icons and silently judge you by them.

[MysticalDescent]

I enjoy your style.

Geoff - no silent judging. Share your judgements so we may benefit!

[Binkatron5000]

I like the arms and the head colouring better in your desktop pictar

[PonderThis]

I like the arms and the head colouring better in your desktop pictar

OPPOSITE OPINION.

I really like the headphone arms.

[DaVince]

Also, I am still plagued with messy saving-as-GIF problems.

Save as PNG, you won't lose any quality that way and still compress the image. (Be sure to set the PNG compression level to max, too.)

Anyway, I'm really liking the shading here. Maybe it needs a blue night tint?

[EvilJekyll]

Feels like a webcomic!

[ntw3001]

I have no idea what to do with this page. I can't really be fussing too much with shading because it's a computer background, but it feels half-arsed compared to the first page. Oh well. I highlighted Pierre a little. That's about all I can do really, as far as I can tell. Maybe if I used some kind of 'tool' to soften the edges of the land.

[ntw3001]

Okay, so the clouds look better now



I still need to do something with the land.

Actually, wait a second. Nobody has said anything about the 'shemale' folder on my desktop. Either nobody has noticed it, or people have been too polite to say anything. I am fearful that it is the second. It is in reference to that thing that someone posted here that one time. Just to clarify.

[MysticalDescent]

Did you just fool me into scouring your desktop for a 'shemale' folder?

[ntw3001]

It's on the taskbar.

[Null]

Is Pierre the Pierrot-shaped thing to the left? The pale blue blob with one eye above the really happy mouth, large hook nose, and Pierrot hat?

Suggestions: make the scalpels look more like scalpels (maybe larger?)

Give the arrows straight edges.

Make the land sandy-looking on the edge next to the water, to suggest beaches.

EDIT Kind of like this, only better.

[ntw3001]

PIERRE WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU

What I was doing just while you were saying that was this:



It's kind of more beachy, but really it's just better defined. And besides, that is a side effect of my true plan. I decided the problem was inconsistency. So Pierre, being as real as you or me, gets drawn in the same pastel-style brush as the rest of the real world, while all those horrible digital weather images get the brush-stroke-looking-brush treatment. I'm happier with it because it doesn't look so flat any more. The format seems to be doing horrible things to Pierre's face though. I can save it as either a gif or a bmp, and I believe a bmp would be a rather large file, would it not?

[Null]

That is better than mine. The detail is perfect, just enough to define, not too much to overwhelm.

[DaVince]

Your first picture has less of a fine line between everything, but now in this new picture things seem separated a lot more. Seems kind of like a small inconsistency to me. The new clouds are nice, but also maybe a bit too cut off from the rest like this, just like the shore.

Anyway, I agree with Null. Except you don't have to give the shape on the left that silly face of course, haha.