Critique for Handpaints??
Hello all!
For class this semester I'll be attempting to do MANY hand textures, from stone to metal and wood, carpet and ceramic. My first task of the semester is to make a tiling wood floor-I'm going for long strips of wood. I'm hoping to hit the WoW style of Pandaria mostly- any advice and crit is totally welcome, and would be most appreciated! Here is a single strip of wood-I wanted to get some crits before committing myself to many more haha!
Thanks!!
For class this semester I'll be attempting to do MANY hand textures, from stone to metal and wood, carpet and ceramic. My first task of the semester is to make a tiling wood floor-I'm going for long strips of wood. I'm hoping to hit the WoW style of Pandaria mostly- any advice and crit is totally welcome, and would be most appreciated! Here is a single strip of wood-I wanted to get some crits before committing myself to many more haha!
Thanks!!
Replies
Autocolor
Bumped the contrast
Adjusted the levels to brighten a bit the image
50% smart sharpen to add definition
Color layer on 15% opacity for cold tones in the shadow
Color dodge layer on 40% to add greens on the lights
Hope this help, keep up the good work ^^
First, it doesn't actually look like wood. Unless it's a burl on the side of a tree or something, wood isn't generally that chaotic and non-linear. Even in WoW, wood follows a pretty linear pattern with a few swirls thrown in for effect.
Here are a couple of screens from Mists that have wood grain in them:
http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/121/1210407/tba-world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria-20111021004950535-000.jpg
http://media.mmo-champion.com/images/news/2011/october/mists_of_pandaria_--_pandaren_npc.jpg
I'd suggest keeping some of the swirls, but bringing most of the grain into a slightly more linear pattern so it looks more like wood planks and less like carved stone or something.
Second, it doesn't read like wood because of the color. Yes, Mists has some very red wood, but it usually also has either strong linear grain or some wear and tear to show that it's painted. Here's an example of something you could to to make it read a little better as wood while retaining that nice red color:
You don't have to do that exactly (and I would actually discourage it since it's way too much), but it would definitely help sell it as wood if you have a touch of color variation in there.
Doug-thanks! XD
You need to decide if it's painted wood or natural, and paint/color it accordingly. And the grain could use some straightening for sure.
I'd also add/echo from above that it needs more color variation. I'd really push the blue tones in the shadows to get something almost purple at full depth. You've got splashes of it in places, but you could push it even further. Because right now things are very, very red overall.
Also a tad bit of value variation and somewhat random color application (in very small lightly applied bursts) on the larger flat planes could help add more interest
maybe try adding some deeper bevels on the edges of the planks in some places much like you do where two ends meet to sell a stronger illusion of depth and add some more variance in shape
also make sure you keep lighting fairly consistent in direction, WoW tends to follow a top left light source if I remember correctly, but , that aside, whichever direction you choose try to stick with it (unless you need to break it very subtly for the sake of detail or "the rule of cool") because I can see a spot or two where highlights look to be from two different light sources despite being rather close to one another
All in all though I think you're getting a good handle on the style, and I can't wait to see it get put to use!
Xelan-Great advice haha! Definitely will put that to use!
-Doug-Thanks! XD
You could tighten up the cracks more and make them more sharper with a smaller brush size as well. As it is now the brush size that you are using for the cracks makes the wall surface seem soft (almost round beveled) instead of hard.
At quick glance, I don't think that shade of yellow fits very well on the brick wall. Maybe try it less saturated?
Pioldes- Thanks!!! The yellow on the brick wall (labeled rock01)? I was going for "gold strips" =X maybe that didn't come across so well?? I've never painted something to look like gold before...especially without being able to pull spec tricks out of UDK haha!! I'll try lowering the saturation-I'm only worried it won't look like gold XD
As long as you keep the metals overall surface values fairly low (no higher than around the middle of the range) and then have a big contrasting jump for the tighter painted highlights (up towards the top of the value range) things should stay pretty metallic looking. That contrast jump between the overall surface values and the highlights is the key.
Cheers!!
Lotet-I really appreciate that, thanks!
Cheers!!