Let's Draw Video Games

[voxn]

Guhh! Whoa! Whoa.

 

That is fuckin sweet. It's what I was aiming for but not able to achieve. Mind going into the process a little? Photoshop/tablet?

 

Totally agree with everything osmosisch says, I regretted that cheap glow as soon as I added it. 

 

sure! And ya, photoshop + tablet.

 

Started by dropping the levels so that they ran the range from almost-black to pure white. You can use a solid black layer set to 'saturation' to easily keep tabs on your values while you paint:

 

 

if you want an absolute master class in b&w value stuff check out https://www.google.com/search?q=dota+2+concept+art&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS451US451&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=0U3nUZKDEY-FqQHe7IC4CA&biw=1920&bih=979&sei=0k3nUY6BNISergGq4IA4#um=1&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS451US451&hl=en&tbs=ic:gray&tbm=isch&oq=dota+2+official+concept+art+&gs_l=img.3...15745.18404.4.18559.3.3.0.0.0.0.88.245.3.3.0....0.0..1c.1.20.img.n5cuzPQ9GvQ&fp=1&biw=1920&bih=979&q=dota%202%20official%20concept%20art&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&cad=b&bvm=pv.xjs.s.en_US.c75bKy5EQ0A.O'>valves concept artists or http://www.livestream.com/robotpencil'>anthony jones' livestream who has a huge archive of commentated drawing that he starts (mostly) in b&w

 

next I chopped the walls down (both because they are not that high in the game and to make the demon look  bigger), and added lines to suggest stone. Made the walls fade into fog to add depth/push demon more into focus. Keeping it simple is good, but the demon blended too much into the background to make a striking image. If somethings going to be faded that much by atmospheric fog it has to be really really big / far away. 

 

got rid of the glow. Glow is one of those extremely powerful digital tools that can look amazing, but is easy to use incorrectly or go overboard with

 

similarly, redid the fire spell to fit with the aesthetic of solid shapes + strokes (which is really rad)

 

started messing with colors using Color Balance. You wanted to stick to a simplistic color scheme (good), but your colors all fall into the same narrow band of red-orange (bad). Complementary colors are best, which are typically a warm and cool color (orange/blue, red/green, etc) opposite each other on the color wheel. I went with blue/yellow

 

the http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/Dota2CharacterArtGuide.pdf'>dota 2 art guide pdf goes fairly in-depth into color, among many other things. I made the demons body a gradient as is also discussed in this guide, pulling focus to his head + axe.

 

Redid shadows. The sky is way brighter then a tiny fire, and if the sun was casting the pyromancers shadow behind her the demons shadow would stretch the same way. So I just took the easy route & dropped a shadow under both of them.

 

Redrew demons head a bit & added glowing eyes as a focal point, though it looks pretty cool without them

 

Added castle towers in the background for several reasons: adding visual interest to the top of the picture, to intersect the demons body (intersections are good, lead your eye around & show depth) and to balance the picture a little more from the huge axe head on the left. Oh, and there are towers in the game! :B

 

rim lights from fire + sky to pull figures off background

 

used the darkest blue for a gradient at the bottom to guide focus to the middle, and a very very light(like 5%) yellow gradient from the top for light

[DaveC]

That's all incredibly helpful, cheers. I'll put this to good use and make some new stuff soon! 

[tegan]

Just a quicky, but I like some of the brushwork.

 

[Twig]

Yay Earthbound!!!

[Niyeaux]

That's the demon that hangs out on the ramparts near the beginning of Dark Souls, right? Looks fantastic.

[tegan]

did some Metroid concepts today. Although there's  still problems with it, I inked the one I liked best.

 

[tegan]

Still doin' colossi! THIS IS PHAEDRA.

 

[dibs]

Is that a my little pony?

[Marquis]

Another small mixed media painting, up for donation on Summer Games Done Quick

 

[tegan]

Oh man, that's rad. I love seeing handmade interpretations of sprites.

I really wish I could have donated to SGDQ this year. The E.V.O. stained glass Gaia was sweet too.

 

 

I did a Pac-Man CE DX thing today, for no reason.

 

[tegan]

I dug out the Micro and played some ADVANCE WARS on the way to the store today! Wooooo!

 

Then I drew this.

 

[clyde]

I love how it has that 80's children's book poster art style.

[melmer]

you should create an account and sell your stuff on here

http://www.redbubble.com/

 

as long as you tag stuff properly i think you could easily make some sales....

http://www.redbubble.com/shop/popular_30+shadow+of+the+colossus+t-shirts?ref=sort_order_change_popular_30

ok so thats the only thing thats sold for "shadow of the collosus" in the last month, but whatever, i would

[Ben X]

ok so thats the only thing thats sold for "shadow of the collosus" in the last month, but whatever, i would

 

Maybe because it's spelt "colossus"?

 

 

         Explanation of smiley

[Patrick R]

Yeah, or Etsy. There's a lot of video game artwork on Etsy.

[melmer]

shit

Nice, I'll bookmark Etsy for the day when we actually get around to buying some art for the house

[tegan]

I definitely want to sell some prints or tshirts or something, but I have no idea how to get started.

 

Anyway, Karzac said I should draw something Animal Crossing related, so I drew this.

 

[BigJKO]

I use society6.com and just link to my shop from my tumblr. Over the year I've used it it's generated a small but nice amount of sales (so far around a 100 prints) It's a really nice, effortless way of selling prints without having to bother with shipping, etc. Also you can sell pillows and t-shirts, optionally.

That Advance Wars art is amazing! Simple, but great use of colors.

[melmer]

Looks like a higher caliber of art on society6, of I might set myself up with an account on these sites I'm not a good illustrator by any means but I think i could produce nice designs. Just pick whatever is flavour of the month

For example, how much money has this person made from 2 minutes of work

http://society6.com/neonwildlife/crystal-blue-breaking-bad_T-shirt

Or these

http://www.redbubble.com/explore/breaking+bad

Maybe I'll make some xbone tshirts

Damn beaten to it: http://www.redbubble.com/people/jcalardo/works/10474158-xbox-one-xbone?p=t-shirt

[tegan]

How does one get set up with Society6? Does it cost cashmoney?

 

Also, I watched Little Shop of Horrors for the first time the other night and ended up just now making this.

 

[Patrick R]

The speed at which you work is incredible.

[Cubby]

Tegan, you could also submit designs to be printed on tshirts at teefury, threadless, etc. A lot of them are mash ups of more than one show, game, character, etc. but they also print takes on well known single topics like Dr. Who, Star Wars, etc. Check out their websites. It may be a good way to get your first ones on shirts with no money required from you. You'll get paid a percentage of each shirt sold. You keep the rights to your artwork, and once it's not for sale on the tshirt site anymore, you can sell the same design on redbubble, etsy, wherever. I just think this may be a way to get a little cash while you learn more about selling prints, etc.

Your artwork is GREAT! I would buy your shirts!!

[clyde]

Here's the weird thing about being an adult and having not thought about something since you were 10: My world was so small when I was a child that I assumed that these 70's orange cartoons of teeth flossing themselves (and Precious Moments knock-offs assisting them) was on the walls in everybody's dentist-office. It never occurred to me that other dentist-offices didn't have large stuffed trophy-fish mounted on the walls in the lobby. Until last night when I used google to not find any of the posters that I had assumed were omnipresent. Y'all are missing out. Well I guess not. Just imagine Tegan drawing a giant tooth flossing itself with precious moments characters helping it (in the style of Advanced Wars).

[melmer]

How does one get set up with Society6? Does it cost cashmoney?

Selling your artwork as a product on Society6 is as simple as making a Post - except you make money from it! All you have to do is post your artwork to make it immediately available for sale as a variety of products. When you sell a product, we'll produce it, package it and ship it for you, so that you can focus on making more art!

In order to sell your artwork as prints or other products you must be a verified member of Society6, this is how we pay you for your sales. Get Verified Now.

Learn more about Selling on Society6

In order to sell your artwork as Art Prints and other Society6 products, or apply for a Collaboration on Society6 - you must be a verified member. Verification is a one-time process that must be completed through PayPal and costs $1.

This verification process is important because this is how you get paid for your sales! Verification also helps keep Society6 free from spammers and fraud. After you're successfully verified, members will see an ID verification icon () on your profile page.

-----------------------------i verified myself for fun-----------------

Congratulations! You've successfully completed Society6 ID verification. You can now sell your artwork on Society6 and apply for any Collaboration and sell your artwork on Society6 without having to repeat this process again. There will also be an icon on your profile showing that you are a verified user.

Remember, this is also the same PayPal account that will be used to send you earnings from sales or collaborations.

DO IT

----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOM LETS MAKE SOME MONEY

Check out my store http://society6.com/mington

[tegan]

I know you guys are tired of obscure games like Super Mario Bros.and Animal Crossing, so here’s a picture inspired by 1993 Epic Megagames DOS platformer Xargon. Pen on sketch paper.