[Joachim]

Hey, thought I wanted to show a background I did today, which I got quite happy with.
Actually, one of the reason why I got happy, is that I didn't look at any reference...I know that isn't nescessary anything to be proud of nor something that would benefit the picture, I don't know but it gives me a good feeling when I do backgrounds and manage to have a bit control with the values and a clearer picture in my head, since then I know I've learned more since a couple of months ago.....hmm, does that make sense?... hope you like it anyway. Comments are welcome...

some things are made with less action like ripples in the water, because it's a game background and we cannot move the ripples, so better to have a more silent stream.



yeaha !!! for pshop 7, it's great with the new brush editor I think. things take half the time than it did in ps6. can't say that enough.

[Kari Christensen]

Cool Joachim- nice feeling of depth.

[Sumaleth]

Very nice, Joa. Is that the size you painted it at?

[Basse_Ex]

Wow... You're in your right bragging about not using referrence, since.... well.... it looks so referrenced?

That's just my way of saying that it looks damn'd good and very real.

Are these for "Bl�fjell"?

Do you have a Bl�nisselue?

Do you wear it?

Did you wear it while painting this?

Wasn't that very hot?

Sorry for the interrogation..... keep up the great work!

[Twice]

woa, it's great.

[Anthony]

Part of the struggle of being an artist is accurately portraying what's in your head on paper(or silicon in this case :]). As that's the case, you have every right to be happy! Good work, everyone seems to like PS7.

[Binke]

really nice piece joachim.
I've just heard bad things about PS7 though..except for the brushes.

Like for an example it being a HUGE memory hogger, like you cant work with extremely big files anymore if you aint got da supah computah..

[pixtur]

That is sooo nice. I just got the urge to do some snowboarding!

What brushes are you using in ps7? The "tilt" option for brushes is really great and actually I spent some hours to configure some brushes, but somehow using them seemed to distract me from working (sounds weird...). And ps7 is quite a lot slower than 6. Can't work on big file on my 350mhz PC.

Oh! Just forgot: Great image. What kind of game is it for?

[LoTekK]

hey, that's a great pic, joachim... always loved your stuff... quick thing, though, (and bear in mind i don't have the experience necessary to properly tell if this applies)...

now, it could be the properties of the lighting and mood you're going for, but i remember reading up a bit on the properties of snow and how light affects it... this was a while ago, so i'm not too clear on the details, but i recall something about snow generally having very harsh highlights and shadows, something not evident in your picture... specifically, there should be stronger and harsher contrasts, especially in the closer areas in the pic... of course, the distant mountains have atmospheric perspective working on them, softening the contrasts...

but yeah, remember that i could be wrong...

[Joachim]

Hey and thanks for kind replies.

kari, thx !

suma, thank you. No actually I think it's painted in around 2000 pxs wide..Hardly never paint in less than that, incase it will be printed.

basse, hehe, thanks. yes, they it's for bl�fjell 2, and yeah I got a bl�nisse lue and of course I have to wear it to get into the "bl�fjell-universe" while paitning -and it's a hot lue

andskj, thank you

anthony, thanks ! yes, I like ps7 a lot.

binke, thx ! Actually I have an ok pc, so I haven't noticed much difference in speed. But, from what I heard photoshop has always sucked with less than around 1gb of ram and a ok pc ?!?

pixtur, thanks :-) I mostly use the regular circle brushes. But, some others, moslty custom made for texturing things and such. oh, 350mhz, that is low though, even if it wasn't many years ago since it was a hot pc, hehe. Time to upgrade -The pic is for a norwegian kids game.

lotekk, thx ! Good point about snow and you are probably right that the ambient ares could have a bit darker tone maybe and more contrast to get a more "real" feeling. I probably did it quite bright intentionally....since I wanted it a bit more disneyish and sweet, as well as I did the trees has more fluffy shapes than in reality. But, I'm sure your points could work well too.


anyway, don't know if anyone here saw this, I made ot for the same game in another situation. This I used reference for the buildings though. -nothing much

[LoTekK]

yup, i was thinking the low contrast and stuff were intentional... i think it looks good as it stands, and stronger contrast may or may not contribute to the overall mood and atmosphere you were going for...

the other pic is pretty cool...

ps. for your first pic that you posted, the first time i looked at it, all i could think was "old-school sierra on-line"... (that's a good thing, btw... i loved the old sierra adventure games... )

[sfr]

Oh yes, it's very pretty. I like how everything - trees, rocks, even mountains - has a somewhat rounded look, which helps give this picture a friendly and soothing feeling, yet it's still realistic and not cartoon-like.

The only part that distracts me is the sky, there's a bunch of faint shapes that don't really seem to come together, so they end up looking random... Maybe you could just use a clear sky, it might go well with the mood here?

Saffron

[Joachim]

sfr, thanks and good point. I will tone down the clouds more. I was thinking very transparent clouds, almost clear sky, but I agree, that it should be even less shapes there.

[-HoodZ-]

me likes

[Leo]

Very nice... especially the second one. No crits from me.

-leo

[Lunatique]

Dude, you are rockin' there.

[Markus Schille]

Nice Joachim!

Like the way you have pulled it off without any reference (first picture) and still get it quite realistic looking. I guess it's something that comes with lot's of practice and experience!

Looking forward too see how Blaafjell 2 turns out!

--
Markus
Markus Schille's home on the Internet

[[666]Flat]

Well done $tuFF. Has your game anything to do with Astrid Lindgren? And especially with her "L�nneberga" Emil?

[Joachim]

Hey, more replies. Here's some quickie answers.

-hoodz-, thx

leo, thanks mister. Actually, you are not the first one prefer the second one Personally I like the first, probably because it meant more to me to paint it. the other one I painted without much devotion to be honest.

lunatique, thank you

markus Schille, another norwegian. Nice to see. Thanks for the kind words. Bl�fjell 2, yeah I'm looking forward to see what we are able to do out of it myself, hehe. it will be out for christmas.

[666]flat, no no, nothing with astrid lingren. Though she has a bunch of great stories to build a kids game around, for sure.

[mannela]

Both images look good.
I really like the second image.
Well done!