artisticdude's Art

[artisticdude]

Look at it as a chasm, not a moletunnel thing.

Heck, that's cool too, although not quite what I wanted. Let me add the shadow like tsi suggested and we'll see what that looks like. Canyon, hmm... drat. Zero, now that you suggested that I just have to try making a canyon too.

[Gambit]

I don't see the chasmyness. I don't see mole tunnelyness either though.
The shading is awkward. I'm sorry I can't put into better words what I think is wrong with it. I don't know the vocab. Maybe what TSI said will help.

[artisticdude]

I think it needed stronger highlights. Next version:

The transitions are pretty messed up, but that can be rectified later.

[wesfreak]

Now it looks sometimes moundy and sometimes chasmy, in my opinion. Interesting optical illusion. Maybe you could do something with the far edge so that it looks like the mound is rising up and hiding it a little? So that the edges on that side are straighter rather than bumpier?

[Gambit]

Adding a shadow as TSI suggested will force you to see it the right way.

[SFault]

Try making some grass come over the road, or is it actually a huge turd?

[Flameslash]

lol

[Gambit]

Yes that's helpful.

[artisticdude]

Try making some grass come over the road, or is it actually a huge turd?

Ooookay... it's a mound of dirt actually, not a road or a turd. Like what moles leave behind when they dig in your lawn.

Adding a shadow as TSI suggested will force you to see it the right way.

Yup, that'll be my next step.

Maybe you could do something with the far edge so that it looks like the mound is rising up and hiding it a little? So that the edges on that side are straighter rather than bumpier?

Interesting idea. It's worth trying, but I don't want to too look too straight, or it'll look unnatural.

Perhaps I could get rid of the dark base on the far side as well...

[Captain_Wrathbow]

I think the shadow will probably fix it.

[artisticdude]

Next version. I'm not quite sure if the shadow is dark enough (I'm too used to sprite shadows). Any thoughts on that specifically?

[Captain_Wrathbow]

I would say the shadow needs a little darkening.

The chasm-y look is going away, methinks.

[thespaceinvader]

Context helps with these sorts of things. The human eye notoriously finds it very difficult to determine whether a given volume is internal or external, absent any other indicators. A dwarf standing inside it, digging, with his legs obscured by the near edge of the chasm, makes it a chasm. A dwarf digging on the far side of it, with his legs obscured by the pile, makes it a pile.

There's a suggestion in there somewhere

[artisticdude]

Well, Captain_Wrathbow will need to do that, since I don't know how this is going to work in his scenario. But I darkened the shadows and made a few other edits, so hopefully this is better than the last version.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

A dwarf standing beside it, digging, (TSI's second example) would be great!