Background story images

[JAP]

Cold mountain, i like this one.
In case anyone is wondering where i got the last pictures from, i discovered that the U.S. department of the interior has released some old pictures from national parks to the public domain.
Here is the original picture for comparison.

http://photo.itc.nps.gov/storage/images ... ls/369.JPG

[boru]

I could probably make a sort of "full set" of various generic storyboards, if that sort of thing is wanted.

I could use some swampy images for my UMC campaign.

I like the dunes. The technique you're using seems well suited to sand dunes.

Not sure about the green hills. Sunlight is coming from the left on the mountains, but that doesn't seem to be happening in the foreground.

[JAP]

Something like this?

[LordBob]

There's potential in your work, however I wouldn't use them such as they are now. This is because of how they visually differ from the style of existing story images, specifically those Kitty created (they can be found in the Wesnoth directory under contents > resources > data > core > images > story, and also in this thread of the restricted art forum).

What changes I would suggest :
- Your colours are very bright and saturated, probably because you picked them directly from a photography that might itself be enhanced through filters and the like. As a consequence, I can't help feeling I'm not looking at a painting but directly at the picture that inspired it. If your pictures are to match Kitty's style, I recommend (slightly) darkening and desaturating them (especially the sky) so as to obtain duller colours
- Another feature of "wesnoth art" that your pictures lack is lines. Once again, you can refer to Kitty's story art.
- Another thing, your story art depicts lifeless landscapes. Beautiful, but lifeless. Whereas Wesnoth is about people. I like in your pictures the fact that they can be used as generic art, but I'd appreciate a trace of life in them : a wooden fence in the open, standing stones, a caravan, bodies if you're aiming for a grim atmosphere...You art has to be more than a copy of a picture if it's to interest the viewer.

Anyway, these are general advice. What I propose is that you alter one picture at at time, which will allow for more specific (read "helpful") comments.

[Lord-Knightmare]

Is it me? or are these images super cool!

[boru]

I'm posting this as a sort of "proof of concept" - showing what can be done with the original swamp image posted by JAP, and featuring Lord Bob's excellent orc sovereign portrait:

I changed the hue of the original image in photoshop and applied two filters (angled strokes and grain). The rest is done with the magic of WML.

[LordBob]

YES !!! This kind of atmosphere is precisely what we're looking for. Color, grain...Nearly everything I was suggesting is there. Add a few well-picked lines and it can go mainline as far as I'm concerned

[JAP]

A night with a bright moon, clever and very nice
Please feel free to play around with any of my old pictures, but if you are aiming for mainline they should probably be 1300x970 pixels (Kittys landscapes is that size).
I don't think that scaling them to that size will be a problem but you should probably do that before you change anything else.

[boru]

YES !!! This kind of atmosphere is precisely what we're looking for. Color, grain...Nearly everything I was suggesting is there. Add a few well-picked lines and it can go mainline as far as I'm concerned

Well, I'll be glad to give it a shot ... a few well placed lines, eh? Okay, there must be something in here that can do that ...

I scaled the image up from the original one posted by JAP and ended up with 1386x970 so it may require some cropping. Redoing the filters I did is absolutely no problem, I applied similar effects to other images in this thread with varying levels of success. I'll post the ones I like, just to see what you all think.

[boru]

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