ART STYLE TUTORIALS, .PSD's and TIPS

ART STYLE TUTORIALS, .PSD's and TIPS
Posted 2021-01-25 15:04:08 (edited) #314262 Welcome! This is a thread made to help Custom Decor artists match Wolvden's scene as close as possible. General requirements: Creatures & Objects: - Realistic/semi-realistic anatomy, perspective and depth. - This means giving proper detail to paws, muzzles, etc - simplified style would not fit here. - If the creature is made up, we expect it still to be based on matching perspective, natural physics and biological balance & proportions that would fit into the overall visual realism in the game. Shading: - Realistic shading, with soft, diffused light source that would fit to any background. It means there can be soft and deep shadows depending on the object - wolf's face would have soft shadows, while hind leg visible behind its belly can have heavier, darker shading. - Contact shadows. When objects touch, they cast subtle shadow against each other's surface. For example, a necklace or armor would cast a shadow on wolf's body. It can vary in depth with fur or muscles. - Ground shadow. When animals or objects are on the ground, they require a rough-looking dark ground shadow, much like our main wolves cast on the scene. It's best if it's not pure black colour. It's also essential that the shading is heavier where the object is touching the ground, but spreads/diffuses further out. - Highlights are great for adding depth. They can be added in variety of lighter colours - but they also bring out the object's texture. Metallic highlights would be sharp and smooth, while fur higlights would be soft and made out of strokes. Visual aids: Custom Decor Tutorial - large image link! This explains workflow, placement, exporting. Remember the wolves are in fixed positions and this is essential for decors to work properly! Here is a link to the .psd with the example Custom Decor! (9,8 mb) Essential info: - 640x500 decor files size, full transparency 8bit .png - 92x92 item size - upload your files to a hosting site - Creation Item will give you 3 free copies upon approval - One copy of the decor costs 5 GC. You can trade it, sell it, use it, etc. - You can update your custom decor art with new files for stages or refresh art anytime (it will require an approval as well)! However, if it's a big change to the art, we recommend doing a new rehauled Decor instead of total change of something that players liked enough to buy. Helpful .PSD downloadable files - sorry, we work exclusively in Photoshop. - All current wolf stages and mutations (cream and dark brown bases + few backgrounds) - LINK! - 9,3 mb Some Existing art in large versions, WIPs, step-by-steps, linearts will be listed here as we continue to work on them: - XL Branches - XL Oak saplings, tree, foliage - XL Oak saplings, scattered sticks and leaves, plants - Lineart + final - Moon Moon - Lineart + final - Courage Wolf - Lineart + final - Insanity Wolf Cutout-based decors: If you wanted lineart... There is no lineart. Wolvden's setup is pre-painted art with shading and texture existing on every base. This gives us amazing options of giving shadows colours, light, and help blending fur into more fluffy, soft appearance. The art that you see here is the same we work with, in the same resolution. If you plan on making body paints or tattoo-like designs, we recommend preparing the final tattoo/paint base first via colour blending modes, then clipping this base over some brown default wolf colour and erasing/drawing patterns on that mask. Following each stage's fur flow and clump angles is what we'd do when creating such designs - much like we do with markings! Without this, such designs won't match the fur's shading and might look flat. And lastly, here's some resources from Lioden's art tutorial thread that we think apply here as well! A .psd - Layer Style lineart cheat for foliage 490 kb - this layer effect adds an outline that you can use for art that would require a massive amount of lineart and detail. Instead, you can just draw the "inside" and it auto-adds fake lineart. Example how it can look when used on multiple layers: Hope it's self-explanatory here - you can be quite basic with the foliage, no need to worry about any lineart, and with enough gentle detail touch after flattening the art can look very good and detailed when sized down! This won't work for any size or any object, so it's best to experiment with your own settings. BRUSHES PACK? CHECK OUT THE BRUSH THREAD ON LIODEN!!!! References? Our art team found this amazing website - Located here - it features a program that helps you angle a skull and it automatically matches angle references of chosen animals!	Xylax #4

Posted 2021-01-25 15:04:08 (edited)

#314262

Welcome! This is a thread made to help Custom Decor artists match Wolvden's scene as close as possible.

General requirements:

Creatures & Objects:
- Realistic/semi-realistic anatomy, perspective and depth.
- This means giving proper detail to paws, muzzles, etc - simplified style would not fit here.
- If the creature is made up, we expect it still to be based on matching perspective, natural physics and biological balance & proportions that would fit into the overall visual realism in the game.

Shading:
- Realistic shading, with soft, diffused light source that would fit to any background. It means there can be soft and deep shadows depending on the object - wolf's face would have soft shadows, while hind leg visible behind its belly can have heavier, darker shading.
- Contact shadows. When objects touch, they cast subtle shadow against each other's surface. For example, a necklace or armor would cast a shadow on wolf's body. It can vary in depth with fur or muscles.
- Ground shadow. When animals or objects are on the ground, they require a rough-looking dark ground shadow, much like our main wolves cast on the scene. It's best if it's not pure black colour. It's also essential that the shading is heavier where the object is touching the ground, but spreads/diffuses further out.
- Highlights are great for adding depth. They can be added in variety of lighter colours - but they also bring out the object's texture. Metallic highlights would be sharp and smooth, while fur higlights would be soft and made out of strokes.

Visual aids:

Custom Decor Tutorial - large image link! This explains workflow, placement, exporting. Remember the wolves are in fixed positions and this is essential for decors to work properly!

Here is a link to the .psd with the example Custom Decor! (9,8 mb)

Essential info:
- 640x500 decor files size, full transparency 8bit .png
- 92x92 item size
- upload your files to a hosting site
- Creation Item will give you 3 free copies upon approval
- One copy of the decor costs 5 GC. You can trade it, sell it, use it, etc.
- You can update your custom decor art with new files for stages or refresh art anytime (it will require an approval as well)! However, if it's a big change to the art, we recommend doing a new rehauled Decor instead of total change of something that players liked enough to buy.

Helpful .PSD downloadable files - sorry, we work exclusively in Photoshop.
- All current wolf stages and mutations (cream and dark brown bases + few backgrounds) - LINK! - 9,3 mb

Some Existing art in large versions, WIPs, step-by-steps, linearts will be listed here as we continue to work on them:

- XL Branches
- XL Oak saplings, tree, foliage
- XL Oak saplings, scattered sticks and leaves, plants
- Lineart + final - Moon Moon
- Lineart + final - Courage Wolf
- Lineart + final - Insanity Wolf

Cutout-based decors:
If you wanted lineart... There is no lineart. Wolvden's setup is pre-painted art with shading and texture existing on every base. This gives us amazing options of giving shadows colours, light, and help blending fur into more fluffy, soft appearance. The art that you see here is the same we work with, in the same resolution.
If you plan on making body paints or tattoo-like designs, we recommend preparing the final tattoo/paint base first via colour blending modes, then clipping this base over some brown default wolf colour and erasing/drawing patterns on that mask. Following each stage's fur flow and clump angles is what we'd do when creating such designs - much like we do with markings!

Without this, such designs won't match the fur's shading and might look flat.

And lastly, here's some resources from Lioden's art tutorial thread that we think apply here as well!

A .psd - Layer Style lineart cheat for foliage 490 kb - this layer effect adds an outline that you can use for art that would require a massive amount of lineart and detail. Instead, you can just draw the "inside" and it auto-adds fake lineart.
Example how it can look when used on multiple layers:

Hope it's self-explanatory here - you can be quite basic with the foliage, no need to worry about any lineart, and with enough gentle detail touch after flattening the art can look very good and detailed when sized down! This won't work for any size or any object, so it's best to experiment with your own settings.

BRUSHES PACK?

CHECK OUT THE BRUSH THREAD ON LIODEN!!!!

References?

Our art team found this amazing website - Located here - it features a program that helps you angle a skull and it automatically matches angle references of chosen animals!

Xylax
#4

Posted 2021-01-26 13:50:35

#315574

I have never seen that art reference site before and I am so, so happy that I know about it now.

CraftyCrab
#18016

Posted 2021-01-26 13:59:42

#315609

Understandable that the art team would require Photoshop files but still feels bad as a Clip Studio Paint user.

Anyone know how to convert .CSP files to .PSD files without Photoshop? :')

Manes 🦇
#29440

Posted 2021-01-26 14:02:04

#315617

@Manes
Also Clipstudio user here - you can just save your projects as PSD, too. There's an option to that when saving your work.
You can also open PSD files in Clipstudio - sometimes there are some issues with layer conversion/order, but personally, I've made only positive experiences with this~
Hope this helps.