Pixel Joint Forum: Main menu image for Flash game

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I'm working on a Flash game, and want to make a nice background image for the main menu.

Here's what I have so far, but it needs to be improved a LOT:

I'd like to change this into an image that will be beautiful, and really draw the player into the game :)

I've seen various types of pixel art on this forum, there's icon-style, cartoonish, childish, but sometimes there are these pixel art images here that have a certain realism in them. That's the style I want to go for too.

The style I mean is kind of like this, but with a darker color sheme with more hues: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/49328.htm

Of course I'll never be able to make something as good as that link from the hall of fame, but it's good to have examples to look up to, right? :)

The menu buttons are not part of the background image, but need to fit the style of course.
The perspective of the tower is intended to be so that it seems that you're looking up to it from the bottom, and it's extremely high.
The human figure, slime monster and tree are things that appear in the game.

So, how do I start? Any tips? Thanks!

Edited by Aardwolf - 27 February 2011 at 2:12pm

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Aardwolf Seaman Joined: 30 May 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4	Topic: Main menu image for Flash game Posted: 27 February 2011 at 1:18pm
	I'm working on a Flash game, and want to make a nice background image for the main menu. Here's what I have so far, but it needs to be improved a LOT: I'd like to change this into an image that will be beautiful, and really draw the player into the game :) I've seen various types of pixel art on this forum, there's icon-style, cartoonish, childish, but sometimes there are these pixel art images here that have a certain realism in them. That's the style I want to go for too. The style I mean is kind of like this, but with a darker color sheme with more hues: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/49328.htm Of course I'll never be able to make something as good as that link from the hall of fame, but it's good to have examples to look up to, right? :) The menu buttons are not part of the background image, but need to fit the style of course. The perspective of the tower is intended to be so that it seems that you're looking up to it from the bottom, and it's extremely high. The human figure, slime monster and tree are things that appear in the game. So, how do I start? Any tips? Thanks! Edited by Aardwolf - 27 February 2011 at 2:12pm
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tanuki Commander Joined: 01 April 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 333	Posted: 27 February 2011 at 3:49pm
	It looks like you're only using pure colors, like pure red for the sky and pure green for the grass. Color is rarely going to be pure one thing without any amount of the others. Otherwise they can become overwhelmingly intense to look at. For example, it looks like the sky is a near blinding R194, G0, B0. Try reducing the red and increasing the green and blue. Something like R160, G90, B30 is a lot easier on the eyes to look at. Here's a good thread about color, including some study of the colors used by that same artist you linked.
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ChrisButton Commander Joined: 10 September 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 371	Posted: 28 February 2011 at 1:14am
	If you want to draw realistically: Try not to use pure black for lines. Try not to use lines at all. Determine a light source. (I'm guessing it's the moon) Choose better hues, but keep them close to their color identity. Realistic means it won't look like a drawing, consider using AA. Don't give everything a highlight, base and tone - do it accordingly. Do not cel shade, you have to slowly phase into the colour. Other things to consider: You have heaps of wasted space in the image. Think about remodeling that tower, apart from it being so cylinderical and boring, it has no textures and I'm not sure whether it gets thinner at the top or it is a perspective thing. The readability of things in the image, for instance the door on the castle.
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