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Here are some interesting sites on color theory / color balance I found, the visual artists among you might find these interesting:
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-sc
http://www.brandcurve.com/color-the
The triadic scheme in particular appeals to my love of triangles.
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-sc
http://www.brandcurve.com/color-the
The triadic scheme in particular appeals to my love of triangles.
My first thought was that this has to be fake. But...
This guy (who made the documentary above) is pretty talented.
I'm thinking that the public education system would work about five hundred times as well as it does now if it got rid of that textbook and chalkboard and homework nonsense and all it did was have kids watch one documentary a day.
*
"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world, no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." ~Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States
"All of the perplexities, confusion, and distress in America arises, not from the defects of the Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation." ~John Adams, Founding Father of the American Constitution
"The colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from the colonies their money, which created unemployment and dissatisfaction. The inability of colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George the III and the international bankers was the prime reason for the Revolutionary War." ~Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the American Constitution
"Whoever controls the volume of money in our country is absolute master of all industry and commerce...and when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate." ~James A. Garfield, assassinated president of the United States
"The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. The privilege of creating and issuing money is not only the supreme prerogative of government, but it is the government’s greatest creative opportunity." ~Abraham Lincoln, assassinated president of the United States
(Note that JFK, too, was taking action against the Fed and wanted to limit its powers.)
Now this is how you should spend the money if you're going to make a big-budget game.
Created for the 3rd annual Miss Pixel OHRRPGCE contest, in about an hour. I haven't done pixel art in so long, since last year's contest actually.
I uploaded a few character designs I drew a long time ago (1999-2001) for Ergintandal, a game which I never made but one day may make (though perhaps not, as I have come to dislike RPGs, so it'd have to be another type of game for me to be interested in making it).
I don't think I drew very well back then (I'd be worse now, as I haven't drawn since then) but I like some of the costume designs.
http://pics.livejournal.com/rinku/galle
I don't think I drew very well back then (I'd be worse now, as I haven't drawn since then) but I like some of the costume designs.
http://pics.livejournal.com/rinku/galle
Komera and I once discussed colors, and I remember an old entry I wrote on it back on the Zantetsuken boards, but I've never stated my ideas on colors before in LJ, so here goes:
In this entry I'll be dealing with only colors, not black or white. Those aren't really colors.
The most important thing to realize about colors is that we all don't see colors the same way. This isn't relativism, it's biology. It depends on your eye color. You may think it's crazy, but people with blue eyes actually have a blue tint to their field of vision, same deal with green and the other colors. People with black or dark brown eyes tend to prefer stronger colors, and people with lighter-colored eyes tend to prefer more unsaturated, softer colors. This isn't universal, but it's so common that it effects a wide range of visual art. For instance, Japanese cartoons use more saturated colors than American cartoons do, and European cartoons use even more unsaturated colors. The same is true of painting. So assuming that because a color or a color combination looks pretty to you it will look pretty to others is wrong, colors or color combinations which are pleasing to you might be absolutely grating to the eyes of someone who has a different eye color. Because this is true, visual artists have a very hard time creating art that pleases everyone, especially in color selection.
The next most important thing to realize is that our brain has evolved to treat colors differently, to give them different levels of importance. The most common "favorite colors" are blue, red, and pink. The least common "favorite colors" are brown and yellow. Why? Well, what common human "product" is brown and yellow? Our brains are hard-wired to like blue and red and to dislike yellow and brown.
Why blue and red? Because the sky is blue and blood is red. We like red because we like blood: not blood in the sense of violence, but blood in the sense of animal blood, animals we just killed. Newly killed animals have bright red blood, and so the brain has a built-in preference for bright red things and bright blue things. Pink, and light blue, are the equivalents that more sensitive eyes (blue-eyed and green-eyed people) tend to prefer. Green is also a common favorite color, due to how common green things are (grass, leaves, etc.), though it's less common than blue and red and pink are.
Notice that most product boxes use bright red or bright blue. Coca-Cola. Pepsi. Advertisers know full well which colors work and which don't. You won't see too many consumer products packaged in yellow and brown -- though I'm sure you could find a few, such as chocolate or lemonade, when the colors correctly identify the color of the food. And even then -- notice how a lot of lemonade is artificially colored pink. Now you know why.
As for my favorite color, it's light unsaturated blue-violet. A note about the various shades of purple: it's the color that you see the least of in nature. Sure, you occasionally see it in a sunset or in a flower, but it's *really* *really* rare in nature. That's one of the reasons it's my favorite.
In this entry I'll be dealing with only colors, not black or white. Those aren't really colors.
The most important thing to realize about colors is that we all don't see colors the same way. This isn't relativism, it's biology. It depends on your eye color. You may think it's crazy, but people with blue eyes actually have a blue tint to their field of vision, same deal with green and the other colors. People with black or dark brown eyes tend to prefer stronger colors, and people with lighter-colored eyes tend to prefer more unsaturated, softer colors. This isn't universal, but it's so common that it effects a wide range of visual art. For instance, Japanese cartoons use more saturated colors than American cartoons do, and European cartoons use even more unsaturated colors. The same is true of painting. So assuming that because a color or a color combination looks pretty to you it will look pretty to others is wrong, colors or color combinations which are pleasing to you might be absolutely grating to the eyes of someone who has a different eye color. Because this is true, visual artists have a very hard time creating art that pleases everyone, especially in color selection.
The next most important thing to realize is that our brain has evolved to treat colors differently, to give them different levels of importance. The most common "favorite colors" are blue, red, and pink. The least common "favorite colors" are brown and yellow. Why? Well, what common human "product" is brown and yellow? Our brains are hard-wired to like blue and red and to dislike yellow and brown.
Why blue and red? Because the sky is blue and blood is red. We like red because we like blood: not blood in the sense of violence, but blood in the sense of animal blood, animals we just killed. Newly killed animals have bright red blood, and so the brain has a built-in preference for bright red things and bright blue things. Pink, and light blue, are the equivalents that more sensitive eyes (blue-eyed and green-eyed people) tend to prefer. Green is also a common favorite color, due to how common green things are (grass, leaves, etc.), though it's less common than blue and red and pink are.
Notice that most product boxes use bright red or bright blue. Coca-Cola. Pepsi. Advertisers know full well which colors work and which don't. You won't see too many consumer products packaged in yellow and brown -- though I'm sure you could find a few, such as chocolate or lemonade, when the colors correctly identify the color of the food. And even then -- notice how a lot of lemonade is artificially colored pink. Now you know why.
As for my favorite color, it's light unsaturated blue-violet. A note about the various shades of purple: it's the color that you see the least of in nature. Sure, you occasionally see it in a sunset or in a flower, but it's *really* *really* rare in nature. That's one of the reasons it's my favorite.
http://www.dadaly.net/thumbs.php
What humans may look like after 1000 years of living on a low-gravity planet (that's my interpretation of what these are, anyway).
I think this guy looks a little like me: http://www.dadaly.net/img.php?id=53
EDIT: the link above doesn't seem to be permanent, they shift around as new ones are added apparently. The one I mean currently at: http://www.dadaly.net/img.php?id=wi
What humans may look like after 1000 years of living on a low-gravity planet (that's my interpretation of what these are, anyway).
I think this guy looks a little like me: http://www.dadaly.net/img.php?id=53
EDIT: the link above doesn't seem to be permanent, they shift around as new ones are added apparently. The one I mean currently at: http://www.dadaly.net/img.php?id=wi
http://kaneko.yuudachi.net/kaneko/demon
Excerpts from some art books by Kazuma Kaneko, who designed the characters and monsters of the Shin Megami Tensei series. I consider him the greatest visual artist working in the video game field (even better than Amano). All of his monster designs are based on mythological creatures, often very obscure ones.
Example: his interpretation of the Babylonian demon Anzu: http://kaneko.yuudachi.net/kaneko/demon
Unfortunately it's only a small selection. I want to buy the books one day, but the book is only sold in Japan. (Amazon.co.jp).
Excerpts from some art books by Kazuma Kaneko, who designed the characters and monsters of the Shin Megami Tensei series. I consider him the greatest visual artist working in the video game field (even better than Amano). All of his monster designs are based on mythological creatures, often very obscure ones.
Example: his interpretation of the Babylonian demon Anzu: http://kaneko.yuudachi.net/kaneko/demon
Unfortunately it's only a small selection. I want to buy the books one day, but the book is only sold in Japan. (Amazon.co.jp).
Today I was writing the tileset design document for Troublespot, and coming up with interesting non-interactive map elements that I would want to include, I came up with things like bottle caps, broken glass, piles of bricks, spare change, twigs, mushrooms, flowers, and other things you might find on the ground. And, what I found funny was that I had an easier time thinking of these things if I would use my memories of previous videogames maps rather than my memories what I've actually seen on the ground. I stopped myself there, it was stupid since I'd just be replicating cliches if I only got ideas for objects from other games, rather than directly from objects.
What I see on the ground in real life isn't very interesting, especially in NJ cities -- chewed gum, soda can, plastic bag, newspaper -- mostly technological stuff. But, cities in any technology level probably had things like those too, just lower technology equivalents. In the maps of RPGs, all you see on the ground are flowers and nature-oriented things. Even in RPG towns, you are more likely to see flowers than litter. Earthbound was an interesting exception, though. And Fallout. But I mean typical RPG settings -- it seems like their map elements are all copied off of eachother. All of them have those stupid exactly spherical trees. All of them have those stupid white picket fences, even when it makes no sense to have fences it all. All of them have those stupid treasure chests, even though 99% of the treasure in real life is not kept in treasure chests. All of them have bushes that you can cut with a sword. Did anyone who made those things actually try to cut real bushes with a real sword? I don't think it's possible, unless you're using a scimitar or something.
On the other hand, it may be too naturalistic to include things like litter. A game's map should be a selective filter, leaving unessential things behind, undrawn. So there's two things to avoid: don't put something in a game just because it's in real life, and also don't put something in a game just because it's in other games. You're making a world! Don't simulate the real one and don't do it the way others do it. Some of my favoriete tilesets are from the SNES game Paladin's Quest, it felt like an actual fantasy world. Even though the trees were spherical (though some where half-spheres, and all were blue or purple).
EDIT: For those of you who've played Paladin's Quest, I just found someone who did an isometric rendering of its first town. Must have taken a lot of time.
What I see on the ground in real life isn't very interesting, especially in NJ cities -- chewed gum, soda can, plastic bag, newspaper -- mostly technological stuff. But, cities in any technology level probably had things like those too, just lower technology equivalents. In the maps of RPGs, all you see on the ground are flowers and nature-oriented things. Even in RPG towns, you are more likely to see flowers than litter. Earthbound was an interesting exception, though. And Fallout. But I mean typical RPG settings -- it seems like their map elements are all copied off of eachother. All of them have those stupid exactly spherical trees. All of them have those stupid white picket fences, even when it makes no sense to have fences it all. All of them have those stupid treasure chests, even though 99% of the treasure in real life is not kept in treasure chests. All of them have bushes that you can cut with a sword. Did anyone who made those things actually try to cut real bushes with a real sword? I don't think it's possible, unless you're using a scimitar or something.
On the other hand, it may be too naturalistic to include things like litter. A game's map should be a selective filter, leaving unessential things behind, undrawn. So there's two things to avoid: don't put something in a game just because it's in real life, and also don't put something in a game just because it's in other games. You're making a world! Don't simulate the real one and don't do it the way others do it. Some of my favoriete tilesets are from the SNES game Paladin's Quest, it felt like an actual fantasy world. Even though the trees were spherical (though some where half-spheres, and all were blue or purple).
EDIT: For those of you who've played Paladin's Quest, I just found someone who did an isometric rendering of its first town. Must have taken a lot of time.
http://www.ankama-studio.com/press/j
It makes me want to do the tilesets for Troublespot myself, instead of letting Orchard-L or Charbile do them (and I'm not awful at tilesets, observe a Tilde and the Mask of :P screenshot). If I finish the test level with time to spare I'll consider it.
It makes me want to do the tilesets for Troublespot myself, instead of letting Orchard-L or Charbile do them (and I'm not awful at tilesets, observe a Tilde and the Mask of :P screenshot). If I finish the test level with time to spare I'll consider it.
it would make sense that symmetry would be appealing if the way we stored images in the brain was to *fold them*. if we, for example, folded a face in half, it would save a lot of storage space. so we would like things that are symmetric because they are very easy for the visual system to handle.
another possible neurological reason: the visual system, like the rest of the cortex, could work by pattern recognition and if so symmetry would be a subclass of "pattern" -- one part of an image appearing twice, but as a mirror image, is a form of pattern.
another possible neurological reason: the visual system, like the rest of the cortex, could work by pattern recognition and if so symmetry would be a subclass of "pattern" -- one part of an image appearing twice, but as a mirror image, is a form of pattern.
[16:31:55] Charbile> http://www.anim8or.com/gallery/gallery1
[16:32:03] Charbile> that is the most ugly link I have ever seen!
[16:32:10] Rinku> checking
[16:33:06] Rinku> loading
[16:33:11] Rinku> i can see the top of link's head
[16:33:15] Rinku> adfjdf
[16:33:18] Rinku> the eyes
[16:33:24] Rinku> and nose
[16:32:03] Charbile> that is the most ugly link I have ever seen!
[16:32:10] Rinku> checking
[16:33:06] Rinku> loading
[16:33:11] Rinku> i can see the top of link's head
[16:33:15] Rinku> adfjdf
[16:33:18] Rinku> the eyes
[16:33:24] Rinku> and nose
[17:21:51] Charbile> what is your stance on this 'golden mean' concept? is it simply a term for 'the mathematics of beauty'?
[17:21:56] Rinku> i am unsure
[17:22:08] Rinku> i think it may be related to our field of vision
[17:22:16] Rinku> i.e., we dont' see in a perfect circle
[17:22:22] Rinku> it's more like an oval, because we have 2 eyes
[17:22:31] Rinku> and the ratio of width to height
[17:22:33] Rinku> in our field of vision
[17:22:36] Rinku> may be 1.62
[17:22:46] Rinku> but i'm not sure about that and have heard that idea from no one else
[17:22:49] Rinku> so i'd have to test it
[17:22:59] Rinku> but the idea is that a rectangle of 1.62 fills our field of vision best
[17:23:09] Rinku> tv's have something close to it
[17:23:12] Rinku> 320:200
[17:23:19] Rinku> is 16:10
[17:23:22] Rinku> which is close to 1.6
[17:21:56] Rinku> i am unsure
[17:22:08] Rinku> i think it may be related to our field of vision
[17:22:16] Rinku> i.e., we dont' see in a perfect circle
[17:22:22] Rinku> it's more like an oval, because we have 2 eyes
[17:22:31] Rinku> and the ratio of width to height
[17:22:33] Rinku> in our field of vision
[17:22:36] Rinku> may be 1.62
[17:22:46] Rinku> but i'm not sure about that and have heard that idea from no one else
[17:22:49] Rinku> so i'd have to test it
[17:22:59] Rinku> but the idea is that a rectangle of 1.62 fills our field of vision best
[17:23:09] Rinku> tv's have something close to it
[17:23:12] Rinku> 320:200
[17:23:19] Rinku> is 16:10
[17:23:22] Rinku> which is close to 1.6
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