Nailed it!
I know what you're thinking. I have ESP. Yep, I do. Check this out: I am going to read your mind right now. Yes, this very second. But you are going to need to put something on there my friend, I cannot read a blank slate. Ahhhh, there we go. Thank you. You are thinking:
So how does one create an art asset? If I wanted to contribute artwork to 'The World of Epimetheus™' and help shape the next immortal game franchise how would I begin? I mean I keep reading these posts on this site and hear about contributing but how exactly do I do that?
This has got to be, 'ahem', verbatim what has been going on in your head every time you read a post on this blog, right? Hey, why do you have that weird look on your face? Seriously, folks, this is the birthplace of dreams and my imagination can dream 'em as crazy as it wants, so in my imagination THAT IS exactly what has been going on in your minds <insert> "diabolical laugh".
WELL... have I got the answer for you. It is a low-carb, sugar and gluten-free, unrestricted, available in every language that googles translate offers, answer to your maladies that costs nothing more than a small bit of your time. But wait!!! There's more, now for a limited time, while supplies last, all you pay is the shipping and handling, this is legitimately the corniest art lesson in the fracking history of 'evah'! Yep, you guessed it: a post that walks you through the process of creating an art asset for "The World of Epimetheus™" and with any luck get you to have a little fun too.
There are dozens of scans of original artwork that are being adapted to the digital world. Most have been pulled from view for the time being as we construct other pages and blogs to disseminate that information. Or simply put: the pics aren't published online at this moment. Now, this first image is an original drawing done around 1992 while I was incarcerated in the Maine Youth Center.
The image has been scanned and saved as a .png file. I find these images save and hold true to their originals best. Also, having an invisible background is really simple with this file type. So please submit all art asset files as .png.
In the next image, you can see how I have started to add color. When using the free art software "paint.net" you can literally paint right on top of your original image. So whatever you scan becomes your template. Of course, this does not excuse anyone from infringement so it best not to contribute pictures of Mickey Mouse. I did it in this way to keep the general outline of the original artwork.
In image 3 the dwarf's face has been constructed and an outline for the dwarf has been established. A beard was added with a mustache, that I am a little jealous of, and a belt. Clothes are not my forte and I am really hoping a friend of mine will get involved someday cause I know she could totally rock these guys outfits better than I. Hint, hint, wink, wink Bri.
While I use a Paintbrush to fill the color in, my outlining is done with the Line/Curve tool. I will zoom in and touch up corners using the Paintbrush. In paint.net you can adjust the size of your brush from a single pixel to over a hundred pixels, which makes it a very versatile tool.
I try to use a darker gradient of the subjects skin tone as an outline color. This is done by using the Color Picker tool, hitting the 'More >>' button on your color pallet and lowering the value of 'v' until the color displayed reaches my desired shade. That color picker tool is mighty useful as well. The more you get into what you are doing the more you will recognize it's value.
Image 4 there is a buckle added that I was unsure of at first, to be honest. It is the biggest reason that this image was saved at this step before continuing on. In addition, the edges have been cleaned up a little bit. Overall though not much else was altered from the last image.
Image 5 we see a huge change which was sorely needed. The Lasso Select tool was used to outline his head, then the 'Move Selected Pixels' tool (blue arrow in the upper right hand of the toolbox) to increase the size of his head and change the positioning. Edging was added to the belt and cloth as well as the beard and his hair is growing.
Using the methods described above with the Color Picker tool a color scale for his undergarments has been painted on the side along with grayscale in the upper left-hand side for the facial hair. I used the same Lasso Select tool to outline the arms and rotate them for better posturing.
Image 6 shows how the garments were drawn out. While this was done entirely in the color-scale done during the last step, the silver outline is a grayscale shade, not from the color scale. At this point, there is a good feel about the work for me. Adding hair length pairs well with the mustache and bald head.
I know, as an artist, that I am wrapping up this image and that it is time to start detailing my work. But by-golly-g-willickers this poor fella doesn't have any feet!!! I simply must do something about that!
These boots look more like socks than boots though, don't they? All I did was use true black and the Paintbrush tool to make them, but I know they can be shaped, detailed and shaded as the work progresses. However, working on the boots so close to the undergarments could cause unnecessary rework. So I saved the file, closed paint.net and reopened the file in paint, used the Select tool and the Arrow keys to move his boots down where I could work on them with little risk to the work that has already been completed. I know, I smart.
Again using the color-selector-grayscale-technique mentioned earlier I added detail to the boots: buckles and straps as well as some shading. This next step that you cannot really see between Image 7 and Image 8 is a little complicated but easy to get the hang of.
You see to move the boots behind the garments the background must be deleted, the pixels that belong to the dwarf and his garments must be selected using the Magic Wand tool and then moved using the 'Move Selected Pixels' tool. This way I can move that garments over the boots. By deleting the background first it becomes much easier to select just the pixels you want using the Magic Wand.
However, initially the Magic Wand wants to select more than just our dwarf, so I must go in while all the pixels are selected and using the Color Picker tool as well the Pencil I have to find and select the lightest (or darkest depending on the end of the spectrum you are working in) color that acts as a barrier for the wand and manually shapes what the wand is selecting. This takes several attempts to get it right.
Now I know that there is a way to use different layers to accomplish what I just accomplished, but I do not know how to utilize those layers to do it. So I use my convoluted way. I now take the dwarf who I have selected with the Magic Wand and using the 'Move Selected Pixels' I move the dwarf down over the boots.
And the final result is after a little more detailing, adding eyes and some shading. The buckle was also made to look like brass. When it comes to a dwarf, I would have to say I nailed it!
So how does one create an art asset? If I wanted to contribute artwork to 'The World of Epimetheus™' and help shape the next immortal game franchise how would I begin? I mean I keep reading these posts on this site and hear about contributing but how exactly do I do that?
This has got to be, 'ahem', verbatim what has been going on in your head every time you read a post on this blog, right? Hey, why do you have that weird look on your face? Seriously, folks, this is the birthplace of dreams and my imagination can dream 'em as crazy as it wants, so in my imagination THAT IS exactly what has been going on in your minds <insert> "diabolical laugh".
WELL... have I got the answer for you. It is a low-carb, sugar and gluten-free, unrestricted, available in every language that googles translate offers, answer to your maladies that costs nothing more than a small bit of your time. But wait!!! There's more, now for a limited time, while supplies last, all you pay is the shipping and handling, this is legitimately the corniest art lesson in the fracking history of 'evah'! Yep, you guessed it: a post that walks you through the process of creating an art asset for "The World of Epimetheus™" and with any luck get you to have a little fun too.
 |
| Image 1 |
The image has been scanned and saved as a .png file. I find these images save and hold true to their originals best. Also, having an invisible background is really simple with this file type. So please submit all art asset files as .png.
 |
| Image 2 |
 |
| Image 3 |
 |
| Image 4 |
I try to use a darker gradient of the subjects skin tone as an outline color. This is done by using the Color Picker tool, hitting the 'More >>' button on your color pallet and lowering the value of 'v' until the color displayed reaches my desired shade. That color picker tool is mighty useful as well. The more you get into what you are doing the more you will recognize it's value.
 |
| Image 5 |
Image 5 we see a huge change which was sorely needed. The Lasso Select tool was used to outline his head, then the 'Move Selected Pixels' tool (blue arrow in the upper right hand of the toolbox) to increase the size of his head and change the positioning. Edging was added to the belt and cloth as well as the beard and his hair is growing.
Using the methods described above with the Color Picker tool a color scale for his undergarments has been painted on the side along with grayscale in the upper left-hand side for the facial hair. I used the same Lasso Select tool to outline the arms and rotate them for better posturing.
 |
| Image 6 |
Image 6 shows how the garments were drawn out. While this was done entirely in the color-scale done during the last step, the silver outline is a grayscale shade, not from the color scale. At this point, there is a good feel about the work for me. Adding hair length pairs well with the mustache and bald head.
 |
| Image 7 |
These boots look more like socks than boots though, don't they? All I did was use true black and the Paintbrush tool to make them, but I know they can be shaped, detailed and shaded as the work progresses. However, working on the boots so close to the undergarments could cause unnecessary rework. So I saved the file, closed paint.net and reopened the file in paint, used the Select tool and the Arrow keys to move his boots down where I could work on them with little risk to the work that has already been completed. I know, I smart.
 |
| Image 8 |
You see to move the boots behind the garments the background must be deleted, the pixels that belong to the dwarf and his garments must be selected using the Magic Wand tool and then moved using the 'Move Selected Pixels' tool. This way I can move that garments over the boots. By deleting the background first it becomes much easier to select just the pixels you want using the Magic Wand.
However, initially the Magic Wand wants to select more than just our dwarf, so I must go in while all the pixels are selected and using the Color Picker tool as well the Pencil I have to find and select the lightest (or darkest depending on the end of the spectrum you are working in) color that acts as a barrier for the wand and manually shapes what the wand is selecting. This takes several attempts to get it right.
Now I know that there is a way to use different layers to accomplish what I just accomplished, but I do not know how to utilize those layers to do it. So I use my convoluted way. I now take the dwarf who I have selected with the Magic Wand and using the 'Move Selected Pixels' I move the dwarf down over the boots.
And the final result is after a little more detailing, adding eyes and some shading. The buckle was also made to look like brass. When it comes to a dwarf, I would have to say I nailed it!
Nathan
Developer Producer
nathan.epimetheus@gmail.com
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Nathan