Art Touch Ups?

I REALLY HATE POKEMON! · Post by **I REALLY HATE POKEMON!** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 12:14 am

Just a general question regarding art. Let's say you wanted to have an error fixed or an alteration made to a picture, such as color and lines, would it be possible to do it without it looking weird or obviously altered? I imagine it's possible to have it done well, but I don't know a thing about art, really.

Thanks.

StarryPeach · Post by **StarryPeach** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 12:46 am

Photoshop? Or are you talking more traditional media?

I REALLY HATE POKEMON! · Post by **I REALLY HATE POKEMON!** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 1:23 am

[QUOTE="Ringabelfry, post: 1567608, member: 19313"]Photoshop? Or are you talking more traditional media?[/QUOTE]

Haha, I don't know. I have some art character art and there's just some nitpicks about them I have. So, I dunno.

I don't even have an appropriate meme to emphasis how I loathe my ignorance. =/

Post by **Valigarmander** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 3:14 am

It depends on what kind of picture and what kind of changes you had in mind, but they can probably be done.

Post by **е и ժ е я** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 7:18 am

What he said. Simple cover-ups can turn into a lot of work if the artist has to fill in new background, for instance, but just changing the colors is remarkably simple in PS.

I REALLY HATE POKEMON! · Post by **I REALLY HATE POKEMON!** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 7:56 am

I see. Well, I figure I'll just post one of the pictures in question later and highlight my concerns with it and see if the issues could be theoretically fixed, if anybody wants to give their input. While I'm at it I guess general feedback on the art would be nice.

Thanks for the help, guys.

I REALLY HATE POKEMON! · Post by **I REALLY HATE POKEMON!** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 8:49 am

For the simple stuff, basically the inner ear looks messy, chin is a bit long and pointy, collar bone line (or whatever) seems sloppy/droopy (on the right), and bewbs look off.

More in-depth aside from the above...I'm not a good critic. Even when I know something is off I can't always pinpoint it, at least not right away...Anyway, the the smile is "off." I I wanted a slightly creepy, "something's not right with this person" expression. By extension, I guess the eyes don't match that entirely either. Instead I kinda got a "soulless" expression, I guess. Clothes look a bit weird, too, but that's just being picky, I suppose.

Figuring from what you guys said that the more simple things I mentioned are doable, but the expression I imagine would be a significant overhaul.

For the record, the art is supposed to stylistically resemble Hotel Dusk's art by Keisuke Sakamoto:

Thanks for any input.

Post by **е и ժ е я** » Tue Oct 27, 2015 10:34 pm

It's a nice style, but hiring an artist to ape another's approach is always going to deliver mixed results. There are some problems regarding the shoulders and the positioning of the center of the chin compared to the actual Hotel Dusk art is off, which suggests your artist either has some issues with that anatomy or simply didn't draft the piece much - the Dusk stuff isn't concept art, it's promotional art. Big difference - one is a rough to point you in a direction, the other is a final piece you're using to sell your game.

Anyway, the Dusk characters would've had a lot of iteration in their planning. If you just hired someone to have one run on a picture and you mean to use it for planning, it's unfortunately not the model one would normally use for pay - instead they would either work for a firm that does contract art for games to the duration required by the studio, or they would be under salary for that studio exclusively. It's not a bad piece as much as it's just not what you had in mind. The stumbling point here being that you tend to - 1. Hire artists for the style they already do, not to imitate 2. Give them a description of the role of the character, let them pitch designs to you. Expecting someone to nail something down to an exact trait is probably going to leave you dissatisfied, especially because obviously you would've hired someone else because you actually don't know how to go about creating an image that evokes the concept you have - most concepts like these are abstract.

If there's a specific expression you want in a picture you've hired someone to do, try searching for references to give your artist. If you can't find a picture to show them that depicts the expression you want, then it's a crapshoot whether they interpret your instructions the way you desire. In this instance I'd have to see what the character's other expressions might look like, and so might the artist.

Generally speaking, one should create a default look for the character without moods/expressions, and then extrapolate an expression chart from that for their own reference.