Planning Out Structures From Real Life

[graphics_master]

What I think some things are very hard to do straight off.

If this gets me banned I say ow well, but I want to help new people. I would like people here to give there ways to plan out real life structures or normal drawings , becaude many newbies just go straight off to draw, and by doing this and by posting this thread the little newbies will have a libary of infomation of planning to start out and to see which one fits the best.

I will leave all you people to post the guide and me myself will also be posting my guide but only later.

[DaleStan]

*plonk*

I tried to read that second sentence. Three times. Somebody let me know when it learns (1) to proofread, and (2) not to write 71-word sentences.

[graphics_master]

Sorry

I am abit grammar less at the moment I just finished a 36 hour week of school .

[SuperTycoon]

Sorry

I am abit grammar less at the moment I just finished a 36 hour week of school .

Wouldn't it be better to hypernate grammer-less?

[graphics_master]

Mmm ok I really don't know what you mean. Anyhow getting on to subject anyone have any planning tips or guides to show us.

[Patchman]

Just collect all the hints and tips people have given you (and which you have, for the most part, ignored) and then go from there.

Since for some reason it seems impossible to help you because you either don't understand the help, or just ignore it, or are unable to process it or whatever, I don't think there are many people here that haven't yet lost patience with you.

You also really need to put more effort into your posts if you want to be taken seriously.

[lifeblood]

Take a building, decide how big it should be in TTD, then adjust the scale and draw it. There is no correct way to do this. Buildings should never be facsimiles of their real-life counterparts, rather just a representation of what they are. If it is a station for a small town, keep it 1-2 tiles in length. If it is a city station, make it large, but not massive: 5-7 tiles in length.

I personally start with the footprint of the building, and play around with it until it is a suitable size. Add windows and doors at their approximate location, just by shading in long, vertical sections. Then add the walls at 6-8 pixels per story, plus maybe 2 more for the little "wall" around the roof. My doors tend to be around 2x5 pixels, and the standard window 2x3 pixels. I draw each wall in the base colour that will be used for shading, but I never shade until the building is drawn in shape. Also, I never shade until the mirror image is complete, which usually just requires and copy, paste, and flip.

Also, don't work on a building for 20 minutes, then post it on here asking for comments, then work another 20 minutes, then post again. That's just annoying, and few people care to see half-finished blobs. I'd recommend that you only post a drawing if you are having specific problems drawing certain angles or sections of a building, or it is complete and you want to show everyone how brilliant you are. Now get busy.

[graphics_master]

I am not making it for myself I am making it for other more newer people that want to be able to draw, but dive straight in. I have my own method, but people that are very new haven't really praticed methods.

I have changed I am incredibly tired having an extra hour on to my day. The last thing I want to do is to cause a arguement I take advice like zimmelocks who has been very kind and not lost patience. Sometimes drawing help is to complicated and I can't do it. I really want to draw now and I really want to just settle back in. I made this thread so I could get some info then maybe make a website like purno's, but with other peoples way.

I am not trying to be the leader or be the best I am a normal person that grows up in a tough envoirment. I know I am no good, but eventually I will be a model meber, but then I can call myself good. I meesed up A LOT of times and the month or so I haven't been posting I looked on people's threads and found out how harse you was and I just want to say sorry for all you kind people that put up with me. I only want to get along and hopefully I can get to be a normal member in time.

Thanks for the help lifeblood you are very nice and I would like to be you when I am a better member

[Purno]

/me points in the direction of his drawing tutorials, down in his sig.

[Aegir]

Purno, your tutorials are somewhat lacking to be honest. They don't cover texturing, they don't cover shading in-depth. They don't cover a whole tonne of stuff that new artists need to produce polished works and practice their skills.

As well, they only cover basic sprite dimensions and trains/wagons, I spot nothing to help an artist who wishes to draw buildings (6px per floor rule is one that often gets ignored as a result).

Simply pointing to your tutorials whenever someone wants to know about drawing is not sufficient, not until you can cover most aspects of TTD sprite drawing (stations, vehicles, buildings, commonly used scales (George's vs: TTD for instance), lighting, texturing/shading/dithering, and so forth).

[Purno]

My tutorials, however, do explain things about TT-light effect, TT-color palette, and TT-dimensions, which need to be known before drawing anything for TT.

[graphics_master]

Why don't we the graphics people make a website and combine all stuff like dimension, shading, textures etc. Then we could put it on all of our sigs. Does the idea sound good?

[Aegir]

But they aren't things that are being asked about in this thread, Purno. The gist of graphics_learner's thread* is more that he wants to know how to take a photo of a building and start drawing it, Lifeblood covered that perfectly.

*I could be wrong, that post of his is almost bloody incomprehensible

[Purno]

Why don't we the graphics people make a website and combine all stuff like dimension, shading, textures etc. Then we could put it on all of our sigs. Does the idea sound good?

It's a damn hard job to collect everything into one website. That's the reason Linkage! was created. Linkage! can connect several websites (like drawing tutorials) to each other by covering them in the same category.

[/advertisment ]

But they aren't things that are being asked about in this thread, Purno. The gist of graphics_learner's thread* is more that he wants to know how to take a photo of a building and start drawing it, Lifeblood covered that perfectly.

*I could be wrong, that post of his is almost bloody incomprehensible

Could be, didn't really understand graphics_masters first post, and didn't read lifeblood's post since it was too much text (sorry, lazy again).

Admitely, my drawing tutorials are aimed for drawing trains, and thus do not inlcude info like 6 pix per floor. However, the general info about palette, light and dimensions are useful for building-artists too. If you're gonna explain stuff about how to draw buildings, you gotta explain all of it, or you'll be getting peeps asking "what tt-palette?" and such, if you get what I mean.

[Raichase]

Here folks, is what I like to call "The North Shore" effect in play. Now, those of you that live anywhere NEAR the northern suburbs of Sydney, will know that the Northern Shore of the harbour is home to some of the wealthiest people (but the key point is that they are not THE wealthiest people), but they are the LAZIEST, and some of the RUDEST and MOST DEMANDING people in Sydney.

Now, thats not to say that Maley123 here is the first or second option, but he's clearly showing symptoms of the third symptom, and thats what irks me, not as a moderator, but as someone always willing to learn and improve apon his abilities and knowledge.

What I think some things are very hard to do straight off.

Thats correct. Normally, what a standard practice to do, is to start one of those hard things, create something pheonminally PANTS, then learn from mistakes there, try again, improve. Stop, try something else similar, applying any knowledge you have, and keep plugging away at it. I work for Games Workshop, and teach kids how to paint model soldiers about... a couple of inches tall. Sure, the first time around, every kid has a pretty poor model, but it's the best they can do, and if they are willing to learn, I can have them painting like any other gamer after a couple of months. It's not hard to do, it's about learning the techniques, and applying them, and learning each step of the way.

Master something basic, move on to the next step, always seeking the knoweldge, and the learning through DOING.

If this gets me banned I say ow well,

Well, it wouldn't be a new experience for you, doubtless it would take a mere matter of days before you show up in a new guise. So please, don't bring those whole "if this gets me banned" thing into it, because with you, banning seems a minor punishment at best.

but I want to help new people.

Why?

Firstly, you want to run before you can walk. You want to TEACH new people, when I doubt you have the patience or the ability. Now, this is not me trying to be critical of you, but it's the god-honest truth. I see kids at my painting table all the time trying to help, and most of the time (bless their hearts), it's because they genuinly want to help. But, if they are not giving out the CORRECT advice, they are leading the poor newbie astray, and doing damage to their hobby and their abilities. Hell, happened to ME when I started, I got taught ALL the bad habits, and it wasn't until I came to work for the company 8-9 years later that I snapped out of them. Imagine if I had been helping the kid next to me all that time.

Secondly, I'm assuming your motives are good, that you actually want to help people. However, if you are doing not to help people, but for respect that you see other artists getting (I for example, will always weigh Purno, Michael B, DanMacK, etc's opinions very highly, as they have drawn a LOT of stuff in their careers), then thats not the right way to go about it. Again, I assume you are doing it to help, and you deserve kudos for your intentions, which are very rare these days, but just a warning in advance if you (or anyone else out there) is not .

I would like people here to give there ways to plan out real life structures or normal drawings

Thats good, as I said, I respect your intentions straight off the bat.

becaude many newbies just go straight off to draw, and by doing this and by posting this thread the little newbies will have a libary of infomation of planning to start out and to see which one fits the best.

Thats where it starts to get confusing. You threw SO much stuff at the wall, hoping something would stick, that you're not yet in a place to co-ordinate something like this. Once again (I know it's a tired old phrase to trot out, bit it's true...), I'm not intending malice here, it is simply a fact. A hard fact, that only after mastering horse riding in all it's guises, are you equipped to teach, or even co-ordinate the teaching of others. I would consider trying to co-ordinate the education of artists a hell of a lot harder than doing the teaching, as you have to cover all the bases. As you've not yet mastered drawing itself, let alone teaching others, I wouldn't think you are capable of this role. Yet.

I will leave all you people to post the guide and me myself will also be posting my guide but only later.

And finally, the selfish kicker at the end. Not only do I consider you ill-eqipped to doll out such information, you have this "idea" to make this guide, then expect everyone else to do the work for you. I don't know about the UK/US/Europe, but here in Australia, thats a damned near offensive thing to do, is have the idea, and then just dump it on the punters. Especially with the promise "I'll be posting mine, but later". That is a very hurtful sting, which tells us, as readers, that you consider yourself superior, and you will be the master, correcting the teachers and patching the holes.

If you want to do this RIGHT, you must follow the following steps:

PRACTICE drawing. Accept your first time around the block will involve a lot of swerving, starting and stopping, and going half the posted speed limit. Or, to apply my own flavour, expect your first model to not look like the pictures. Thats OKAY, and it's NORMAL.

Then, you must master drawing. Seek out every new technique, and build upon your existing knowledge. Do not try to do this until you've mastered the basics, and have been told this. You can't paint eyes until you've painted the face. You can't win the painting competiton until you've finished your first model.

After that, watch how others help new people, and work on that for a while. Buzz around to new artists threads, and post helpful, freindly comments.

THEN, and ONLY THEN would you be equipped to do something of this scale, and have it be successfull.

Now, I hope you (and some others out there) read all of that, because, and I say it again, I want to be blunt, but I don't want to be hurtful. I just fear that, helpful tending and prodding won't help, as it hasn't in the past. You need the kick in the bum, and get moving on the right track.

Eh?

[Wile E. Coyote]

TBH, idea is good, but I think it's very hard to realise it. Why?
First, artists are too busy (in drawing or IRL). Purno and George wrote tutorials for trains and road vehicles, there are few palette tutorials, and everybody knows where to find them. I agree, tutorials for planes, buildings and ships are really missing. But if nobody wrote them, it means people have no time to do that. Maybe some day some of building artists will write tutorial, but it will be when they decide to do that, not when somebody tells them to do that.
Graphics master, be very careful. You're sometimes playing at edge of knife. Probably (but I say probably) is sometimes better to PM some people to help you, than to allert people for nothing.