Lilman's foray into graphics making.

[Lilman424]

So, I've decided to at least attempt to do some graphics drawing of my own, with no real goal, but just to do it.

The first thing I'm working on is a school bus, typical in any American town. So far I've only done one / view, but i'll soon move on to others. Any critiques are highly prized.

[jvassie]

A decent start! Perhaps a little bit of shading on the roof to emphasize the curve a bit more, and more randomization also. Other than that a solid start

[Lilman424]

alright, i've added the \ front view and (tried?) to add some noise. I'm not sure if i've done it correctly, but i tried.

[Circeus]

Maybe I'm crazy but I could swear it looks much less wide in the new view...

[Lilman424]

Well, i've pretty much completely redone it since then:

[PikkaBird]

Not bad, not bad at all.

[Doorslammer]

A great idea, really fills a much needed void.

[Purno]

Looks pretty good, but the door seems a bit wide.
And are you sure the roof is completely empty and flat?

[XeryusTC]

It feels like the thing is too wide compared to it's height and that the nose needs to be sticking out (IIRC American school busses have those kind of noses). Appart from those two minor remarks it is quite a good first try.

[andythenorth]

That's nice . Views 3, 7 and 9 are very good. View 5 - a bit more work on the door maybe?

Views 4, 6, 8 and 10: the wheels need a bit of work, you probably know this already. It can be tricky getting them in the right place. A lot of the 'character' of the vehicle depends on where you put the wheels - moving them a bit can make a vehicle look bigger, smaller, heavier, longer, wider etc, without changing any of the other pixels.

Here's one of Zephyris' buses with wheel arches (I don't think he'll mind me posting this). You'll find there are many ways to make wheel shapes, you don't have to use the 3x3 square shape.

bus.png (1.27 KiB) Viewed 5999 times

Are you planning to code it next? A single vehicle is pretty easy. There's a commented nfo file in the first page of the HEQS thread if you want some starter code (my code only works in OpenTTD though due to reliance on the engine pool)!

@ Xeryus, not all US school buses have noses

[Purno]

and that the nose needs to be sticking out (IIRC American school busses have those kind of noses).

That's the European view of the American classic school buses. IIRC they got modern ones nowadays, which just got a flat nose just like any other European bus. However, in movies they still seem to prefer these old school buses, so I think we Europeans got a bent view on American school buses.

At least, I think. I could be wrong.

[FooBar]

A proper American school bus actually has two noses

[Lilman424]

Looks pretty good, but the door seems a bit wide.
And are you sure the roof is completely empty and flat?

Are you asking if real school buses have flat roofs? Then yes, most school buses have pretty much featureless roofs. Most have a single flashing white light, and a few have emergency exits, but most are featureless. See http://z.hubpages.com/u/363140_f520.jpg for an example.

That's nice . Views 3, 7 and 9 are very good. View 5 - a bit more work on the door maybe?

Yeah, that's a tricky one. On views 4 and 6, the door i think works pretty well, even though it's just an outline, but in view 5, perhaps making it a window would better it.

Views 4, 6, 8 and 10: the wheels need a bit of work, you probably know this already. It can be tricky getting them in the right place. A lot of the 'character' of the vehicle depends on where you put the wheels - moving them a bit can make a vehicle look bigger, smaller, heavier, longer, wider etc, without changing any of the other pixels.

Here's one of Zephyris' buses with wheel arches (I don't think he'll mind me posting this). You'll find there are many ways to make wheel shapes, you don't have to use the 3x3 square shape.

The attachment bus.png is no longer available

yeah, the wheels do need work. I'll try to use your advice to better them

Are you planning to code it next? A single vehicle is pretty easy. There's a commented nfo file in the first page of the HEQS thread if you want some starter code (my code only works in OpenTTD though due to reliance on the engine pool)

!

I've actually already coded it sort of, following the tutorial on the ttdpatch wiki. So right now it just replaces the original MPS Regal bus, without changing anything except the graphics. I've attached the grf file if you wish to see it in-game.

@ Xeryus, not all US school buses have noses

In my experience, there's a pretty equal distribution of nosed and unnosed buses. Mine doesn't have a nose because it's easier that way

[andythenorth]

Yeah, that's a tricky one. On views 4 and 6, the door i think works pretty well, even though it's just an outline, but in view 5, perhaps making it a window would better it.

View 9 has a few pixels for the front windscreen, which helps. Try those in view 5, and a window in the door?

[Lilman424]

well, a [img=http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Wz1dLZXb-Sw/R8CMZ ... 23+037.jpg]glass door[/img].

i decided against it, and just made the outline one pixel narrower, as well as a lighter color, and added the front windshield to it (before you even suggested it too )

[andythenorth]

i decided against it, and just made the outline one pixel narrower, as well as a lighter color, and added the front windshield to it (before you even suggested it too )

View 5 is much improved. I'd say it's just the wheels you need to work on now.

You might want to finish this one quick and draw something else to challenge your skills in a different direction
When I started, this dump truck was the one of the first graphics I drew. I was happy with it at the time, but after drawing other things for a few weeks I found it was pretty easy to improve it (to the second version). The differences? Some extra details, the scale of the cab is improved, and also I got a better sense of how to use light and shade from drawing other things.

mining_truck_large_old.png (3.2 KiB) Viewed 5709 times

60t_mining_truck.png (3.6 KiB) Viewed 5708 times

cheers,

Andy

[Lilman424]

I actually did work on the wheels a little >_> I guess not enough

Next time I get some inspiration i'll try something else. That'll probably be some time tomorrow.

Of course, if anyone has specific ideas for something for me to try to draw, please let them to be known.

[andythenorth]

Next time I get some inspiration i'll try something else. That'll probably be some time tomorrow.

Hmm, how about a snow plow (eye candy, tricky shape), or a basic building, just a house?

[Purno]

Another option would *perhaps* be to try to code your graphics.
If you're able to code your own graphics, you can benefit from that

[michael blunck]

extraenousblue.png (2.87 KiB) Viewed 5635 times

BTW, what purpose does that extraneous transparent blue serve? Technically speaking, it´s not needed for vehicles and its only effect is inflating your files. You might get rid of it manually or by the help of grfcodec (-c to automatically crop transparent blue pixels, offsets will be adjusted automatically ).

regards
Michael