Re: [Freecol-graphics] Founding Fathers artwork

[<hig...@bo...>]

 

Michael Vehrs <Mic...@gm...> hat am 25. September 2010 um 10:16
geschrieben:

> On 09/24/10 15:57, Michał Szymański wrote:
> > ----- Oryginalna wiadomość -----
> >
> > If I'm allowed to have a word...
> >
> >   
> >> I'm in contact with a graphic artist who is interested in donating
> >> artwork for the Founding Fathers. This could be a great improvement
> >> over the stock public-domain images :) I'll work with this person to
> >> get the artwork released under the GPL and incorporated into the
> >> Freecol project.
> >>     
> > Great. Welcome!
> >
> >   
> >> 1. What is the preferred file format for this artwork? I see PSDs and
> >> XCFs under the source directory in Freecol's SVN.
> >>     
> > If you ask me, 3D models would be the best-est. Why? In my long struggle
> > with FC graphics I found, that a good CGI model takes about as much time as
> > a good drawing/painting and it's much more flexible. Even people without
> > high artists skills can apply simple modifications to it, tweak it, resize
> > it etc. Plus the model can be animated. The most paintful thing about 2D is
> > that once made it's usually easier to create a whole new set than modify or
> > extend an old one and if the artist disappears before finishing the work,
> > it's all for nothing, since nobody else would do it, for the reason stated
> > above.
> >
> > But you obviously mean 2D. I guess anything will do, the less propritary the
> > better... . But Developers will have the last word.
> >   
>
> At the very least, we need the images in a format that we can display,
> such as PNG, or anything that can be converted to PNG with minimum fuss.
> Ideally, however, the high quality "masters" (or whatever they are
> called in the industry) would be available in some format that can be
> edited with open source software such as the GIMP, rather than some
> proprietary format only used by Photoshop or a similar program.
I believe the GIMP comes with a .psd import plugin at least, so if the artist
natively works in Photoshop, a better solution might be to let him provide the
"masters" in the format of his choice.



Other "technical restrictions" I can think of:



- low-res images in both format and size that could readily be used (for
example, as has been stated before, PNG and a rectangular size of some hundred
px along each axis, whatever works best for the image)

- high-res sources, from which new low-res images can be made if the format
restrictions ever change; these source images should contain as much data as
possible including, for example, background layers separate from motive, some
space for later cropping

- if the artist is willing and able, he could create "full images" of the
different Fathers, which could be cropped to either a portrait image or one
showing head and torso afterwards. That way, we could later choose whether we
want a portrait gallery or perhaps a room full o people (as Col1 had).






> >   
> >> 3. What is the preferred art style? Freecol's colonist artwork looks
> >> less cartoonish than the original game's colonists. Do you want to try
> >> to match the style of your colonist images?
> >> (http://www.freecol.org/art-units.html)
> >>     
> > PLEASE not the units :) Their rough-gritty-oldschool look is OK for a
> > picture 60 pixel tall, I guess, but enlarged it just  looks amateurish. My
> > advice is: aim high - make the best graphics you can, in the style you
> > consider best. The pics of FFs do not need to match the map graphics. C4c
> > for instance is using rasterized 3D  on the map, but Founding father images
> > there
> > seem to be digital paintings.
> >
> > kind regards
> > Misiulo
> >   
>
> I must agree with Misiulo here. The unit graphics are quite alright, but
> they are not spectacular. They should not be used as a guideline for
> future work.

If the artist is willing to do that, he could provide one image each in
different art styles, and we could then decide what might work best for the
game. However, if he is particularly strong in one specific style, he should
just use that.


All other things being equal, another thing to (also) keep in mind is that we
allow for modifications of the ruleset, which might include the creation of new
Fathers. It would be nice if later artists could somehow "match" the art style
of the initial set of Fathers.