Before I developed visual ideas for my piece, I practiced blocking out over a 3D model and isometric ar for 3D perspective practice. These are two different methods that may help in designing my visual piece.
This first method is blocking out by drawing over a 3D model. This is useful so you can make and position the model in whatever angle you desire and simple draw over it to understand its perspective. While I understand its usefulness, I do not plan on using it as I prefer to sketch my ideas out on paper and use them as a reference from there. Below is a model I was given and tasked to outline.
Next I was given an isometric image to use as a reference for understanding how to use an isometric grid. While I didn’t keep it fully in scale of the reference image, I made it slightly larger and played by eye to first sketch out the basic shape and idea before outlining each section in a dark colour and filling it in. I prefer this method so much more than the former and I feel I can easily apply this to my idea when I have the sketch out in front of me, ready to replicate in isometric format.
For my piece I tried out two different layout ideas. This was to help me understand placing for each asset and what would look best. I kept what is in each layout the same, palm trees, cacti, a pool and a skull. I simple shifted the placements and angles.
Personally, I prefer the first one. Having the trees at the back is good for not taking up too much of the diorama space. The pool roughly in the center with the cactus one side and skull another I feel is compliments it nicely. Yet I do like the idea I had on the second one with some sand spilling off the edge of the diorama itself, so I will try and merge that on the final piece.
With the layout decided, I moved onto trying out different design ideas for the skull and cacti, as there are many types of cacti to choose from and the skull can have a variety of different horn shapes and sizes.
For me, I find sketching out a basic idea on pencil and paper then translating it to digital so much easier and effective. So I started with sketching out the three main asset of my piece- one of which will be the asset I will make alongside my finished piece. In general, I decided I needed some practice drawing palm trees and their leaves as tree are something I’ve barely drawn before. My main focus was working out how the leaves looked and making them a reasonable size to the tree. My second drawing I tried experimenting with how curved the tree trunks could be, though I was still focused on my practice being strongly on the leaves.
Then I tried a few different designs for the skull. I tried out different sizes, broadness, horns, eyes shape and teeth to see which one fitted the more cartoon style I was attempting to use. I decided to go with the second skull, as it’s wider eyes and broader face fitted a cartoon vibe more so than the others, as well as the curved horns worked really well and would be interesting to apply to pixel art.
Taking the skull sketch I liked the most, I decided to practice making the skull in pixel art. This will help me practice replicating a sketch to isometric pixel art. I first block out what I’m drawing using a couple different shades of grey to work out the general shape and features would go.
From there I make a new layer and use my block out as a guideline using one colour. Once I’ve filled in the blockout, I chose my colours for thew highlights and lowlights and add the colouring for the skull and the sublte shading around the eye socket, nose and teeth. I then do the same for the horns.
After finishing the skull, I decided to practice the half buried effect I was going for on my layout ideas. I made a new layer and outlined the sand, having some sill out the eye and nose. I filled it and added some lowlights and highlights to help add some variety.
While I liked what I did, I got some feedback from peers saying to make the sand slightly darker to help contrast better with the skull. I agreed and decided to make do the same but with a slightly more orange shade for the sand. I did this as I felt the darker sand felt with a desert theme better and will help the lighter colour of the skull stand out better. I believed it did that very well and was very please with the final skull attempt below. This also helped me decided to go for a slightly darker and orange shaded sand for my piece too.
I then did the same for my preferred cactus design. I first blocked it out with greys, using a really light tone to work out the layout of the needles.
Then I picked a green to use as the base colour, filled it and added the apporiate shading and slight dark lines for each section of the cactus. I used a very pale green for the needles, deciding the make them more scattered instead of following a direct pathway, from the blockout helping it look more random and natural.
Finally I did it one last time with a palm tree. This one took the longest as due to all the subtle shading I decided to throw in at the end to help separate out each leaf so it didn’t look messy. Also, I did the palm tree in a 64×64 resolution compared tot the skull and cactus being done in 32×32. I outlined a block out for it. I didn’t colour in the leaves so I can easily see were each leaf on the tree was and understand where the tree trunk roughly connected with the branches.
I then moved to colouring it in. I decided to mirror the direction the trunk was leaning from the block out as I felt with the positioning of the leaves, this angle worked a little better. I put little cuts into some parts of the leaves, and shaded each leaf carefully. making sure especially the leaves at the front were prominent and easily to tell where one leaf started and ended. I really liked the final design for it and I think doubling the resolution of it compared to the skull and cactus helped with being able to add more detail. So with this in mind, I decided to take my skull and cactus and try them out in a 64×64 resolution too to see how much more I could fit into them.
So I used my own curiosity to see how the assets would look in 64×64 to try them out. Same as before, I used different tones of greys to roughly outline the sizem shape and the overlapping horns, then slowly built up the colours on top. Once I had the main colour for the skull, horns and facial structure (eye socket, nose, teeth), I layered the shading over it all. This was a lot longer with the few extra shades I needed to add in order for it too look neat and fade nicely into the primary colours. I am very proud of the final result I created. The little extra details I could add such as the cracks and teeth outline helps add so much more than the 32×32 resolution skull had.
I then carried over the half buried idea from the previous skull and worked with it in the higher resolution. I used the same shades I used for my preferred sand gradient. I started with the sand pouring out the eye and from there built it up so sand was spilling over the curve of the horn, out the nose and some grains also being left on the skull itself. While part of me is a little sad I have to cover a lot of the detail I made on the skull for the buried look, I think it will help with making the piece look more abandoned as the sand over the skull implies the passage of time.
After the skull, I worked on also making the cactus in a 64×64 resolution. Same process as before; I blocked it out with greys to work out its size and where roughly the spines would go, coloured over it with one green and added the appropriated shading and needle placements. The larger pixel resolution allowed for more space so I was able to add way more shading than the 32×32 had as well as sprinkle more needles over the cactus too. I also decided to add a sand base around it to make sure the same sand colours used for the skull also work well with the cactus, which they do, and used that to practice some shading around the cactus regarding shadow placement.
I opened up my palm tree asset and did the same sand base to help practice the shading idea for around the bark and leaves. It also gave me a good idea how the sand colour looked against the asset too, which I think contrasts.
After tinkering with the sand in each asset piece, I figured it would be a good idea to finalise the sand colour pallet and shades for how it will look on an isometric grid. I took the tree shades I have been using so far and used them for the main three sections for isometric, then I got a slightly darker shade of each of them to use for outlining. For the base of the diorama, I would like to help distinguish it from the assets, so I figured having a ever so slightly darker outline for the base will help the piece pop more and help apply the carton aesthetic I’m aiming for, many cartoons like to have bolder outlines to help the target audience follow the scenery better.
With the sand colours sorted, I decided I wanted the under layer to be different than just the same sand colour scheme the whole way round. This will also help when I come to my idea of having sand spilling over the diorama as having a different colour under layer will help the spilling sand stand out. So I experimented with both a brown and grey under layer. After feedback from a few peers and my own thoughts, I will choose the brown under layer. I feel the colours blend better with the sandy top and in general it fits the colour pallet of a western theme more than the grey does.
I complied all my assets onto my floor plan and placed them in the positions of my chosen layout design from earlier, too see how it looked and what I could add or tweak for the final piece. I greyscaled the whole piece so I had a better idea of how to sort my layers. The dark tone the asset, the higher the layer was, this will help me in keeping my layers organised and not overlap in a odd way. The floor of course is the bottom layer, which everything else will build ontop on. The pool will be the next layer- I struggled to draw it so it looked natural, so I used the ellipse tool to put down the basic outline of it that I can use as reference and build around on my final.
Next layers will be the main assets- the skull, cactus and palm trees. as they have some distance between each other, I don’t think overlap will be too big of an issue, except with the far right palm tree, which will curve different and may overlap the left palm tree. This helps me see how much space they take up.. The cactus and skull I feel fit well with their 64×64 resolution on the 256×256 of the floor, though the skull I think could benefit being slightly smaller- though not as small as 32×32. Due to that, the palm trees, could definitely benefit from being scaled up to help emphasis their size and looming over the rest of the oasis. Discussing this with my peers I was suggested to try 64×128, so width wise the asset would not look out of place next to the rest but will give me extra height to work with. So I will move onto trying to draw one out in a 64×128 resolution. As there is also a decent amount of space left around the diorama too, I think scaling them up will help take up some of the back space. I think adding one or few extra cacti of different variations around the first will help the scene fill.
Then the top layer will consist of the sand mounds that bury part of the skull and surround the outside of the diorama. Some sand will overflow over the side of the diorama too, adding a little flare to the design and making it fill like it could fit in Captain Toad or an area in Super Mario Galaxy. I may round off the edges of the diorama doing this so it looks more desert like. Overall I’m pleased with how this is coming together. I will try out making the palm tree I created earlier in 64×128 resolution and make a second one so I can add more variety into how the trees look as well as taking up more diorama space.
I moved on to do what I said I’d do. I first tried out the palm tree out in 64×128 resolution, though I didn’t like it. While it was much taller, the size of the leaves were either stupidly small, or I couldn’t fit a good amount of them on the small width. Compared to the rest of the tree, this made it look way off as I felt having slightly bigger leaves helped make it look more stylised and the height made this difficult. So after a few more tires, I scaled down to 64×96.
This worked a lot better. This gave enough height where I could add more to the trunk but also have the leaves fit in the resolution without cutting off or looking too small in comparison. I first remade my first tree, then made a second palm tree with a more curved trunk to experiment with the look. Both I think turned out really well, and the extra resolution in height really aided with this.
I then moved to redesign my skull ever so slightly. While the colours were fine, I got feedback that if I’m planning for it to be my main asset, I should add something more to help it draw the eye more. I decided, to help my piece fit more in line with the western theme, to place a sheriff hat on top of the skull. It was a little challenging to make it look as if it were sitting on the skull naturally, but after a few sketches I got it figured out. The star on the hat I feels helps add a pop of bright colour compared to the rest of the asset being pale or dusky colours. I was happy with this choice to add the sheriff hat to the steer skull and will use this as my detailed asset. While here and on my final piece I am planning it to be 64×64, my detailed version of it I’ll do on 128×128. This will help me be able to add even more shading, fractures and smaller details to help it catch the eye. I am still keeping the idea of having it half buried in sand for my diorama.
Looking over my grey scale layout, I felt I could add something more to fill the little spaces of the diorama. I concluded having a second, yet smaller, cactus would add more. I looked over my designs and really liked the thinner cacti with the small buds on them. So I went to make one of these in pixel art format. I chose the flower on top to be a harsher pink, as my target audience is females, who tend to draw to pinks and purples more than reds. Here’s the test piece of the second cactus.
Then I took my newly made assets and re figured my blockout with them. The skull size seemed a little more natural and I feel the sheriff hat helps empathises that. The bigger palm trees aid in taking up more room, and I figured I will have to make three of them with slightly varied looks to help the space fill more. The extra cactus design helps fill some more space and I outlined where more mounds of sand could go and brush up against the base of the trees.
Finally, I gathered all my mandatory assets and put together a final colour pallet. These are all the colours and their base shades for my diorama. Only when I do my skull asset, there may be a few extra shades thrown in to help add a couple more layers of detail.
From left to right:
Sand/base, Skull, Sheriff hat, Cactus, Palm tree, Water
Sasha Level 3 Games Dev 2nd Year 