How to create consistent art

[Rasmus]

If we disregard that I am not a great artist, I would still like to have some more consistency with my models / graphics etc.
This isn't a question on what I would have to do to become a better artist, but more a question on if there are any useful tips to keep the same style for lets say 1000:s of 3D models and artworks.
For me it would take at least a year of work to create that many models / artworks, and during that time I would change style as I become better or would prefere one style more than another. It almost seems like there have been several not very good artists working on the same game, when I only want it to look that there is one not very good artist at work

The question may be alittle bit blurry, but are there any good tips on how to decide what kind of style to use and keep with it with the same quality?

[Ameena]

Umm...maybe it's just a matter of repeatedly drawing stuff till you find a style you're comfortable with. The thing with creative stuff is it's highly personal as to what works best for the individual. Something that might work well for one of us may be no use at all to someone else.

[Rasmus]

Yeah I know it is a blurry question, and I wouldn't really know how to answer it myself. So I elaborate it alittle bit more...

Sometimes I avoid mixing 2D and 3D graphics because I know that I always gets to diffrent, the same can be when only working with 3D objects like monsters, items and surroundings.
To take two examples how I usually handle these issues:
- If I am going to create a wallset where the wall, floor and roof have to match, but that they are using diffrent texture. I usually use one texure as a background and merge other textures over it so that the textures have some characteristic simularities.
- If I am working with a 2D GUI I usually create a palette that I use to all the GUI stuff, this is because I want the gui textures to use simular colors and don't look so "noisy".

So... Is there any other tricks out there?

[cowsmanaut]

well, I have this issue with my own work. As I've advanced over the years I got better. I then desire to redo what has been done already and as such nothing ever get's done.. however when I'm paid it makes a large difference. I work out the skeleton of what I wish to have done, break up the tasks and then start to create until I am done.

This skeleton is made up of concepts, notes, and sometimes base meshes. By having the over view of what will be made, I can assure that it will be consistent through to the end, because all new work is based on this original. Also if I find I've done something wrong,, I have the ability to adjust some items easier if I have working versions of the artwork, that allow fast adjustment.

[Babe Bridou]

Surprisingly I have the same problem with my code. The trick is to FIRST pick a framework (any non-stupid framework will do), then make sure every feature is completed (or "work-around'ed") with this initial framework, keep a count of all the situations where you wished you used another framework (essentially every 10 minutes), then and only then think about how you could have done it differently.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe this thought process will ring a bell for any sort of trade/skill

edit: I love this quote (related)

“The First Rule of Program Optimization: Don't do it.
The Second Rule of Program Optimization (for experts only!): Don't do it yet.”
- Michael A. Jackson

[Jan]

and during that time I would change style as I become better or would prefere one style more than another.

It's easy. Just don't work on yourself and don't improve your skills at all.

[Bit]

Hahaha, this question is easy to be answered:
With absolutely no talents the graphic will have exactly one consistent style (it's called awful I think... )
If you got the problem to have any talents, always take the same sort and amount of beer before working...
more hints: just take only one program to create the graphics and always switch off the same set of functions
(me runs and hides)

Honestly - I really think it's the 'path' to create the graphics.

[Rasmus]

Hehe, one solution is to go back to commodore 64. Then I would always be able to blame the computer for my untalented work

@cows: great idea, it should be better if I write down everything I want to be done before I do it. Then it would be alittle like working backwards, when I really start at the first item I already knows how the last item will look like. This could also help me locate problems I wouldn't have thought of in the beginning. Thanks!'

@bridou: In later years I have been thinking more and more of the coding as art itself, and also there it is important to follow a certain pattern. Sometimes I have to take a shortcut, but it have been more uncommon as my skills have grown. I totally agree on having to create the foundation first before doing any visible work for anyone to really see. But I also think that this shouldn't lock one down to much either, often it helps to create a really small but also good foundation. I like to think of the code as a tree system, when changing something in the core of the code everything path leading from that code should be changed with it, in this way I can always keep myself open for changes without having to do so much work.
I can say that I prefere working in c++ before c#, but still I like to code like I am dealing with a object orientated language.
btw. loved the quote

@Jan: Giving me a laugh as always

@Bit: I know there are no shortcuts, I still have to walk the path like everybody else. But then again, I am walking on the 'path' right now.. (Maybe I missunderstod you.. hmm)

[Babe Bridou]

Rasmus, you know what sucks? Learning after being done with something that you could have done it in a very different way and that you actually have to do it all over again in that very different way, simply because of a plain fact you couldn't possibly know/understand at the start of your project because you were a total newbie in the domain, and self-taught.

For instance, drawing a full comics using a ball pen on very thin paper or something, and learning that (making it up as I go, I don't know anything about drawing ) ball pen drawings can't be scanned properly if the paper is too thin and you have to either do it all over again from scratch or fix every drawing details with photoshop.

Last case in point for me this very morning: porting my openGL2 engine to openGLES2 for android/iphone: half the calls I've used are deprecated, the other half are simply not implemented on phones, and the methodology is basically 10 years old. Now I need to learn what the word "shader" means and do it all over again, grmbl. That's what I get I guess for reading my very first opengl line of code earlier this month The good part is, as you said, that the sections that need redoing are actually only a small part of my project since I too like an agile framework. And the multiple level-ups I got this month were definitely worth it

I'll just take Bit on his word and have a nice beer now.

[Bit]

@Bit: I know there are no shortcuts, I still have to walk the path like everybody else. But then again, I am walking on the 'path' right now.. (Maybe I missunderstod you.. hmm)

Hey - yes, this time I have the feeling you did misunderstand. I didn't mean the learning curve, I meant the pattern how to make it, let's say sequence of technics.

[linflas]

use google images, or don't.

[Chaos-Shaman]

Hahaha, this question is easy to be answered:
If you got the problem to have any talents, always take the same sort and amount of beer before working...
Honestly - I really think it's the 'path' to create the graphics.

hahahahaha, isn't that the truth

[Chaos-Shaman]

Rasmus, you know what sucks? Learning after being done with something that you could have done it in a very different way and that you actually have to do it all over again in that very different way, simply because of a plain fact you couldn't possibly know/understand at the start of your project because you were a total newbie in the domain, and self-taught.
I'll just take Bit on his word and have a nice beer now.

i know what you mean, being self taught. in this case it's a case of wine and some old cheese and bow down to those who can help you, if they so wish.

[Rasmus]

@Bridou: Yeah, it really sucks having to redo everything because there was a better way. Really annoying that one could have started out diffrently just by knowing a little piece of information.
But you know, I never thinks anything is a waste of time, even in this case. After a while when doing misstakes like that one learns subcontiously or not that things are not as they suppose to, even when things are running smothly. Selfthaught or not, there are always things out there that one can never know.. I belive in making misstakes, and the bigger misstake one makes, the more one learns
In a related subject, I just spent about 3 hours trying to fix a problem I was having with creating an avi-recording for playback in my program. I got the code finish in about half an hour, and I worked about 2,5 hours trying to figure out why the avi file I recorded to did not use any compression. 10 seconds playback = 200 mb = really annoying! Anyway, I found the problem. The swedish dll file that locates the codecs wasn't working as it should, so I switched it with a english version in about 1 minute. And now it is working finally

@Linflas: I don't google any images *whistling*

[Babe Bridou]

Remember that in the end, progress is an inverse distance measure to problems.

[linflas]

About colors consistency, I always apply the same technics in Photoshop even if that may look a bit dirty.

For example, most of graphicians make 3 or 4 spots on a corner with consistent colors, use each of them to paint roughly big areas. I never follow that rule ! But I always use the "Match Color" option with a screenshot of my wallset in RTC and play with the options. That's even easier with an image ripped from Google, which can be more than just a simple reference

[Rasmus]

That sounds like a good idea. When I am making 2D images, then it would help with the light and shadow directions/colors always having the corners painted in the same colors..

[Bit]

I think some older 3D-engines have used the 16-color-mode, and there you had one bit more for green. Using this color mostly, there was already some kind of consistency.
I know it's all made in a hurry, but when you enter the first level of CSB3D, the plants there, they are 'overcolorized' - compared to the rainy surroundness. They look like plastic. Think like a raytracer works. The color of an item is just how it reflects the influence of the lightbeams that meets it. (Maybe even use a real raytracer to check what it makes out of a scene).
Also - take the age of items in your mind.

[Chaos-Shaman]

well.... who would not try to make their work none existant in efforts other than a taught skill from a guild of masters of programs...