December/January Challenge " Dead of Night"

[jtougas]

I love your trees! Very spooky.

However, in my opinion, the spookiness is kinda lost with the people and objects, since they're so much brighter (and kinda seem to be floating above the ground in a couple of cases). I wonder if making them a bit dirtier looking would help. Maybe have them cast some shadows, too.

Overall, though, I like the scene. Looks like something I've run into in a game....

I think your right the scene is ok but the characters don't have any "life" I'm currently redoing this whole thing and trying to do all my own elements. (this outta be good.. ) And yes I'm sure we've all had the "spooky" campsite encounter at some point..

And here it is my own fire pit (with lousy fire) and my own oddly shaped tent...(aargh what am I doing.. ) o)

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December January Challenge.jpg

[Jaxilon]

I would agree with Savannah, I think if you chill the brightness of the objects it would help a lot.

I would probably first attempt to do this with a layer set on Overlay and loaded with 808080 gray. Then make it darkest farthest from the fire and lightest right near the flames (You can dodge/burn it to do that or just load it with black instead and then lighten it nearest the fire). That might give you a more natural looking glow and make it so even the viewer doesn't want to lurk around the edges.

If you really want to go nuts allow the trees to cast darker shadows on the opposite side from the firelight.

Tip: You do know that in Gimp there is a brush for fire? It works pretty well and then if you manipulate it a bit even better. You might give that a shot.

[Savannah]

I like your fire better than the first one. The first one looked like it had some sort of portal opening in it!

[jtougas]

Ok after my crisis of self-esteem..(I sometimes get myself so worked up that I ruin something that I was actually happy with.. ) I decided to compromise. I'm going for a "feel" here The dark scary campsite surrounded by the dark scary forest. and Savannah and Jax thanks to both of you for your feedback. So here it is I decided to use the objects I had but kept my fire I kind of like it. I followed your advice Jax with the overlay and added a "bright spot" where the fire was pointing. Let me know if I'm on the right track..

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December January Challenge.jpg

[Savannah]

I like it. It definitely makes the woods seem scarier to have them fading to black at the edges, and I think just having that grey over the tents solves the problem of them being too bright. The only thing I'd change is to make the bright spot centered on the fire, since as far as I can tell there's no reason it wouldn't light up everything around it equally.

[jtougas]

Well here is the latest installment. Feels pretty scary to me thanks for the feedback which made me go back and look at this again. I like this version much better. I still like the objects though..

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December January Challenge.jpg

[jtougas]

Added a "key" of sorts
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December January Challenge.jpg

[Jaxilon]

Is that an Ettin right on top of them? That guard is so stinking fired!

I think you are on the right track now with this. I'm not sure how you are doing the light from the fire, procedurally or by hand but keep at it. For instance going down the pathway, if the only light is the fire it's going to get gradually darker the farther you get away. I know I'm being a bit of a pain and I know how much this can take doing it by hand, look at my Yurt map, I did those shadows by hand. Hassle, hassle, hassle, but in the end it really adds to the piece. And don't forget, Tents, animals, people all cast shadows on the ground or on objects behind them.

I haven't even gotten to this part of my entry yet, oh the fun

[jtougas]

Thanks Jax The fire is about 4 layers of me playing around with brushes and opacity and such but I think it looks pretty good. As far as the shadows I see what you mean I'll be working on that next..

[Jaxilon]

Not sure if you are still beating on this but I created a little Gimp tut for doing light. It may or may not suck but it's free to check