Art In Pinkerton

Category: plans

  • Blakestone HD textures sneak peak

    Blakestone HD textures sneak peak

    Recap

    I have been working on remastering the textures from Blakestone on and off for several years now, initially dumping and light upscaling them for ease of redesign. From there, I started hand drawing over the old textures adding detail and transforming a blurry pixel-y mess into what you see below.

    A key goal is to maintain the spirit of the original pixel art and only add detail that enhances or complements the composition.

    ORIGINAL
    Alpha concept drawing

    The human NPCs are a pain in my rear

    Some of the images, such as above, are fairly straightforward and are easy to interpret for the new design. However, some of them aren’t the greatest in the original format or so low resolution that they require more creative effort to bring to life. The scientist’s face, for example, was a blobby mess that lacked defined detail in key places. I had to envision what the new one would look like and that too a lot of back and forth experimenting to get the vibe I wanted.

    Setbacks

    I do most of my work on my IPAD. I somehow corrupted a couple of my sprite sheets that I had already completed (but like a dummy hadn’t exported yet). That was about 150 completed textures (several of the monsters) of the thousand or so I’m redoing. It was a brutal motivation killer. I had to put the project aside for a while till the pain of it faded and I regained motivation.

    Now

    As with the TES Arena Depixelization Project (ADP), I’m slowing picking steam back up. I am also long overdue for a few sneak peaks. Please note, that these are still alpha. The combination of trying to keep the same shape and vibe of the amateurish looking originals and the fact that my versions are drawn on the IPAD “look” may seem slightly not ready for primetime (i.e., like a kids notebook drawings) but I have some post drawing steps to take to up the quality some more.

    SIDE NOTE: Some of these monsters are incredibly terribly designed. I wanted to change a few because of how childish they looked but decided to stick to the original version. So the goofy monsters are still goofy.

    Progress

    I have quite a bit done, most monsters have been completed or final designed. The initial security NPC is done, the scientist is 1/2 the way complete, but the other three are still pending. All miscellanceous textures are complete. The walls will be last but are the least difficult to fix.

    Enjoy

    Martin

  • ADP lives….yet again…well, technically it never died.

    THE RIGHT NOW

    Let’s just ignore the fact I haven’t posted in quite a bit (or that I started this project 13+ years ago). To be fair, I have released three other Arena mods in the meantime (more on that in the future).

    I recently started digging back into the Arena Depixelization Project (ADP), my graphics replacement mod for The Elderscrolls: The Arena, and I have been hitting it hard.

    I’m doing a recorded playthrough looking for missed art in the game and general quality control. This has led to me not only finishing missing textures but also tweaking (and sometimes overhauling) 90% of the work already done. I guess over 13 years of game art fiddling has matured my style slightly.

    THE SWAMP

    I first had to corral all my work over the last decade+. I had 7 different versions saved through the year and some files went missing so I had to extract them all compare and then pull any missing forward. This project was quite a mess (no file discipline at all, the shame). Then I had to relearn the tools, but that didn’t take too long. Then I created a new working directory and archived all the rest to clean up my sloppy work.

    In just 2 weeks, I have probably edited almost 100 textures already. As I record my playthrough, I save when a missing (or ugly/mismatch) texture is found and either fix it ASAP or catalog a bunch at once to do in a surge.

    GALLERY

    Here’s a slew of screenshots I made from the most recent version.

  • 2023 update…so…yeah..it’s been a smidge

    Peek-a-boo! I’m back and I have a ton of updates on the art side and just a few on the writing side. Lots of life changes slowed me down for a while. Though this might be a boring update, I’ve been gone long enough that it needs addressing. Sorry 😛

    THE WEBSITE

    It’s about time for an update to this website for 2023. Let’s hope I can make the next post before another 2 years pass. Though, I would like to transition to another web service eventually, but I’m not sure when that will happen. I need to figure out how I want to organize all the posts and what kind of menu it will have. I’ll keep this URL though. I kind of dig it 😉

    The idea is to make ArtInPinkerton.com the central hub for my various online activities and consolidate my nerdy world under one umbrella. Naturally, the key to “big plans” is the carry through and that can be the tricky part. A recent programming revelation has made me realize that the biggest barrier for me is the logistic preparations that have to take place before I get to do the thing I actually want to do. For example, I find WordPress clunky and the thought of having to wrangle it for when I write an entry often is enough to put me off.

    Right now, I want this website to highlight my various artistic endeavors and hobbies. Off the top of my head, that will include:

    1. Writing and stories
    2. My YouTube channel Martin Saves the Universe (video game play and modding)
    3. Painting and miniatures
    4. Boardgaming
    5. Podcast (Nerds and Normies, no longer active)
    6. Technology
    7. Other

  • Cork on a fork

    Cork on a fork

    This is Jiub. Jiub is the first person you see in Morrowind. He also has a fairly unique head so it was fitting to use him as my first experiment. Easy to test. This Jiub, being my first attempt, is a little crude compared to the later images. The transition as I refined the style is apparent. So here’s what I did.

     

    55fiqg
    I was watching you sleep

    Resize

    The initial resolution was 256 x 128 pixels. That’s not a lot of room for sharp lines and clarity. Additionally, it’s a good idea to work big and then shrink as needed so I resized the image to 2048 x 1024, keeping the aspect ratio but increasing the size by 8 times. As the fine lines of the borderland style are important, a higher resolution is preferable.  (I tested it when done and shrinking down to 512 x 256 looked OK but 1026 x 512 was ideal for size vs detail).

    Create layers

    I duplicated the image into two additional layers. I do this so I can have a pristine backup, a working copy and high pass copy (if needed). The high pass allows me to see the areas needing outlines more clearly. I don’t always use it but it’s handy if needed. I created a new layer that is transparent to be my actual canvas for the black outlining. Showing but underneath the active layer would be the working copy or the highpass copy to use as the base reference.

    Outline

    tx_b_n_dark elf_m_h09
    Jiub 1.0…crude untapered thick lines

    Like the video linked in my last post, I started creating outlines highlighting particular feature areas that stood out for change in shape. My  variation on this style leans more to outlining surfaces with changes in height but not color fluctuations (e.g. later on when I get to tattoos, I likely won’t outline the tattoo.) I looked for distinctive wrinkles and natural feature as well as abrupt marks like the scar.

    As you can see in Jiub 1.0, I failed to refine the lines after I finished outlining. I didn’t use shape dynamics or taper and thin out the lines. Crosshatching was also minimal.

    Check

    Jiub Vanilla Base to Borderland
    NifSkope and Jiub 1.0

    I used a program called NifSkope that lets you see meshes rendered with textures and animation if applicable. It was there that I saw how odd the texture stretched due to the 3d model’s crude animation and UV texture mapping. The eyes looked really weird as the mesh just stretched down a single point to mimic blinking but the texture stretched the area above the eye down with it. The mouth opened up very much like the canadians in South Park. Because of that, I had to go back and adjust the lines to minimize the line bleeding when the textures stretched.  You can also see where the original texture has errors such as the red eye’s inner lower corner bleeding onto the eyelid.

    Tweak

    Because this is a more cartoon-like look, I experimented with using an unsharpen filter on the working copy of the original image to exaggerate the colors and then a smart blur to blend the blemishes away some. Additionally, I added shadows and highlights by drawing on a new layer black and white respectively at 50% opacity and then blurring it to look like light smudging.

    Next time, I show the other, more refined textures I completed AND Jiub 2.0.

    – Martin

    20160606075309_1
    He fell passed out drunk and the guards found a Sharpee

  • Rolling a critical failure

    Windows to the soul

    Recently while playing around with “vanilla” (unaltered) Arena, I noticed that the windows turn on an off for day and night. I believe this is based on the window color being pure white. In quite a few of the SET files, I had made the windows yellow breaking the on/off effect. It’s an easy fix though.

    Revised city wall and road
    The most exciting screenshot EVER!

     

    Borked Windows

    Caveat: I’m a hopeless tech nerd.

    I like trying out software and technology. Things like text-to-speech, software debugging, emulators, etc. are like candy to me. Why is this on an art blog….err i mean…collegiate journal? Because sometimes I mess stuff up. This time I was trying to get a Windows XP/7 program that doesn’t like Windows 10 to install on my computer. In doing so, I borked my login so that it wouldn’t accept my password. From that point started a chain of events (all my own doing) to fix it that made the situation worse and worse. Finally, I couldn’t even boot my machine. Seriously, I’m pretty good with tech but on this day I rolled a “1”.

    Long story short, I recently had to wipe my boot drive (no important files were on there but the OS) and install a clean Windows 10. I tried to cold turkey eliminate using GIMP since I already have Photoshop. That didn’t work too well. Photoshop is different enough that some very common things I was used to doing all the time in GIMP didn’t work. I’ll probably start watching some intro videos to see how Photoshop works before I try that again.

    All in all, not my proudest tech week (or two).

    MIF

    I did some research into the MAP files for Arena. However, I want to compile it in a cohesive manner so that post will wait till I feel it is ready enough. My hope is that the information that I have uncovered might help others if they decide to “crack” the format.

    Martin

  • State of the Blog 2016

    Went away

    I know, I know. I have been away for some time. 2015 was a very difficult year in the non-digital realm and some things had to slide to offset the stress.

    Came back again

    However, despite my my absence on this blog, I was actually quite busy on the graphic arts side of the house. I either oversaw or personally completed several projects for coworkers and friends. One of which, I am extremely proud of (more on that hopefully in a future post…i.e. one that isn’t written late at night when I should be sleeping).

    It’s all fun and games

    While I didn’t really work on the Arena Depixelization Project too much (it had to slide too), I was involved with design aspects for a couple of mods focusing mostly on 3D layout & set design and got some interesting practice on cooperative project management as a graphic artist/designer. I even every so slightly fiddled with 3D modeling.

    Accelerate to 88 mphs

    I have Photoshop now, guess I should actually work on learning how to use it.The problem is that I’m so used to GIMP, Photoshop seems downright alien to me. I imagine my warm up period will probably not be the speediest.

    I want to experiment a little with my art projects. I am thinking of “remastering” some of my very very early and juvenile (i.e. decades old) artwork. I don’t know how it will turn out but at minimum, it seems like a interesting experiment.

    Another similar idea I read about was to take kids artwork and reimagine it. I have a lot of that lying around from over the years and that just seems like a fun concept.

    I guess we’ll see what the year brings but overall I feel healthier happier and more like my old self. I miss my old blog…and I seem to hear a certain collection of 64 x 64 pixel sprites calling my name ;

    –  Martin

  • Picking back up the brush

    Who’s down with ADP…yeah you know me

    After a substantial hiatus for real life, I’m back. My schedule has a lot more free time in it now and I should be able to make substantial progress on the Arena mod in the next few weeks. As of now, I am just 2 or 3 SET files away from reaching ALPHA! Once that is complete, I will be setting up a MODdb page and probably trying to host it on the Nexus mod site.

    The project will stay ALPHA until all door and ground files are done. I do hope to have all the font files and interface done too, but that is more of a nicety (most are already done though). Once ALPHA 2 is out that I will be going back and reevaluating each texture. I started this so long ago and have come quite a ways that some of them are not to my standard or vision anymore. As it is already, I occasionally retool one here and there but I plan to do a comprehensive review.

    Taking the plunge

    I finally gave in and purchased Photoshop (well subscribed really). I don’t anticipate being very proficient in it for awhile since I have been using GIMP for years and it’s so different. For the Arena project, this isn’t really a problem. It doesn’t require fancy functions. I am literally coloring individual pixels from a 256 palette. The biggest obstacle their is my creativity and not the tools.

    Some recent work below (really like how the first one turned out)…

    – Martin

    WALLH MINEA MINEE WALLG

  • “I’m not dead yet!”

    Not quitting

    Real life (RL) hits most enthusiast artists and game modders extra hard at some time or another, as it did me (I had the trifecta of work, family, and computer problems). Since most of us do this for fun, we have fit it into our leisure time. Some days, there is practically no free time. But more often, there is time but because of RL, the mental (and/or creative) juice isn’t there. For extended periods of “down time”, the bigger danger is that the interruption and loss of creative motivation might lead to loss of interest in a project altogether. This is especially dangerous for larger projects where the modder/artist might reflect on the enormity of the work that still needs to be done or if a newer shiny bauble attracts them.

    Motivation

    The source of motivation plays a big factor in overcoming this kind of stagnation. In my case, the motivation is internal based (i.e. I do mods that I want to see). Additionally, I’m not modding current games so the pressure from the community isn’t a factor either. My projects are my COUNTER to RL stressors. I relax when I’m editing pixel by pixel. Each of my projects is an experiment in artistic design for me.

    The Torchlight mod was my first real art mod and there are many things I look back on that showed my inexperience. However, I actually get energized at the thought of seeing how it would look now that I’m (slightly) more skilled. I guess what I’m saying is that if you do projects for yourself first and you enjoy it, it’s more likely that you’ll come back after these “unplanned pauses”. I’ve been working most of mine for several years (on and off) and haven’t ever considered abandoning them.

    NOTE

    I originally planned to detail my work on some fire walls for Arena but this kind of just happened. Since I want this webpage to chronicle my artistic processes, I rolled with it. Long story short, sometime this week I’ll do that post 😉

    – Martin

  • Dude, where’s my post

    Slight pause

    Due to a fairly high RL tempo at the moment, I haven’t been able to work on ADP for a little while. I foresee having a little more time by the 2nd week of December. I don’t care for extended delays (well more than a month) so as soon as I can, I’ll be back at it. I’m eager to finish ADP and start my next (on hold) project.

    Who told them?

    I created this website so I can chronicle all my artistic  (and design) endeavors, not just game related stuff. However, I haven’t been highlighting my other artwork. I get asked occasionally by friends to create images now and then.  In that vein, I am going to create a general art section and will similarly list my thought processes and/or techniques behind how I created each image. Additionally, I want to do a retro section of old (some pretty juvenile) artwork from my younger years.

    Up to bat

    I have two non-game related projects in the works right now: an logo and an emblem. The prototype of the logo is below but I only have the concept for the emblem mapped out right now. I’ll detail my work on the logo below soon.

    – Martin

    tigerworking1