Finished Raccoon Rocket splash screen

Community Forums/Graphic Chat/Finished Raccoon Rocket splash screen

sswift(Posted 2006) [#1]


So I ended up hiring that artist again to finish up the background for me.

I think it came out nice!

I moved the black bars in some more than they were before, because it looks better. But the background does exist in finished form behind the bars, and is built in layers so that I can rearrange it for website backgrounds or business cards as the need arises.


Naughty Alien(Posted 2006) [#2]
..nice except this black stripes looking a bit out of composition to me..


Picklesworth(Posted 2006) [#3]
Quite nice, quite nice :)

I like how the tip of the rocket lines up with the text, and that it's not using any pretentious 'rocket that's also a T (Ooh, what originality!)' effects.


sswift(Posted 2006) [#4]
Naughty:
Do you mean you think they should be repositioned, or removed? Cause if you mean they should be moved in a little more, I could see doing that. They on't exactly line up with the top of the holes in raccoon and there's a bit of coast and forest at the bottom that looks funny and could be chopped off.


Naughty Alien(Posted 2006) [#5]
I think it will be nice if you remove them...regarding color temperature and color balance, everything is in order except those black areas up and down..completely out of synch with rest of image full of life rich colors..but thats just me..


sswift(Posted 2006) [#6]
Well here's the version without the bars, but I think the bars add interest and convery more of an action feel. Like an in game cinematic. I think it also makes the image easier to scan with your eyes, and makes the text stand out because it sticks out at the edge.




Naughty Alien(Posted 2006) [#7]
maybe like this, except I didnt separate logo text..or maybe something similar..




mrtricks(Posted 2006) [#8]
I did like the widescreen version, until I saw the full screen version. I think it gives much more of a sense of being in a wide open sky. If you are going to go with a blue feather effect though, I'd exclude the rocket trail.

Wicked though! Like it!


Ricky Smith(Posted 2006) [#9]
Very nice and pro looking Title screen.
I like the first widescreen shot better too - it certainly does give a more cinematic quality to it.
What bemuses me is the order of the actual title wording -"Racoon Rocket" - which is the noun and which is the adjective ? You have depicted a Racoon with a Rocket strapped to its back so I'll assume that the central character is a Racoon and not a Rocket ? In this case should it not be "Rocket Racoon". Not really important at all - I was just wondering.


mrtricks(Posted 2006) [#10]
What bemuses me is the order of the actual title wording -"Racoon Rocket" - which is the noun and which is the adjective ? You have depicted a Racoon with a Rocket strapped to its back so I'll assume that the central character is a Racoon and not a Rocket ? In this case should it not be "Rocket Racoon". Not really important at all - I was just wondering.

Actually, Rocket Raccoon does trip off the tongue very nicely...


sswift(Posted 2006) [#11]
Let's not have debates about the name again. I can't use rocket raccoon even if I wanted to because it is a character from old marvel comic books!


sswift(Posted 2006) [#12]
How about this? The bars are less harsh. I moved them in a bit too.




JustLuke(Posted 2006) [#13]
I really like this, except for the earth in the background. The water/grass/trees look a little bit "programmer art"-ish to me. In particular, I *really* dislike the trees.

The Raccoon, clouds and logo are great, though.


Fuller(Posted 2006) [#14]
the trees just need a little more detail. scattered leaf outlines maybe


JustLuke(Posted 2006) [#15]
really? I think that there is no stylistic cohesion between the raccoon and the background.


Weetbix(Posted 2006) [#16]
It looks good sswift


North(Posted 2006) [#17]
I agree:

racoon, clouds, black bars look good

Text looks ok

water/shoreline, trees do not fit into the style


Wiebo(Posted 2006) [#18]
nice! now a game to go with it!


sswift(Posted 2006) [#19]
You folks are way too picky. Those trees are perfectly fine!

Argh! Why am I asking PROGRAMMERS for opinions on art? :-) You guys don't even know what it is that you want changed!

I should post this on CG Talk and see what ARTISTS think.

But anyway, I guess the fuzzy stuff around the bars isn't a big hit then is it? Nobody seems to care. Except the originak artist who thought it made the image less clean. So I guess I'll remove that. :-)


Naughty Alien(Posted 2006) [#20]
..I told you :)


sswift(Posted 2006) [#21]
Naughty:
I'm not sure what you're reffering to. I'm not removing the black bars entirely.

Anyway, for the people who hate the trees, how about if I blur them? Are you happier with them that way?

Here's the original and blurred versions for comparison:







Which looks better?


Torrente(Posted 2006) [#22]
I like the non-blurred version better, the blurred trees make my eyes water.


Fuller(Posted 2006) [#23]
non-blurred. Make the bluriness stop, please!!


Nathaniel(Posted 2006) [#24]
Yes, non blurred is better. This is a very nice spashscreen/logo.


-Bubble Boy


xlsior(Posted 2006) [#25]
I don't think blurryness is bad perse, but you would want to blur them beyond recognition for it to work... right now it just looks out-of-focus.


skn3(Posted 2006) [#26]

(quick edit)

Advise from an artist...

Things in the distance need a lighter shade of contrast. It gives a better sense of depth in your picture.

Your glowing black borders were the best of the three. It makes the scene "brighter". Less of a harsh contrast between the black and the scene.

You may want to soften the edges of the clouds in the distance. That or adjust the contrast/brighteness. Something to give distance differentiating between the clouds at the front. At the moment while the picture depicts a 3d scene, it is very flat.

It might be good to have a plume of smoke exhaust coming from the raccoon's rokcet pack and goes off the screen bottom left, overlapping the black border.


sswift(Posted 2006) [#27]
Things in the distance need a lighter shade of contrast. It gives a better sense of depth in your picture.


Actually I did apply some fog over those trees. But I guess the effect is too subtle. They have a ligth bluish tint as a result.


Your glowing black borders were the best of the three. It makes the scene "brighter". Less of a harsh contrast between the black and the scene.


I thought so myself, but the artist who did the character and the background (which I edited) thought it made the image look less clean. I don't know anymore.


You may want to soften the edges of the clouds in the distance. That or adjust the contrast/brighteness. Something to give distance differentiating between the clouds at the front. At the moment while the picture depicts a 3d scene, it is very flat.


Well I did have a version where I made the three cloud layers sucessively more blurry, and if you'll notice the one with the blurry trees also blurs the clouds. But I can't have blurry smoke and not also have blurry trees. Of course I think the blurry tree naysayers are crazy, because I know from taking photos that blurry backgrounds are pretty. :-) Not only in photos, but in film and games. That's why they use them. If it's blurry you're not supposed to focus on that part!

Anyway your lighter trees look a bit better so I'll see what I can do with that. You made them a bit gray though. I'd make the fog a bit more blue. Reduced contrast is fine but that looks too desaturated. :-)

Oh and the rocket smoke trail? What do you think those clouds are! That's his curving trajectory! The clouds behind him ARE his smoke trail. So I'll see how it looks making the nearest ones overlap the border. But I'm not gonna add even MORE clouds!


Yan(Posted 2006) [#28]
Hehe...As the world and his wife seems to be taking a crack at this, here's (roughly) how I'd have it...



I must say, I'm not a big fan of the trees.


sswift(Posted 2006) [#29]
I just realized the trees are shaded differently from the raccoon. The raccoon uses a hard shading with a very thin gradient whereas the trees use a smooth gradient over the whole surface. Whoops.


skn3(Posted 2006) [#30]
I thought so myself, but the artist who did the character and the background (which I edited) thought it made the image look less clean. I don't know anymore.
I agree without the glow it looks "cleaner" .. but that doesnt need to mean its better.

You do have alot of sharp edges in the picture, so perhaps its a good thing to keep that style, or mix it up with the glow that softens it. All down to which you feel most comfortable with.


Oh and the rocket smoke trail? What do you think those clouds are!


AHHH .. I did wonder about the cloud in the distance. I thought perhaps it was just a strange shape. Lol. I couldnt easily tell that it was a plume. Perhaps the clouds should glow near the flame ? .. I dunno because it naturally makes sense that he is on a rocket so he will be in the clouds. Now that you mentioned it I can see it, but before it was 50 / 50 as to what the clouds were.

I think is mainly due to the missing part of the image caused by the black bars.

(this is getting picky of course. Overall the image looks great and most importantly works for what it was designed for!)

Anyway your lighter trees look a bit better so I'll see what I can do with that. You made them a bit gray though. I'd make the fog a bit more blue. Reduced contrast is fine but that looks too desaturated. :-)


Agreed, they are a little too washed out. I am glad I got that message across about the contrast though. :)

*thumbs up*


Yan(Posted 2006) [#31]
I just realized the trees are shaded differently from the raccoon. The raccoon uses a hard shading with a very thin gradient whereas the trees use a smooth gradient over the whole surface. Whoops.
Actually, I think you can get away with that as you want them to melt away into the background (cartoons do this). The main problem I had with the trees was their size, shape and density.


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#32]
I think it looks fine. It's being way over-analyzed and beaten like a dead horse.


sswift(Posted 2006) [#33]
Everything I post here gets over-analyzed it seems. Par for the course.

But at the same time, just because a piece of art is "good enough" doesn't mean it can't be improved. :-)


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#34]
Just take the background out and have the title and raccoon by itself. Can't go wrong there.

EDIT: Shrink it way down of course. I haven't seen a full screen splash in years. I'm sure they're out there tho.


mrtricks(Posted 2006) [#35]
I quite like the blurry one actually, the shallow depth of field appeals to me. I prefer the more saturated colours to the lightened background. But they're all good :)


*(Posted 2006) [#36]
I would blend the black into the picture the transition between them is waaay to harsh apart from that I like it :)


Buggy(Posted 2006) [#37]
Just wondering... what program did you make this with? It's great... especially the lettering colors and lettering itself.

For my two cents, I liked the biggest bars best, and then no bars at all. The blur makes my head dizzy and my eyes water, and the "lighter" background is an ugly nursing-home green. Stick with vibrant.


sswift(Posted 2006) [#38]
The text was done in Photoshop. Photoshop has an "effects" thing which you can apply to a layer and it allows you to do gradients, glows, bevels, shadows and other things using the layer transparecy to define the shape. Getting a good effect is just a matter of choosing the right settings and sometimes getting creative by using the shadow effects to make glows and vice versa. (You can do this because you can specify their color and the blend mode they use.) To create the effect of light coming from two directions on the letters with one not creating qhite highlights, I think I used an "inside shadow" set to brighten stuff with a certain blend mode and made it a hard shadow and made it far enough in that it matched the bevel. But I forget. The font is 8-Track, with modified C's, and using only uppercase letters I think.