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Description
Before the customary rambling, might I suggest some classic Secret of Mana music? As usual, I've tried to recreate that old favorite game feel, and what better to accompany it than authentic, thematically appropriate old video game music? This image isn't as good as the classics, but if I pair them up, I might trick you into thinking it is. (Don't tell yourself you just read that, let's keep it between us, okay?)

So yeah, this picture is yet another attempt at that tone I loved so much in older games, in this case the lush vibrant feel of Secret of Mana, and I think I'm getting closer at least. It's also more practice at cracking the challenge of digital painting that doesn't feel too crisp and digital, in other words trying to be as good as my current digital painting idol Ovopack. How in awe of his skillz am I? The only reason I don't consider his digital painting technique 11/10 is that I re-calibrated the scale to make him the new 10. Unfortunately, his technique is as mysterious as it is awe-inspiring, and I've clearly got a long way to to. So far, I should apologize for bringing his work up in regards to mine.

And finally, the picture is about just creating what I'd want to make games look if it were up to me. (Which isn't the case because I'm not good at programming and can't afford to hire a programmer.) As should be abundantly clear, I miss the old colorful and not perfectly realistic style old games had. I miss those cute video game style ponds with the sharply defined, non-marshy edges. And those trees with the relatively compact, dense foliage. On the other hand, I don't really miss the old technical limitations, the need for perfectly tiled graphics and the like, so I left that out. I want to recreate that old intent, but using the capabilities of today's hardware. In fact, ideally a scene like this picture wouldn't be 2D at all but glorious interactive 3D. That's what I'd be doing if I could. Well, eventually. My first priority would actually be the game I wish Minecraft had been, in which case, while I sure would try to kick the GRAPHIX up a notch, and make things more organic where I could, scenery like this just wouldn't be practical. There'd have to a lot more straight edges.

Now, with that all said, and because it's not enough information until it's too much information, you might be wondering about the composition. It's a bit... bland for a stand-alone image I just made for my own artistic fulfillment, right? Well, that's because that's not how this picture started. It was originally done for a person who wanted me to do some backgrounds for their game, so the original composition reflected that application. Unfortunately though, specifics changed and things didn't ultimately work out. However, by that point I had this mostly finished background that I thought was coming alone nicely, so why throw away that work? Thus, I went ahead and revised it to better stand on its own. The original empty dirt clearing was replaced with the flashier looking pond, the original path on the left was continued all the way through, some of the plants were changed, and that lemon of canceled work is now lemonade. And a particular upside is that having been initially designed as an actual game background, it's pretty good for showing what I want games to look like. Furthermore, it was the first time in a while I did a finished image with no concerns in mind except for how I wanted it to look. As well as how much it was falling short of that, dang this is taking too long, I"LL NEVER BE AS GOOD AS THE GREATS, HOW DOES OVOPACK DO SO MUCH BETTER WITH LESS DETAIL, utter despair... And finally finishing it. You know, standard art routine of idea, work, change stuff, more work, grapple with self-doubt, better call it done otherwise perfectionism will make me work on it forever. Oh, and of course trying and failing to color correct it so it looks the same on my newer main monitor as it did on my old Cintiq, where it had a subtly warmer feel I just can't replicate. I'm thinking that until I can get a newer one, I'm just going to use it for drawing and color on the main monitor. So as usual, I need more money. Wonder if I'd have any luck on Patreon...

Description
Before the customary rambling, might I suggest some classic Secret of Mana music? As usual, I've tried to recreate that old favorite game feel, and what better to accompany it than authentic, thematically appropriate old video game music? This image isn't as good as the classics, but if I pair them up, I might trick you into thinking it is. (Don't tell yourself you just read that, let's keep it between us, okay?)

So yeah, this picture is yet another attempt at that tone I loved so much in older games, in this case the lush vibrant feel of Secret of Mana, and I think I'm getting closer at least. It's also more practice at cracking the challenge of digital painting that doesn't feel too crisp and digital, in other words trying to be as good as my current digital painting idol Ovopack. How in awe of his skillz am I? The only reason I don't consider his digital painting technique 11/10 is that I re-calibrated the scale to make him the new 10. Unfortunately, his technique is as mysterious as it is awe-inspiring, and I've clearly got a long way to to. So far, I should apologize for bringing his work up in regards to mine.

And finally, the picture is about just creating what I'd want to make games look if it were up to me. (Which isn't the case because I'm not good at programming and can't afford to hire a programmer.) As should be abundantly clear, I miss the old colorful and not perfectly realistic style old games had. I miss those cute video game style ponds with the sharply defined, non-marshy edges. And those trees with the relatively compact, dense foliage. On the other hand, I don't really miss the old technical limitations, the need for perfectly tiled graphics and the like, so I left that out. I want to recreate that old intent, but using the capabilities of today's hardware. In fact, ideally a scene like this picture wouldn't be 2D at all but glorious interactive 3D. That's what I'd be doing if I could. Well, eventually. My first priority would actually be the game I wish Minecraft had been, in which case, while I sure would try to kick the GRAPHIX up a notch, and make things more organic where I could, scenery like this just wouldn't be practical. There'd have to a lot more straight edges.

Now, with that all said, and because it's not enough information until it's too much information, you might be wondering about the composition. It's a bit... bland for a stand-alone image I just made for my own artistic fulfillment, right? Well, that's because that's not how this picture started. It was originally done for a person who wanted me to do some backgrounds for their game, so the original composition reflected that application. Unfortunately though, specifics changed and things didn't ultimately work out. However, by that point I had this mostly finished background that I thought was coming alone nicely, so why throw away that work? Thus, I went ahead and revised it to better stand on its own. The original empty dirt clearing was replaced with the flashier looking pond, the original path on the left was continued all the way through, some of the plants were changed, and that lemon of canceled work is now lemonade. And a particular upside is that having been initially designed as an actual game background, it's pretty good for showing what I want games to look like. Furthermore, it was the first time in a while I did a finished image with no concerns in mind except for how I wanted it to look. As well as how much it was falling short of that, dang this is taking too long, I"LL NEVER BE AS GOOD AS THE GREATS, HOW DOES OVOPACK DO SO MUCH BETTER WITH LESS DETAIL, utter despair... And finally finishing it. You know, standard art routine of idea, work, change stuff, more work, grapple with self-doubt, better call it done otherwise perfectionism will make me work on it forever. Oh, and of course trying and failing to color correct it so it looks the same on my newer main monitor as it did on my old Cintiq, where it had a subtly warmer feel I just can't replicate. I'm thinking that until I can get a newer one, I'm just going to use it for drawing and color on the main monitor. So as usual, I need more money. Wonder if I'd have any luck on Patreon...