27th December 2023, 9:53 PM
I learned to do art growing up here on PR2. I even used some printouts of drawings I did here to apply for my middle school's advanced art class, and got in! I have never been good at drawing from my head, I've always been a referencial artist. And yes, a lot of the things I've drawn on levels are easily findable on google images (this was a scandal of sorts back in the day). I think referencing images is a great way to amp up your own levels. We aren't profiting off of our levels, it is just for us and we are publishing levels, not artwork. The art is just a part of the level. Which leads me to my first tip.
Find a reference! My level had an empty space that could use a nice drawing, so I searched for the right reference. I found this gem.
![[Image: lemon-mold-sliced-isolated-white-backgro...585038.jpg]](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/lemon-mold-sliced-isolated-white-background-34585038.jpg)
![[Image: lemon.PNG?ex=659a613a&is=6587ec3a&hm=af9...y=lossless]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/528696365199523851/1180788223954391080/lemon.PNG?ex=659a613a&is=6587ec3a&hm=af969e1c7c06b5ea6df1b71c77a88f55368386c849575f9257811db83f26a9b7&=&format=webp&quality=lossless)
It is perfect for my level, so now I just need to draw it. Luckily, the composition is pretty easy, otherwise I'd need this next step.
Trace! Tracing is taboo with art, but I think it should only really be taboo for art students. art students should be learning to draw from sight. We are not art students, we are Platform Racers! Back in the day, for a complex drawing, I'd print out a photo of what I wanted to draw and tape it to my computer screen, then trace an outline to start with. If I were to do that now, I'd use a transparent overlay of the image to trace it.
Color Picking! We are very blessed today with the updated color picker. Gone are the days when we only had the 150 colors to choose from. But what a lot of people didn't realize back then, is that you could paste in color hexcodes to bring in way more colors. Now our color picker is much better, we have everything we need. almost.
Back in the day, Clairehof gave me some tips. She would upload her reference into paint and use the eye dropper tool to get the hexcodes of the colors in the reference, then paste them into the PR2 color picker. That was revolutionary for me.
Now, I have an eyedropper extention on my browser, so I'll take a few samples from my reference and post them in a note's page and label them so I can come back and find the same color again later. I'll take a sample for the main color, the shadow color, and the highlight color. Now I just need to put the colors where they go. It is a make you own paint by number.
The first thing I did after getting that tip from Clairehof was this:
![[Image: dfri2sy-b2c74295-cff1-4932-9bd8-dae12a77...hmPmuOs8zM]](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/fe81a72f-3a08-4a65-ba22-e96ecb260966/dfri2sy-b2c74295-cff1-4932-9bd8-dae12a774d00.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ZlODFhNzJmLTNhMDgtNGE2NS1iYTIyLWU5NmVjYjI2MDk2NlwvZGZyaTJzeS1iMmM3NDI5NS1jZmYxLTQ5MzItOWJkOC1kYWUxMmE3NzRkMDAuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.Psi505dQo0k5hp8MxZ_7fDjv5ogu1hzxGhmPmuOs8zM)
I found an image I liked. I traced it. I got the exact colors from the reference, and painted them where they went in PR2.
Another thing I'll do when I'm not exactly drawing something, but just decorating, is I'll look up a color palette and adjust colors from there. By starting with a color palette, I know that all of the colors I use are going to look good together.
![[Image: b29dd6c65ccc4923147a4cf29623e243.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/b2/9d/d6/b29dd6c65ccc4923147a4cf29623e243.jpg)
Be aware and careful with the Atmospheric Effect in the game. The color you have as the background will effect the colors in the layers. Especially layers 2 and 3. In my drawing of the Lemon, I drew it when I had a neutral gray background, but at the end, I changed it to be brown/orange. This made the Lemon look more orange than it used to because it is being effected by the background color. When drawing in farther back layers, I'll still use an eyedrop tool to get the color, but I'll use the ingame color picker to raise the intensity of the color so it has more pop when I use it.
Let me know if you have any questions. A part 2 is possible, and I may need to expain some things more clearly. I am also horrible at spelling, so there is that too.
Find a reference! My level had an empty space that could use a nice drawing, so I searched for the right reference. I found this gem.
It is perfect for my level, so now I just need to draw it. Luckily, the composition is pretty easy, otherwise I'd need this next step.
Trace! Tracing is taboo with art, but I think it should only really be taboo for art students. art students should be learning to draw from sight. We are not art students, we are Platform Racers! Back in the day, for a complex drawing, I'd print out a photo of what I wanted to draw and tape it to my computer screen, then trace an outline to start with. If I were to do that now, I'd use a transparent overlay of the image to trace it.
Color Picking! We are very blessed today with the updated color picker. Gone are the days when we only had the 150 colors to choose from. But what a lot of people didn't realize back then, is that you could paste in color hexcodes to bring in way more colors. Now our color picker is much better, we have everything we need. almost.
Back in the day, Clairehof gave me some tips. She would upload her reference into paint and use the eye dropper tool to get the hexcodes of the colors in the reference, then paste them into the PR2 color picker. That was revolutionary for me.
Now, I have an eyedropper extention on my browser, so I'll take a few samples from my reference and post them in a note's page and label them so I can come back and find the same color again later. I'll take a sample for the main color, the shadow color, and the highlight color. Now I just need to put the colors where they go. It is a make you own paint by number.
The first thing I did after getting that tip from Clairehof was this:
I found an image I liked. I traced it. I got the exact colors from the reference, and painted them where they went in PR2.
Another thing I'll do when I'm not exactly drawing something, but just decorating, is I'll look up a color palette and adjust colors from there. By starting with a color palette, I know that all of the colors I use are going to look good together.
Be aware and careful with the Atmospheric Effect in the game. The color you have as the background will effect the colors in the layers. Especially layers 2 and 3. In my drawing of the Lemon, I drew it when I had a neutral gray background, but at the end, I changed it to be brown/orange. This made the Lemon look more orange than it used to because it is being effected by the background color. When drawing in farther back layers, I'll still use an eyedrop tool to get the color, but I'll use the ingame color picker to raise the intensity of the color so it has more pop when I use it.
Let me know if you have any questions. A part 2 is possible, and I may need to expain some things more clearly. I am also horrible at spelling, so there is that too.
