Art Experiment

[Shiva Indis]

Lately I've been messing around with a vector drawing program, trying to reproduce the kinds of geometric designs that are all over the place in Lunar's art. I wanted to share my inaugural effort with everyone, so...



It's based on one of the elements in the tapestry that Alex and Luna are standing on in the cover of the SSS artbook, which you can check here: http://dmd-sales.com/artbooks/4048527738.jpg

I was thinking about using it in a webpage layout, but I'm in the process of changing my mind and starting over. I thought it came out pretty well, but I don't know what to do with it now... ::shrug::

[Sonic#]

I think it looks nice. I'm a big fan of geometrical forms and such. I see your problem with using it, though. It seems like it would either require building a whole design around it, or having that as the dominant part, which... well, it's shiny, but it's not golden like the sun. I can't see it being central.

Nonetheless, intriguing!

Is there any significance to the use of lighter and darker blue? It seems haphazard, but at the same time has a sort of balance for me, in the sense that it tends to be all around proportionally.

[Agawa]

Wow, it's quite lovely.

I think the first thing that strikes me is that the balance and texture is
nice to look at. (Now I sound like the hosts on "Antiques Roadshow"!) Either way,
it can be quite difficult to create pleasing designs, and this one
looks great.

[localflick]

I really like it too. There's a lot of symbolism in the designs that appear in the Lunar games, (like Lucia's pendant representing the relationship between the sun and the moon) and to me this looks like a representation of the wind.

Personally I love patterned designs and fractals so I'm drawn to it. As far as integrating it into a web layout, it might look good if it overlaps corners (joints? I'm not sure what to call them) but my web design layouts are usually very basic, and I'm not really sure how to use it either. Based on the design of Lunar-net, I think it's safe to say that G1 could probably see more potental for how to use it. What vector progam did you use?

[Shiva Indis]

Hm... It's been a while since I looked at this. Thanks for giving me your impressions!

I used an open source program called Inkscape for the project. My computer is not very friendly with it, but beggars can't be choosers.

Since this spiral element is on a circular blue field in the source image, it looks like a Blue Star motif. The whole Blue Star motif would be hard to integrate into a web design, but the dragon and the spiral designs together would probably work. Unfortunately, my attempts on the dragon haven't worked out.

[Jyd3n]

That is quite nice. I have had a rough day and I must say that the designa nd layout is very soothing to the mind.

To me it looks somewhat like the moon opening its arms to embrace those that seek guidance.

thank you for doing this

[Aquaignis]

It looks very cool and all, but I have to say this...What on Earth is everyone talking about? Try reading this really fast.

I think it looks nice. I'm a big fan of geometrical forms and such. I see your problem with using it, though. It seems like it would either require building a whole design around it, or having that as the dominant part, which... well, it's shiny, but it's not golden like the sun. I can't see it being central.

Nonetheless, intriguing!

Is there any significance to the use of lighter and darker blue? It seems haphazard, but at the same time has a sort of balance for me, in the sense that it tends to be all around proportionally.

Who talks like that? What is a vector drawing program?

[Alunissage]

Sonic# talks like that, obviously. It sounds like a semi-quote. He's saying that it's nice, but not strong enough to be a central figure, while being too conspicuous for a small element. With the dynamic of reaching out it wouldn't work stuffed in a corner.

I could perhaps see it as a faint, translucent background almost like a watermark. It's not quite simple enough for a logo, so to speak, but it's the sort of thing I'd see as the decoration on a wall in an RPG. ^^

A vector drawing program is one that draws lines based on mathematical formulas rather than bitmaps. So, for example, if you draw a circle in Illustrator (a very well-known vector graphics program), the program stores that circle as a center point, radius, and stroke thickness. If you scale the circle up it still remains perfectly smooth, because the program is recalculating that circle rather than just making every pixel bigger. This gives you tremendous flexibility because you can do all sorts of interesting transformations on the design and it will remain smooth and scalable. This is in contrast to a raster, or bitmap, design where each individual pixel is saved and manipulated, which leads to approximations and ultimately pixellation (jaggedyness). Drawing a circle in, say, MS Paint and zooming in or maginfying it would eventually show a very blocky "curve".

[Kizyr]

It looks very cool and all, but I have to say this...What on Earth is everyone talking about? Try reading this really fast.

Some of us use big words.

Go to http://www.merriam-webster.com if you need to look anything up. KF

[Sonic#]

Sonic# talks like that, obviously. It sounds like a semi-quote. He's saying that it's nice, but not strong enough to be a central figure, while being too conspicuous for a small element. With the dynamic of reaching out it wouldn't work stuffed in a corner.

Thanks for the translation. XD

But yes, to respond to NextGen... I talk like that. Not all the time, obviously, but when I'm trying to give someone helpful criticism, yes.

[EDIT] Oh, I took it lightly-seriously. Don't worry about it. [/EDIT]

[Aquaignis]

Kizyr, why do you always have to be so rude? When I said, "Who talks like that", it wasn't a serious question.

Sonic#, thank you for not being rude. I hope you don't think I was trying to be.

Lastly, the vectoring looks pretty intriguing. I'd like to see more of them.

[Mei Ling]

I don't get you guys. It looks like toilet paper to me. *shot*

Anyways, it looks quite beautiful and nice, and a nice touch too. Keep up the good work!

[osirus]

its exelent