The Dungeon Blitz Palette

As we bring in new folks, I'm building a vocabulary of more precise and useful ways to say "That's good, but now we need to make it look like Dungeon Blitz."

Today's word: Palette.

Last week I started working with the guys over at Beware of the Art. They got to work on a background art set for the cavern jungle. Here is a sample of their initial work:

It looks good; it doesn't look like Dungeon Blitz. But I didn't have the art vocabulary to explain why.

Then one of our current background guys rescued me:

"Too much contrast. Black lines should be used VERY sparingly, otherwise the characters don't pop. That's the primary issue. Also, the bright stone behind the dark trees and bushes makes it read forward, not backward, and distorts the space. Its nice art, but its also not as "rough feeling" as the stuff I generally do... its also more fun and cartoony, which feels weird in the DungeonBlitz context, which is more DnD in tone."

Then he fixed it:


"I modified the colors, pushing them more in line with the Dungeon Blitz palette. I reduced the contrast, keeping the dark outlines as a one-off color in the same hue as the fill. I also added more secondary shadows to most of the objects. The background rocks felt too blobby and cloudlike, and the whole background plate was too bright, so I redid that.

More DnD, less cartoon..."

Nice. Armed with this I went back to the guys at Beware Of The Art and was much clearer with my feedback, and now we are on to the next scene.

Next time: Line.