[Mini-tutorial] Backgrounds from photos

[Rebecca Kalista]

So, this isn't strictly speaking VNM-related, but some might find this useful either way (especially if your art budget is low).

Screenshots here: https://imgur.com/a/GK5QQ (the "final" art would be the picture at the bottom).

It's actually feasible to obtain somewhat passable artwork just by layering a couple of filters on a given photograph in Photoshop (or similar programs - I'd bet Affinity Photo can pull this off as well).

In this specific case, I layered a Hue/Saturation and a Levels adjustment, as well as a Dry Brush artistic filter. (General reminder: Smart Adjustments Layers are much more powerful than pixel modification, as they allow dynamic adjustments. Use them!)

- The Hue/Saturation adjustment allows one to "draw color out more (or less)". Usually you will only need/want to play with Saturation - higher values draw color out more, lower values draw color out less. Hue adjustments can allow you to change the colors of the picture, but it's a little to blunt for the job (you should adjust colors individually for that).
- The Levels adjustment is used to increase contrast in a somewhat controlled manner. I like high-contrast, so I drew the black-out (black triangle) further right, the white-out (white triangle) further left, and the grey-middle (grey triangle) slightly to the right. As a side note, it's possible to make the picture "flash" less by modifying the output levels, at the bottom of the Levels window.
- The Dry Brush artistic filter is found in Filters > Filter Gallery. This one does two things - it makes the image lean towards "flat colors" with less pronounced edges, and it diminishes the level of detail (thus creating a lowkey "anime" feel). Play around with numbers, and obviously feel free to test the other filters out.

This is made in CS6, but you can expect similar results from most versions of Photoshop (and probably most serious image editing softs, really).

"Obviously", you will probably prefer to do this with photos that don't feature human/animal beings (unless you're okay with stylistic dissonance, or are using a fitting aesthetic for your sprites). This will also work better with outdoor photography.

But yeah, for backgrounds, this can be a neat trick depending on your resources and goals.