Hi guys. I need some sprites for the side/bottom bar in a rts; preferably artistic, marble-like, and 7 of them, but I could do with 1 decent looking one for a demo. If you can do nice-looking 2D art I''d be very pleased for some help. Iantanafon@ix.netcom.com is my email addy, and for msn messenger. Contact me if you can help please, and thank you. The World As We Know It is gone. Get ready for the Revelations. Mouse

Paint Shop Pro is a great tool for making this stuff, at least at the simple level I use it at.
Use the vector tools ( rectangles, lines, etc ) to build a cut out of your sidebar. Then use the magic wand to select the big contigous space surrounding each of your areas. Flood this area on a seperate layer with medium gray, use the 3d shadowing tools to make it look right.
make this layer 50% transparent ( as a start. )
create a layer under it with the artwork you want on the panel
Finally, select the original cutout area, invert it and create a masking layer above all the other layers. flood the inverted selection with your MAGIC PINK color. Hide the vector layer.

To do marblish effects, use the add random noise and motion blur, and swirl effects.

This procedure works for me ( i'm not an artist ) because it is so procedural. if i want to experiment or change anything, i just change the original vector shapes and reselect everything. To put special effects like wires or whatever on it, create a seperate layer to apply them as well. The results don't look as cool as professional artwork, but they don't look nearly as hideous as my hand done work.



[edited by - SoakinKittens on March 13, 2002 6:47:37 PM]