Well, KQ3R really inspired me to try and make a really simple AGS game. And I decided "you know what? I always complain about my lack of artistic resources but I have never actually TRIED to do any game art." So I decided to give it a shot. I read some tutorials, examined some of my favorite adventure game art, and started painting in Photoshop. And to my surprise, my first attempt started turning out well. Like, shockingly well considering it was my first try. I made a tree. And it looks pretty OK. (hang on, I'm getting to my actual question)
I also laid down some grass. And I think it looks OK considering the stage it's in - just flat color with a little texture. And I want to go in and start adding highlights and shadows. But here's where I'm running into a wall: I just cannot seem to visualize the contour of the landscape I'm trying to achieve.
So here's my question: Do you guys decide what the contour is going to be first? Or do you just dive in and start making highlights? Other than shadows for objects, how do you decide where to place highlights and shadows?
Take for example this screen from KQ3R:
![Image](http://www.duckwizard.com/images/kq3screen.png)
In the middle there are sort of like "stripes" of highlight and shadow going every which way. It looks really awesome. But if I try to analyze it with my brain, all my brain says is "it's just random stripes!" So, did you decide on where all the hills were going to be, then trace it to the light source in order to calculate where the highlights and shadows go? Or did your artistic spidey-sense just tell you what to do? Because sadly, I don't have one of those!
Thanks,
Jeremy