Still better than every other entry and my questionable attempt. Jazzes gun looks a bit strange, though,

ripped art is boring

Family walks in when you are starting up JJ2
"Why, Timmy! What on earth is on your computer?"
"MOM! I can explain O_O"

Small update: we actually have working code for this now. It was kind of an untested theory before, but right now when I boot up JJ2 I'm actually seeing custom graphics, albeit ones that color reduced pretty poorly into the menu palette, so please keep that detail in mind...

You should change it again :) because you have wrote Epic Games instead of Epic Mega Games.

EDIT: I understand it's not wrong, that Epic Games is from Epicgames site. So it's good.

...That's because it's no longer Epic Mega Games. Gee, does it really matter?

EDIT: It's late for me to say this, but I really think if players going to rip art, it should be limited within the official Jazz Jackrabbit universe. I don't care if you add JJ related attire to some character of another franchise, it still doesn't count. Bonnie may be created by Dean and all (the guy who designed Lori and the cutscenes), but she has nothing to do with the Jazz Jackrabbit universe. Erotic stuff doesn't belong to JJ2 either.

Is it possible to have separate splash screens for TSF+ and 1.23+?

I think so.

Behold a splash screen made by my friend Lolo!

Here is the PNG extracted from the original vector graphics made with Inkscape:
[IMG]http://www.frigory-turin33.fr/special/jj2/Lolo-Splash-TrueColor.png[/IMG]

Following, what we could obtain if you were able to change the palette for the splash screen:
[IMG]http://www.frigory-turin33.fr/special/jj2/Lolo-Splash-CustomPal.bmp[/IMG]

And finally what we have with the menu palette:
[IMG]http://www.frigory-turin33.fr/special/jj2/Lolo-Splash-MenuPal.bmp[/IMG]

…
But I think Lolo can improve he last one manually (because this one was generated automatically).

Is that automatic vectorization from raster images in the background there? It looks pretty good on the Carrotus graphics, but I'm not wild about the JJ2 logo, even without the strange lighting.

Why would somone use gradients a basis for shading for something that's meant to be for an 8-bit pallette? That's asking for bad-looking colour loss. Can people just complete the rest of the pic with the 8-bit method, it saves so much time messing around in the end. Sketching on paper is fine, but when it reaches the colouring stage, some thoughts about limited colours should be applied. Do people really have that much of a problem doing pixelart?

Also, pls save in PNG again after converting to bmp. BMP is large. There's even some programs/online utilities out there that can reduce the colours in PNGs, probably much better than how BMP does automatically.

Another nitpick is that is looks pretty stiff. It tries to look dynamic, though ends up looking awkward, because it doesn't execute anatomy very well (yes, it helps with cartoons at times) as well as lacking a proper line of motion. They don't meld well with the background either, it feels thrown in, because it completely ignores the perspective between where the characters are placed. Spaz appears to be a giant, and I don't have a clear idea of what he's doing. Jazz and Lori's hands appear to be the same, even though Jazzes are actually bigger (and for a good reason, male hands are bigger). The way the hands are drawn doesn't look like they're grabbing onto anything, probably because I don't see any knuckles implied, they just...get thinner. I could go into more critique, but I think that's enough for now. I've probably used a bunch of terms that are obscure to many.

Sorry for going into evil art-critic mode. I am also critical of my own work.

Light source seems really displaced. Fix the JJ2 logo. With palette fixing it is definitely better than any splash screen I saw before.

Definitely the best one so far IMHO, though the Jazz logo and the Epic logo need their lighting fixed.

Though I must say there is some truth in Treylina's remark that such extensive use of gradients is somewhat courageous if you're bound to a specific palette. The error dithering is all over the place.

Thanks for your constructive replies. A new version is under “construction”. I may submit it during the week.

I'll leave all attempts at drawing the main screen to those above me that are good at art, but if anyone wants a quick Epic Games logo that fits with the palette and is kinda flat instead of "best-match" fitted to the palette:

[IMG]http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/8052/9jo0.png[/IMG]

You know, I'd kind of prefer the old Epic logo. The game was made when the company still used that one, after all. A bit of pandering to us nostalgic old ones doesn't hurt ;)

Also, again, the fact that JJ2 won't run properly on Windows 8 is a very valid reason to ignore the eye-exploding ugly new Windows logo.

Eye explodingly ugly :D. This is why Steve Ballmer is stepping down as CEO of Microsoft. ;)

I like your friend's splash screen, French. Colors are vibrant and playful. It looks like a design you might see on a jewel case.

I do think that Lori's clothes are kind of weird fitting though. That, and the logos are a bit off. I'm all for Linux, but the way the WINE logo is tacked over the Windows 8 one doesn't look classy. The Windows 8 logo itself is... Yeah as Jerry said, eye explodingly ugly, but that's Microsoft's fault XD.

*edit*

I think my submission is broken...

[IMG]http://drawingforward.com/img/jj/2013-09-23-jazz-splashscreen-wip-what-the-crap.jpg[/IMG]

I was working on this when I realized it looks like Jazz is holding Spaz's torso like a gun o.o

Oh, and I'll have Nick's JJ2 title in there for the final image. The blue text is just a placeholder.

:O that's awesome

Yea! (Except for Jazz holding Spaz's torso like a gun, that is...)

Don't make the finished submission JPEG, plz. I think that once you add the gun, it will no longer look like Jazz is holding Spazzes torso. If it still does, move Spaz to the left more. Out of curiousity, will Lori be included? It looks neat so far.

Yeah, the final version will be indexed. I was getting a large file when I exported PNG, which seemed strange because of the limited colors. I've got it sorted now though and have everything working with the JJ2 menu pallet.

Unfortunately, I only included Jazz & Spaz in this picture. I really should have included Lori. I guess its because I only ever play on 1.23. I will have to work something out though.

In the best of all possible worlds, we end up with one great submission with Lori and one great submission without her.

That sounds good. I think I'm done for now. I've just spent the last 10+ hours turning this...

[img]http://drawingforward.com/img/jj/2013-09-24-jazz-splashscreen-fullbright.png[/img]

Into this...

[img]http://drawingforward.com/img/jj/2013-09-24-jazz-splashscreen-finished.png[/img]

Let me know if there's anything I missed, though.

Oh yeah, and here's the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 + logo I used if anyone needs it. Its a bit fugly around the edges, but it looks ok once it is scaled down.

http://drawingforward.com/img/jj/jazz2plus-indexed.png

Wow, that really looks incredible! Those 10+ hours you spend on it are well worth it.

I O+ it. Incredible! And we even got a JJ2+ logo as a bonus ^^

Though I'm still not sure about the Windows 8 logo there... It doesn't really seem to fit in. I think the new Epic logo looks better than the old one in this case, but maybe you could do away with the Windows logo entirely.

Yeah, I was having a hard time making it fit in with anything. I did my best and the Windows 8 logo has defeated me. I just can't fix that kind of ugly.

Maybe I could put a J2O logo and URL there instead.

J2O doesn't really have a logo :( I'd say just leave the corner empty, so we can appreciate Jazz's left foot better ;)

Looks wonderful!

How about moving the Epic logo into the bottom right instead?

I also think I prefer the JJ2+ logo (O+) on the top layer, instead of being behind ears. Also, maybe try giving the Epic logo the same white border, and see how it looks?

Maybe add Stroke 1px with black color to the Windows logo, like it's on Epic's logo?

This is the best JJ2 illustration I ever saw. Can you tell us what you used for motivation? :)

Wow, that is awesome. It would be great to see that every time I start up JJ2. :)

Looks awesome! But for the life of me, I don't get why we would change to the Epic Games logo and the Windows 8 logo. Epic Games have never had anything to do with JJ2, now have they? And Windows 8 makes it seem like JJ2+ wouldn't run on older versions of Windows, eventhough it probably runs the best on XP

Wow hare! That splash screen literally took my breath away for a while! :D
All the way from sexy bunnies to something so awesome!

I can really see 10+ hours of work in that! I'm on vacation now, but can't wait to find the new plus release when I get back

I'm sorry, I don't like the TSF submission. It feels too off. If only my art skills weren't despicably limited (I am bad at hands, perspective and I refuse to do the hands-behind back crutch cliche). Though if I really get my arse off I could try. I had a somewhat concept sketch from 2 weeks ago, though when I cut out parts to the point it became something more basic and uninspired, I have doubt in myself of improving in time.

The 1.23 entry is nice, though jazz appears to be missing the insides of one of his ear, and his tail looks kinda unfinished (or maybe it's just me).

[IMG]http://s15.postimg.org/qxk6s2j4r/Picture_19.jpg[/IMG]
EDIT: Here is the "concept" doodle. Featuring special guest, hedgehog mug. It's not what I was going for (my title looks too much like graffiti art, and it was supposed to have a vanishing point, the characters aren't doing anything what I intended to, no plus), so I just consider it a warmup. Disreguard the mediocre cam quality, when I'm confident enough to attempt the final version, it'll be done digitally. Spaz is a bit wonky. I'll sketch up another concept sometime which will be more what I aimed for, though I got to practice some other things.

Well done, Hare! Lolo and I are very impressed!
He tried to improve his vector graphics:
[IMG]http://www.frigory-turin33.fr/special/jj2/Lolo-Splash-TrueColor-Last.png[/IMG]
But as he loves what you did and thinks he cannot draw something better (and he cannot spend too much time at drawing), I think he will give up for a while (unless someone wakes us up).

Still, the question begs: How well does it cope with colour loss? And fur splits don't work that way. When they're drawn that way, they look like they have got shocked by something. Fur splits follow the line of the body. The colour composition is better, and the hands are an improvement, and the figures... the same.

French, sorry, but that tries so hard to look like a JJ Abrams movie, that at best it looks blurry and unfocused.

I made this somewhat lousy attempt to improve upon the Windows logo by using the Microsoft flag instead. It's menu palette compatible, and at least looks slightly less ugly now. Any more skillfull artist may improve the shading I tried to make in the edges of the squares. :p

[IMG]http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9175/5tej.png[/IMG] [IMG]http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7953/yi82.png[/IMG]

Hare's splash screen looks WOWZERS! I'm absolutely stunned in amazement.

Two remarks:
* It's indeed somewhat weird that Jazz's right ear does not have the pink inside.
* I'd either replace the Windows logo with the Epic logo, or fix it somehow.

EDIT: I'd try Slaz's suggestion. Though maybe a little less vivid?

I'd just not put in a Windows logo at all, really. The only reason it's in these concepts is because it's on the original splash screen, and that was more of a "look, we're not a DOS game!" thing, hardly relevant nowadays.

I was working on remaking Slaz's logo, but I forgot to save a lot of work I had done. Fuck it, I'm not doing that again.

In the end, the windows logo isn't even necessary. TSF didn't have one, I recall.