Graphics, Art history brush

I've come to a point in the making of my game where i really feel that i would like to see how tings are going to look. I've been working only on the engine, but now is the time to start implementing some graphics. So i started thinking of how exactly i would do that. I've tried my best at pixel art some times, and it took me ages to get something better then crap. I really don't have the gift to paint or draw either, otherwise i would start drawing some scetches.

Then i realized that i'm a quite good photographer, and even though i can't really draw stuff in photoshop I'm quite good at editing them.

So i downloaded a random tree from google, and started playing around with the art-history brush. Here is the result.

Original:

<img src="http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/930918/OliveTree.jpg">

New:

<img src="http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/930918/OliveTree%20Night.jpg">

It's not incredibly good, but MUCH over my drawing capacitys. But there are some problems. Usually i don't like games with High-res graphics, since it's impossible to match the characters and animated stuff with the quality of the other graphics. Seriously, braid is the only game i've seen where i actually liked high-res graphics. All effects and spells and weapon and HUD etc has to match too, and allmost no games manages to do that.

But if i would go for this. Are there any other good ways to create art-like graphics without actually being good at art?

Hire an artist. That's one thing you could do, that's what Jonathan Blow did for Braid, too.

Other than that, that style that the Samorost guys used for the Samorost games was mostly based on photographs and relatively simple photoshop editing.

It always helps to know a bit about colors and lighting, though.

Another thing you could do for high res art that'll have a consistent look is to create the art in 3d and render everything out as 2d sprites. You'd still be able to use filters and stuff in the comp to make it look a bit more hand-drawn.

To hire an artist you need a budget... I don't know exactly what it costs, but I'm allmost positive i can't afford it.

The style used for samorost is just flipped out, and it's photos cut together with simple drawings. I really like that style in that game, but it's far from what I'm going for. 3D Isn't my thing either. I can't do it, and most times i don't like 3D graphics in 2D games.

I know the basics about lighting and colors, I just can't draw. So this photoshop thing might just work. I'll try with some other stuff and try to put together a mockup.

if hi res graphics aint your forte, dump the idea for now

making a game hires wont get you anywhere. infact itll make you never finish if you dont have the capacity to make work you like quickly (which takes practice).

id say you should start with low res pixely stuff, or simple graphics . your games will have 10x more of a chance of being completed, and youll be able to make ideas work quickly if youre a graphics oriented thinker (like me).

im speaking from experience here. my projects with simple graphics are alot farther along than the complicated ones.

you dont have to make awesome graphics for a game to be great. If you can make simple coloured shapes - that would be better than bad graphics. Such as games like Dyson, you don't have to have amazing complicated graphics for it to be good.