Tutorials

Custom Decor Tutorial: https://www.lioden.com/images/tutorial.jpg
(This is a large file, be warned!)

Art Style Tutorial: https://www.lioden.com/images/tutorial2.jpg

(Currently Unavailable) Video Form for Custom Decor Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_wuPCZQ5Zs&feature=youtu.be

As for lineart colours, anything close to the following:
1C1309, 1F1812, 1B130C
And so on from that spectrum. Basically dark, greyed out brown. For highlights, I just use a super super gentle white or creamy white.

Custom Decor .PSD Files

These are helpful .PSD files of all the bases and lion layers you may need to work with, just save the file to your desktop and you're good to go. We might add more muties as time allows!
DOWNLOADABLE .PSDs
Age Specific 7,06Mb
Mane Specific 21,1Mb
Primal (v.2) 3,15Mb
Maneless 2,54Mb
Lethal Cubs 2,58Mb
Leopons 3,28Mb
Female Manes + OG Fur 5,13Mb
Dwarfism 3,07Mb
Bobbed Tail 12,6Mb
Smilus 2,3Mb
Felis 3,15Mb
Tigons 3,22Mb
Ferus 3,6Mb
Jaglions 3,3Mb

Art Style Tips

I will provide now links of LARGE images that will help you see how a decor looks like in its bigger, original version.
Lioden style is very painty, and I only re-use lineart-like style for decors I plan to recolour (like a submissive lioness, etc). I think being efficient and fast is what makes me able to produce good quality art in a relatively short time - I ultimately would go insane and would be very slow if I did every decor in such detail I do for main lion art. The point is to just mimic the style to a degree.

BG Halloween
BG Lich Cave
BG Dead Forest
BG Bushveld
BG Rocky Waterfall
BG Flash Flood
BG Storm
BG Kopje
BG Iceberg
BG Southern Wetlands
Moroccan Dunes - Step By Step
Deriba Crater - Step By Step

Owl ; Flying Owl
Namaqua Dove + Butterfly
Toad
Blue Coua
Moth ; Butterfly
Dragonfly
Dorcatherium
Jon Snuh
Baoball AWD
Tropical Headdress
Wolf Pupper
Glossy Ibis Feathers
Chilling Lion
Elephant Ear Plant
Flying Crow
Ground Squirrel
Carcass
Whydah ; Nightingale
Lipard Cub
Pissed off Leopard
Viper ; Horned Viper
Chained Feathers
Aardvark Progress
Crested Coua 1 progess ; Crested Coua 2 progress
Pink Hibiscus Lei
Death Necklace details 1 ; Death Necklace details 2
Lost Human Cub
Rockhopper Penguins
Aging Aardwolf
Hungry Egg-Eater
Angola Colobus
Azazel the Goat
Common Scimitarbill
Augosoma Centaurus
Chilling Apollyon
Charmed Dwarf Lioness
Chilling Apedemak
Art reference for Seer's Hood
Seraphim Veil
Nepheline Wings vs base
Demonic Mask + Whip
Chameleons
Jackson's Chameleons
Dodo, Lesothosaurus & Carcharodontosaurus
Explore - Tefnut & Tefnut - Step by Step
Explore - Erelath
Broken Leopon Battle NPC
Nervous Jaguar Battle NPC
Piebald Snake - Step by Step
Smitten Primal Kitten
Explore - Large Hyena Clan - lineart
Laharu - partial progress for a novel pic
Chuckling Hyenas Battle NPC - Step by Step
Shared by Deertush - White Bunnies - Step by Step
Grandidier's Tufted-Tailed Rat
Fanalukas
Sad Leopon
Congo Toad
Tomato Frog
Narrow Striped Mongoose
Andalusian Horse
Passionate Primal Patootie
Loving Leoponess
Lipizzan Horse - Step by Step
Red Fox - Step by Step
Mediterranean Monk Seal - Step by Step
June - Step by Step soul of Duat - Snake
June - Sketching and measuring of Sagittarius
June - Sagittarius - Wings on and off
June - Ushabti
July - Sitatungas
August - Explore - Parched Golden Jackal
August - Explore - Mysterious Stranger
August - Explore - Dead Crocodile
Casqued Hornbill
Human Allies - Ranger (Female)
Human Allies - Female sketch 1
Human Allies - Female sketch 2
Human Allies - Guardian (Male)
Birthday Cubs - Dwarf
Birthday Cubs - Leopon
Birthday Cubs - Primal
Birthday Cubs - Bobbed and Poly
Glorious Manes
Maritime Pine
Mossy Branches and Mushrooms
Albino Lion - Step by Step
Dinofelis
Manticore Cub
Manticore Cub lineart
Sivatherium - Step by Step
Undead Baboon
Tiger Encounter - Battle + Lineart
Tiger Encounter - Buffalo Dinner + Lineart
Tiger Encounter - Blush
Tiger Encounter - Siberian Friend
Tiger Encounter - Fugitive - Step by Step
Tigon Male - close up
Tigon Female - close up
Tigon Cubs - close up
Snow Leopard - step by step with text
Merry Gray Wolf - step by step
Bengal Tiger - step by step
Big Black Wolf
Few frogs 1
Few frogs 2
Frog, Old Lioness Encounter, Cape Cobra
Brown Hyena Decor - step by step
White Tigon Cub
Pale Chanting Goshawk
Squabbling Scavengers
Starving Young Wildebeest
Jolly Dwarf Lion
Yawning Dwarf Lioness
Smilus Battle Portrait
Smilus Encounter
Ferus mutation preparation size
Flowering Umzimbeet
Murex Shells
Ferus Shaman Encounter
Hen Mask - Step by Step
Powderpuff Tree and Red Knot
V'Kai encounter
V'Kai story picture progress steps
Vash fight encounter progress steps
African Rock Python Decor
Fighting Lions encounter
BG - Lioness in a shade Step by Step
Queen Sago Step by Step
Hanging Human Skeleton
Demiurge designs
February 2019 explore encounter Step by Step - NEW!
2019 Nov. Extinct Birds - NEW!
Two-Banded Chameleon, Khejri Tree, Simbakubwa, Ocelot Gecko - NEW!
Catoplebas Step by Step - NEW!
Protective Piebald Pal - closeup - NEW!
Protective Piebald Pal - shaded, no colours - NEW!
Royal Sphinx Step by Step - NEW!
Royal Sphinx final close up - NEW!
2019 New Chameleon set - NEW!
Adolescent's First Kill - NEW!
Bone Chewing Kudu - NEW!
Stage Closeups of Goat Skull Mask - NEW!
Australian spirit decors - NEW!


Speed Arts / Timelapses
Nervous Jaguar Encounter + Battle picture
Broken Leopon Encounter + Battle picture
Two Owl Decors

Hell BG
Lich BG
Tiger Train - Tree Branches encounter
Timelapse: Twitch livestream recording - Tefnut’s Nebula, Fennec Art Redo (april 28th 2018) SEIZURE WARNING
Timelapse: Twitch livestream recording - November explore encounters (Sept/Nov 2019) SEIZURE WARNING


May Storyline Stuff
Stages of drawing Vashkartzen Decor
Drawing Vashkartzen Banner
Sketches for May Chaptes
May Storyline Chapter 1a
May Storyline Chapter 1b
May Storyline Chapter 2
May Storyline Chapter 3
May Storyline Chapter 4


June Storyline Stuff
June storyline - sketches vs final - Chapter 1 & 2
June storyline - Seth
June storyline - Bast
June storyline - Anubis

Hope these help you see how a thing can look in big size, and when it's sized down to match Lioden's scene, its detail blends well and it fits right in (more or less. I am aware my style also changes over time).

NOW... how about... seeing some dynamic decors on lions? All stages?
Let's get funky! You can now download extra .psd files of decors to check out how they look in large sizes!
Obviously for mane specific decors I spend extra time adjusting the main lion version to all manes.
I apologize for big files, this is the price we pay for transparency data.

DOWNLOADABLE .PSDs:
Primal Mutation lineart details and layers 6,73Mb
Submissive Male 18,5Mb
Submissive Female 36,7Mb
Pregnant Lioness 17,4Mb
Pangolin Armour 32Mb
Owl Necklace 29,2Mb
Meerkat Necklace 24,9Mb
Lich Decors on a Male 13,4Mb
Lich Decors on a Female 16,9Mb
Aging Hyena 16,9Mb
Fiend Horns 24,3Mb
Cedar Tree 14,5Mb
Opal Jewelry 27Mb

+ Something extra
Layer Style lineart cheat for foliage 490 kb

Example how it can look when used on big size originally and on many layers:




Hope it's self-explanatory here - you can be quite basic with the foliage, no need to worry about any lineart, and with enough gentle detail touch after flattening the art can look very good and detailed when sized down!

Brushes Pack

CHECK OUT THE BRUSH THREAD

References?

Our art team found this amazing program - Located here - it features a program that helps you angle a skull and it automatically matches angle references of chosen animals!

Most Common Custom Decor Issues

To make the process of accepting the custom decors even faster and easier, the list below contains the most common rejection reasons. Most of them are simple and easy to correct or avoid. We hope that this list will help you to prepare your decor in the best possible quality without having to spend additional time correcting it. We all want you to enjoy the game and your decors. The more of them are accepted, the better!

1. The outline

This is one of the most common situations. The aim should be to have the outline as similar to the outline of the lion as possible. The lineart is one of the first things that draws attention and makes the decor similar to the Lioden style. The most common issues in this category are:

1. The lineart is too sharp and/or pixelated
2. The lineart is too thick and/or blurry
3. Different colors of the outline
4. The lineart is uneven, fading, or missing

Before you upload your decor for review, check if the outline looks similar to the one of the lion.

2. Art style

All custom decors should fit the semi-realistic style of the game. It happens quite often that the decor looks pretty but it's drawn in a different art style and in consequence, it cannot be accepted even if it is good as a stand-alone artwork. To make your artwork more in tune with the Lioden style remember the following:

1. Check the shading and/or textures. Shading and highlights are adding realism and depth to your decors. Remember to show the anatomy of animals, the curves/edges of the objects, and the features of the materials with shading, highlights, and textures(when needed). Textures are often helpful to fill surfaces of smooth color with detail, which adds realism as well.
2. Anatomy and proportions. It happens sometimes that the decor is rejected as "too stylized" and the reason is that the anatomy and/or facial expressions are based on a completely different style. Usually, more comic-like which is less detailed and more simplified by default. It will be a reason for rejection even if the decor looks pretty as art.
3. "Cel-shading" style. The shading and highlights should be rather soft and blended in order to imitate the Lioden art style. When the borders between various tones and shades are too clear and sharp, the artwork starts to look stylized and may be rejected.

3. General quality

It may sound obvious but it's easy to overlook or forget small details while creating artwork. The most common rejection reasons from this category are:

1. Color spots/lines can be seen outside the lineart
2. Stray pixels outside or within the lineart
3. Lack of contact shadow/ground shadow cast by the objects and/or animals

4. Markings and backgrounds

1. Markings: Per custom decor rules, we don't accept markings as custom decors.
The same applies to any change in the fur design within the outline of the original lion. If you want your decor to be a pattern covering the entire body of the lion, then such a pattern should look artificial (not imitating natural animal patterns but should rather resemble a bodypaint or tattoo).
2. Backgrounds: If you plan to alter the background in any way, it cannot cover more than 50% of the original background, except for the cases when the change has a certain level of transparency.

5. Copyrights

If you want your lion to have some cool accessories or costumes from your favorite game or show, then, unfortunately, it’s impossible to have an exact copy of such a design accepted. You can create a similar design but it has to be significantly different from the original. It applies to the names of the decors as well if they are directly connected to a certain show, movie, or character. Unless the name of the decor isn’t a commonly used name/title etc, then it should be avoided.