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First of all let me say that I've got to the point with JN5 where I absolutely have to have custom textures on every course I play because the game is nothing for me without fantastic new textures to play with. This is a powerful motivator in making me a texture designer.
I've learned a lot about texture design in my short time pursuing it. My initial attempts were very limited by my lack of ability with PSP and the results were reflected by this. The main thing I've learned is that what we think looks good often doesn't, a realization that comes after a period of time playtesting a texture set. If you think about it, this isn't surprising, as the game on a screen is actually existing in our imaginations, not reality anyway, so a lot of license can be taken with color shades and textures. My first thrill was seeing Wayward Path's custom textures, which opened my eyes to how the game could be livened up by moving away from the same old stock textures. But with time and from some evolution of perception, those textures look very poor to me now, as does the first set I created for the JN5 Resource Center.
I see a lot of people coming up with textures that...OK, I'm going to be honest... make me cringe. I figure that can be chalked up to lack of experience, or, certainly, variations in taste between theirs and mine.
I'm very wary of textures with very coarse lines in them, as this departs from reality fairly significantly. (I actually did one of those myself and then chucked it later). The other mistake I keep seeing is sharp color contrasts to different shades of green between the different terrains as well as very odd shades of green. This also seems to go against the evidence I get from looking at many course photos.
The big difficulty, of course, in designing textures for JN5, is getting something that looks right from all camera angles. This is why playtesting is so important. The other thing is separating yourself from your deep immersion in the creative process long enough to really see what you are doing. The eyes are fooled by long periods of intense concentration into thinking they have it when they really don't.
I recall Ken Baker and I trading ideas back and forth, and now how we probably wouldn't want to play with a lot of those efforts. There is so much to experiment with and so many possibilities, it is easy to get led astray and grope your way down some fairly fruitless paths. But I think there is a process of evolution, and I point to what I have come up with on this site as proof to myself that my eyes are getting better. The fact that I enjoy repeatedly playing rounds with these textures says something for me. Mind you, after a while longer, I will likely see something better to do with them and no longer like what went before. That's how the creative process goes and that's what keeps this an endlessly renewable and enjoyable pursuit.
Good luck to all who are making a stab at getting it right!
