background for potential game

[Andail]

I'm trying to work out a good style for a game I've been planning to do lately. I'm aiming for half cartoon half realistic, with both outlining and smooth shading.
x2:

different tinting:

(sketch and linework by me, btw)

Which do you prefer?
There'll probably be more details, as it is a bit lifeless at the moment.
Whatyathink? A style worth pursuing?

[Sam.]

I really love the style Andial, I assume its here for crits as well?

The table looks odd, very sketchy, The reflection on the glass in loverly, but not perfected yet as it still looks a bit painted on, and the perspective on the shelves looks a bit off. That's all i can see right now.

[jasonjkay]

Looks very nice. Might be hard to achieve for the whole game (unless youre spending a while on it or having fewer backgrounds.). As for the tint, the top one looks colder, more of an unpleasant feeling. the bottom looks warm and welcoming. Choose whichever fits the situation.

[LimpingFish]

I like it. Lighting is a bitch to pull off properly, but you've managed it. Nice use of perspective too. I say go with it. 

[big brother]

I like the color choices in the top one better, although the golden trophy (?) seems to stand out too much.

[TheYak]

I prefer the first one.  As stated, it depends upon what look you're going for but the first seems less stereotypical in lighting scheme.  I would like to see slightly more exaggerated light (a bit more contrast and more greenish highlights).  One thing that sticks out is the light line around the beam - it just looks out of place.  I'm not sure what I'd do differently but maybe a bit more reddish and closer to the median color.

[Helm]

It's cool. I suggest you do your outlining AFTER you've coloured so you don't get fuzzy or broken lines as you have now. If you're intent on having outlines, you can't go wrong with smooth vectorized line-tool stuff. Don't really persue neat lines made via brushes.

[Abisso]

I prefer the one, but I think that both can be used as different moments of the day (first, evening: second, morning).

Anyway, yours is a style I envy so much. Congratulations.

[InCreator]

* I'd dump the all of the green on image and have fully blue and/or dark cyan tinting. Seaweed-green just looks ugly to me. Matter of taste?
* The blurry stuff behind window is weird, yet I have no much ideas how to improve that, if you really wanted to hide actual stuff from player... 
* The arch-things coming from windows/ceiling look like they have no width and they were super thin, like made of paper or something. Fix this?

Apart from that, the bg looks awesome.

[hms]

I would say that depents on how the other rooms look like.

[loominous]

As hms points out it s somewhat hard to judge from a single background whether a whole style would work, but based solely on this piece I d advice you to elaborate on the style or find another one.

Judging by your other work you should be able to pull off something more solid, and while you re probably going for a style that is fairly fast as well as goodlooking, this style doesn t strike me as a good compromise.

Afraid I can t offer anything more constructive than this.

[Evil]

I agree with Loominous. The style it's in is nice, as well as the image. But I think if you took more time and made it look clean and sharp, it'd look a lot better. I imagine it would also be easier to replicate the same style.

[Neutron]

looks great, but those edges are pretty jaggedy for 32 bit.

[Andail]

ok, thanks for your criticism!
This style is indeed some sort of compromise; it took less than a day to make, and is drawn in a style I'm quite sure I can reproduce.
The backgrounds I did for chapter11studios took around a week to make (practical time), and I wouldn't be able to make a game with graphics that time-demanding to produce.

If some people still think it's a bad compromise, I'd obviously have to refine it a bit, or change it altogether. I have read your good advice concerning the tinting, but I don't think it's enough to "save" the background; it probably needs more work.

Hm, well, I might come back with new versions.
Thanks again, everybody!

[Haddas]

To me those images remind me of my room depending on the weather. The first one is the usual cloudy, perhaps rainy afternoon. The second one is the sunny summer morning. I like it. But I too think it's a bit too jaggy. Especially the window

[Nosf3ratu]

The Background looks very good!
Which progs do you use for your colouring?