[Pixel BG] - Any tips/tricks/techniques to improve?

[Vukul]

A bit of - rather irrelevant - preface. Being a fan of Cthulhu Mythos and Lovecraftian fiction in particular, I've been translating one of FFG Arkham Horror novels into Russian for my friends, and started to make illustrations for it just to feel some change of activity. And having some time ahead which I could invest into actual game-making, I decided to stretch my drawing muscles by turning one of the illustrations into a pixelated background.

Here it is (the illustration itself):


The sketch it's based upon:
[imgzoom]http://cave-progz.narod.ru/asylum_sketch.png[/imgzoom]

And now the background itself (black silhouette featuring in all the pictures has been added as the character base for reference - and for general creepiness as well ):
[imgzoom]http://cave-progz.narod.ru/asylum01.png[/imgzoom]
flat colours
[imgzoom]http://cave-progz.narod.ru/asylum02.png[/imgzoom]
textures and basic shading
[imgzoom]http://cave-progz.narod.ru/asylum03.png[/imgzoom]
global lighting

I do not consider the piece finished (only half-way, may be), so, I included earlier stages just to be able to return back to them in order to correct any issue. So, please. any pointers regarding what could be improved? Or just a direction?

[Anian]

Why is that corner of grass, left of the stairs, so sharp when compared to the one right of the stairs?

The background looks cool, I'd maybe add two details to make the wall texture seem less repetitive - add some ledge and frame around the window and some grander blocks around the doors (instead of that thing above the door) - just to brake the pattern, plus it'll make it more realistic to have a frame around them.
Maybe something like this (but this is just a quick retouch, to show you what I mean) - check next post.

The other thing would be the tree - lower branches don't grow that way, just check out some pictures for reference and you'll see.

[Vukul]

Anian
Thanks for the input and pointers. Completely forgot about framing of windows and the main door - a silly mistake. Will supply them into a new version.
I get your criticism of the tree; though to me it looked quite natural. I'll try to remove or somehow replace those lower branches.
But also the thing I don't think I've understood: about the grass. What do you mean by 'sharp'? Is it because the one to the right of the stairs seems kind of blurry? Could you please point it out in a bit more detail?

[Anian]

Well most branches are thick if they're long, but the lower branches here are thick and short. So either make them longer or thinner, I think.

About the grass thing, I've reposted the image:
[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/miLA1fy.png[/imgzoom]
Maybe the perspective is correct, just looks weird to me.

[jwalt]

Anian has far more expertise, here, but I agree with Anian. It also looks off to me.

[imgzoom]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o756/jwalt10705/addAnian_zps316575be.png[/imgzoom]

We seem to be looking directly at the building. The image centers, mostly, on the door. Extending Anian's lines, the "vanishing point" is to the right of the door. Moving the vanishing point towards the center of the picture would, probably, eliminate the oddity. It seems these grass lines are the dominant perspective clue in the image. I guess you might also draw some lines off the steps, but that might just confuse the issue even more in view of where they might meet. The stairs look okay, to me eyes

[Adam H]

I think the problem is that everything else in the background is perfectly precise - there aren't any lines that are almost horizontal or vertical. It creates an expectation of perfection so that it's almost disorienting when the view isn't quite centered on the door.

Two solutions would be to either make the odd perspective more pronouced by moving the door more to the left (the left side of the background is fairly empty so this seems reasonable to me), or move the vanishing point to the center of the door so that it's symmetrical.

If you don't want to change placement of the door or the vanishing point, you might try placing something notable on the right side of the door, and/or add in more lines running to the same vanishing point. Possibly change your cobble stones to be more 3D - sketch parallel horizontal lines as well as lines coming out of your vanishing point (forming a grid of trapezoids on the road), and then draw in an irregularly shaped cobble stone for each trapezoid. Then the cobble stones should subtly line up with the grass lines.

I don't know, just spitballing here.

[selmiak]

I like the sketch more than the pixelart. The pixelart has a higher point of view and is more distant and is too 'clean'. The sketch is more into the scene, more dynamic, totally not so perfectly isometric.
So, if I hadn't seen the sketch I'd say the scene looks okay, the tiles on the ground could need some shading and the windows could need some more decorations and plants like ivy on the wall and statues next to the entrance and all these details...
The perspective looks indeed a bit off if the door is not centered and these lines are going all different.

[Vukul]

Anian
Ah, now I get this. Strange, it hadn't struck me so much - that is, until you mentioned it.

Adam H
Thanks for the advice about cobblestones.

Selmiak
Hm... That was my initial thought: sketch was originally made for an illustration, hence it is more dynamic. I figured that won't turn into a good BG.

Thanks everybody, I'll address the art tomorrow, may be give it a complete revamp to make closer to the sketch. Let's see what happens.