Help with my landscape.

[DrewCCU]

K, as I've mentioned before, I've just been getting back into digital painting recently, but mostly working on portraits.  I thought I'd take a stab at a landscape for the BG blitz contest.

This was my entry:



It's got a lot of work that needs to be done, I know.  I think for a first real attempt at a background, it's not terrible.  I'd like for suggestions on how I could improve future backgrounds/landscapes.

[Joseph DiPerla]

Was this done with your new android tablet by any chance?

[DrewCCU]

Was this done with your new android tablet by any chance?

LoL. I started it on the android tablet, but "finished" it on the pc with my wacom tablet.

[Anian]

What's kind of the problem, it doesn't look finished - lines are still pretty loose and that's especially noticable because the sky (is that the clouds filter in PS?) is filled witzh sharp edges. If it's supposed to be a sunset of 2 suns, shadows should be sharper like at the bottom of the hills and such.
There's also a lack of details in the foreground, or to be more precise they're about the same as on the background.
And the perspective of the cliff is a bit off, especially if you want to scale a sprite on it.
Also the 2 hills in the back sort of seem to repeat.

On a personal note, I don't really like this types of background, almost always the sprites look unnatural and glued on.

[DrewCCU]

What's kind of the problem, it doesn't look finished - lines are still pretty loose and that's especially noticable because the sky (is that the clouds filter in PS?) is filled witzh sharp edges. If it's supposed to be a sunset of 2 suns, shadows should be sharper like at the bottom of the hills and such.
There's also a lack of details in the foreground, or to be more precise they're about the same as on the background.
And the perspective of the cliff is a bit off, especially if you want to scale a sprite on it.
Also the 2 hills in the back sort of seem to repeat.

On a personal note, I don't really like this types of background, almost always the sprites look unnatural and glued on.

Thanks for your comments, I have to say I have to agree with you. I guess my real question is, are there any tips for how I might correct some of the things you mentioned?

No, it's not a PS filter. It's PS brushes.

[Anian]

Work your way from larger to smaller/finer brushes and add in details. But first plan out the lighting though, go from basic shapes of geometry than build from there, although I like what you did in some places.

I am not that good with painting in with digital brushes, I haven't even copied my brushes from the last instal.   But he's a very fast try:

Again, I suck at actual painting in PS, the lines of the cliff are too dark here.

[Monsieur OUXX]

Big recommendation :
- Make the foreground darker or the background lighter (objects in the distance always have less contrast)
- Remove the black outline between the foreground and the background. Actually if you want to be consistent it should be a very bright outline, considering the position of the sun (like you did with the rock on the right)

[theo]

Your composition is leading the poor viewer straight of the cliff.  :o

I'd recommend adding another plane of mountains in the distance to get your horizon in order.

Keep it up!

[Matti]

I'd recommend adding another plane of mountains in the distance to get your horizon in order.

Seconded.