I fought a couple of days against this background and don't know if I won...Ã, :-\
It was easier with pencil, as I hadn't those pixels. They are simple to big.Ã, :'(
So I need a little bit feedback, plzz... (Something like: "this pix suxx" isn't enough, sorry ;) )
(http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7761/street002hh5.gif)
I guess you mean how the houses' edges are so round that the houses look like they form a circle. However, it's cartoony and quite frankly I like it, and it doesn't suck. :P
EDIT: I should explain why I like it. The roundness of the houses makes it feel they like are looming over me, all empowering, and defensive!
I'm not a fan of the curved edges. You could keep the cartoony feel but have a more realistic background, if you lessened the curve of the verticle lines.
Not a fan of the colors either. The ground looks great, and the second building from the left has good color too. Everything else is too saturated.
The lighting is all over the place. You've got a bright back light that gives the roof it's bright color and the building's with their cast shadows. But the faces of the buildings are lit from the front.
I don't consider the houses very cartoony, but rather shown through an extreme wide angle, fish-eye lens. I think you'll have to mess around a lot with walkable area scaling to get characters to look right in this perspective.
I do agree with Evil that some of the colors should be de-saturated. My biggest problem is the purple shading on the white house - that almost looks like some purple goo oozing out from the windows. The purple house to the far left also seems a bit too much.
Here's some things that could be fixed.
1. The main problem, as you probably guessed, is the perspective. It's not easy doing circles in perspective but the main thing that's throwing it off is that bottom of all the houses are curving downwards when they should curving up towards the horizion line (which is around the centre of the doors).
2. That house on the far right. I know it's not part of the 'circle' but it throws off the dynamic of the rest of them. Maybe just continue the circle or (and this would be better) get rid of it entirely and have the main houses curves more around that area as if they're curving around a corner.
3. The roofs. They're not in the centre of some of the houses. Just divide your houses in half vertically and draw the point of your roof at the line.
4. The shadows on the ground. I'm not sure where the light is coming from but if it's from behind the houses maybe make the shadows a bit more detailed. Eg. Pointed roofs and such.
That's all I can see wrong but otherwise it looks really good and I like the cartooniness.
So I've altered the picture a little bit. Everybody thanx for feedback... ;)
1. (Evil, boojiboy) I removed the shadows from the street. The light is coming from above and there is nothing to drop the shadows. I was simple afraid, that the street looks to plain. How it looks now?
2. (Evil, GarageGothic, boojiboy) I've altered the colours of the purple houses. They are no more SO purple, but they are still purple. It is ok now?
3. (boojiboy) I can not change this picture a lot, but I'll look out next time. It is possible, that the roofs are not in the centre. Is it so bad or can I say: "It is my style"?Ã, ;) I can't take the right house away, 'cause it is important in blocking the sight... Is it so bad? I thought, it is right...Ã, :(
Only one door is in the middle of the house, the other are not.
4. (ManicMatt, GarageGothic, boojiboy) Yes, they are shown through an extreme wide angle lens. I was trying to show the whole street, but also to show the point where the player stays. The house in the middle is important, so i don't have to make very bright walkable area.
(http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/6471/street003km1.gif)