Hotel

[Sam.]

Been away for a long while. Lazily drew a background to get back into things.

Suggestions? Opinions?

[Babar]

The pool(?) should probably be tinged more blue? Right now it looks like a mirror on the floor.
Is the border because you are looking out of a window?

[zabnat]

Some evil man has desinged this hotel. When you exit via front door you'll drop in the pool of water?
Somehow the hotel just looks out of place, mostly because of that, and also it seems quite small compared to the car.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Actually I don't think that is water.  The door connects right to it.  Looks to me like it's a big mirror then.

I don't like the border around the image, unless you are actually looking out of a window.

You would Never be able to see the base of the building through the reflection (the rear part of it).

I don't like the mailbox hiding behind the water fountain.  It gives the perception the mailbox is attached to the fountain until you focus on it clearly.

The buildings in the rear look alright.  But unless there is a drop-off cliff behind the shrubs and the buildings were Actually further away... the windows wouldn't be so small.  But in a cartoony world, it would probably pass without anyone really noticing.

Also noticing the center lines of the building in the reflection are way too dark compared to the rest.

[auriond]

The first thing I noticed is that the mirror shouldn't be reflecting the ground from this angle. So we shouldn't be able to see either the ground or the base of the building in the mirror.

(or, what Ryan Timothy said, but just wanted to repeat for emphasis, because I found it pretty jarring.)

Also, for the buildings, judging from how much we can see of each roof, they're at varying distances from the viewer. So either those father away (i.e. we can see less of the roof) need to be shaded a darker colour to show the distance, or if the buildings are all equally distant, the roofs need to be fixed.

[Neutron]

The viewing angle would have to be higher than the tall buildings to see their roofs, so unless that is the case, the roofs are slanted in the wrong direction.

[EldKatt]

The hotel looks sort of cartoony, with the freaky windows and the sort of wedge shape, while everything else is rather straight, so to speak. That doesn't really make sense to me. Also, the two lines in the middle of the reflection of the house are way dark.

Usually the front and main entrance of a building like this faces the direction visitors are supposed to come from--the road in this case? Here new guests arrive from the side, while the facade conveniently faces the camera. Or are you supposed to arrive across that mirrorpoolthing? If you are, why isn't it centered relative to the building?

I should also say that all in all, I really like the feeling I get from this background. I really want to walk around on it, and examine that fountain. And those topiaries.

Oh, speaking of the topiaries. You could use at least one additional shade there, maybe a darker crest shadow. They're somewhat flat as it is, and I think they could look more alive with not a great deal more effort. It's possible that they could attract unwanted attention, though, if the contrast is increased too much.

[Play_Pretend]

*first one to grab the Lemony Snicket reference!* 

[Sam.]

correct on the reference. here is a messy edit to show what i've been doing to the background. The reasoning for the dark lines in the reflection should be explained by this latest edit. Still have been too lazy too enbiggen the hotel, but that's coming. What do you think of the changed buildings.

Does the hotel need to be bigger or everything else smaller? does the style of the hotel not fit? I was kind of going  a bit for incongruity, but if that hasn't worked, what should i do for the style to work, but jarr.

To make myself clearer, the whole world where this hotel exists is an anachronistic mixture of modern times and the 1800's where life for the protagonists is very uncomfortable, and I thought that should come across in a slightly confusing, but not messy style. Also, a watch word for this background is art deco. Any tips in that direction?

Did that happen?