This Magic Garden...

[Crimson Wizard]

Few weeks ago I have drawn this for Background Blitz. Back then I was quite proud of my accomplishment, but when I look at this picture now I feel it lacks life somehow. Maybe lighting is bad, or shadows too soft, or something's missing... I need suggestions, because I want to develop this style of art.

[Joe]

I like it. I don't know if that white thing is meant to be snow... if so I have to say it really doesn't seem snow.
Anyway the rest is very nice, maybe you could apply a blue filter to make a winter atmosphere if you want to...

[straydogstrut]

I really like it too, especially that crooked drainpipe=) I can't suggest any changes, and I don't think anything needs to be added, too much detail would ruin it imo. The snow does kind of clash with the mediterranean feel of the building, but it's nice snow. I want to eat it.

Any inspiration to do another picture in a similar style? What does the rest of Olgrad look like? What about Fröken Björk's flower shop?;-)

[Ali]

Here's a really rough idea of how you could use lighting to create more mood. The long shadows and snow suggested morning, and using cold blues in the shadows helps create that feel.

[Crimson Wizard]

I like it. I don't know if that white thing is meant to be snow... if so I have to say it really doesn't seem snow.

Yeah, I know, it looks like melted icecream 

Ali, hmm, yes your example looks interesting.
Only thing, I was trying to keep the grass in the garden abscent of snow, since magic protects it from colds... but then again, I am not sure people will understand the idea from the first glance.
And ofcourse different amount of snow on sunlight and in shadows - that's what I completely forgot about.

Any inspiration to do another picture in a similar style? What does the rest of Olgrad look like? What about Fröken Björk's flower shop?;-)

Maybe, one time

[Monsieur OUXX]

Ali's makeover addresses most of the critics I wanted to express, especially the snow. Nice remix of the colors, too.

However, I still don't like the background. I'm ok it should stay simple, but IMHO it should be smoother.

[Ilyich]

I was trying to keep the grass in the garden abscent of snow, since magic protects it from colds

- that reminds me of Erana's Garden from Sierra's Quest for Glory -
.

I suggest you do the same thing they did here - create a focus on the colourful garden itself by surrounding it with cold, frozen background. I really like Ali's edit, it has a very strong wintery feel, so i think you should implement his colouring decisions into the "cold" part of the background.
Also, the grass needs a little variation, but all in all - it's a really good background already.

Quick muddy edit to (poorly) show what i mean:

[Gilbert]

(OT)
Hah. You reminded me that I drew the same background in Apple ][ a while ago.

(Based on the original version, not the VGA remake.)

[Crimson Wizard]

However, I still don't like the background. I'm ok it should stay simple, but IMHO it should be smoother.

What do you mean by "smoother"? Like less contrast and/or less hue amount?

[Jim Reed]

Well, I notice your compostion is a bit lacking here, so I thought I'd comment on it.

When you flatten your BG to shapes, you can see how your pic isn't evenly divided. It leans heavily to the bottom right. I'm not saying here that people don't draw pics intentionaly that way, but I like balance, so I can only try my way on your BG. Anyway, I got rid of that vertical pipe on the right, as I couldn't find anything that would balance it to the left. I added a rooster figure on top of that tower, so the left side gets some detail. This will make the player examine the left part of the screen more, and not just dismiss it out of hand for being only irrelevant background. I added a few buildngs on the left, and reduced them on the right. I also reduced the darker parts on the lower-right by adding some buildings there. Making the background buildings higher, and adding the sun (which screwe up the ligtning btw) I effectively split the BG in four parts that are ~the same size. I think this makes the BG more interesting to look at. I think the BG buildigs could use some more detail also.

I realise that I'm not good at explaining my methods, as composition is something that I mostly "feel" than think about and calculate, but you can plainly see that my edit makes the BG look nicer (I hope it does)

Note: I didn't draw details, just shapes here and there, so dissmiss my bad technique on that part.

[Wonkyth]

Just a few quick things:
Snow tends to sick to things in odd ways, and would look nice the whole way up the pipe, in the shadow(a realism thing, I know, and not really relevant, but it looks good in my head);
If the tall pointy building was moved to the left, to fill up the blue void in that corner, a nice torque of blue in the middle of the screen could help make the angles seem less abstract.

[SirHandsome]

Looks great. The thing I noticed right off is how detailed the grass and potted plants are compared to the rest of the background. While a little extra detail on focal points can be good this sticks out a bit, especially with the walls which are  a simplified cartoon style and lacking any great detail.
Love the style, lower the more realistic grass to a cartoon level or raise the rest of the pictureto the detail of the grass and I would say it is professional quality. Everything else is just personal preference.