First background in new style...C&C?

[Hollister Man]

I guess I posted but it never went through. ARGH!  Anyway, it looks really great.  I'd add some 'depth cueing,' a light layer of misty shading as the scene gets 'deeper.' 

I think you could make a mountain bird, such as an eagle, in the distance.  Very slowly, and seldom enough that it wouldn't be obvious.  I think it would add a lot to the feel (well, as much as a tiny eagle could.

I PMd you earlier, but got no response.

[Peter Thomas]

One more thing...each background will have an AGS cup hidden in it   (including this one...)

I guess it's not blue then. Or you haven't put it in yet... or it's the shadow of the middle rock in the cluster of rocks going up the slope on the right hand side.

[loominous]

Shadow edit (100 kb)

The lighting seems a bit confusing to me. The rocks and hillside seems to be lit from the upper left while the tree and some other objects corresponds to the backlight.

I added some sloppy shadows which I think would occur if the lighting is coming from between the back mountains.

Btw, the style is very nice now that the bluriness is gone.

[Evil]

Yes, that dirt is now 100% better. I dont know about Loominous' edit, but I liked it the way it was before.

[stuh505]

Loominous,

I know what you're saying about the lighting...but this isn't a model in a studio with 1 spotlight on it.  There is light coming from many directions, and light bouncing off every object it hits...this picture is designed to give a cool mood and I like a lot of contrast, I'm not sure if it's 100% accurate with the light sources but as long as it looks believable and cool, I'm happy with it; it's the effect and atmosphere that are important to me.

The cup is in there but it's pretty hard to spot with the image being shrunk like this.

I'll try my hand at a bird later...I've never done an animated background, so it could be fun.

[loominous]

I agree about taking some liberties when it comes to lighting to emphasize a mood.

The problem as I see it is that making the image truly believeable, the lighting must make sense. While the ordinary viewer won't probably be able to pinpoint any irregularities, everyone will sense whether a painting feels believable or not.

The light will bounce ofcourse, and since it also seems pretty cloudy there will be pretty much omnilight which will kill most shadows. This creates a problem if you wish to have strong contrasts (which you mentioned that you desire).

If you want contrast you need directional light. The rocks seems to be lit by pretty strong sunshine coming from the left, casting significant shadow (in your version). This sort of light can't simply be redirected/bounced in this manner, if the main light is coming from the back. Bouncing light mainly kills shadows and rarely creates.

My advice was to stick to pick a single light setting. Either sharp sunlight from the left or back, or a cloudy lighting, which would kill the contrast but could add mystique.

This isn't ment as nitpicking. The picture is very wellrendered, but to raise it to another level I think the lighting must be corrected, not for the sake of being realistic, but to improve the general impression.