Is it finished?

[S]

I can't stop fiddling about with this one. Should I stop now? Is there anything that should be improved. Is it a bit too orange?

[Matti]

Perhaps the outlines of the tree's roots are a bit too strong. Othwerwise it just looks great and it's not too orange. I would consider this finished.

But, hey, I'm always fiddling about my backgrounds too and have to force myself to stop at some point.

[DanielH]

Looks great, but I have a couple of things, first, the bottom left hand corner has a large, plain rock which is a bit of an eyesore. Secondly, the stairs to the house look odd, but I can't put my finger on why though.

[zabnat]

DanielH has good points. You could try adding one or two rocks to bottom left corner and see how it looks. Stairs do look odd and I think there is a problem with perspective there.

[Tuomas]

yes, the stairs are basically leaning downwards, so on a rainy day you'd probably slip and fall to your knees.

Also, the tree seems to be the exact same colous with the road, which is a bit strange, something you might consider changing.

[InCreator]

It's finished... after about 50% contrast increase or even better, manual contrasting. If forest is so dark that you can see light as rays, Overall ambient light seems downright wrong. Shadows should be much, much darker.

Besides this, excellent work. I'm jealous, almost.

[Matti]

If forest is so dark that you can see light as rays, Overall ambient light seems downright wrong. Shadows should be much, much darker.

True, but S has to decide if he wants to make it realistic or just good-looking. If prefer the second choice.

I didn't notice the wrong perpective of the stairs but it's obvious. I made some crappy lines to show what's wrong with the perspective (red) and how it roughly should be (yellow). Don't mind the red line to the left, it's just there to be compare to the stairs.

[MadReizka]

The branches of the trees look bit too messy I think. Too much random lines or something.
And the wooden planks below and above the big window should have bit darker outlines imho.
Other than that looks damn good to me.

[Evil]

I'd move the rock over a bit to the right. Being right on that angle does make it an eyesore. Smaller rocks around it will help too. Steps need some help like Matti pointed out.

I think the contrasting outlines look neat. A clean cartoony style. I think that if you added more cast shadows around the brick wall, the roots, and some twigs and things, it'll help make the outlines less bold. Areas under the awning and the cast leaves on the house look good, but areas around the downspout, the door and the roof facing us are lacking some shadows.

[ThreeOhFour]

Evil mentioned the main thing I'd change, and that's the big rock in the bottom left hand corner. The top right edge follows almost the exact edge of the path, creating a tangent line with it. Moving either to the right or the left should help it stand out and give that part of the image more depth. Also, check the shading on the right edge of the rock - you've left a line of the lighter grey there and it appears to be lit from the side as well as the top.

Perhaps you could consider some shadows under the tree root on the path to help differentiate between the two a little clearer.

Other than these points I think it is well done.

[S]

Thanks for all your advice. It is fascinating (and somewhat depressing) to realise how blind you become to your own stuff. What bugs me is that I saw both the problem with the stairs (as I drew them in the original pencil sketch) and the left-hand corner rock, but I just could not bring myself to take action. It is a whole lot better now, I think.
Here's what I did:
1. Coloured in some details I had forgot (mushroom above and behind the afore-mentioned rocks)

2. Added a second rock and removed the tangent problem. The outline still sort of follows the path, but not exactly.

3. Fixed the stairs.

4. Darkened the whole image, adding more shadows, including some cast shadows. (on the pipe along the wall, on the roots of the big tree, next to the stone fence, on the stairs, etc.)

5. Removed some squiggly lines from among the leafwork (compare the area behind the beams).

Won't do:
1. Will not do anything more about the roof.
2. Will not untangle the "random" lines of the leafwork. Too much damn hard work. Branches are a pain in the neck to draw, especially en masse.

Here it is, now:

[loominous]

Is there anything that should be improved?

I guess it depends on what you're aiming for. Right now it's pretty hard to tell what your aim is in terms of mood/style/etc.

A line or two about your intentions would be helpful.

[S]

Is there anything that should be improved?

I guess it depends on what you're aiming for. Right now it's pretty hard to tell what your aim is in terms of mood/style/etc.

A line or two about your intentions would be helpful.

Something like a fairy tale for adults. Not in the pornographic sense, but you know.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Everything in your picture has this almost grainy texture (from the original sketch, or from photoshop touch ups later on), except for that brick wall.  The wall looks good the way it is... but it doesn't really match the rest of your background.  Looks almost flat like it's wallpaper.

Other than that, the roofs angle was a little odd.  Looks like the house is really narrow (from front to back).  But you already mentioned you won't be touching the roof at all.

I've always enjoyed your style and it's always nice to see more of your work.

[S]

RT, now that you mention it, it does look a little... plasticky. I'll get on it. Thanks.

About the angle of the roof - I imagined that it goes a little something like this:
_____
/          \

...so the house won't be that narrow. There will be another room where this is seen from another angle.

[Tuomas]

On the other hand, a roof like that wouldn't really make sense, since the main idea of the V form is to get the rain water to fall off fromt he sides. I'd assume you'd want to do something like this one:

sorry, couldn't find a better image

[S]

I hate to admit it, but you guys are right. I'll need to redesign this house.

[markbilly]

If you are going for a cartoony kind of look, the house is fine.

I really like the extreme roof, even if it is impractical...

[Tuomas]

I hate to admit it, but you guys are right. I'll need to redesign this house.

well, All you'd probably need to do with the roof would be something like this (a quick paint edit)


Also, if you're going to use it as a bg, you might want to take away the extre 13 pixels off of the height.

[S]

I've fixed the roof now. It looks a bit like your suggestion, Tuomas, although it goes a bit further to the left.
I always save cropping for last, but thanks for pointing it out anyway.

I regard it as finished now. You'll get to see it later. At some point I need to (try to) reqruit people who can do what I cannot. My programming skills are basic, and I could use some help with animations.
When I have a number of nice screenies ready I will call out.

Later, and thanks for all your helpful suggestions.