ABANDONED HIDEOUT

[Amit Dutta]

Hey Jeso, I have a similar feeling to Paul. I think what might help is a look back to what you are trying to emulate! Ie LOTC cards. In all of their cards, when there is more than one character in it, they always relate to eachother and the environment in an obvious way with narrative. Even the pinup style singles, are "cool" poses but all elements suggest some story with the setting, the pose, the expression.

Check these out. I challenge you to find one card with two or more characters where it is just a cool pose for the sake of it with no narrative shown directly or implied behind it. It will be hard.
https://www.google.co.nz/searchq=legend+...CAgQ_AUoAQ

I would suggest that two characters in a dark forest would not just be striking a battle pose for no reason. Give them enemies, or make the setting as dynamic to suggest there will be a battle going on. (I even saw one card just like that, and it worked). Think about your POV and how it helps the narrative, why do we feel like the viewer is hiding behind a tree in the bushes, again diminishing the immediacy of any action? Narrative and context is more important than "cool" factor, for illustration. With concepts you can get away with cool for cools's sake. It could be as simple as just adding a ring of enemies surrounding them or some such thing.