Fantasy landscape early stages

[Wardy]

Hey daggers,

I realise that I sit very comfortably in my niche of plain rock landscapes so I thought I'd try to practice rendering grass a bit more realistically. I did a few studies before with grass and cast shadows etc, so hopefully this is looking ok.
Just wanted to get some crit at this stage (i havent rendered the rocks on the right at all yet) to see what you think of the composition and the overall feel of it.
I realise the grassy slope on the left competes a bit with the arches, but i quite like it as something to lead the eye and I'd quite like to keep it though I could be wrong- let me know please :)
I also may change that big black rock on the left to being a man on a horse with a spear, so theres a feel of 'the guardians of the pass' kinda thing. I was gonna whack him on the grassy slop but its hard to distinguish him, i think i may have him up close on the bottom left- thoughts?
Cheers all!

[sysy]

Oh wow, this is gorgeous. I wish I could offer helpful advice, but alas.

[DanDussault]

really not bad! there are some bits in teh forground on teh leftside that arent really reading as either rocks or intentional strokes so maybe get rid of them. the grass color is nice! i would even maybe push that gate thing back a bit and lighten it from the air density.

[Wardy]

really not bad! there are some bits in teh forground on teh leftside that arent really reading as either rocks or intentional strokes so maybe get rid of them. the grass color is nice! i would even maybe push that gate thing back a bit and lighten it from the air density.

Thanks very much! Yeh those are really sketchy because im not sure if they will be rocks or a dude on a horse. Probs a dude on a horse now i think of it because the rocks will make it look too penned in I think.
Thanks, i hate rendering grass usually but did a few studies and hopefully im nailing it a bit more than i was before.
Really? Push it back more? I actually brought it forward quite a bit because I thought that the atmospheric perspective was washing it out making it less of a focal point. Could be an idea though, I'll try it out cheers :)

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Oh wow, this is gorgeous. I wish I could offer helpful advice, but alas.

Thanks very much! That in itself is really encouraging to hear thanks so much for that. Will keep working!

[Wardy]

Hey jellybeans,
Update :)
The horse is a placeholder atm, will fully render and add a shadow later. Also gonna lay down some rock textures!

[Wardy]

Final copy! Quite happy with this, the first grass landscape I've ever done that I've felt ok about afterwards.
I'd love to hear what you think about it!

[atrenr]

Turned out quite nicely, Ward. Only thing I might add would be some more blues in the sky, mostly in the bottom corner. It would make those rock formations pop a bit more and add a little more color to the piece as a whole. Good job.

[Wardy]

Thanks very much! yeah i think i definitely should have, but i wanted to make it obvious where the light source is. Will work on some clouds in future i think, but i didnt want to take away from the main bit too much. Very good point though, the rocks mold into the sky a bit too much i think.
Cheers :)