Stuck on detail/texture

[SaidTheJoker]

Hello!

The CD community was generous enough to give some very helpful critique on a previous piece, for which I'm very thankful!

I'm a little stuck on this piece. I'm working with a specific design for the mecha, and the sky is to be overcast according to the story, but those are the only specs I really need to follow.

I'm satisfied with the composition, but the texture and topology of the sand has me pretty confused.

Any pointers would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

-JVS

P.S. I've been looking at these as reference so far...
http://cghub.com/images/view/128330/
http://cghub.com/images/view/237607/
http://cghub.com/images/view/672587/

[Amit Dutta]

I think you need to fix your perspective first. Draw a grid if you haven't already, this helps infinitely if you're confused. Adjust your values to make sure you show the scale and depth involved. Use atmospheric perspective to do this. That's the blue sky colour gradient at the top of the butte and the figure.
Think about your lighting scheme before you start rendering so you can have the most dramatic effect. I chose a source to the left so it would go between the buttes to highlight the small figure.
Use complementary colours in the shadows to add some colour variation and vibrance.
Highest saturation and detail should go to focal points.
I've done up a quick example using phototextures. Get your fundamentals right first, then it's all a matter of detail. Hope that helps.

[SaidTheJoker]

Thanks, monkeybread. I think I was afraid of getting any of those complementary blues in there, they really bring out the depth in the composition when atmospheric perspective is incorporated. Imagining the whole scene on a flat plain and then adding variation in hight for sand dunes and rocks is helping as well.

[Amit Dutta]

Awesome, glad to hear it. Also I think you jumped to phototexturing and rendering too early before nailing your values and lighting. Definitely use the beginning stages to iron out all the fundamental issues in the image, before texturing, it will save you a lot of time. :)