Fantasy landscape

[Wardy]

Hey peeps

So idea for this is very simple really, a good/evil neutral area which could be put in a MMORPG and the like, will have a figure in the foreground to show scale and to sell it as an 'explorable' area.
Its just not coming together as I'd hoped. I think the main problem is ive got too many small shapes everywhere which makes it seem quite cluttered, im going over it using bigger brush strokes and bigger shapes in the foreground etc to see if that helps.

So my main critique points are: does the image visually sell as a mmorpg landscape, is there any stylistic way in which you think i can improve the aesthetic of the image such as brush strokes/composition, is there anything else i can add (with the exclusion of birds etc which i will add) which could help sell this?

Any tips would be awesome!

Cheers
Xavier

[darktiste]

It hard to think it would ever be possible to move around in this kind of scene maybe for a cutscene but not for a level design.The background is a lot more playable then the forground since it less cluttered.

The red color confuse me i don't understand it.I assume it lava because of all the mist but that could also be because of the waterfall

The eye follow the water then to the waterfall and into the mist

There is a good chunk of the image lost in the dark on the right so what i did
I deleted the dark in the foreground left side
and let the viewer see the water flow to add interest
I also crop a bit on the right side just to add a bit of symmetric unnecessary esthetic

[Wardy]

ah was gonna try to explain that with some red grass in the foreground- meant to be lots of reddish pink flora. Will make that more obvious by having some shoots /plants in the foreground of the same colour.

yep waterfall was the primary focal point i was going for so glad that for example the lit bit on the left doesnt subtract from that too much.

ok so you thinking open up the bottom left? It gives a lot more sense of open ness which I like a lot, plus i can show exactly what the bioluminscent water looks like a bit more with that also which will help. oh and how do you mean 'lost in the dark'? i was kinda trying to spotlight the waterfall and surrounding grass, do you think its too dark/uncontrasted? thanks very much for the crit will give that water idea a go!

[Amit Dutta]

Hey man, nice work dude. The colours and mood, and even the shapes are nice. I think if this is just a mood design that's fine, but maybe more transition areas showing a way to go from one area to another would be goos as darkartiste said. I also feel that you are shotgunning the same technique and shape evrywhere which gives that overloaded busy feel. The eye needs rest points and areas of difference and contrast to maximise the effect of the shapes you do use and the focal points you've mchisen.
This piece came up on fb recently, a former student of simon scales. I think it makes a really good use of contrast between the swoopy vines and sharp rock formations, and he has also really hammered that focal point in, and all shapes flow with purpose to service it.

[Minksy]

Really cool concept, it showed on my DA dash today :) Congrats on getting into FZD school btw! Gonna be an awesome experience I'm sure! :o)

I really dig the color choice and general feel of your piece. I find the focal point is being really well highlighted by the warms from the right, but the reds on the left side of the piece kind of get in the way for me, especially if the waterfall is the focal point. That part seems to be at the same distance level as the waterfall, too, but if that's how you intended it to be, then it's all good. Otherwise you could maybe push it a bit further back with some atmospheric perspective.

Keep it up and good luck with your new artistic journey Xavier! :)

[Wardy]

Final outcome if you havent seen it: http://xavierward.deviantart.com/art/San...-524762450

Thanks guys!
Amit, definitely agree with you on the overcrowded feel of it. I think i didnt do enough larger shapes transitioning between levels as you pointed out, and just went a bit detail crazy which takes away from the serene feel of it a bit for sure, great point. Next time I'm gonna do some really thought out thumbnails first (as I always forget to do.... sigh) and block it in with big shapes and go to little shapes from there. I often catch myself doing block layer by layer which gives a kind of 'cut out' feel to it which I need to work on, great piece there by the way I see what you mean about the focal point! This piece actually kinda sprung from that water nymph painting which I was working on before, loved the red/blue palette so thought I'd work on the environment rather than going for the portrait angle. Still need to work on figures, thats next up, thanks for the crit!

Minksy, thanks very much FZD should be awesome but a hell of a lot of hard work! preparing my brain for it.... Ah got you about the red on the left, that was intended to be on the same cliff/outcrop as the waterfall as you said but I should have shown that better if there is confusion, thanks for pointing that out. Goes back to really hammering in my values early on which I need to improve on rather than improvising throughout, thanks for pointing that out!

Cheers guys, think I'll leave it to rest on this piece but some very good points made which I'll keep in mind for the next one for sure.

Xavier