January 2015 Challenge: The Lost Village

[Chick]

Well, that's three votes for desaturation, and that is easy, but doesn't this make the whole thing look washed out and boring?

### Latest WIP ###
Challenge Jan2015 07.jpg

[Wingshaw]

Well, that's three votes for desaturation, and that is easy, but doesn't this make the whole thing look washed out and boring?

Definite improvement.

THW

[Deadshade]

Add my vote on desaturation.
I second THW and especially on 2 things :
- I would break the flatness of the slopes a bit. You'll be surprised what wonders do a few short strokes suggesting crevices, boulders and protuberances.
- never mind what somebody else would do or not do. If you feel like having shadows of buildings, then draw shadows (adequately blurred). Yes I realize that this sentence negates the previous one

Besides that, I am agnostic about trunks. On one side I know that it is irrealistic because at this scale no trunks would be seen with the exception of near the village where the houses dictate the scale.
On the other side it is a kind of trick that painters often use - adding "nonsensical" horizontal or vertical traits suggests verticality or horizontality that can't be explicitely shown. So I am still waiting to see the light in this trunk matter.

Waterfall ? There are a few nice tricks for waterfalls. (The old chinese drawings are world champions on waterfalls - stunning by beauty and technical simplicity. I bought one old mountain landscape painting in a museum in Xian - superb).
I can't wait to see where and what you'll do !

[Chick]

THW, thanks for the reminder. I did intend to put both farmland and some local trees around the village, but forgot to put them on the list. As for the other suggestions, I'll give it a try

[arsheesh]

Well, that's three votes for desaturation, and that is easy, but doesn't this make the whole thing look washed out and boring?

### Latest WIP ###
Challenge Jan2015 07.jpg

I don't think so. I think the desaturated colors looks just like parchment. However beyond just saturation there's also the issue that the parchment texture is fairly strong, and rather than embellishing the piece tends to compete with it for the viewers attention. Lowering the opacity of the texture by 30-50% would probably really help.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Bogie]

Great job with shading the mountains.

[Chick]

I've added some minor features and labels/legend. I still plan to work more on the mountains, but here is the current version.

### Latest WIP ###
Challenge Jan2015 08.jpg

Please don't laugh too hard at my pathetic waterfall.

[tainotim]

Looks great Chick! Now that all is in place, I must say, I really like this kind of layout. A small coastal town, with the brooding mountains behind it. Makes me want to do something similar! Even thought the overall "style" might not be my favorite, I think you managed the perspective very well.

The only thing I have as of critique, is the same as before. The parchment texture is so heavy! Have you considered what Arsheesh wrote above?

Cheers,
Tainotim

[Chick]

Looks great Chick! Now that all is in place, I must say, I really like this kind of layout. A small coastal town, with the brooding mountains behind it. Makes me want to do something similar! Even thought the overall "style" might not be my favorite, I think you managed the perspective very well.

The only thing I have as of critique, is the same as before. The parchment texture is so heavy! Have you considered what Arsheesh wrote above?

Cheers,
Tainotim

I reduced the parchment saturation about 60%, are you saying it needs even more?

[tainotim]

Quoting Arsheesh, "Lowering the opacity of the texture by 30-50% would probably really help."

I think that saturation will only adjust the tone

Cheers,
Tainotim