City Improvements Needed

[Aval Penworth]

I have made a little more progress...

Is it working? I am trying to keep the colours, shadows and saturation levels consistent... but as I zoom in and out I think I might have made some buildings too dark.

I want to add trees, fields, paving and such later on, but as I have not made the buildings photorealistic, photo textures won't blend.
I tried adding some trees (top left) but I am not sure if they suit. Ideas?

[Katto]

The trees have a higher level of detail, but I think that is no problem. Try to change the color of them a bit.
Looks like a lot of work. Are those artifacts around the arena and city walls because of the high compression to post it here or do you have to fight with that also?
Well done so far Aval!

[ravells]

The trees look a little small compared to the size of the buildings and to my eye are a little too cartoony compared to the buildings. I've attached some sample trees I made in Bryce which are not quite photo-realistic and might work with your map. You can download Bryce 5.5 for free and make your own trees. Drop me a line if you need me to walk you through it.

[Aval Penworth]

@ Katto The artifacts you notice are not in my original file (the PS file is 380meg). I imagine that I will replace the entire backgroud befor this is done so I won't worry about it just yet.

@ Ravs Thanks. I will give your samples a go for my next WIP and see how they fly.

[Steel General]

I think the roof coloring looks good, nice mix of colors without going overboard.

You might try lowering the opacity of the drop-shadows on the buildings. The really stark shadows tend to give them a case of the "floaties" (at least to my eye).

[Aval Penworth]

I've done a little more. Surprisingly little for 4 hours work, but I was having fun. It's 2am, and I am adhering to the adage "If it is no longer fun, walk away."

It's amazing how quickly it can go from fun and exciting to annoying and tedious. Y'all know what I'm talk'n 'bout.

So I put in a few of Ravs trees. But they didn't seem quite right. I added a stroke, bevel, drop-shadow and inner glow. So let me know what you think of my FUBAR trees. (Filtered Up Beyond All Recognition).

I replaced some of the background too. Here it is.

[Aval Penworth]

With renewed vigour I made a little more progress.

I am trying to find a paving colour and grass colour that will compliment the buildings... is that better?

The trees I am still not sure about. I think they look cool but do they work with the established style?

[jtougas]

I think the grass is just about right although I liked the paving color of the previous post (the dirt) the trees fit well with your style. Also I love the coliseum it looks just perfect !!. I know how how you feel about "walk away when it's not fun" hence why there hasn't been a Riverhewn update for a while. the monster is wearing me out..

[Marken4]

I have to disagree, I think the old grasscolour looked a better, maybe it's more realistic this way, but.. I still like the old one better, maybe something in between?

[Aval Penworth]

I have changed the Background again, and I quite like it this time. I will eventually put a subtle penstroke or crosshatch on the b/g so that it better matches the buildings, but I imagine that I will add and remove some paths before the end.

Started on some hand shading and highlights of the buildings.

Thanks to everyone for the comments.