I love what you're doing posting these WIPs....I feel pixelation seriously lacks in this regard, crit on early wips is a LOT more helpful because it actually can influence the outcome.....sometimes because people pull the "not finished" excuse we tend to look down in WIP topics but I think they can be benefitial, specially when we're discussing ambience and concept art....it ought to give us a better conscience of cohesive art design....
Whatever you do with the hero.....make sure you have an actual 3d personality for him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSyfGm6wXgs&feature=fvst I'm just tired of seeing this crap in videogames :p he's so obviously meant as a empty flamboyant crazy fashion design...I couldnt take this guy seriously in ANY universe. That is not to say your character is as bad as this...he's far more decent but he just sort of looks like a mix of usual game cliches...
Maybe a good start would be looking at some personality classification systems that are practical in real life
http://www.9types.com/ so you can give him some realistic motives...
Give him some proper personality traits, dont be shy to think of all his needs including habits..sexuality....a little inner conflict, give him a role and some twists in the story.....and when you chose his clothing PLEASE try to tie it to some tradition or some artistic movement in his enviroment.....
As for the concept bakgrounds....No outline sounds like just my kind of thing! I really like the night mockup you got there, looks gameable and I specially like the way the foreground has a sort of backlight effect on it, makes it pretty eerie...
The forest is looking pretty good...maybe try to play with a more tree covered area? I've always kiked the light effects that happen when there are pools of light filtering trouhg the leaves....it can be quite enthralling.
The last screenshot...well it sorta just screams fake videogame scenario :p it's this weird blend of forest and mountain....do you mean to cut the terrain the way you did? I would try to think of a natural terrain that has actual steep formations like that if that's really what you're going for.