Haha, alright I was hoping to lampshade the fact that this image is
absurd, but I think now I owe you some context.
This is a background for an exploration game I've been working on for a couple of months. A lot of why it's so ridiculous is partially because "I'm a doofus" and partially because "it's a backdrop for my game", I'll let you decide in what proportions.
I am definitely in over my head- but that's sort of the point so I would like to continue with this piece. All that being said, thank you for the feedback, I've become pretty numb to this image over the last week so it's good to hear from some fresh eyes.
Here is how it looks in game:
I know the graphics styles are somewhat inconsistent across the board, I think that's just how it's going to be for this project. However for an individual piece such as this background I would like to try to unify the style a bit more.
You're right about the perspective, it's supposed to be a ring of trees around this sort of panoramic clearing. I definitely did not draw any perspective guidelines before I started- so that's a lesson learned. I will try to sort this out.
I
think it's the right move to keep this image from having a strong focal point but correct me if you disagree. I'm hoping to use this backdrop a couple of times in a row. I haven't seen how that looks in my game yet, but I'm using Kirby as my reference which uses backdrops such as these repeated throughout the same levels:
I guess I'm hoping for my backdrops to set the general atmosphere of the current game area and for individual pieces of it to briefly be admired by the player at different times. But on the other hand I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses for it being cacophonous.
I do want the ground to be a bit more wacky- not as much as the sky I want there to be a contrast- but it is too mundane.
I'll try to post an update in a day or few, let me know if any of your advice changes now that you have some context.
(Also if anyone has advice/ideas on what I can do for my flowers, I'm still spinning my wheels on that)