Desert Cactus Iso Tile

[Blackhawk22]

This is an Iso Tile that I created for a turn based rpg i'm spriting for. This is my first time experimenting with this visual style. So any ideas on how to improve the sprite? Do you think the colors are not complementary, or do you think the shape is not quite right? Thanks.

[NaCl]

There is too much pixel noise! Lots of little tiny groups of pixels, that make the thing look noisy. Instead of trying to show individual grains of sand, show formations or lumps of sand. These individual pixels don't really add any information about what you're drawing, just random noise.

[Blackhawk22]

Agreed, and i'm guessing you were thinking I should be doing sand like this:   



And are the colors alright?

[r1k]

Im no desert expert, but I think the type of deserts where you find cactuses like that, dont really have that sort of wavy sand.  The ground is more hard with a loose layer of sand or dirt over it.  Look at these images for example:
http://www.x98ruhf.net/images/arizona_desert1a.jpg
http://spuds.agron.ksu.edu/ArizonaDesert.jpg

personally I thought the image in your first post gets the feel of that type of sand pretty well, though perhaps it could be less noisy.  More importantly though I think the cactus needs to be less noisy.
If you look at a cactus upclose ( http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/wallpaper/cactus_desktop_1536x2048_wallpaper-381716.jpg ) they are pretty smooth.  From a distance its the spines that would make it look  noisy, try to avoid too many spines to avoid noise.  And you could try making the foreground elements (cactus) stand out more against the background perhaps.

[Blackhawk22]

Im no desert expert, but I think the type of deserts where you find cactuses like that, dont really have that sort of wavy sand.  The ground is more hard with a loose layer of sand or dirt over it.  Look at these images for example:
http://www.x98ruhf.net/images/arizona_desert1a.jpg
http://spuds.agron.ksu.edu/ArizonaDesert.jpg

personally I thought the image in your first post gets the feel of that type of sand pretty well, though perhaps it could be less noisy.  More importantly though I think the cactus needs to be less noisy.
If you look at a cactus upclose ( http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/wallpaper/cactus_desktop_1536x2048_wallpaper-381716.jpg ) they are pretty smooth.  From a distance its the spines that would make it look  noisy, try to avoid too many spines to avoid noise.  And you could try making the foreground elements (cactus) stand out more against the background perhaps.

Okay thanks I knew the sand/ dirt was right ( maybe more color could be added to the dirt). I will make it smoother.

[lioran]

here is how i would do it
I did that quickly just to show what i think would add effect
I didnt add any new color
I would just add some texture of like pile of stonified sand
I also tried 2 small plant on the left but considering the color and my skill at drawing plants
it didn't turn out that great.
also changed the shadow on the cactus i didn't see the meaning of those high brightness dot there
take it as you will... that's just my idea

[Blackhawk22]

Thanks for the Input Lioran.



Here is an updated version of the sprite, any ideas or improvement?
(I mainly care about the cactus, not the sand/dirt)

[Yngar]

I like the color a lot better on the new cactus. I think it would benefit a lot from a little anti-aliasing between the grooves. As it is now they are a bit jarring.
I think an important thing to think about would be less the cactus itself, and more how it would fit with the style of the rest of the game. The first cactus wasn't bad and reminded me a bit of fallout. The new one is a very different style that would fit a totally different game.

[Dr D]

It's a step in the right direction.. sort of!

But oh man, that thing you did with hugging/outlining your lines is called banding, and you generally want to avoid it as much as possible. You have it pretty bad here.

[Blackhawk22]

Okay, I will clean up my first cactus a bit. Probably add new colors to it. Good thing I joined this forum, this critique will help !