RPG Battle background cliff mock-up

[Strawzzboy]

Hello, I have been browsing this site for sometime and decided to finally join.

This is a battle screen mock-up I made for an RPG I'm (very slowly) working on.
This battle is supposed to be a dramatic one where the enemy (the protagonist's brother)
falls off the cliff.

Any feedback is appreciated. I'm having trouble getting the clouds to look like clouds...




Also pay no attention to the doodle face down there. It is only a placeholder until I can draw proper faces.

edit: took out the menu things and added some detail to the water.

[Wanyo]

I only have a couple mins but if you're looking to make the clouds feel more like clouds just add some definition to them, you can even use the sky color if you're keeping a low color count. Also it couldn't hurt to bring down the border color a bit for them. There's some other things too about the piece but I'm sure someone will come around and throw up some more critique/ideas!

Super duper quick edit to show you what I mean:

[Strawzzboy]

Thanks Wanyo for the feedback. I will experiment with shaping the clouds, I'm trying for something stormy looking, and I will keep the outline in mind. I didn't even think of that, it really makes the clouds look far away/faded.

[Wanyo]

Admittedly I'm a little better with happy puffy clouds  but to give them a stormier look often clouds will have a rougher edges with a really dark shade so it could be worth bringing in a third color. It's also worth taking a look at some storm cloud references and mixing that into your style!

Another thought to add that may bring in a stormier look to your scene would be to tweak your water color and texture to reflect that of the stormy sky. With a storm brewing the water would thrash more and have more large waves.

[YellowLime]

Mother 3-inspired?

When I read that the villain is the protagonist's brother I had a suspicion, but when I scrolled down to the battle system...

Mother 3 is awesome though

[Strawzzboy]

@YellowLime Wow I guess that game will inspire me whether I want it to or not...

Specifically tho the villain brother thing is taken more from Grandia II.
The battle system is more Dragon Quest, but it might as well be from Mother since they took it from that too.

And yes, Mother 3 is one of my favorite games.

[Arne]

You can pretend that he environment is making Lovecraftian efforts to boil and reach, or whatever. Helps to put the brain in a mood, I've found. The masses are alive, heaving, whirling, asserting themselves over others.

[Decroded]

Oh the drama!
Take careful notice of what Arne did here this is a really great edit.


Just playin quickly with some colours here but I think this takes away from the mood of Arne's version.

[Strawzzboy]

@Arne wow! Thank you for that advice and the edit. You've given me a lot to think about. I think I was more concerned with making for example, the water look kinda like water than what the water is actually doing. I can see a clear direction of the water's movement in your edit, and the grass feels like it's blowing in the wind. Anyway, I will keep practicing to try to make the piece come alive. Thanks again for the crit!

@Decroded really cool edit. I like you made the color reflect off of surfaces. That brings more life into it too because the sun has a lighting influence on the sky, water and cliff.