[C+C] [WIP] Forest level

[Berserky]

Hello pixelation I am working on a game so I started making a forest level. So I came here for some advice.
The main problem as you can see are the trees. They are hard because they are pretty big and I need them to look in similar style as the knight.
Any advice is helpful, thanks.

[Tidbit]

Hello! 

Since I feel like I can't properly comment on the BG or some of the rocky outcroppings that the character is standing on until I see them in a slightly more finished state, I'd like to talk about your dirt/main ground tiles. Even with how things are rather unfinished (at least I think they are) there seems to be a real clash of style between the rocks and the dirt, specifically with the pattern you have in the dirt. The rocks have very blocky and large surfaces and look smooth where as you have this strange grid like pattern in the dirt that comes off a bit more like brown circuitry to me. I unfortunately don't really have the mental capacity to whip up a few edits (I spent the day helping a friend move), I can at least suggest trying for a pattern that isn't so broken up but rather more whole like your rocks. A lot of times that I've made ground tiles I've found that sometimes a little less detail goes a looooong way. 
Again, I apologize if this didn't make a whole lot of sense, if you have any questions I'll be more than glad to be more concise

[lachrymose]

What type of screen resolution are you aiming for with this, if I may ask?

[YellowLime]

You could try to just work with 90 degree angles for the trees Probably with some rounding in the corners...

[Daimoth]

How big will your clipping plane be? Your stage is massive.

[michelcote]

You could try making a tileset for your trees and trunks. Here's an early mockup for a project of mine:

and the tiles:

Not the best example, but it might give you some ideas on how to tackle this. I should mention I used some trees from NES' Gimmick! as reference:
http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/4/7/e/gfs_66546_2_18.jpg
http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/0/8/0/gfs_59409_2_2.jpg
Make a bunch of generic tiles, some unique ones, and build wholly unique trees all over the place.
I'd also suggest breaking up the mound the knight is standing on into manageable chunks that you can use to build new ones.
All that aside, looks cool!
Edit: Just realized the tiles I posted don't exactly match the mockup(later iteration), but whatev 

[Mathias]

Don't go any further until you have the screen size issue resolved.

That, or scale up your playable character.
Hard to imagine a platformer gameplay setup where having such small protagonist compared to such a large scene will work well. Kinda feels disconnected being so "far away" from him.

Michelote is probably right - tiles are the way to go here. If you try and go HD pixel art, you might go insane.

uhhhh you know what, hold on, lemme get an edit . . .

*edit do*

Suddenly, an edit:



Changed to 2x style. This cuts the pixel creation workload to ONE FOURTH (and looks cool).

Changed screen aspect ration to 16:9 so there's no black bars on most monitors when full screen.

Tweaked muddy palette.

Added more bg parallaxing layers.

Added bg fog for some environmentally feels.

Darkened ground tiles and closest forest canopy to improve visual organization. Put more focus on PLAYABLE area.

Added The Red Dreadnought Knight of the Order of the Sacred Brothers, protector of random treasure chest.


Compare before & after:
Spoiler

[Berserky]

Sorry guys for not replying earlier, i wasn't home for a few days and i didn't have access to internet ( weird huh? ). I really appreciate your replies and will continue working asap.
@Mathias I was thinking about putting a small protagonist because my game is a hack'n slash and Risk of Rain has a small protagonist and I thought it looked cool .

[Mathias]

Fundamental aspects of your game should be governed by what benefits gameplay the most. Optimize your formula.
Is it better to see lots of enemies simultaneously and upcoming terrain and stuff, or to have a closer up view of the action for better one on one battles, etc.

Whatever it is, you gotta figure it out. Don't let me derail your game concept with a bad suggestion, though. I'm just working with what I see and know.

Keep going!

[Berserky]

Alright so i reworked the level a bit and used the suggested palette because I think it looks nicer. I think that trees are good, or better at least. I didn't want to use too many details but i still needed them to look like trees, I also added an extra enemy just because .

So what to you think about all of it now, is it starting to look like a decent forest?