Rock/Boulder + Tree

[Kellawgs]

I've never pixelled a tree before but overall I like how it came out. That said, over the course of this entire day I felt like I was really stumbling my way through it and would appreciate a critique and/or a good tutorial (haven't been satisfied with any of the ones I've found.)

My priority was once again to only use full clusters.

Reference:

[Kellawgs]

Last night after posting I started feeling less confident in this tree, but today I've gone back and tidied it up some.

[AppleGirl]

This looks amazing and visually pleasing. It's not too messy, and I think it has the right amount of detail. Great job! 

[Sersch]

depending on which size it should be displayed on, if i zoom in i feel like the clusters are a little big for a tree since it consists of small leafs.

[Kellawgs]

depending on which size it should be displayed on, if i zoom in i feel like the clusters are a little big for a tree since it consists of small leafs.

I noticed this as well. I think it looks substantially better at 200x than 400x, though I'm unsure how important it is. As it stands, it's just something I'll keep in mind for future reference.

[Kellawgs]

What do you guys think of this boulder?

Reference:

[MysteryMeat]

Looks more like crumpled paper, I'd say reduce the facets some more.

[Kellawgs]

Looks more like crumpled paper, I'd say reduce the facets some more.

Here's a really quick edit, is this what you mean?
Looks more like a boulder but I was hoping I could somehow make it more realistic.

[MysteryMeat]

Yes indeed, looks much more rock-ish now. Perhaps use a different reference?

[eishiya]

I think the reference is fine, the problem is you're using your full range of values on every dip, even though in the ref (and IRL in general), it'll only be the super-deep pits (not present in the ref) and the rock's form shadow (the dark side of the dock) that'll need the darkest colours. The smaller details will only have light shadows, because there's nothing significant there to block out all the light.