Shading opinion?

[Xenon02]

Roofs aren't usually paper-thin. The tiles (or sheets, boards, or whatever else you plan to draw) have thickness, as does the (wooden/metal/plastic) understructure that they sit on. Thinking about the major parts that make up this roof should help you see where the lights and shadows can go.

I highly recommend looking at some reference photos for this sort of thing. Roofs aren't something you can draw well without having a basic understanding of how they work IRL.


Unrelated nitpicks, if you're interested:
The upper right part of the wall looks like it's at an angle because of the darker colours, but everything else suggests it's part of the same surface as the upper left.
The vending machine (?) seems to be facing in a different direction (mostly down to its width/depth ratio and the far side's white bit being much thinner than the near side's), but its stadow suggests that it's flat against the wall. The shadow of its legs also suggests the back of it is narrower than the front.
The air conditioning unit seems to be sitting a distance away from the wall because of where on the overhang it is. If it's meant to be attached to the house, it should probably be flush against the wall. If it's meant to be separated, then it could use a cast shadow to disambiguate this.
Speaking of cast shadows, that aircon pipe(?) looks pretty thick and should probably cast a shadow on the wall.
For an extra touch of realism, consider setting the doors and windows a little into the house rather than flush with the exterior wall, and perhaps raising the bottoms of the doors by a couple of pixels to show the threshold.

Well I guess this one should be a thing here.



So I was looking for some roof references (but most of them were to hard for me to draw it ...) so I've made a typical one with metal panel on the roof. I've also added gutter.

I've also changed the whole vending machine (with additional cat on the top). I changed a bit right upper wall to not make the situation where the site wall look the same like the front one. I added some shadows as well on the top, vending machine and pipes.

PS. There is still a bush WIP so don't mind him, I'm still thinking how to add details in this bush to make it look ok.

Oh and there is one thing I couldn't understand.

"For an extra touch of realism, consider setting the doors and windows a little into the house rather than flush with the exterior wall, and perhaps raising the bottoms of the doors by a couple of pixels to show the threshold."

What did you mean by that? Because I couldn't understand this line.
Thanks for the advice

[eishiya]

The new roof looks nice, but I think it should be bigger. Your upper floor seems just barely big enough to stand up in (don't forget that the floor between the upper and lower floors has thickness too!), and in addition to that, there's usually some space above the ceiling for wiring, ducts, etc, and/or a crawlspace or even a whole attic. When looking at reference images, don't only pay attention to the details, pay attention to bigger features like sizing/proportions and positioning.

"For an extra touch of realism, consider setting the doors and windows a little into the house rather than flush with the exterior wall, and perhaps raising the bottoms of the doors by a couple of pixels to show the threshold."

What did you mean by that? Because I couldn't understand this line.

Check out this image: https://forum.vectorworks.net/uploads/monthly_2017_05/535d00481de2bf4068cb0b3dd36ba0e6.jpeg.bfff00c79778a2b2f0003d0cd4b791c1.jpeg
See how the window is not flush with the wall, but sits set into the wall, and the near side of the wall covers up some of the window frame from this angle? Because the window is much thinner than the wall, it can't be flush with the wall on all sides. Typically, the window will sit aligned to the middle of the wall, which will make it appear set into the wall. Sometimes it'll be aligned flush with the wall or even stick beyond the wall (both of these designs create a larger windowsill inside), so what you've drawn is certainly plausible, but IMHO it makes the design look flat and less interesting.

[Xenon02]

I think I know what do you mean by that, so I tried to recreate this effect.
Dunno if it looks like that.
Now I pretty like this roof, I wasn't confident before but now it looks great. I also wonder if the cat isn't to big comparing to this vending machine ...



PS.
Do you have a good reference how to implement words on a (that green object I forgot the name of it: D), I want to add some shadows to it as well, to create an imitation of the movement caused by the wind.

[Mathias]

Green thingie is usually called an "awning" I believe.

Went for an edit. I think I was just trying to help details read better.
Simplified some things here and there. etc
Palette adjustments, and added a quick background so the building's lighting would have context.
Tried not to add colors but ended up adding a few I think.



(unfortunately while doing the edit, your cat jumped down and got hit by a car. dw, he felt no pain - it was an eighteen wheeler)

[Xenon02]

Damn I admit this one looks a lot better than mine

I was trying to keep more cold colors than make it more bright
Trying to help my friend make a game about life decisions. But this transfomations shows me how much I am afraid to add 1 more pixel or 1 more color to pallete but to be honest I still can't find my self to create a great color composition.

I also like the roof (I think I've added to much lines there)

A lot to learn is there for me
Thanks for the edit, I'll try to adjust some things by myself (don't want to copy). I'll send as fast as it's possible

Poor shop menagers cat 

[heyguy]

Really nice edit Mathias! The changes add a lot!

Xenon02, your cat looks weird the way it's shaded. I agree that the second floor looks a bit "short" possibly.



Try to give it shading more like the bunny on the right!

[Xenon02]

Hello !

I made so small changes (not big as I thought). Thanks again @Mathias for this transformation, it helped a lot.
So I made so small changes like : I've changed a bit colors from the original one, I left the door roof on the right side,
changed a bit the decoration behind the windows. I don't know how the cat looks like now (hard to add some other colors to not make it look to messy) I've also tried to get rid of the outlines but it looked pretty wierd for me. I've also changed the pattern on the bushes (the same way I did in my previous building).



I'm also experimenting with putting words on the awning.

I'll make it better soon



I'm also making a small map how it will look like (I mean that I'm checking how they look like next to each other)
Also thinking how to fulfill the background with small buildings and rice field. But I'll work on it later (FIRSTLY THE SHOP)



I'll try to send the version with a background

Thanks a lot everybody I really appreciate it @heyguy @Mathias @eishiya @Chonky Pixel
See ya !

[Mathias]

Good work. The new building feels much more polished and I can understand what everything is now.

As for the cat beast, that's a tough one. It's definitely quite large. I don't think it really reads as a cat.
If you were to animate it and have its tail flip around or make it scratch itself or some cat-like movement that could tip off the view what it is.

Maybe the way Chrono Trigger (SNES) drew cats will give you an idea or two -


Notice the proportions and how the face is kept simple.

[Xenon02]

Thanks

I've made 2 version of the cat



I think I've kept the proportions. Oh and I've changed a bit the vending machine.

Here is the actual change:

[Chonky Pixel]

Cute cat!

Personally, I'd like to see bigger ears on it, just to hit home that it's a cat. You could probably sacrifice some head height. But it's a taste thing.