Ancient rock

[Gunpog!]

Any ideas to stop it looking flat and make it look more craggy?

If I understand what is bothering you, you are already in a good direction with your edits.

You have the overall geometrical shape but apparently, it is too simple for your own taste.

So, when it is like this, begin to separate the piece within itself in smaller pieces. One could call those secondary forms (tertiary would be even smaller ones or "the details").

To say it in an other way, think "fractal". More protruding stuff, more overshooting rock blocks, more interesting forms and areas to look at... Anything to break the monotony of an overall primary form that is too simple and boring.

Made an edit, of course it is simple and kinda sucks but hopefully it will help you get what I mean:

You are already doing it but maybe not enough? I think your edit is already nice but eh. Try to push tridimensionality and fractalazing more to see what happens?

(If you do it too much, of course, things can get too gritty and become boring again. It is a balance to find and it depends a lot on the size of your piece.)

[Chonky Pixel]

I love this, but not for this rock. This one needs to be something that was once sculpted (or extruded?) but has fallen on hard times.

Before working on that one I was playing with this:



Which was an experiment in drawing a silhouette using a large brush, then carving it into a rock. I like it but this one IS too regular. Instead of a silhouette, your idea as a starting point could really help give it some width and interest.

And it could definitely help provide some extra scenery.

Thanks!

[Kowee]

Great work ! I liked the first version but seeing your edits I think you are on the right way.

Don't be too hard on yourself. I wouldn't call it a rip-off even if you are heavily inspired by someone else art. Gathering multiple references would, of course, be better and give you more ideas but aiming for an art style is nothing wrong. You are going to make it your own in the process anyway.
I am probably saying the obvious here but references are very important and help you overcome those moments where you get stuck. It doesn't have to be pixel art only, sometimes a photo or a painting can help you understand the shape and the texture better. Taking few minutes looking for those references can sometimes save you a lot of time afterward during the drawing process.

I don't know if there is much to analyze on my edit but my way of thinking was trying to see the big shapes at first. I think all artists are guilty of this, myself included, to zoom in early and get to work a small area for way too long when you should focus on the whole artwork instead. For your background I will recommend you to focus on the big picture at first. If it's an illustration, the composition, the values, the storytelling come first before worrying about details. If it's for a game, does your character stands out, the colors match, etc.
To sum up I think your rock is good and if it's part of a bigger drawing don't stress out too much on details.

Keep on the good work, I hope to see this background !

PS : Thank for the advice about attaching picture, I am fresh new on the forum and I didn't understand how those img brackets work 

[Chonky Pixel]

Thanks!

Some great stuff there. I am using multiple references, I tend to go on a Google Images spree before starting anything!

When I looked at your edit, I noticed a few little embellishments and tweaks that helped tell the "story of the rock" I guess. I tend to think in narrative terms when drawing, like "This beam of light is travelling from the sun but gets blocked by this leaf" or "at some point in the past some water froze in a crack, expanded and widened it until this piece fell off." I guess my hope is that it adds a bit of realism and cohesion to an image... And if the narrative is off it can really bug me.

A good example of this is the horizontal crack about halfway down on the front-facing vertical corner. I didn't like the way the rock seemed to twist in mine. The narrative was off: I couldn't conceive of any way it got from the original rock to there. One of your edits fixed that...

Anyway you're right. I'm definitely zooming in too early! I'm justifying it by saying I'm practising technique before embarking on a full piece, but it's definitely time to pull back and get the overall composition down.

Still, I do believe I've learned a lot from this exercise! Thanks for your time, and I look forward to seeing you around more.