Tree needs better shading to come to life

[Antago]

So I've been working on this tree and am using it in my game. I am pretty satisfied with it, but I do not plan to move my game forward until the art is going in a consistent, satisfactory direction.

I'd like to make this tree pop. Any suggestions? I am a huge fan of the Secret of Mana series and its tree graphics, and I will show you some of their trees as examples



Here are some tree examples:

[abottoir]

The tree you have made is very different because it is from a front-view. The other trees are from a top view, try a different angle and it won't look so flat.

[EvilEye]

Well view aside, that tree has potential, but its colored horribly.

The leaves have spots or stripes or something. I am sure there's a way to do this that looks good, but you should get the basic coloring down first.

Also, if this is for a game, your tree is far too contrasted. It's going to stand out in front of everything.

Take a good look at the colors of that example you posted. The contrast is much lower, and they don't use pure black ( 25 r, 39 g, 33 b ).

For help coloring it, you should search the forum here for some tutorials ( there are some links in the "general" forum ).

[Emtch]

Only suggestion I have is to get rid of the black and just use darker shades of the other colors instead.

[Opacus]

Here I have some suggestions for you.
First; Why, if you want a secret of mana style, the huge leaves? I cooked up something that might be a bit more Secret of Mana-ish.


(Top left you can see my edit, I'm far too lazy to make a bigger edit.)
I started with a black silouhete, and kept bringing in more colours from darkest to lightest. I always find that an easy way of creating leaves.
And below that, it's a mini tree. Why? For the lightsource. Without that your tree will be lookin flat (If you have a go at the smaller leaves that is.)
Also colour changes.

[Antago]

It's interesting and certainly a beautiful color use. However I'm not really seeing it in your example. I chose big leaves because I feel they are attractive; I am looking for Secret of Mana art style, not the same Secret of Mana tree types if you know what I mean. It's gorgeous and I'd like to see your final product if you're ever interested. Still, I am sticking with big leaves for this tree.

Okay, so I revamped it a bit and here's what I've come up with:


I changed the colors a little to something I felt a little more asthetically pleasing. I decided to add some branches near the leaves to make it look more unified. I continued the trunk upward as well to make it look like a whole tree. Now I need help with shading it a lot.

[Zique]

I like the way the newer version is colored, I think it is more vibrant and stands out more... but at the same time if you're trying to bring the tree to life, why have the red and brown leaves which symbolize wilting?
I think the trunk needs to be redone (I'll try and edit it to show what I mean,) because the sheer amount of bumps and lines makes it seem more like a group of vines that are growing together.
You might also want to remember that for shading there are sometimes tints and shades of purples on the underside of the tree to accentuate the shading while still having color instead of being dull.


You can see what I mean from the bottom left example you posted. The light source is from the upper left, so the purple shading is on the lower right

One last thing, is there a specific light source for the tree? Because it seems that it might just be from straight up, which means the trunk shouldn't have as many highlights as it does.

All in all, I think it'd work great as an artistic piece as-is, but may need some refining otherwise.

[Dusty]

I think the perspective is still an issue. Right now the trunk is alright, but could still use some work, but the leaves are almost facing us directly.
With a tree like this, it'd be sensible that all the leaves were growing outwards from the center, or at least, that's what your piece is portraying. So we should see that center source of all the leaves. You see how on the SoM palm tree, you see where all the leaves are growing from the top of the tree, and growing outwards?

[Zique]

Here's what I edited to try and show what I think the trunk might look like.

I sectioned it off into 4 pieces in and then filled in lines for the bark and knots.
Lastly I tried to illustrate my point of using purples and blues to shade, but I think I might have just messed up there 

As for the spots on the leaves, on some of them you used the main leaf color but darker, while some of them have just straight brown blotches.
I scanned the colors and it showed 57 different colors used, but I could only count about 20.

As Dusty said, the tree does seem more like it is blossoming the leaves instead of them being a part of branches.
If you're trying to make a tree that is more like a banana palm, here is a art piece done by Mary Jo Burgiel which I think may make a good reference: