Prison in the cellar

[kirsis]

Hi everybody, I'm new here. I've recently decided to try and learn to create pixel art that I could use in games (I'm a programmer), and spent the whole day working on my first piece. I'd be grateful for any tips and advice regarding:

1) how to improve the piece
2) ideas for the piece (it's pretty plain at the moment and I'm not sure what I could add to it)
3) anything else that comes to mind, really. I'm open for any comments

What I'm trying to create is a dungeon-prison type of environment that some vampire could have created below his castle in Überwald.



I looked at the cobblestones from http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/48487.htm when drawing mine, so they're similar. I dunno if that's maybe frowned upon in this community, so I wanted to be upfront about it (I didn't copy or trace them, though. Just browsed the gallery for ideas). I used some random photos from Google for the wall bricks and wooden texture

[Salmeron]

Need more texture. Also a few spider webs and a skull may make it interesting.

[Tourist]

The stones look very nice.  I like the rounded pattern to them, it emphasizes the age of the structure.

I think the wood texture on the door is good.

I think the door is too perfectly rectangular.  I think it needs just a hint of waviness in it's outline.  Not warped wood, but where some parts of the edge have grown soft and worn.  Google images old+door has some good reference images.

You could add some bolts to the hinges to hold them in the wood.

The stringy bits to the right of the door ... ?

The candle looks good.

Tourist

[r4c7]

The stringy bits to the right of the door ... ?

Those are bars like you would find in a jail cell. I recognized them right away.

[r1k]

I was thinking the door might look more interesting if you rounded the top.  I did a quick edit to see how that would look

[Jon]

Überwald? Like in discworld?

Anyway, I think the rounded door is much nicer; it looks more ancient. I'm thinking maybe the rocks could use some more noise, though. Quick edit to show what I mean:

[rustEdge]

Adding an arch to act as a frame for the rounded door would also add definition to the door. It'll also keep the door from looking like it's just leaning on a solid wall. Most of older architecture don't have the luxury of having mortar and cement to keep openings from collapsing on themselves. Having either a single slab of stone or plank of wood on top of a square door should work as well.