[Finished] Bullet Life Desk Top: Surreal Sky

[fromsoysauce]

http://saijeehiguchi.deviantart.com/#/d3au4l6
An image based off of stage three of Bullet Life, this one is made for Desktop Back Ground purposes. Yea it's anim8or alright.

[Janro]

That's pretty good. It really looks like we're up high.

The only thing that bugs me is that it's hard to focus on one spot. I'm guessing we're supposed to focus on the girl right? It's like there should be a contrast between the subject and the background. Maybe blur the background a little or if you want a clear shot change the lighting so that you somehow make the girl pop out. That's just what I think though.

[ADSohr]

Also, try to vary the buildings some, they are all the same shape, same height, and the same color.  You could also clutter up the background with some more buildings to make it look more like a city, rather than strange uniformed pillars out in the middle of some cloud. 

I might also suggest making the buildings bigger (not taller), they look too small to be of any practical utility.  You can barely fit one room per floor, and half of it needs to be some way of getting from the ground to the top (like a ladder).  I'm guessing where the texture repeats is where each floor level is supposed to be, if so, then those are incredibly tiny occupants.

How did she get way up there?  There are no steps and no doors to an elevator.

As far as composition, you could also zoom in on the character and put her in the right 1/3rd of the scene (look up the rule of thirds). The twist in the camera is slightly disorienting, I would try making the horizon level.  Where is the light coming from? There are no shadows anywhere, and the lack of shading makes the scene look very flat. (I'm guessing the light is directly behind the camera.)  I suggest adding  4 lights around the scene that are heavily tinted blue (no shadows) and reduce the main "sun" light intensity.

As a test render it's great, but I don't think it's a desktop yet.  Keep working on it, it'll improve.

[fromsoysauce]

Janro, I put Zoey there, mostly because it is supposed to be a scene off of Bullet Life, and Zoey is the main character of the game, so it becomes a direct relation. The reason I put here that close, is because I wanted her to be visible with reasonable detail. The actual focus of the picture though, is the tower that she is sitting on.

ADS, it's not really supposed to make sense, "surreal" sky (as in "dream like"), It's not a city it's a sky, those aren't buildings, they are towers (presumably having something to do with maintaining electrical balance) because the image is based off of a game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgiOF7lqPOw&feature=related The scene comes up from everything past 9:00

"What's out is done, what's next is to come."

I should note that I will never post wips.

[ADSohr]

As a casual observer trying to help you out, I will note that I never would have looked at the "tower" as the focus.  My eyes were naturally drawn to the only thing that was different in the scene; the character.

The way I look at this is, if you have to explain your joke, then it wasn't told very well (I have told many poor jokes ).  So far at least two people haven't understood what you were trying to accomplish with this picture.  That should tell you something.

If you refuse to go back and improve stuff that is finished, then at least take our comments into consideration for the next project you work on. 

Don't take this as bashing you or your work.  You have skill, and I want to see that skill improve.  Keep up the good work.

[fromsoysauce]

I don't find it bashing. It's just that this wasn't that kind of project. I only spent about 20 minutes putting it together. And that is what it is. Rather then improving, your advice seemed more hinting toward making it something more. But I don't really want to spend more then 20 minutes on this kind of thing. Know? It's just a little thing I did for fun, and wanted to share. And constructive commentary on a project like this, to me, felt more like wishful thinking of yours as to how you wish it could have been. And for me, I can just tell you, that that is not what it was supposed to be. The picture is what it is, I wouldn't have it any other way, because that is the way I pictured it before I made it.

I am not offended, or trying to offend, just making things clear.

[ADSohr]

It looked to me like it was supposed to be an artwork, so I was attempting to help you improve it towards that goal.  Since that was not the goal, then proceed as you were.