@martsuro

Paintover

Hello, If you don’t mind, I would like to give you a few suggestions. =) I think you are starting to understand the difference between foreground, midground, and background. In your artwork, I would change the second tree in the midground because it seems to have almost the same value as the tree in the foreground. I made a small proposal for you in version number 2. I created a clearer value difference between the grounds. You can push it even further to really show the separation. In the foreground, you can use darker tones. In the background, lighter tones. In the midground, more middle tones. I would work with around 90% near-gray color tones. These can be blue-gray or green-gray tones. Then I would split the remaining 10% into two parts: 5% for the girl and 5% for the castle. For those two elements, I would use slightly more saturated colors, but not fully saturated. I hope this helps. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need further help. I’m passionate about environment art. =) Happy painting!

@fosco

Paintover

Hey! Several areas could really be improved here. First, the composition: The characters feel a bit too large and are placed too far into the right corner, which weakens the sense of scale. If they were standing, they’d almost be as tall as the bridge, which makes the environment feel less believable. Also, having a single foreground tree where we mostly see the top rather than the trunk creates an awkward sense of extra ground space below, which makes the composition feel a bit off. Ideally, the characters should be smaller, and the ground they’re sitting on should be more clearly defined. This would also give you more room to include additional foreground elements like another tree or environmental details. Notice too how the bridge and its reflection create an “O” shape that naturally frames the characters—this is a strong compositional opportunity. Now, regarding values: Most of the composition currently sits in a very similar value range, which flattens the image and reduces depth. This is where atmospheric perspective becomes important: Background elements should generally appear lighter, less saturated, softer, and often slightly cooler compared to the more detailed midground and foreground. In real landscapes, dust, moisture, and atmosphere naturally reduce clarity over distance. So, reducing the value intensity behind the bridge and adding some atmospheric perspective there would help push the environment back and give the characters more visual importance. There’s definitely more that could be discussed, but that would get pretty lengthy. For now, I’d strongly recommend focusing on value composition and compositional studies before fully diving into color scenes. Strong value control is one of the biggest keys to creating solid environments and illustrations. Hope this helps!