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Isometric 2D Map (Critique Needed)

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faith_august polycounter lvl 3
Hello, guys! I do not draw stylized isometric very often, but I would like to improve in this style and I will be very thankful for any your critique and feedback.

This is an island in Caribbean sea.


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  • RN
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    RN sublime tool
    Hi. This is really nice. Good job!

    When looking at this I had these impressions:
    - Some shadows don't seem to affect some objects, like that rock arch near the bottom, its cast shadow doesn't seem cover the rocks in the water? You can fill those rocks with only their darkest tone.

    - The treasure chest and the bottle in the water seem slightly different in style than the other elements in the picture, like they have too much contrast and, especially for the chest, too much detail. So this is basically a comment on consistency, avoiding high frequency detail so it fits better with the rest of the smooth shapes in there (something like this). Compare the style of the chest with that rock arch on the smaller island for example.

    - An infinitely far away light source like the sun creates parallel cast shadows. All cast shadows should go in the same direction, but for some trees and some rocks they seem to go in different directions. Also, the trees on the smaller island don't seem to have shadows.
  • faith_august
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    faith_august polycounter lvl 3
    Hi, @RN , thanks a lot! I see now - its true about the shadows, I should be more accurate with them. You know I didn't notice that detailing issue, great that you pointed me at it with the example. Thank you, that is valuable advice to me. :) Now I have something to work on my skills.

  • EricElwell
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    EricElwell insane polycounter
    I think it looks good stylistically.

    Do you have your elements split up into different assets? If you're cutting this up to be reassembled as one scene, you're OK... but one of the major points of the isometric grid is that you can easily swap the location of elements without losing perspective. If you haven't already, try moving your elements around. For example, test by putting that small island with the arched rock behind the larger island mass, see how it fits, how the shadows work, etc.. I think you'll be able to self identify issues and form solutions.
  • faith_august
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    faith_august polycounter lvl 3
    Oh, that is very useful advice. I have trees, bushes and stones on separate layers and that front rock too.
    ... Tried this :/ my map seems to be not so compliant for moving its elements.
    Thank you @EricElwell I will use understanding of this isometric fundamental in the future progress.

  • EVF
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    EVF polycounter lvl 3
    I like this quite a bit! 
    Although I agree with the prev crits, you did a great job :)
  • faith_august
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    faith_august polycounter lvl 3
    Thank you, @EVF ! I'm glad you liked it, that's motivating :)
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