BTNAvalanche

[Moderator]

22:21, 15th Feb 2016
GhostThruster: there is next to zero details and shading (not to mention it's oddly bright considering the night sky backdrop). looks far too plain and flat for an icon, aim to build up some details and give the icon some form. use reference pictures of avalanches and look up a few 2d art tutorials on the hive to see how you should shade them.

14:16, 17th Feb 2016
GhostThruster: update is better, but still lacks details and shading. the sky is still inconsistent with the foreground's lighting.

 

[ILH]

Nice, maybe making the tree look more "realistic" and lighten those black outlines on the snow?

 

[Roland]

I love this! But it needs some detailing on the trees and the snow, It needs some realism or some cartoon-styled design Great work pal!

 

[Arad MNK]

A bit too simple, I guess?

 

[SpasMaster]

Seems way too simple to me. Add some details, try to make the snow look better and not just a plain white field. Look for references such as the one below. Possibly include snow that is falling in the direction of the wind.

reference image

I'd also look for some pine trees artworks to serve as reference when improving the falling tree (because no tree looks like a perfect triangle, especially ones that are being dragged down by an avalanche).
In my opinion, your icon is not approvable in its current state. Try to improve it by including details, reading some tutorials and using some reference images to help you out. Good luck!

 

[Legal_Ease]

Reminds me of SkiFree. If it is meant to go with a set of ultra simple cartoonie icons then that is cool, but as a standalone icon, this is not of proper quality to be approved. It's fun though and I like it.

SkiFree

 

[Alok]

Updated.

 

[Alok]

Updated. (v3.0)

 

[Legal_Ease]

Better. Still the pile of snow in the bottom corner looks a bit pencil drawn. The rest looks pretty good now though.

I vote for approval though, because it is sorta fun and different.

 

[Alok]

22:21, 15th Feb 2016
GhostThruster: there is next to zero details and shading (not to mention it's oddly bright considering the night sky backdrop). looks far too plain and flat for an icon, aim to build up some details and give the icon some form. use reference pictures of avalanches and look up a few 2d art tutorials on the hive to see how you should shade them.

It's not a night sky, it's simply a gradient background like you see in many icons which are shaded as if there is light although the background is dark. I decided to go with that since when it had the sky there was less emphasis on the main, front part of the picture and it didn't look like an icon, but either like a painting, like this one, for example: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/icons-541/btnsnowstorm-99170/. Not to mention that half of the shading, lighting and details are lost when the icon is converted. I tried to emphasize them and partly succeeded, but still the snow must look bright and not too colour-filled under a day sky and it's simply like that in real life:
The shading under the tree looks the same as on this image and the snow is simple with just ripples, where it is flat:

Image

Although the details on the tree in the icon can still be hardly seen, although I emphasized it and it should be a Warcraft 3 tree in the icon and not a real tree.
Here is some flat snow:

Image

And here is the ripply effect I added to the snow, although it is under a near-midday sun in the icon so it has less shading:

Image

And finally here is an avalanche, although my avalanche is simplified and with simple shading and lighting and it has the motion lines to show that it is moving and the snow is again a plain white field:

Image

But I know that strange are the ways of Warcraft 3 icon making and that everything should be ten times more emphasized and shaded and lighted, and doesn't need to have much relation to reality in some aspects. I can try to improve this, although right now I'm left only with a 64x64 picture since I had saved the small picture in the big picture file accidentally, but it won't be like under a night sky since it isn't, and you should change your review if it was the main reason why the icon is set to "needs fix".

 

[Alok]

Updated.

 

[Legal_Ease]

Even better than last time. It looks very good now. The pile of snow is less pencil-ish yet still "drawn" looking enough to keep with wc3 style and to be fairly clear about what it is. The tree has nice shading and the sky is now more of a gradient. Very nice. And good work sticking with it.

 

[GhostThruster]

...

it looks like a night sky, therefore to any viewer of the icon it is a night sky. make the background brighter, then it won't look like a night sky and will remain consistent with the foreground's lighting.

i'm sorry but your icon's shading & details don't resemble any of those images. your flat snow is fine enough (though still some more details & texture wouldn't hurt) - as is the shadow the tree casts onto the snow, but your tree looks like this when it should look like this, and you avalanche looks like this when it should look like this. not to mention the proportion of the tree to the avalance is really weird - either that's a really big pine, or the avalanche is tiny.

please do try to improve. like i said, look up tutorials and use reference pictures.
as for your icon, no the night sky was not the only reason. the primary reason is that it lacks shading and detail. your updated icon still isn't of an approvable standard. i suggest you try build some experience up, work on subjects easier to paint - like swords, equipment etc. - before moving onto something as complex and detailed as a landscape.