New and updated island and beach backgrounds

We've had both of these backgrounds for some time now, since well before the Christmas holiday, but they both needed quite a bit of work to update them and make them match how my new backgrounds look.

These are the two backgrounds as they were before:

The second one especially needed changes as it looked a little flat and didn't have the depth I want, with a space our characters could move in. It was also too dark, and looked different to the vibrant and colourful village backgrounds.


And these are the two backgrounds updated with my changes:

My first aim was to give the background more depth. I first decided to change the sky so it curved more, rather than being straight on as before which made it look flat. I thought it was also a good idea to change the waves to clouds, and now it looks as if they're encircling the island (along with the two close-up clouds I added). The other major change I made was lighting and shadows, as the older version had neither. It just helps to place things more in the background, such as how the clouds now look more like they're 3D and floating in the sky because of their shadows. I also made a couple of other small changes, by making the island lighter in colour, and switching the sky around so now it's darker on top rather than on the bottom. I did this because Kathy told me that colours get lighter in colour the further away they are.

 

 This background practically had a major overhaul, with just the layout itself staying the same. I immediately wanted to change the sand, as it had too much shadow and was overall too dark; I just couldn't imagine our characters walking on it. So I made it much lighter in colour to match the island in the first background. I felt something was needed though, a shadow of some sort to help create space, and in the end I just decided to have a simple one at the back which just helps in creating a foreground and background with the beach. As I did with the trees in my cake house background, I made the trees lighter in colour the further away they got from the front. This not only helps to define each tree, but also to further enhance that depth which is so crucial. The sea underwent a change too, simply by changing the texture to a different one which was lighter in colour and felt more 3D (the waves get smaller the further away it gets). Then, as with the other background, I switched the sky around so it's lighter the further away it gets, and I added shadows for the clouds.

 

Overall I'm pleased with how they look and feel they are much better suited to the new direction I'm heading in with backgrounds.