Hello everyone!

I'm pretty new to pixel art, and I'm trying to create some assets for an endless runner game that I'm working on with two other friends.
The problem is that, due to the lack of experience, I'm kind of stuck with an issue regarding the background of the game (My first background ever).


So, in that image each individual element (the clouds, the less detailed buildings and the tall buildings) will be a different paralax.

But what gives my brain a bluescreen is the sky .

My question is:
Are the clouds and the sun enough to fill the sky?
Does it look incomplete that way?
What else would work there... What could I add or replace?

Any suggestion will help so much, I got no idea which way to go.

(Also an overall feedback on the work would help me so much aswell.)

I've also tried something like this:

But I'm not really sure what to say about it.

Thank you very much for reading so far.

PS: If anyone would wonder, the unfinished space at the bottom will be filled with platforms and some water reflexion; Also, only half of the background will be rendered, the other half I've done it so the paralax won't be so repetitive.

Thank you once again!

Thank you very much for you suggestion, I did try what you've been talking about, it took a while, but sadly it didn't fit that well with the whole landscape for some reason, I now feel sorry that i didn't export it so I could upload it here.
But after hours of trial and error I came out with this:


Think this would work out?

Thank you once again for your time!

I don't think the rimlights work as well on the mountains as they do on the buildings. They make the mountains look like they're a flat cutout. The rimlights look good on the buildings because those are smaller and blockier than mountains, so it's conceivable that they're just reflecting light with their sides, which appear narrow due to perspective. Mountains are larger and more irregular than that.

The lighting on the clouds also looks a little odd, since it's coming from somewhere other than the sun/moon. If you light the clouds from above (for the moon version) or from below (for the sunset version), that should look neutral enough even with parallax. If the clouds are fixed the sky and don't move, then you could shade them according to the light source.

Be careful to avoid having stars in front of the sun/moon. You have some in the dark lines. Even where it fades into the darkness (whether because of shadows or because of cloud cover/fog), it's still an opaque object. Similarly, if the fading is due to fog, they should affect the stars as well.


Don't forget to check how the background looks with your foreground. These are lovely, but I worry there might be some readability issues because of the high contrast on the buildings.