Hi everyone, I am very happy to say I have started making my own short film. I don’t have much yet, but I’m getting there.
This is an image to test the look. I made everything in this scene except for the fox, I did try to model one at the start, but it looked awful, so I just bought one, its very heavily modified though, and rigged. Tell me what you think. 
If anyone can see anything that looks off, or has any criticism, please tell me. My aim is to get this looking as good as possible.
I think if it’s supposed to be a winter snow covered scene, the green leaves are throwing me off.
Yeah, those aren’t winter plants. I could see some coniferous shrubs like juniper or winter hardy bushes like holly, but branched green deciduous shrubs like those would be dead if there is snow
Mmm… I see what you mean
Also, I think your birch needs a displacement map- the black areas should be lower than the white, and there should be a bunch of strips of birch bark peeling off all over the trunks
I would love to, but the thing is, my computer isn’t the best and I need to keep everything quite low poly, however I probably could add a displace modifier set to clouds or something similar.
Gotcha. Yeah, I think some simple displacement would be fine for your style
I can add a bump as well
See, I live in Australia, and I’ve never been to the snow. I can look up images on the internet but it’s just not the same.
I spent the first 22 years of my life in a place where it snows from October to June, so you’ll probably hear more from me as you go on 
BTW - though your plants may need some seasonal adjustments, to the overall look shading look of the frame: i really like it.
ETA Suggestion: on that far right tree, at the base - try to get the snow to not look like a white innertube hugging the tree. The “tree ring snow” shouldn’t have a hard edge against the ground snow.
Ok…but then, with all due respect, why are you creating a project that takes place in the snow?
Write what you know applies to CG as well. If you’re not familiar with snowy landscapes, why not set your short in Australia? Or some other environment that you’re more familiar with?
I know I know…now you’re going to say that most people have never been to space either, and yet look at all the sci/fi stuff out there. But there is a difference – because most people are unfamiliar with space and what the future will look like, we’re all far more able to accept inaccurate things about it like explosions making a sound in total vacuum etc. I assure you that if we were all living in space, none of that inaccurate stuff would fly.
Conversely, a ton of people have been in the snow and are very familiar with what that looks, and most importantly, feels like.
If you don’t have first hand experience with it, this will become more and more of an issue, not only with the visuals but also with other elements like the sound design.
So my advice would be, particularly for your first project like this – write what you know.
I definitely agree, but I feel that I’ve seen enough snow to pull it off, it’s only the subtle things that might trip me up. the style that I’m going for really needs the snow to pull it altogether, and I also figured that the snow is computationally better than fancy forest floor displacement. 
You could always go to Sydney. 
Personally I like the painterly style. Maybe trying to make it more ‘realistic’ might break it? We’re only looking at a single shot, but I think that the less the better in this case. Once you start making one bit more realistic… then before you know it…and then you’ve lost that original style.
I’m not aiming to make more realistic, I just want it to look good, there might be some details I haven’t picked up and someone else has that might help.
You should post some more shots then, in order to give people more to judge by. And maybe a description or some concepts/refs of the style you’re going for.
Otherwise: good compared to what? It’s completely subjective if there is no comparative.
Some people say add displacement mapping - which entirely changes the style and pushes it in a different direction, for better or worse.
And that may be more suited to what your vision is. But really, we don’t know because there isn’t really enough to go on from your one image with no further information on your own decision on visual style.
Making a short is obviously a big undertaking. I would advise spending a day trawling the internet for ideas/images/artwork/concepts/film stills/photographs/etc, and make a giant inspiration board in pureref. Doing pre-planning work like this up front will give you a much more solid base to build your project on.
Maybe come back here with your thoughts and post some examples of refs you’ve gathered and what direction you want to go?
Thank you very much for the advice. I will take a look later today.
At the moment I’m a bit lost, I don’t know in what order to make the short film,
for instance: should I model the characters first, should I do the environment and scene planning, or the assets.
I just don’t know. I feel like it would be smarter in my opinion to model the hero characters first and then do the environment, seeing as they will be the main focus. I have never really done anything like this before, so I’m grateful for any advice at all.
Reminds me of children’s book illustrations. Is there an intentional papery texture over everything?
The snow on the trees looks more cartoony than the rest of the picture. Maybe thinning out the edge around the top and breaking it up a little might help?
Yes it is supposed to look like a watercolour children’s book. I took a look at Kai Muri’s watercolour tutorial for that paper effect.
