I made this as a cover image for the main game I'm working on right now, and I'd like to hear some honest opinions on it. Visual art is ... not my forte. To put it into perspective, I am sad to say that I actually have a little pride in this, because it's an improvement for me. So I'm well aware that I'm not a talented artist with images. However, I do want something simple that looks like it might've been on a game box in the late 70's, not a high-class cgi full portrait. I'm just afraid maybe this is TOO bad. So, what do you think, is this worth including as cover art?
Also, please tell me what you think is going on in this picture, so I can tell if it even conveys what it's supposed to.

Let me preface this by saying that I have no artistic talents when it comes to visual art. If I have to draw something I employ minimalism and self-deprecating remarks, which appears to be your strategy as well.

As far as what is happening in the picture, I can tell that there is a cart being pulled away from the perspective through a forest. On the cart is a bowl of some stuff and... a closed bag with lumpy contents? And then, of course, in front of the cart is some magical/supernatural energy of varying colors.

In my experience any art is better than no art, and the longer you stare at this, the more you'll know what you want it to look like (and how to get it there). In general, if you have to ask about the quality of your work, you should put more work into it. Not necessarily because it's not good enough, but because you're not happy with it. It's going to be the face of your hard work, the player's first impression, and whether or not players as a whole will like it, you should be happy with it before you use it. There's no deadline for this, I'm assuming, so just let it settle in your mind until you can come up with something you don't feel the need to ask about.
Another thing I would recommend is to just play around with your tools as much as possible. I've been using GIMP on and off for years on whatever took my fancy and it's made me much more competent artistically (from the level of a 1-year-old with no arms to the level of a 4-year-old missing some fingers), but it also helped me get from point A to B more proficiently, which makes a lot of difference with digital art.

LOL, yeah, I may have overstated my "self-awareness" clause there. I can't help feeling people will be more likely to give constructive criticism if they know I realize it's not a Van Gogh. Plus, it's just so painful to see stuff like people on talent shows who act all proud of themselves, and then have to watch them crash and burn. But anyway, that's all very helpful, so thank you. It's good to know what's working and what isn't.
SPOILERS COMING
You got the "magical energy" thing as well as can be expected. It's essentially a "prismatic fog," if that means anything to you. It sounds like the other main feature is still too small and sort of unclear, though. What's on the cart is supposed to be a person peeking out the top of a sack (to suggest she was kidnapped). If you look real close you should be able to see eyes and some hair. I may need to somehow address the concept of a person looking out the top of a tied sack. So far, I'm just not sure how to resolve that logically. Maybe I'll put the rope near the bag, like she's just escaping...

Yeah, the rope near the bag thing would definitely help. I see the face now, I think I didn't see it before because it's half of a face and (more importantly) sideways. I don't know how comfortable you might feel with whatever tools you're using, but if you can make the mouth of the bag into a sort of triangle with rounded edges, sort of to imply that her head is holding the mouth of bag open... I dunno. That's the simplest thing I can think of might help.
At the very least, no one would mistake it for a bowl!

I don't really know what I'm looking at here.
I see a forest, and what appears to be some mystical thing, but it's kind of hard to make out with the brush you're using.
What did you use to draw this? Maybe if you tried MS Paint, or Photoshop or some other similar program, it'd be easier for you to show what you want to show.


Is that a rainbow mushroom?

If you're not opposed to a nominal fee, I could likely help you out with some artwork. This is a title art piece I created for a gentleman named Finn over at the intfiction.org forums...

Damn sgreig that's good to know. And I am being serious. TriangleGames we all have strengths and weaknesses it's just the case of recognizing them. Art is art look at some of Pablo Picasso's work as opposed to the other greats the styles are totally different yet none-the-less artistic.Belief in oneself is the key to the journey we take. Don't compare yourself to others for you are no less a person. Happy Adventuring

yep... Some people can code, some can write, some can draw, some can't do any of these well (lol, like me), and etc

Art... there's no empiricism, it's all nominal~subjective (especially when you see some art worth millions of cash and you're like, WTF!, I can do this, toss a bunch of paint on a paper, and be rich too, ARGH!), "Beauty (or expensive art lol) lies in the eyes of the beholder"

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science nerdiness:

we can see recognizable things in ambigious pictures because of survival evolution, especially faces (the "face~man on the moon" or that whatever which looked like the virgin mary or whatever it was that got news attention some time ago now).

the reason is that, our ancestors who couldn't see that lion's face-head in its sneaking~stalking up upon our ancestors, got eaten by the lion, and thus had no babies. But, our ancestors who could see that lion's face~head, were able to get away or defend themselves, and thus had babies, and so we today are those children, with the genes~abilities to see (especially) faces in ambigious things. If none of our ancestor's could see something cameflogued (can't spell) around or hidden within its surrounding, like a yellowish lion in tall yellowish grass~wheat~whatever (plains), we wouldn't be here today, and thus this survival gene of facial recognition persists in us today.

look at two doors together, do the handles and key holes look like a face?

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my attempt of drawing door handles and key holes on here, lol.

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also, I'm sure it applies to parents and babies too... (or friends or other family members too; whoever you care about)

if our ancestors were under attack by some animal, the survivors would be those parents and babies~children who could recognize the faces of each other. The mom runs around looking for her baby, is this my baby? is this my baby? or, some other woman looks at a baby, and the baby cries (this isn't my mommy!) another woman, baby cries again. baby's mommy, the baby smiles.

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and both of these things~situations (this facial recognition ability) is not just a human ability, but of all~most animals too, it's a life, living organism, ability, because it's a survival ability.

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try to look at ANYTHING, and see (bad pun lol) if you can see a face in it or not

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right ???

My head just exploded. lol Happy Adventuring

An explosion of knowledge? Education can produce explosive results!

Brilliant have a good day. Happy Adventuring