Ironically, one of the last scenes in the story was drawn first. I think you can tell, too. My drawing style changed over the next few months.
From chapter 10 of God Help the Outcasts. Sephiroth and Cloud had a little accident with the pond visible off to the side. Seph is now trying to warm Cloud, but it's not easy since they're both sopping wet. His hands are odd, but I love Cloud gripping at his arm. And the wings look so petable.
Sky isn't too bad. The ice floating in the pond is an abomination. And the snow probably looks like clouds. XD; But Seph and Cloud look pretty good. Cloud looks pretty spaced out, but that's kinda the point. After being chased into the forest by the prejudiced people, fighting Hojo's master clone, and falling in a frozen pond, they've both got good reason to space out. The blue on their faces is to show that they're suffering from the cold. Seph is too badly injured to teleport or fly them away.
innocent look You know, the typical method for preventing hypothermia in such cases is for both parties to strip and huddle together. YOU WOULD BE SO POPULAR.
...I kid, I kid. XD Well, about the second bit; the first part's actually true...but given the context, abrupt naked cuddling might be a little too...uh, fanservicey. XD;
The colors for the background are very nice...they convey a bleak sort of atmosphere, and contrast nicely with the brightness of Cloud's and Sephiroth's outfits. The snowflakes...they do have sort of a beanbag-pellet look to them. I think it's the outline...snowflakes rarely have a definite border to them. You'd probably get a much better "snow" look if you used the eraser or white airbrush on Paint Shop, set to around a 70% opacity. When you use the lower opacity brushes and hold the mouse-button for more than a click, you get a nice solid core with a fuzzier outline. Or...do you have any white-out on hand? That stuff's wonderful for things like this, especially the kind with the little sponge-tip brushes. As long as you don't press too hard, you can get really unique individual snowflakes...and you never have to worry about the paper being white enough! Also, it might help to have some snowflakes in the foreground as well, so it looks more like they're caught in the middle of a storm.
I really like Cloud's expression and posture here...stuck on an ice floe without even sleeves! Just looking at it makes me want fuzzier socks. The wing-enfolding is very nice...hey, feathers are supposed to be weather-proof, so it makes sense to use them however you can. I like the uppermost blue one especially...and I also sort of like the cloud-snowdrifts. XD I mean, with that much snow falling, it shouldn't be flat, anyway.