Looking for some crits on this. I have hit another wall with this one. I'm always learning more so it feels like every couple days I open this up and hate it. There is no deadline on this and I really want to get this correct.

Anyway, crits are helpful and thanks!

Over all, my honest opinion is that its well...not very interesting. I see a mound of dirt, a blue portal thing and some generic green/sky.

Dont be afraid to go a bit over board on elements that would give much more character to the scene. Flying objects, some birds or space in the distance (planet or stars) ...

The color choices I think can use some modifying as it doesnt feel like they are working as well as they could together.

The scale seems off, assuming those are stairs... bigger objects should be in the foreground to help sell the distance.

Also I would work on highlights (high points with brighter color) and the darker crevices. Really try to pull out the shapes you want with light and dark values.

-2 cents. Good luck

It could be interesting- Its a matter of execution. It probably does need a little more pizaz with a volumetric looking atmosphere. Try exaggerated your atmospheric perspective, and layering of planes towards the background to help aid in depth.

I don't really see any coherent light source. the whole scene just seems to be ambient lit. Also I imagine one of the things that is going to make this piece strong is the silhouette of the structure against the sky. right now the rocks are very similar in tone to the sky background.

This is more of a subjective crit- but I feel like you use of colors are a bit garish. The greens are SO green, and the sky is SO saturated. Color is one of those powerful tools that I personally like to use to drive focus. If your whole scene had a very muted color palette, but then you started working saturation around where you wanted there to be focus, it could help you obtain a more dynamic final image.

Also a more dynamic angle could help too. This composition is just so dead on. If you did something where the point of view was placed lower- it would make the subject far more imposing.

I agree with what Dataday and konstruct wrote above. I think the picture would benefit from a more distinct light source, more planned composition and an increased feel of depth. I also think the landscape and the sky background feel like they are put together from two different images because the colour palette of the sky doesn't reflect at all on the ground.

I think you could make the composition less stiff and more impressive by making the dimensions of the image more cinematic, and play around with what you want to highlight in the image - as in, where is the main focus?

Edit: Also, I am not sure what material the temple structure consists of. Is it a rock or root formation?

I did a superduper quick sketchover, I hope you don't mind! It's a suggestion for composition and how to set the foreground, middleground and background more apart from eachother for increased depth.

repeat your forms more
give it some sense of scale
tone down the saturation

Thank you for all the excellent crits! I will post updates tonight.

The paint overs are both helpful and humbling. They nail what I was trying for.

Thanks again

Life is absent in your picture,in my opinion,the first element you should add in is a character,who can step forward to the blue gate.
Making the sky and cloud more smoothing,just like they are blowing with wind.The same as the grass.

Alright, I am trying to keep everyones advice in mind as I re work this. I must admit it is difficult with the paint overs as they are doing such a better job at what I want to accomplish. Either way I am actually hating this piece less.

Have to stop tonight, more tomorrow

Already looking better, keep at it!

I would add a person before you do anything else. You need to give the viewer a way to understand the scale and size of the objects in the scene

another update. decided to start over on color and just work on the values. also added more of an entrance. Not sure if foreground is now necessary.

Really trying to lead the eye and keep a consistent composition.

Also I am definitely putting a character into the scene. Just haven't yet. Another update later tonight.

If you are still looking for advice, in a concept, the most important thing is not the painting. Is to figure out what you want to represent. The mood of the place, the history behind it. Is it a ruin? An active temple? Who goes there? Is this temple in this world, dimension? What kind of ceremonies happen there? Etc, etc..

When you have a history, a personality for this place, make a drawing. Black and white drawing, no painting fancy yet. Concepts should work without color before anything. When you have a solid drawing, with persoanlity, good proposrtions and perspective, start painting. Painting will add more awesomeness to what is already awesome.

Keep it up.

here's an update. Stupid job taking up all my free time. Anyway I am feeling alot better about the composition. I have tried adding a layer of color, so far so good. no where near done but its moving along.

much improved! keep going!

Much over due update

cool painting man

A lot better man. Maybe try playing with the hue and staturation.

Looking a lot better. With the current color scheme you've got going on the hue and saturation of those rocks are feeling a little off. The color of the rocks feels like something you'd find in a desert, not in the middle of a lush grassy field. They also could use some more color variation. I wanna climb those stairs and see what the heck is in there, especially judging by the battle-ready stance of the figure.