Constructive crit on this?

[Cella]

Hey :^^:

I did this a couple of weeks ago, and i was just wandering if i could get some constructive criticism from it.
This turned out better than i originally thought, as it had no planning prior to me starting this, and i uploaded it onto DeviantART and set the comments to Advanced Critique, and the comments were nice, but i didn't get anyone saying anything about the colour, why they thought it was good or why not, the positioning of things and so on... and so i got none.

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/2307/distantredballoonsjk0.jpg

I'd like to know where i stand at the moment with my artwork, because at the moment I feel I get so overwhelmed with what people are creating, because so many people create breathtaking pieces, and my mind freezes and i can't think.
I hope that someone can tell me their thoughts on this and why they like/do not like this and what i could improve on, what i'm good with, what i should keep doing, what i shouldn't do etc.


Thanks in advance :^^:

[Jackwhat]

One picture isnt really enough to tell how strong you are.

The leaves and the overall blur suggests that the wind is being blow from front right > frontleft... yet the hair and balloon are going left > right. I think more leaves could help clear that up though, same with the blur... unless the blur on the leaves is to indicate focus in which case softbrushes would do the job better.

I like the detail on the glass ornament thing on the floor, although i dont really know what is for. As for composition... i fail at that, but i think i remeber something about not leaving white on the corners? as it draw attention, so moving the righthand leaf down will probably work in your favor.

Sorry i cant be overly helpful.

[JellevdVegt]

i think compositionally it has much potential to get better. i think its a bit unbalanced, but i cant really tell you why. maybe because it seems you dont 'use' the space on the top of the image. the bottom right corner is white as jack said. also i think you should have a good reason why you put so much detail in that little glass ornament thingy, is it your intention to put so much focus on that?? if its about the little girls hair, maybe get in more detail in her hair.
Maybe get the grayscale values to read first. then can think about colors..

good luck