Boreas (wip- need advice)

[fev]

Hi.. i'm pretty new here, been lurking for a while since joining & hadn't done much beyond staring in awe at the artwork here....

anyways, this is a lil something that started out from a lil abstract scribble i did when i listening to some music.. Its not my norm, and i'm hitting a few roadblocks with it :\

Its (sortof) evolving into a weather control/manipulation system.. haven't decided if it'll be a man controlled device, or just an automoton following its programming... although it is based on some ancient technology that i have yet to make up :3

anyways, this is what i have so far.. (the smaller image was a color booboo that i thought was kindof newt...

-i'd like to ideally get the clouds to swirl around the spheres, yet all attempts fo far have been stinkin.. any ideas/reccomendations?

-the shperes and ring thing is still in progress...

-figure out how to make the lightning effect not SUCK, or remove it altoghther.. any ideas on fixing it?

http://www.fevereon.com/mb/nobounds/scifiwip.jpg

anyways, ideas/input/crits/tips welcome.. especially any ideas on how to get the clouds to swirl around the sphere realistically... having serious problems with that, and i actually liked how the piece was kindof going.. trying to save it :\

thanks ^^

[jca]

you need to make sure that the blue light is reflected on most of the surfaces because that's a source of lighting