Gates of Heaven - I need your thoughts

[J.Mac]

Ok so this is for the EOW but it has become more than that now. i have never spent alot of time on anything and by that i mean more the 5 hours from thumbnails to painting so i started this as a simple little idea and now has become a learning expierence.

my problem is i am having a hard time getting the elements to look like they belong in the enviroment among other things. I would greatly appreciate anything you guys could give me. i want to push it as far as i can. Thank you all in advance, c&c is much appreciated.

http://www.mdx5.com/conceptart.org/jmac_eow26_heavensgate.jpg

Following the road of burning embers to the land of fire, is the only path to The Gates of Heaven. This is a journey of the body and mind. where the weak will pray for an quick death but if you can endure the quest. The rewards are unimaginable.

-Jesse

[Jason Rainville]

It's hard to tell if that large molten mass on the left is flat or not. some defenite 'weight adding devices' such as various lines, more lighting etc is needed for that.

Severely lacking a defenite focal point Imo. It would be ok if there was direction, with one important element leading to another less important one, but there really isn't, all the attention is mashed to the left.

Are those floaty things (I don;t know what they are) supposed to be conected/interacting with the background? If so, it's a really late read and you'll have to make the ground spires pop-out more or the floaty things pop out less.

It's like I want you to move the second grouping of blue things to the left, in front of the second-from-the-left group of mountains, chop the whole thing down the middle and keep the left bit. Sorry I can't be of more help. :$