I really appreciated your great criticisms on my first WIP. Please feel free to offer more criticisms to things you feel still don't look right. I made the following changes to my image: - bumped up the grass a bit - added some more trees - changed the texture of the terrain - lightened up the low laying fog in the background quite a bit - still considering some rain. Not sure though. - couldn't find Boris and Natasha GG.... I tried. Lol More criticism is certainly welcome.

Wow! Much better. The mountains in the BG really give this image depth. I love the texture on the foreground terrains, too. Very nice. The only little thing that throws me is the size of the trees in relation to the deer. Right now it looks like the deer is huge (to me, anyway). Only thing I can see would be to either make the deer smaller, or to make the trees bigger. Thats all I've got. I really like how this is progressing. Keep it up! Mike

I like the changes you've made. Pardon my detailed mind, but here goes (you asked for it):

The two tiny bits of sandbar sticking out of the water don't look natural to me - i don't think you'd see something like that very often.

Have you rotated any of your pine trees in different amounts? They all look like they have the same sillhouette - especially the two furthest to the right. At least rotate one of those. They're the same size and the same shape.

It's unclear to me that this is a river because i can't tell that the water actually flows around the right edge of the sand bar. It looks like the sand bar goes all the way to the other bank to me.

I hate to mention this one because it's such an integral part of your image, but i don't think i'm familiar with a landscape where there were only trees on the river bank. With the periodic rise and fall of the river level trees might not survive so close to the water. Also, my mind asks "why aren't there any trees anywhere else? Is it all cattle grazing land?" Then again, it could just be my lack of exposure to such locations.

The reddish tint on the bottom of the clouds looks unnatural to me.

The bright green on the furthest terrains doesn't look natural to me, either. You might create another mat for them with a toned down green. Being so far away, it could possibly pass for trees.

As i said earlier, i like your image. I like the feelings it evokes in me. I think you're doing a great job. And feel free to be just as critical of my WIPs if i ever come up with one that's good enough to even ask for help on. ;o)

Bravo.

Major improvements.

Lot already mentioned. If you want to add to your render times (or create some 2d works) might like Plant studio, the url is mentioned somewhere here recently, to add some more variety to your plants.

Another thing might be to duplicate (or create another) terrain object(s) where the sand bar is and use the mounds slider or brush work to create some different elevations and then having this with what's already there, vary the mat just a bit to have some rises and falls in the sand.

Like what you have done to this. Cool work me thinks.

Thanks guys... miden1138.... I did change the size of the deer. It looks much better. bigbadelf... Lol -Do not worry about being too critical. I think that is what we really need to make ourselves better. I appreciate your honest opinion. So don't ever feel like you are being too critical. I am kind of drawing at straws being that I live in the plains of South Dakota. Not that many trees around here. I posted an image to show what I see here. Usually you will find trees growing on the banks of a stream or small river here and over the top of the hill once again it is barren of trees. Hewsan... Thanks for your observations also.... I have reworked this and have it in the gallery. I may do some more with this and take your recommendation to some more variety of plants and additional work to the sand bar.... The sand bar is really the rocky bottom of the stream. I had considered changing that mat altogether and making it just sand. You have given me some food for thought though. I very well may rework this image some and implement the plants and sand work.

Oh... almost forgot As promised Bigbadelf... here is an image from around where I live. Flat as the floor and not a lot of trees around. Lol