As requested here are my comments: I prefer this one since it has some action (the figure looking up) to the figure therefore a mood. The cropping is very nice, very tight but still works for me. Lighting can be improved but that's entirely depends on what you want to show. Thus i am wondering here is what is you would like to communicate. As the other artist we talked about, the figures and their poses communicate a certain mood (like warrior, danger, sex, action.) If you have an idea of what it is you like to communicate then you can give your images a purpose which will then guide you. Say, in the above image you'd like to convey fear. Then the lights need to be tone down and probably coming from below facing up. The backdrop could be much darker leaving the figure alone, isolated, that sense of fear and suspense. Her expression can reflect the horror she is seeing above. Lastly, she would be wearing clothes. Try this for an exercise, get a pencil and a paper and draw a scene from your favorite comic book but with your own interpretation. Or even better a scene from a story you've made up. You'll notice that every lines you draw on paper now have a purpose. A motive. This is applicable not to just drawing comics but to advertising art as well thus the name Communication design. You see poster of iPod Ads, what's the shilloutte guy doing? Either dancing or some poses that convey fun. What is it trying to say? Well iPod is fun. How about the colors? It is bright colors. The style is almost line art (shilloutte). All that equates to Pop Culture. So Apple is trying to communicate to you that iPod is trendy and you should buy it if you want to date that cute girl in class to the school prom. Motive. Every brick in your house has a purpose so is every brush stroke in Van Gogh's painting. Now for technicality: I would bring the image to photoshop and play with the levels to get some contrast. Right now the overall image looks a bit flat. Set a falloff point for your lights. Realistic light doesn't go on infinitely. Then set one of the light as the main light while the other could be either for backlighting or for mood. Have a focus point right now you really can't separate the foreground from the background. I'll see if I can find some examples on the web for you to see later this week. Ciao.

I am working on it now! Have darkened the background and sorted the lights, just need to sort the clothes thing out, thats te hard part...