First Image

[miss julie]

OK Folks. This is my first attempt at a matte painting. I took the castle from the day for night challenge and expanded on it.

Let me have it!

http://julieloomer.com/images/Desert_MatteV2.jpg

[Novalism]

I like the castle.
The desert on the other hand ain't dark enough.
Sun is in the center of the image ... perhaps it would be better for the composition to put it slightly of ... to the left in this case.

Lightning is cool.. perhaps some extra clouds to make it more dramatic kinda ?

[LFGabel]

From one newb to another, I think this is a good first attempt. I think the lighting on the castle looks pretty good! Some things that jump out at me (with my little experience):

- The glow from the moon (is it s a moon, and not the sun, right?) seems strange to me. I'd use a different blend mode for it or remove/reduce it altogether.

- The desert is being illuminated by a strange light source from behind the camera. This brings me out of the night effect you were going for. Maybe place a bonfire in the foreground, or eliminate it and make the desert a cool dark blue.

Then again, what do I know? :) I'm just a newb! ;)

[miss julie]

Thanks mucho for comments!

I'll play with it and see what I get.

[miss julie]

Here's an update. More tips please.
http://www.julieloomer.com/images/Desert_MatteV3.jpg

[intrinsia]

Looking cool! :) One suggestion I have is maybe to change the tone of the fore ground to a blueish color. Being that this is a night shot the dominant color would be more blue as opposed to orange. Try taking your foreground element and tinting it a little to match the colors in the clouds. You don't want to go as saturated as the clouds; but you do want to have some of that color present. As LFGabel mentioned, right now it appears as if the desert is being illuminated by an orange light source out of frame left.

hope this helps. :)