Really beautiful scene was created here!
Lovely!

Who needs wings to fly?
Certainly not I,
I prefer to take up on the breeze,
Follow any swallow that may please my fancy.

I just close my eyes,
Tiptoe through the skies,
Long as there's a habit standing by,
Who needs things like wings to fly?

hehehehehe

Thanks, Daniela, and - driven, you're so cool! Love it!

Astounding!

Congratulations, dear!!

congratulations.

Congrats!!

Great job, welcome bak author

Nice work author

like how you have constructed the cloth on your image. well balanced image. GL

nice

Really beauriful image ...

congrats 4 the 3rd place

Congrats!!!!

Congrats, love the color.

3rd , well done.

Thanks everyone.

Really nice lighting, and the textures are amazing. Great work!

hard work here author, CONGRATS

Thank you thank you!!! This piece consumed pretty much my entire weekend, but was so worth it!

this is what i call Level 10+, finally some entry that is involved into high technical skills and good artistic sense, good luck author

Wow thanks so much! That means a lot to me, very much appreciated

AMAZING THANK YOU!!!

Excellent work great sbs too

I would swear it was you author and it really is :P Fantastic piece!

haha thanks! I didn't realize I had a recognizable style but I guess its a good thing and thanks Madamemonty, I put a lot of time into the SBS and still it could be way more complicated than I had time to explain.

Very clever, and nice work on the sbs too!!

Thank you JerseyAce! I think thats the first time I've ever gotten "clever"

Absolutely fantastic! Great lighting!

Thank you!

Your dragon has some nice work, but what I really like is how you integrated it into the background sources - nice lighting effects.

Amazing

Thanks you thanks you!! And yes I started messing around with the radial blur set to zoom and got a really nice effect! I also added in more of the streaky shadows Glad you like it!!

Masterpiece..lov it! and fav too.

creative

A creative masterpiece!? why thank you!!

wonderful!!!
and the SBS is great too!

good luck!

Thanks, I actually had some time to put some detail into the SBS

Nice !!!

Good stuff....love it!

Congrats!

Congratulations

Congrats!

Congratulations....beautiful image....!

Congrats, Robert! Wonderful entry!

THanks everyone!!!!! and I really appreciate all the feed back and of course the high votes you guys rock!!

Congrats Robert awesome work

well done .... congratulations

maybe a winner....great

What a cool idea! The heat from the bulb provides the lift! Great image, very fun. I'd love to see the sky full of these!

Oh thanks!!! and Mossy great idea, I might mess around with putting some smaller ones in the background when I have some time

Perfect!...

That would be cool, but I meant I'd love to see the "Real World" sky full of these!
If you add more to your image, just don't "cookie cutter" use the same one, okay? Better to leave it be than detract with clones...

~M

Wonderful work! This just yelled "fav fav" to me!

very steam punk... woo hoo... excellent work!

Stunning work

absolutely awesomme ...

Very fun and creative steampunk approach to this contest.

I don't get the mixture of taut cables (clearly supporting the gondola hanging from the balloons) and flaccid cables between the balloons and the gondola. And the small balloon's connection point to the gondola is very odd.

The horizon line of the balloon bottoms is down (albeit different horizon lines for each balloon) while that of the gondola is up.

Notwithstanding the title on source 4, I find the ship more wreck than steampunk.

Fantastic work author, my fav !

Wonderful work!

Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments its like getting a little present each time I see I have a new one

amazing work..!!

wow this is great author gl

good work man

Great job,instant fav.Good luck author

great image!

Impressive work, very well done.

Congratulations on a very well deserved win!

Congrats Robert awesome work

Cingrantulations beauitiful work

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Congrats!!

Congrats, great mood!

...-...--.-.

I had flying toasters in mind when I suggested this contest...lol! Love the melting pat of butter. Nice work!

This has you written all over it. is there anybody out there http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUu7kYDs4Vw

Good sense of humor! If the balloon has a shadow, the gondola would have a corresponding shadow.

Good sense of humor! If the balloon has a shadow, the gondola would have a corresponding shadow.

I don't remember those. This seems to be about the gondola and not about the balloon which is the focus of the theme. I do like the inclusion of air heaters (missing from some other entries) necessary to make hot-air balloons fly. Their blurriness and the heat swirls escaping outside the balloon are disturbing, however. The gondola also appears to be sitting on the ground—the shadows need refinement (much smaller would be a start).

nice job good luck

wow author this is very wonderful work
i especially like your color combination white black and orange
this is my fav color combination
and very high vote and fav for you
best luck

Good shadows

Shouldn't have ignored the advice about the shadows...