Excellently! GL

Very nice effects with the snow! Looks pretty windy
The building in the back has a strong light coming from the left, the wizard has light coming from the right top (flipping the wizard would take care of that).
The light of the staff looks unrealistic, the glow is on the snow that is far behind him. There should only be a glow on the snowflakes surrounding the staff. Hard to explain Gl!

Thanks Ressiv.

I have changed the lighting on the wizard (darkened the right side a bit) and softened the glow of the staff (not too much as it is a Magic staff). I do not want to flip him as it would change the composition.

I am not too sure that the lighting is off that much as the castle is quite high and there are a lot of clouds. The lighting can be quite different on both subject because of that .

very nice work author

yes.....! finally .....here it is ...the great pic manips ....just perfect...! my fave for sure,.....and......moreover I learned something from your skill,.....now I am just guessing the winner of this contest,.....must be this one.....

Fantastic work author...I love it...well done

The foreground figure is pretty indistinct. Otherwise this is a lovely moody image.

Hey Bob ...thank for the comment/critique ...I sort of wanted him like that but after looking at the image on my work computer (darker screen) I lightened him a bit. Hopefully he stands out a little more now.
Thanks!

i like the dramatic story of this piece of art...

very nice good work

Awesomely done! I shouldn't have underestimated brushes
I now realize: you're a LOTR fan, righ?

The attention to detail is just incredible! Fantastic work author.

Author...you astound me. Truely great talent you have. I'm starting to recognize your work, and i am always impressed. This one is goin to my favs. Beautiful work!

Thanks so much for the wonderful comments and favs. This was a troublesome manip ... your thoughts make it worth the effort.

@greymval LOTR - what's that

(I have only read the books 10 times or more) but then I like that genre of fiction. Only thing that comes close is SF.

Love the story, sounds like a great beginning, also great art work, my fave in this contest =)

Very good image.

What a lot of work - fantastic image! Love the eagle's eye.

Well deserved first place - congrats!

Congrats Arca, a beautiful piece, love the story too

Good job Arca!

Congrats for the first place.. great mood and result..

I like it, except the liquefied... whatever at the bottom. With some patience you could give the hose a realistic form, that would make sense.

LOL...this little fella is so cute...best of luck author

Sweet creature.

kinda Martha Stewart heheheh.. great job

Nice work!

Thanks for comments.... I thought of making a bowl of string beans.....lol

Nice job in construction! Tell me you had like 756 layers or some such thing!
Good luck to you!

very nice work author...best of luck

very nice image, well done and good luck!!

The edge masking is pretty abominable. Good idea, though.

of the sponge guy?? i added a low opacity layer of the original on top to add some texture becuase there wasnt much texture when i whited him out... ill see what i can do though.

Author, you only whited out his lower half, the upper half is all grey. I can't figure out how or why you did that. I'd like to help but I'm kinda clueless here. Also about why his edges are so smooth.

Idk why it did that. everything i tryed either Desaturated it... or made it look like it was just white. the only part that worked is the bottom part .. but i guess its half Sasquatch, half yeti, and all sponge... haha. and the edges are just followed the way it was... i used the blurred eraser tool to cut him out i just followed the lines. Even in the original the top of the guy is a little bit darker then the bottom

Should have used the pen or lasso to cut him out more precisely. As for the upper & lower halves, I'm sure you can figure something out.

Try some disolving white clipping layer on it's torso. If you're lucky it will also look like snow, lol.

Ive come up with an explanation for him being half white. He walked through the creek in the background and when he was coming out the water on him froze along with the snow he caught. therefore making him be half white half black. hes originally grayish black.

nice work...gl

Good concept!

Excellent entry!

Well done, very nice. GL

Good image. When you upload, there are spaces to enter the URL & description of sources. It would be nice if you used them.

thanks for the support

i fixed the URL and self made the nuclear waste symbol which was a 3d render

Nice entry, reminds me of an orbiting satellite.

"i fixed the URL and self made the nuclear waste symbol which was a 3d render" - ??? I'm having trouble deciphering your comment... is the existing nuclear sign made with the pen tool or is it a 3D render... if it's a 3D render then you need to update your sbs. If it's been made with the pen tool then it's not a 3D render.

it was temporarily removed from the contest because it was a 3d render
then, i made it again with the pen tool, you can see it in the "how to steps"

very cool !
just amazing :O

great work author...very well done

Congrats yoguy108!
Really cool image

Congrats, really nice work