The flipped swan and the bubbles are lit from the opposite side of the woman holding the swan. Light source consistency is always important. The bubbles make no real sense, and you've positioned them so that it looks like the flying swan is pooping... ?

I think flipping one of the swans may help

Nice sources and well executed

Love it! Great image, well thought out GL

Congrats! Very cool work!

Author, you must be feeling pretty good right now. I noticed this is your first 1st placement. I'm sure it won't be the last Congrats!

Well done

this is sexy! i love the alluring feel to it!

Too dark. You can barely make out the source image, or much of anything else.

Top entry author...for sure...well done

I agree with everyone, and it's a change from the firey hell that we all think of. Good job!

really great mood...

it does have a good mood, however, i think the skulls on the left need to be more solid. right now you can see through them.

great mood

perfect mood...well done author

Stunning ... and congrats!

hahaha!!! I can see my cujo on a picture like this eventually!

Certainly an improvement, imo. Good luck!

Good. Try to make so that it blends more in the pic by overlaying the texture of the brown paper

About your confusion regarding CMYK's comment.

Perspective is about parallel lines which meet at the horizon.
The easiest way to check if your perspective is good/bad, is to draw lines connecting the eyes, connecting the shoulders and also use the line between the lips. After that, trace them continuously, until they meet. They should all meet in the same point which will be on the horizon line ( between the sea and the sky).
If they don't meet in the same point - you traced them wrong.If they don't meet on the horizon like, the perspective is wrong.
To correct this with the Buddha i suggest you use Transform- Distort, Warp & maybe Perspective if it works. You can also try to move the statue closer to the horizon, if the above doesn't work out too well. GL.

I kinda like the perspective...Almost makes Buddha look like he has just drifted ashore and is still rocking in the waves....Best of Luck

Nice mood, the use of light looks nice. What bothers me a bit is the river, which looks a bit too drawn while the rest is more realistic. Try to give it a bit more perspective by making the river more subtle (more tiny further away) and think about which direction it would go if it's in such mountain like landscape (perhaps you wont see all of the river because it's partly behind a mountain). The river may also look more interesting if it wont start down in the middle but maybe more from the lower right corner (so that there's also something happening on the whole right side of your image). Up to you if you want to do something about it.. Good luck!

Perspective on the Buddha is wrong. The source pic is an up shot, but you've placed him in an image that was shot at eye level. Good color, though.

Congratulations ... Nice work

congrats!

Well done on second place!

great work author...well done

very nice scene author...gl

Very nice moody image author...gl

Working with silhouettes is not always easy, but you really pulled it off! Very nice work

Very nice image, appropriate title. Interesting addition of the tower, and better placement off to the side.

'Beautiful mood, very well done.

Lovely, sweet image!

this is good.

Hey,just passing by and .. oh! almost forgot ...phen told me to say: cool

Well done! GL!

cool

cool

cool

Looks much better, and it also added more depth to the picture. Great improvement = )

Lovely ... I love the mystery in this and IMO I think it is better now. How do you feel about moving it?

Sorry I did not get back to you on the question of why ...thank you Emik ... I was not able to get to a computer until now.

Definate fav for me!

Is there pure Black ? I am asking this question all the entire entries. Please tell me if there is pure black & tones of red not black.

the thing in the middle looks like it has some orange on it.. idkkkkk

i love it ,good luck

Nice mood, like the idea. But imo there are a bit too many clouds to make it a believable image (moon would be partly behind the clouds). In a way it shouldnt be a problem, after all it's a fantasy image, but if you'd be able to change the sky (get rid of the clouds), I think it would work better. Good luck!

i really like this picture, i love the silhouette of the two figures. but i think the moon is just a bit to bright and vibrant, great work though

Beautiful picturesque cityscape

Arca has a good point. Usually in art or photography it isn't "eye pleasing" to put your main subject in the center of the picture. It would have been better if the tower was more to the left or right. Here is an article about the "Rule of Thirds" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds
Just trying to help. = )

nice work...gl

Very cool entry author...well done

This is really pretty, and I agree that the tattoos should have been darker. But it is really pretty