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..

Just commenting on the image itself: The belt of icicles is too wide, it needs to shrink to the circumference of the egg shape. The shadows seem too dark. The blue hue on the dome seems too artificial...would be better if it were toned down to seem more naturally transparent, and the highlight on the left side should go, since the light source is from the right. Everything else works pretty well.

I'll fix the blue hue & shadows, the icicles stand on the support of the egg ( you can see it in step 4, and the second hightlight is the reflection of the sun on the other part of the egg glass - i thought it would be more realistic this way, like when you see a sun reflection on a double window.

i really love the concept...! favorited!

I updates shadows & hue a while ago - forgot to comment- thumb up CMYK for me

Very detailed image ... a lot of work went into this one. I agree with CMYK but see you have been busy since I first looked at it. Very good. Forgot to mention ... I love the hole in the dome ... is that where Winter is escaping from?

Yup, there are some icicles on it too. Sanctuary, someone thumbed you down, someone either doesn't like you or that you like this image, lol. Watch your back, pal .

Thank you favs people, means a LOT !!

Amazing detail. I love how you applied the source in this one. Original and fantastic. Good luck!

Very nice imagination author...i like usage of the source image...This look like one very nice fantasy land...well done author...

Woot & booyaka !!!

Great image - congrats!

Congrats! Great image!

congrats!

thanks fior creating this...next time i want this picture to appear in my dream..alll i need to do is to see this picture once every day and the time will come......

This is simply amazing!

thats a brilliant idea i love it realy good job, good use of the sources blended them great. made me laugh

Really really good work my friend.

Just suggestion: I think you must remove image upper part (by cropping) as I don't think it is required and its not looking good with the composition.

Best of luck!

very nice idea, most creative and serves the image well

Amazing work..! i was breaking my head out with this source..You did it soo well..High votes no doubt

yes you did it!

love it

What a fun image. Put a big smile on my face!

Great funny image...well done

Well done! Congrats!

Still smiling ... just love penguins! Congratulations!

No outside sources used? You haven't linked to any....

sources's coming. sorry for delay

GREAT concept. But the white scribbly thing is distracting and confusing.
I'd suggest making the bubbles a bit more prominent, fixing the noticeable lean in the frontmost column, and making the sea growth more consistent. Either get rid of a lot at the bottom, or add more to the rest. Also flip the flames of the LH urn behind the large one in front, and brighten the flames where needed so you don't have a couple really intense, and the rest looking washed out.

This has the potential to be a very powerful image, you just need to tighten up the execution a bit.

Really thanks for your comment. I'll think about it.

I really love it

Not sure how those plants were painted, from the SBS, but not a bad image.

I hope, I can more than plants

Truly fascinating image. I love the fact that you have put the fire under water! Very unusual and different concept. Your lighting one the stair is great and the removal of the snow is very well done.

Looking good!

The correct source link for source 1 is: http://syccas-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/755702#/d11rbgp

Thanks moderator, sorry for mistake

Very nice

Why doesn't she have any legs? It looks like she's just floating about 10 inches off the step...
Also the source is too blurry, she doesn't blend with it, as much as she looks pasted on top.

Some snowflakes on her would make the image more realistic.

...Why doesn't she have any legs? What kind of question is that?

Anyways, thanks CMYK you know i appreciate your comments, i've tried adding snowflakes on the model but they always look horribly pasted on, which is why i added the warm orange glow around the model and gave the image the title that i did, she's melting the snow away with her music.

Cheating a bit i guess, but that's the explanation. Thanks Bob

"why doesn't she have any legs?"..lol..you should check the source MossyB..good job on the snow author..and good mood as always..GL!

lol@where's her legs... its very obvious to me that they are tucked under her big ruffly dress. Doesn't look like she is floating to me author, the steps are clear enough. As for the soft glow, i think it was a nice touch. I like the blurry background as well. Very nicely put together, so goodluck

Nice chop and good luck to you Author

I think its a beautiful entry..but at the same i feel this could have been done with any image,which is actually blurred out. No offence meant author.But its just IMO.

Has a lovely feel to it. I like the concept of her music melting the snow ... And regarding your earlier comment...I don't think it's a cheat when it works .

It looks good, i like the "focus on her, everything else is secondary" aspect. GL author.

very cool work author...best of luck