Castle Paradox

[Bob the Hamster]

Well, before this thread gets closed let me say how awesome this picture is.

I wan't one. Do you think my local animal shelter has any?

[Komera]

don't think so... you might want to try the local zoo, though.

wow, i've been complemented by the spam man! my life's complete. i can die happy now (not that i actually plan to do that soon, though).
_________________
LJ.Art

SD - Ten creatures remaining.

[Royal]

Alright I have to return favor by giving my critique once again to this piece.
Keep in mind though that Im giving it from the way Im painting so do what you want with it
First of all, very good job in moving this pic up some notches I love when ppl actually do something about pictures that obviously lacks elements, big props.
First thing that still strikes me is that the background is not a good choice for this at all, it's painted?/photomanipped in a way that it's constantly struggling for the viewers attention since it's interfering with the foreground both compositional and contrastwise.
You are also cutting the cat in twos with the shoreline creating some ugly tangents which flatten out your pic, I would rework the background using more interesting colors and composition.
As for the cats I must say I adore the middle part of the big one since the lighting is top notch and the fur is greatly rendered. Some part of it is a bit "floaty" in shapes since you used very soft shadows, paws and wings in particular. I would use harder shadows and lines there to get the desired shape otherwise you might end up with a flat drawing.
The little cub has too low contrast contra the big cat, it kind of blends in with everything else and is easily missed, push him out a bit and you might also consider redoing the staging. I often draw my figures in all black first just to check out if the poses are readable, the cub would not have passed through that examination.
Last but not least I would also try to give some complimentary light to the picture, white light is quite boring throw some yellow or red in there and itll look alot better.
Keep at it, youre doing great