Alright, this is sort of a long crit, so be prepared. And also, please don't take anything I say personally, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings at all.



Overall I think this is a nice matte, the warm colors of the flames in the distance help separate themselves from the cool colors of the scene. The flames themselves are nice, but as space recedes, everything that gets further and further back should start to lose it's natural color and take on the color of the atmosphere (in this case an aqua blue?). Since everything is blue, the flames stand out too much and I tend to mostly look in their direction since it's such a contrast, and pretty much the only one in the entire scene. Though it's not bad that they are so contrasted, it's actually nice, but since they're not really a main focal point, you just start floating between them.



I'm going to guess that the jaguar is the main focal point of the scene. The jaguar itself is nice, but again, it gets lost in everything else. If you were wanting the jaguar to be the focal, I would of made it a little larger and placed more elements around it to put emphasis on it. There is not a clear focal point for me to stick my eye to and examine, then move on to another part of the image and come back to again. Whatever your focal is going to be, you want the viewer to look there the most. I also think the scene falls a little short, you have a wonderful landscape that reaches far to the horizon, but we can only see three temples from our POV. I would definitely be able to see more temples from this POV, and even a little of the fire on the tops (but seriously hazed out).



The canopy is a nice touch, it brings you into the scene as if you were standing right there. The only crit I really have for it, is that it feels too enclosed, I would break it up at the top and let some air out; feels a bit claustrophobic. The bushes/trees themselves feel a bit 2D due to the way they are lit. Even though it's night time, the way the outer-most edges of them are lit (towards the center of the composition), there needs to be a few breaks of bright light that creep into the depths of the plants. You do this a little of the left, but there needs to be a little more all around. But again, nice job with this, it looks good.



The background is done quite well, I love the subtlety of the mountains, it creates good depth in the scene. The clouds are also nice with the way they are being lit by the moon. It makes it seem majestic almost. My only crit with this is that there could have been more clouds (not cumulus, but cirrus) above them.





Minor crit that can be overlooked, but because I have OCD: Your reflection of the moon in the water isn't completely aligned with the moon. I know it's little, but that's the kind of things that can make or break the realism of a mattepainting. It's always the little things. Also, I think the rocks could have used a few more scattered bright spots, they seem a little dull for this lighting.





But again, overall, real nice matte. I like the colors used and the way the moon lights everything, and the way you have set up the canopy. Hope to see some more mattes from you!