Please break this down and/or give me tips to improve!

[BElemental]

Hello again. I started these two paintings this week and they are still works in progress, might add/change a few things in each? I am really enjoying this forum and you all that regularly post and comment. Appreciate any resources from you personally or video/reading to make me a better artist. I am fairly new to painting. My name is Brandon by the way

[jmac]

Hello Brandon and welcome to the forum...These are just a few thoughts and reactions to your 2 paintings. First I would say that for someone "fairly new to painting" you have a nice grasp of some fundamental concepts. I think you did a very nice job illuminating the shoreline in the first painting. That is not easy to do. I'm not crazy about the look of the lighting bolt, though I know immediately that is what it is, it just looks a little off to me. I'm not sure what I would suggest as I have never tried to paint lighting but you might look at some reference photos on the internet. Perhaps there is too much definition to the line making up the lighting bolt? Have you considered looking at the piece with out the foreground lightning. I think the illumination of the bank is very indicative of moonlight and the distant lightning is far enough away to be convincingly convey the impending storm?

I think the large foreground rock in the 2nd painting is well done. It looks solid and nicely textured. I want to say maybe the shape of the tree is too uniform but it does lend to the fantasy quality the painting has. If the bird is on it's own layer you might experiment with moving it around so it is not on the midline of the painting. You might use it to draw attention to the castle for instance. Right now my eye goes to the bird pretty quickly and I have to consciously pull away to take in the rest of the painting and I keep getting pulled back to the bird. If that was your intent then leave it as is but it seems that the bird is more a highlight than an main ingredient and perhaps might be better in a less dominant position on the canvas.

These are pretty small suggestions and I think you are really off to a nice start.