Recently I got really interested in matte painting and especially the way it combines with 3D. I decided to give it a shot and I started with something easy imo - a cityscape. Check the full rez if you want to, but it looks way better when itÂs small 
Critics are welcome!
Original image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Jersey_City_Skyline_-_Jan_2006.jpg
Come on, I need crits 
As one other author said, rip me apart, I know my painting is bad as hell and I am way out of my league here, but I need to know what I did wrong in order to improve my skills. Cheers!
Hi Nicolai, welcome to this forum,
well there are some points that you need to work on,
always start with real photo reference, to learn about exposure which is a MUST in order to create photoreal imagery.
in your image you donât have a correct exposure thatâs why it does not look beliavable
backlit buildings in this case they should be almost black silhouttes,
like in here :
also your elements looks flat, all CG will always need some âhelpâ too look realistic, in this case some aerial perspective /atmosphere could help separate buildings in depth and make them look big, and far away from each other
also very important thing to mention is that you are not working with a visual composition, whatâs your focal point here? whatâs the important element in the image? if it is the whole city there is no flow visually speaking.
in the tutorial section in this forum you will find some nice notes about composition rules that will help you improve your technique
There are several important things you must consider when doing a matte painting.
One is to establish a light source. The most obvious error I see in this piece is the inconsistency in the light direction. Look at your source image. Where is the sun? Itâs behind you to the left. However, in your composition, the sun is behind the buildings, which immediately destroys the illusion. You need to either pick a different sky or a different skyline.
Youâve extracted the buildings nicely, but the color balance is not working at all for me. Why is the sky brown? You need to develop a mood and carry that out consistently throughout the entire painting.
There is no sense of depth. The conflicting sky and buildings partly contributes to this. But also, it results from cropping off the river. The lower edge of the painting corresponds to the horizon line, which is pushing it a little bit, unless you were going to add more elements on top.
If you want this to stand on its own, you should consider developing a strong focal point.
So my tips are:
[ul]
[li]establish light source[/li][li]unify color palette[/li][li]create better sense of depth[/li][li]raise horizon line[/li][/ul]The best thing you can do is just look at as many photos and matte paintings as you can and notice the bigger picture in them, and how all of the elements work together.
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Cheers!