Need some tips and pokes to get me in the right directions with these ...

[DreadJim]

Hi guys, I hope to get some feedback from you on how I can make these paints here looking more realistic....I spend a couple hours doing these, and felt stuck somewhere...I will really appreciate some enlightenment from you guys...
any tips, paintovers, suggestions I will really love it...

PS: I did these off e top of mind, so inaccuracy and problems with the subjects are many..what I am really looking forward to hear is more on the lighting, atmospheric perspective and colors...

Thank you!

[Stoat]

Harder brushes and more opaque. Overuse of soft transparent brushes always give a dirty, vague look to a P'shop.

I won't comment on the images -- I'm terrible at environments.

[Chris Sanders]

Some of these concepts have potential. First of all the most important thing with environments is a solid drawing/perspective foundation. I can see your perspective is a little wobbly. First thing you should do when your painting an environment is establish your eye level/horizon line with a line across the page; it is crucial you do this otherwise you lose track of where your looking. You might think you can get away with it but you really can't, especially when your drawing stuff like houses. There are issues with the huts in the last piece that you simply wouldn't get if you where relating properly to a vanishing point on a horizon. The compositions are ok; could do with more work but that will always be true no matter how good you get. I like the second to last piece with the fire pit thing, keep at it.

[JeffX99]

If you're interested in environments you really need to get outdoors and observe them. None of these have a feel of a real place or a sense of light or atmosphere - mainly because you're just mimicking (copying) the same cliches you've seen other people do. Specifically you're use of atmospheric perspective is way overdone. As far as lighting...a sense of lighting is established primarily by shadow...you don't really have any shadows to indicate form or what the light is doing.

Basically you need to develop a better understanding of composition, perspective and what happens with light and atmosphere in the landscape. The best way to do that is to observe it and study it directly yourself, as well as studying the great landscape painters throughout history.