A quick fix of venom

[Jel]

Hi guys.

Haven't posted in a while. I've just finished this quick comic-related piece, so I thought I'd share it here with you. A few things bug me, because I went into this piece without really planning anything. Once I had already started rendering, I realized that there were quite a few things that I wasn't happy with, but I was already too advanced. I however tried to fix some of the issues, but it isn't perfect. Hope you like still!

[Symson]

Nice piece. I like the energy and composition.

Once i get past the chest area everything seems to get muddy. Venom fades into the background. The background looks like a photo with a gradation slapped on it. The contrast is lacking.

[Veritas71]

I agree with Symson about being muddy. A city at night will have its own overall 'glow', not to mention the tall building in the back would have a couple people burning the midnight oil in some of the windows. That said, venom would stand out more from the background. If it isn't cloudy, the sky is still blue, not gray, and should have some stars. BTW, Venom is AWESOME!

[Zackness]

I disagree with the previous two commenters. I think you meant for the shadows on Venom to bleed into the shadows of the city. That's fine if he's attacking NYC during Sandy. What you want to do is add a liner mostly to the lower left of Venom - just the slightest glow. It should be a slight white - no other color. Keep that blue as your dominant color. Additionally, if it is night, add office lights on the buildings. If the lights are too distracting, adjust their opacity and add a blur.
Lastly, I like this piece. It feels more horror than comic book.

[Jel]

Thanks for the comments guys.

As I mentioned, I didn't really plan anything before going into this piece, and some things could've been better. That said, I intended the background to be very muted, and Venom to kind of fade in it. Initially, it was only supposed to be a bunch of abstract values and colors (you can see some of the progress shots in my deviantArt gallery), then I thought it'd be more interesting to provide some context, but yeah, the city was an afterthought. I tried to mute it as much as possible since it isn't the main focus of the image. It could be dark for whatever reason: power shutdown, sand storm... But after reading your comments, I agree that adding a little glow would definitely make the pic better. I'm gonna try a few of your suggestions and see what works.

Thank you!