This is part 2 of the "To Build a Fire" project, which we were to create an environmental landscape for the story

As a reminder, the story of "To Build a Fire" involves a man and his dog traveling through the snowy landscape in order to meet up with his friends at a certain rendezvous location. 

For the location, i wanted to incorporate a science fiction type landcape in the mountains and decided to go with an abandoned Tibetian style monastary/ temple along a steep cliff. This would make an interesting location for the marine and his fellow squad to meet up.

 

The Critique that i recieved for this rough draft is:

-The bridge leading to the temple looks very "plain" and "boring" and i was encouraged to give a more drastic sci-fi look, like an arch

-The buildings in the distance shrinks too fast and doesnt give a good sense of depth, so i was to give a more consistent look

 

After taking in all the critique, this is what i was able to come up with

The following critique i was told from this is:

- The mountain range feels "plain" and unconvincing

- The buildings and bridge still looks quite intact for an abandoned temple. Was suggested to apply more cracks and debrees on the buildings and show a breaking point on the bridge

Final Draft
This is the finished colored version of the environmental piece. 
My goal at first was to give a misty environment in a very cloudy/ dim environment, but i was encouraged to drop that and give a more dramatic look with the lighting.
The first thing that came into my mind was sunlight rays shining through the mist in light columns
To add the realism, textures such as concrete and rocks were applied.