The concept and composition of this image are top notch; dynamic and interesting. Well done.

Having said that, I'm having trouble with the lighting. The dust ring is very thick and some of those clouds are significantly deeper than the moonlets; therefore, I'd expect there to be more contrast in the shadows of that cloud or I'd expect them to be much darker as a whole, as the background stars would show through. This is evident in the top sections of the cloud which are clearly backdropped by the starfield (and yet almost none of them get through).

Similarly, the moonlets don't cast shadows on the plane either meaning that none of them have planar orbits. I might expect this from one or two moonlets, but not all of them.


As for the mood of the piece, I don't really get a sense of what you're going for here. Is supposed to be wondrous, as a foreign species passes (in awe or lazily) through the system during it's birth or is it that the species has initiated the creation of the system? I don't see either being implied by the mood of the piece (though the name implies the former rather than the latter).

However, to pick up on the details, they are in abundance. The work that you've done on the central star is... well.. stellar; very nicely done. Similarly, the foreground cruft adds some element of depth (Although they seem to curve up out of the plane of the disk; breaking from the perspective of the rest of the piece and so, seem awkward).

All in all, it's a really good image but it could benefit from some more contrast and detail in the cloud and the fixing of some lighting and perspective foibles.

While DD award might be an eloquent reason not to give any other review I'll take this challenge and show people a different point of view.

A big thump up on the painting technique - the creatures look interesting and the young solar system is portrayed well enough to give that right impression of depth. The whole piece is much more detailed that one would expect from the preview - small details here and there put a lot to the overall outcome.

Nice perspective and pleasant lighting give an epic proportions to the tale displayed in this piece and the subtle beams of light emanating from the centre of the system only support it.

In my eyes it would be one of the best pieces in a long while if it weren't for the colors. It even prevented me from faving this piece. I like soft colors, I like when the painting has that good traditional feel (both applies for this piece as well) but it is the color combination that just doesn't stand out (this is where I really don't agree with the DD suggester). That body-color purple with yellow make me weep - it's only my personal opinion and maybe most of the people will disagree with me but I just can't get over this.
It is a well deserved DD, I'm glad that this piece recieved it and I think that my "star-budget" will only support it. There is just one personal problem that will prevent me from placing this picture among my favourites and lower the overall personal impact a bit. Everything else is just OK.