I joined CGCookie 1 year ago this month and wanted to share a couple of landscape scenes (I'm making a digital world). I watched a ton of Jonathon's beginner/intro and modeling videos for the first six months. In October I had fun doing the "Astray" hut video series. That taught me how to put together a large model which I've been building ever since. I'm doing the Animation Bootcamp series now, then I'm going to add detail to the scenes (Scatter!) and then I'll make an epic 10 second video something... :)
I added a couple more renders of my world model. I now have some minimal skills where I can do mockups, etc. - especially when using a lot of addons like Scatter5, Botanique/Aquatiq, Forestation, Alphatrees, etc.
Your scene is looking good, that place feels lovely and welcoming. I like the soft lighting. Only thing that caught me eye is how sharp everything is. You can add some atmospheric effects to the background to simulate how far off in the distance something is, or a bit of depth of field. Right now the trees in the background cause a little bit of disorientation since they appear to be close, almost as if they are right behind the fountain lamp looking rods. Either way, your scene is turning out great. Keep working on it.
Thanks for the feedback! I'm learning about camera lenses, mist and other things that should help giving it more "3D" . And thanks for the encouragement!