Oh My Gosh, I almost thought this was a picture from the Hubble space telescope and once I read the description I realized it is actually a painting /fractual. I decided it was worth a critique. which is the reason why I am writing this. I love the reds and the impact of the colors. The stars look real, and it feels like it could be a backdrop to my favorite scifi space shows like Doctor Who, Star Trek or Stargate... Some mystical place in the far reaches of the universe waiting to be discovered. I it so much that I am it now!

On first impression, this reminds one of just how close to being painterly you've made fractals in the past – I can almost see fractals here and there. Except there is a difference. These fractals are smooth and detailed, and yet strikingly appealing; natural. As if, aesthetically, there is a true difference – the artificiality of abstract fractals and the naturality of fully implemented fractals. You can see then how this excels further than even your previously impressive fractal-built nebulae: beforehand, you had the fusion and synthesis of abstracted fractals with a natural implementation. Here you have moved from a synthesis between artificial and natural, by purely painting the fractal-forms, hence making it entirely natural aesthetically, being expressed with far less rigidity and, it would seem, mirroring nature far more effectively in its immediate appearances. That said, you have used some rendered, abstracted fractals, and yet because of the rest of the work being painted and having the patterns of a fractal imbedded in it, the artificial fractals have also been entirely naturalised, solubilised. That is surely a good thing here and again is consistent with an aesthetic of a natural appearance. It goes then that piece does successfully accomplish what was endeavoured – namely, to paint a realistic nebulae.

But then the eyes move forward from the mere patterns, however natural and striking they be, to the subtle details, the beautiful reflections, and so on – there is an inscrutable form behind all those enumerable properties, and any good piece of artwork will evoke this sense. It can be explained as inspiring the imagination to partake in what the scene represents. In this case, one is drawn into the great celestial abysses of the cosmos, in their infinite forms. One can build up the entire structure of this nebulae within their mind, precisely because you have communicated such subtleties within the nebulae – the light flickering upon the gas from the great stellar fires, the splendid effervescence of the fluid, flowing clouds of gas which make up the backdrop. Static structures arise from great seas. This is the vision this piece is able to produce given proper attention. That I applaud.

Nevertheless, there are always finesses to improve upon, and which are worth mentioning. The starfield does give a bit of a sense of being two-layered, or rather, that there are only two planes of them in the picture. The finer starfield is quite fine and varied enough, though some changes in the colour they emit would help realism furthermore (one need not change them too drastically, however). Some dimming and brightening of the larger stars, however, could help remove the sense of uniformity which they have, as this uniformity gives them a bit of a flatness which is actually undeserving of them. Further changing the contrast of some and others, again affecting their emitted colours, and their glare effects, would help. On the glare effects, the ones that currently have them are, again, a bit too uniform. They all seem to have the same ratio of length to the star, to each other, and the ones chosen seem a bit arbitrary, although understandable that one would not wish to cover the piece with them. The largest glare to the left is also a bit faulty – it can be seen covering the star, as it is a bit brighter than the star – it would be better if the glare was of the same brightness as the star (the star's brightness could also be brought up to the glare's).

The nebulae, as mentioned before, is magnificent. All the subtle details and reflections, as well as the tones, are wonderful. That said a harshness in contrast in a few places seem a bit inconsistent with the piece. This is actually the nebulae below the apparently uppermost one with a glare effect, with a slight bit of abrasive texturing on it. Some very slight smoothing and reflecting of stars on this part of the nebulae might help make it less flat – although it is important to note that most of it is actually fine, especially the edges, so it is actually just the more central or innermost parts which could be modified to good effect in that respect.

Compositionally the piece is great, and I would not suggest any further modifications there. Although the scene is very appealing to the imagination and not too many space artists at the moment are making nebulae of such a realistic nature, I cannot really give more points for originality, as this should be a fairly obvious celestial theme. That said, I have noticed that your style is very original, and you have again improved with some unique twists in quality, and hence I can give points of originality to that, along with scoring your technique fairly highly, for although there are the aforementioned shortcomings, the first two paragraphs of this critique make emphatic how successful, on the whole, that you were in evoking a great scene.

Overall, then, a very solid and fairly inspiring piece. You have successfully approached making a realistic stellar scene, with an impressive sense of detail and motion particularly in the nebulae. Your style and skill continues to improve and develop, which is a very nice thing to see. Good work – I can certainly look forward to your future works, granting how far you have improved in such a short time.