I don't get it... (Help improving older works)

[elite5472]

I have two pieces of work I'm having trouble with.

It's that "yeah, no matter how I look at it, it's better now, but it's missing something from the old one" feeling with two particular works, one I did today, and another I did some time ago.

I wonder if you guys could point me out in the right direction.

The first one is Black Knight 2 vs Black Knight 3.6 (it already had three retouches)

Black Knight 2

As you can see on this one, it's quite blurry and lacking detail. But it does however feel really eerie, and that was the point. It was the second or third time I used gaussian blur I believe, like two years ago.



Black Knight 3.6

And here we have the newest version, much more detailed (I spent hours sharpening the low-res original) and overall less muddy. However it just doesn't look as eerie anymore. I honestly don't know how to make it so without darkening it too much (or all the sharpening would go to waste).



Dark Angel

Here we have one of my earliest works, I did a lot on this one. At the time it was really cool, now it looks like I just grabbed my original source and squashed it until it could not be recognized anymore.



Chrome Gundam

Aside from the name change to something more on topic... This is something I just did today. I feel it looks awesome, but it feels like there is something missing and I just don't get what it is. I spent a long time trying to be faithful to the original without destroying my source. Several parts look really cool, but it gives me this "average" feeling. Maybe it's just the original concept, maybe it's just something I didn't do right.

[SicSid]

i don't get it .... what is that ??? digital painting ???

[Dezigns Unlimited]

It looks to flat, no dimension. Great job tho!!