This is an outstanding illustration! My goodness! Very nice work.
I love it as it is, it has a dreamy quality to it, I agree 
I would try to emphasize the focus colorized thing maybe pumping up just a notch the colors, maybe just one of them in the boy, but just as something to try that I'd love to see in comparison.
I do love it as it is, and I can imagine a whole picture book like this already. 
@eric-castleman I really like this piece and its sparing use of color. I feel there some intriguing storytelling going on here. I'm wondering where the light shining on the foreground characters is coming from as it seems "hotter" than on the other subjects. The background giraffes seem to be lit by soft moon light or a street lamp high up in the sky, but the foreground has a stronger source of light. Nitpicking here because it's a strong piece
I like the 'focus colourized' aspect. Works well. Usually when I see something that's spot coloured it's over the top but this piece is subtler.
Nice work!
Looks great to me, makes me want to see the big giraffe above the kids head. Nice work
@catru to be more precise to you Eric, cause the change I would try just to see, is really minimal on this piece, as it has an amazing mood and I don't want to screw that haha, is to use a Color layer (as Will Terry loves to use) and just enhance a tiny bit maybe or the tiny red in the "carrier truck" or maybe just the boy a bit....... again just a bit :))
I think it looks finished but what are you trying to get across in the image? Is it important to the story that the background is not colored? I see a lot of people saying it seems like a dream or imagination, which is cool and I can see. I just don't know if that's what you wanted to create with the image. Its a really cool concept and rendering, nice work.
Your wife is used to your other work so she's probably not expecting that you're trying something new. This works great. My only thought would be make the color difference less subtle. Dropping the background saturation a little more and maybe pumping it up on the characters a tad more. I'm sure it's easy to overdo that, though. That way the difference looks intentional and not so much as unfinished as she interpreted. Another way to help the viewer understand your intention would be a series so that the repetition reaffirms that it is, in fact, intentionally designed that way and not just left unfinished or rushed. Great work as usual!
@eric-castleman This really looks great Eric! Nice work!
I think it is finished. I really think you nailed down the coloring on this. Good focal point on the boy and the baby giraffe and then more muted colors for the rest. It brings out some sort of melancoly and dreaminess if you ask me. Pretty good job!!!
More more! This is great!
If you added a persons shadow on the ground, maybe wearing a fedora hat with four long knives for figers (ya know like Freddy Krueger) it would turn from a warm fuzzy dream to something creepy.
Looks finished to me and I really love this illustration.
This looks fantastic. Throw that bad boy into your portfolio.
I like it very much -- reminds me of Chris Van Allsburg.
Wow, I think this is fantastic! Maybe extend the giraffes' legs down behind the fence? Unless, of course, there's intentionality in the way that the giraffes are visible above the fence but not through it. I really appreciate the way this piece invites the viewer to imagine a story to go with it.
Wonderful work, @eric-castleman It reminds me of certain movie scenes where the background is subdued with the main action/character in color, etc. There's one image online of Wonder Woman charging through muted devastation in the background. About the only thing that slightly bothers me is what seems to be a lack of eyes on the baby and on the adult at left -- or maybe I just can't see if on my screen. Amazing, as always.
