the render on the first one is really dark, not always the best to work with, but the way you used the very bright bg it makes sense, simple but i like it. the second one is a bit sharp i think, that or you have light coming from more places than neccesary, the render isnt lit from all angles nice stuff ^^
Agreed, the render in the first one kills it a bit. Try to hit the render with a curves layer (copy the render then find the curves tool under colors). Mess around with the lower part of the graph to brighten some of the shadows. Second one's lacking some depth, but the compo's good. Needs more forground effects imo. ^_^ Good work though, Keep it up
