Looks great so far. I especially like the boat design. It goes very well with the lighting, very realistic. And a very simplistic sort of realism too, not like the ones where the animator forces the attributes. Your one looks as though you let it walk its own path. Pardon me for asking, (if you mentioned it somewhere in the thread and i missed it), but are these just uv textures applied or have you applied geometry (BlenderInternal) or displacement (CyclesRender) to these models? If not, i feel like they would only help in the enhancement of the models. Just a suggestion though. Very good job. Well done, indeed.
Nice progress, but the cloud looks too dense. And with these mountains your scene is sudenly located in china 
Here is a good example of how some mist could enhance the scene. Just in case you still want to add some mist. I know, you said that you have your plans for this
Thetax, thanks for the comment. I’m using cycles, and displacement. I should mess things up a bit I guess, not to seem so orderly.
Minoribus, yes, that’s the only place I found for this kind of mountain formation. The photo you’re sharing is very beautiful, and maybe I will increase the mist now. I might try to go at this a few hours tonight. And thank you for the comment about the cloud, I thought the same thing. I will try again with the smoke sim, or maybe the cloud generator.
update. Added to the mist pass, decreasing visibility. changed texturing back to dark. updated dof. will likely make the textures somewhat lighter again. clouds may not be a part of this. Monk was removed from this render, need to still do some updates.
update. naked monk. blocked nudity as I know it might bother people. monk model and textures are from makehuman. I will give him some clothes, change the composition of the scene, as the rope coming from the sky is not particularly visible in front of the mountain. I spent the time to texture the rope, but you can’t really tell in this render, so I will likely just make a rope out of a curve and give it some knots, would look better. Add boards to the side of the platform. changed the camera a bit. I was thinking of having the rope attached to one of the flying paper lanterns that float off into the sky, but I kind of like having the rope attached to something you can’t see. Also, I really like the black and white version of this, maybe I will keep one render b and w for one of the finals. thoughts?
Very nice texturing of the house. The mountains and the mist is also well done now. It will be interesting to see how this all turn into a story 
A monk, a rope from the sky, the oriental setting … really interesting!
ty Minoribus. I appreciate that. I think it’s finally starting to take the shape I want. Check out this view and let me know what you guys (and girls) think. It’s kind of empty. also, the dof is causing a bit of an issue, but I only want to cloth this guy and then render 2-3 shots after adding a couple more small details. Then I will do a “darker” scene with a woman. Please view full version to see full details.
The texturing on the building looks really good… it has come a long way.
I kind of like having the rope attached to something you can’t see
Without knowing what you are really trying to convey in this scene, I might be off on this comment. But currently the rope looks like it is coming down from the heavens. There really is nothing that logically makes sense as to what that rope is attached to. Maybe you could have a tree limb jetting out from the left side that would maybe give the viewer some clue that is attached to something.
After looking at the photo Minoribus posted, I wonder if you should desaturate or darken your grass and foliage. But disregard this comment if your going for more of a stylized look. Of course that is not needed in the BW image.
But the scene has really progressed nicely.
Thanks Harley. I really appreciate the input. I might desaturate it again, kind of testing. But I loved how the b and w came out. The rope being attached to nothing, or something undefined… is kind of a special idea to me because it can be what anyone wants it to be. Metaphorically speaking, it could be that the monk has attained a grasp on enlightenment, etc, that which cannot be visualized. I think at a certain point, it is good to leave things somewhat up to interpretation.That being said…the visual of him floating off on a paper lantern is nice, too. haha.
The monk and his scene has been sent to focused crit. When I start on the other, darker scene, I will update here. Please feel free to join me in focused crit, or in final projects whenever I get around to putting it over there. Hopefully soon. Thank you all for all of your feedback.