Firestorm

Damn! I like it :]

I say go with V2, very interesting concept. Definitely one of your best!
You may want to add some depth to it, it would bring the spartan out a bit more

 

ooh i saw this in a post of yours and just couldnt WAIT to come cnc it!

first off, great job on the change of perspective for the sidebar.. i usually don't like those, but you did a great job on it. it gives you a different sense.. in the sidebar, he's looking at you, while in the other one (though now i look closely, did you mean to do that? cause his head looks a lil squished), he looks off to the distance.

next is the depth as huntar pointed out. very simple to fix, blur the BG, and maybe burn the lighter space between the trees, though not alot.. try blurring his gun on his back just barely too.. thats what i do sometimes just to give some small basic depth.

now next i see is the c4d's. at a glance, they are great for providing flow, but at a closer look, they aren't as good.. kind of.. blocky compared to the smooth intensity of the fire/electricity of the sword.. do you get what i mean?

woah.. im looking at the trees now for flow.. did you apply a perspective filter over the whole thing?? the trees are slanted!

anyways, yeah so smoother c4d, his head looks a litle odd, and the depth needs a wee bit of work. don't get me wrong, this is probably your best sig, but there are a few small mistakes to be fixed

but really, fix those simple things, and i will have a tough time deciding between you and huntar.

oh, and go with v2, the text isnt great.

 

Agreed with Huntar.

Add a light source.
What I do is create a new layer first, then I take a 300px soft brush (white) andbrush it on where I want it to be(For your sig, probably the top-right of his head). After, set the blending mode to Soft Light.

Agreed also with depth.
Blur the background and sharpen the spartan a little bit (maybe by about 25% would be fine).

 

idk.. his head looks squished flat.. but then again thats probably just the way the recon helm is.. i dont look at recon often so i dont really know lol

 

very nice effect on the sword.