Help with these two graphics?, They're backgrounds, I guess... Options

[achimongus]

I sent in the castle one but it got rejected, which is completely fine, I would just like to know how to improve. What am I doing wrong? The second one I know most people will think it does not have enough color, but personally I love just two simple colors together. C=

(I wasn't sure how to put these huge pictures on here, so I used Imageshack's thumbnail option....I hope that's alright....)

[achimongus]

Ahh for the first one, I've never been much of a real artist. I can't create, I can only manipulate. Creating boats would be extremely, extremely difficult for me. I use stock photos, brushes, and textures.

The second ond just looks like a bunch of brushes plopped down on a plain canvas

>.< ahhh, you're right. I love some brushes :D This background was for a friend, I just wanted to see what people would think. I usually hate the idea of using people in images (that's just me) but I love silhouettes. If I added some difference in color, you think? Maybe not everything should be navy blue?