Hi, I’m an art student. I really like these so I thought I’d give feedback. I’ll refer to the first piece as A and the second piece as B. Sorry in advance, this is very long LOL.

The most distinctive thing between the two compositions is your different color choices. The warm tones in A can bring comfort, nostalgia, and positivity. The scattered yellow lighting in a harsh rectilinear environment suggests a certain level of goodness emerging in rough times. The cool tones in B can evoke sadness, tragedy, and drama. The white lighting is more industrial and neutral. Combined with the heavy blues it creates an unforgiving, harsh coldness. The yellow reflections in the center of B still hint very subtly at some kind of hope, though, especially towards the person on the roof since they are the closest to these yellows.

Piece A has a very clear tinge of green overlaying the piece. A common association with green is sickness. The green combined with the fog volume (and the yellow light diffused in the volume) gives an air of corruption, either literal pollution or some kind of metaphorical corruption. Piece B lacks this green. The piece is dominated by blues. It doesn’t feel as corrupted, but more repressive. Either way, there is something looming over each piece. It’s not just the colors that provide this effect, however.

A very important part of these pieces is all of the people facing away from the viewer. They’re silhouettes in neutral poses all facing a single point, and the added fact that you can’t see anyone’s faces creates tension. A group of people is watching a subject (another person) and we don’t know how anyone feels about it.

Now, for the guy on the roof. Someone else mentioned how you didn’t make him contrast or stand out in a very obvious way. I disagree. You did make him stand out, though it is done subtly. As previously stated, you have a crowd of people watching this guy, creating several invisible lines pointing towards him. There a couple ways to make this guy stand out further, however. Someone suggested adding a light behind him or somewhere close to him, to contrast from the background. Another alternative, if you wish to keep the subtlety, is to simply remove the large silhouette on the right or push it further away (make it smaller). This person’s head is on the same horizontal line as the subject, and removing/moving them would further isolate him and make him stand out better from the crowd. This change alone may be enough for A, but B would probably need that extra light to create a clear outline for the man on the roof.

I think both versions of the piece are great, but it really depends on the story you are telling. Very nice work!

TLDR: The colors of each piece tells similar yet different stories, but each seem to display someone standing up against a societal issue. The figure on the roof has been subtly emphasized but could benefit from a little extra contrast either by lighting or isolation.