perfect land covering 

Very nice.

And don't worry too much about refs. It is wise to post them when you use a direct reference, but in this case I don't think it was necessary. You didn't really copy anything other than the general feel of it and the colors.

 Brilliant texture and contrast c:

Good texture, nice dither! Nice colors too

The contrast between the messy martian landscape and the monolith is fantastic. I know who's getting my vote : D

the black wall is really cool.  Only crit I have is the stone work on the left looks a bit too messy and dithery

 Nice...

 Amazing dither work, can't stop looking at it.

 wow. the black stone is nice part as it steals focus, but at the same time the background is kool too. good job. as always I appreciate the dither work.

Ok, cool, will do in future...

We don't have to ask you for your reference, you should just post it.

This is just great.

..and to _Connor - Thank You sir! ..for comment and fav... ..I thought these pixels at least deserved to participate as well, and we'll see what other people say... Thanks again!

Thank You authority!!! A little while ago it was starting to look like I was gonna be held up past the deadline!

philippejugnet  - there's no real reference image, the basic layout is from this image http://yaymicro.com/stock-image/rocky-desert-landscape/1568640 - the rest is adlib directly from head or rather hand.

 reference?

 This is by far my favourite of the entries thus far. If this doesn't get in i probably won't even vote. You should be proud of this regardless of whether it gets in or not.

If need be, maybe make the logo a feature of the pillar... just so nobody can say it isn't obvious.

No I didn't. It's near the center on the right edge of the pic. Good thinking, tho...

Did you forget the logo?

Hellooooo! Would someone from the Greater Pixel Authority please approve this in time to be viable for Weekly Challenge? Anyone? I don't think it's THAT bad, it's been laying here in limbo for 2 straight days with only 20 hrs left to make it into the challenge... What? wtf?! Am I offending someone, or do fail to comply to some religious mumbojumbo? what? ..oh wait, could it be because I failed to suckup to veterans in the wip thread? ...what a drag...

 I love the dithering!
I think the amount of dithering can be used as a style choice as well, and is not necessarily "wrong".

 Do use the imagination then , make some wind pusts or "clouds" in the air . Though I am noob so you don't need to do it . 

Haha I know I know. I use dither where it's supposed to be and also where it's totally unneccesary. What I can do? I just can't stand empty blobs...

Use less dither?