I'm a bit late to your party here, I didn't really understand what your element was at first, if you painted some fire in the image it would definitely read better (considering the only indicators are the gun and hat) but saying that it's a nice refreshing take which I haven't seen in any of the others yet.
@nesokaiyoh … good advice … and thanks for the comment. I was trying to do something different. Here is the before and after of a quick test. Obviously changes the lighting...which I will get to. Let me know what you think.
Are you using refs with the fire? I'd suggest you look at pictures of fire and paint what you see! As it is, it's not very bright, you said you haven't painted in the lighting for it yet but it will affect everything quite a bit, especially when it's dark out. Try to use more chisel like brushes or just some harder edges to get some fiery shapes going, then blend those flames in with each other to create an organic affect!
The piece so far looks great, but something feels off with the lighting. Based on the background it looks like night, but the sides of the characters not facing the light are not dark enough. Another example would be that you added rim lighting on the left side of the goblin (his right), due to the lamp and fire in the background. However, the lady behind him is not as brightly lit even though she is closer to the light source. If the yellow lighting on the goblin is from the flame thrower, I would move it so it is more in the middle of him. Hope this helps a bit.
I wasn't but have since...the idea of the flames seems to be working...thankyou.
Good points but I guess what isn't obvious at the moment is that I have another gaslight in front of the goblin (off canvas) which is illuminating his face. I have made brightened the female goblin a bit and added more shadows...I'll post shortly. Thanks for the advice...much appreciated.
@nesokaiyoh @tobiasrafaelb
Thanks both...here is some before and afters...assuming the third one looks alright I'll add a wee bit of detail.
Yeah I definitely think there is a lot of improvement in the last one. Also because your highlights are warm, it may add a lot to your piece if you make the shadows cooler colors (right now they are warm hues). But it looks great!
Edit: it might also help you to go into the image adjustments and mess with the saturation/contrast/hue, this may make it pop more.
Yeah this already looks a lot better. Tobias is right though you could make the shadows a bit cooler in hue just so they compliment the fire and help with overall colour balance. Adding a warm soft, vibrant glow to the fire too and bump the saturation around the edges somewhat could be something to consider as well!
@nesokaiyoh @tobiasrafaelb
I am a bit of a noob at this so I have no idea how to mess around with the adjustments at the element level 
but I have had a go at the whole canvas level...thanks again both for the advice much appreciated.
Pottering post advice from @tobiasrafaelb and @nesokaiyoh... image on the left is the painted update and the right with a go at hue etc...
Tidies up the secondary character...
...and updated the head on he main character plus some backlighting etc...
Did some more pottering around...I am not sure if there is anything else I could or should do. Any advice????
It's nice seeing it more saturated definitely. My only other qualm at this point is the lack of any complimentary colour scheme to go with the red and yellow. The background is all a very similar colour too, sorry I should've mentioned this earlier. But either way you've made a lot of progress and it certainly looks better than it did before good job!
@nesokaiyoh … thanks. I have tried my best to add some blue but am struggling with the saturation filter as this seems to be giving it a bit of purplish tinge. Anyways I am going to call this done as I am back to work tomorrow...it has been a great holiday finally ding some art after so many years away. Thanks everyone who stopped by and gave advice.
Grats on finishing it! It's a shame you didn't have more time but honestly you got a lot done and you should be proud. It came a long way from where it started so I call that an achievement for sure. And personally I like the purple, creates some of those cooler tones that the piece needed. Good luck with your work and with the competition!
Thanks again. I learnt heaps and am pretty chuffed (post adding the fire 🙏) with the result. Now I just need to increase my once every few years effort to something a bit more regular...a New Year resolution of course 😑
erm…cough...I seem to have been bitten by the bug...so I am back tidying some stuff up. I actually did quite a lot in tidying up the layers, modifying the shadows and lights. Plus I played around with the scale of both characters - bringing the main character forward and pushing the secondary character back plus increasing the scale of the foreground barbed-wire. Tell me what you think, please.... 
OK. So here I am at the finish line again. Definitely no more pottering from me. Learnt heaps. Appreciate the communities help. Two images below: one, a composite to show the journey (mostly for my benefit); and two, a medium quality version of the final image.
Composite
Final (Medium)
