I have bit the bullet and started working with paint effects. I have estimated that when time comes to finally render, Frames will take around 40 mins depending on the shot. I rendered my images below in 1080 though, and I will be rendering in 720 for the final animation. Also the renders below were heavy shots where I purposely tried to fill the frame.

I need to expand my forest some, not alot, just a bit more. I need to add some fog to help the transition in a distance. Ill just use a a torus as the fog container shape and surround my scene. I need to fix the ground texture mostly, add some rock variance and add rock formation around the firplace. The smoke from the fire is becoming yellow with the light, so I need to increase transparancy or decrease color gain.

I believe these changes will make it look great and I begin the animation.