Greetings folks! It has been some time since my last post on Proko. I'd like to share a piece I finished this evening. My son (first child) was born in March. I wanted to create some custom illustrations for his room. This will be the first in a short series of "whimsical animal friends". This one took a while to complete. Aside from not having much time for art generally, it took some time to decide how I wanted to render. Originally, I had intended to paint simple watercolor over the ink; however, several days of practice washes on scrap paper told me that I was likely going to ruin my drawing if I went forward with that plan. So, I decided to finish the coloring digitally. Now that I know the general rendering process I will use for the rest of the series, I hope the next pieces will come more smoothly. Critiques are always welcome if you spot something I could improve on.

Every once in a while, I like to attempt a project well beyond my current ability. Last June, I came very close to fully rendering my first complex digital scene. But I did not *fully* render that paint, because I was doing it for a contest and ran up against the deadline. Anyway, it feels about time to attempt another full digital illustration. If it is not too obnoxious, I would like to post occasional WIP updates for it in this thread. Attached is a rough sketch and initial (rushed) value study for the piece. I came up with the sci-fi/fantasy concept fairly quick. I was thinking of Miyazaki's "Nausicaä", and similar works, when I made the foreground scene. At this stage in the process, composition is most important. I think I worked out most of the issues that were present in the initial version of the sketch. I did a lot of pushing, pulling, moving, and resizing. However, if anyone notices any compositional shortcomings, feel free to critique them. It'll give me a chance to improve the piece. I think a proper digital painter would bravely dive straight into painting: starting loose, tightening up later on. I, on the other hand, will probably be refining the drawing over the coming days, especially for the aircraft, people, and architectural elements.