Someone's gotta start this ball a-rolling!!

First, sorry Dom, don't mean to stomp all over your thread, but apparently I just learned something else. ... After not seeing your ref pic, I open Safari, and there it was? Makes me wonder what else I might not be seeing?

Of course you may keep it like it is Dom! It's your piece and not about painting skills but taste - and we all have different taste!

Dave I don't think it's Safari/browser related because I saw the same picture you did at first. I think the previous wip somehow got caught in the cache and was displayed inspite of the images having different names. Not sure how that could happen, but I cleared my cache earlier to check that Cooliris issue and now I see the ref pic just fine...

No worries Dave. Odd though. I can see the post I put up on chrome.

My goodness Shakira is one pretty woman! Plus, her hair is awesome! Hopefully you can see what I am trying to achieve with her curly barnet!

Edit: Cool Charlie!! I just didn't want to sound rude in reply to your recommendation. Thanks for suggesting it in the first place!

I couldn't begin to tell ya what's going on. But you may be right Charlotte. Now I see the ref using both Safari & FireFox. I need a drink... and I don't drink!

Look forward to seeing the process, Dom.

Is the darker background looking ok?

I am adding more flowers too. In the story, the flowers are made of crystal and glow softly. I have made the violet in her hands glow a lot! But that was because I wanted it as my main light source. The other flowers will also be transparent, but should I try to make them glow too?

Looking good Dom. Man that's challenging lighting. A bit of glow on the other flowers might look really good, worth a try if you have time.

Looking really good love the way you draw women's faces very cute. the hair is starting to look really nice as well. the up lighting is really working out well for the piece.

Looking good, Dom. Like to see some of the wonderful hair playing over her shoulders some, to help add to it's wildness.

Looks fantastic! The very top of her hair/head should be in deeper shadow, though, reinforcing the strong uplight on her face.
As for the background, you might want to reduce the contrast a bit back ther so as to maintain the focus on the character. Like, her flower should be brightest?

Thanks guys! It's very encouraging stuff!

I was searching through some old files and came across an image from years ago, when I first joined IFX and started digital painting. It was for a challenge called farseer. I was reasonably happy with what I did back then, but thought I might like to take another stab at it using what I have learned since then.

Just prelim' stuff now, but any feedbackery will be eagerly accepted!