River of Fire

Playing around with the oil brushes in Painter, again.
Reference picture
http://s3-live.tapcdn.com/images/tap/0/5/1/7/9/fcf/03d/500/sunset-river.jpg

Tree color practice

Something a little bit different.
I'm working on my color theory, and I think it's starting to click, so my wife asked me to spend 20 minutes and use nothing but a hard brush to depict a sakura tree on a grassy hill with a stream in the distance. The left one was my first attempt, thinking about color theory. The second one is take two, having a slightly better grasp of color theory.

Candles study

Same as before. Painter, one layer, one brush, no undo, or eraser. This one took closer to an hour, though.
Reference used.

Ocean study

Is water the hardest thing to draw?
Same as before; Painter, 45 minutes, one layer, no eraser, no undo, one brush (Bristle Oil)
Reference used

Mountains

Man, fuck mountains.

As much as I hate (and suck at) drawing mountains, I need to get better at backgrounds, and such. I gave myself a 30-minute limit, trying to make the scene recognizable without delving into too much detail.
Reference.

Taking a break

"Well, it's official: I'm getting transferred tomorrow."
"I see..."
"You don't sound very excited."
"I am, it's just that... well, I'd kinda hoped we'd get promoted together, you know?"
"It'll be okay. We can still be friends."
"Yeah... but you're getting transferred tomorrow, and..."
"...and?"
"...and you're going to a war zone. I'm afraid I won't see you again."
"It'll be okay."
"Promise?"
"Promise."

First sketch of 2013, done for my awesome buddy, Astrapho, ,as part of my challenge at PK Forums. I tried to emulate her style, as well as try to do more storytelling through the picture itself.

Landscape practice

CtrlPaint is this awesome website that helps out artists of all skill levels. Today, I decided to try my hand at their landscape practice video. Here's the results.

I spent about 5 minutes per thumbnail.

Background sketch

 Sketch of this picture for my PK forum sketch challenge.
Funny thing my wife pointed out: I drew everything stretched out and wider. As you can see, when I took the picture and pinched it

it looks to be more in proportion with the original photo.
Serves me right for trying to pull a Michelangelo and work with no guidelines.