Like many (most?) artists, I often cringe when I look back at old work – and that can mean an illustration done last month! I see so many things I would change/fix/delete... The upside is that I see my work improve. Today I'm sharing my (humiliating) FIRST caricatures ever. Ick. And a new Wayne Gretzky piece I just finished.

It's been a while since I posted a tip. Here's a sneak peek at a new book project I just finished...

Sometimes there are no shortcuts: for the main character (in-progress book), the scales had to be rendered without a custom brush. Time-consuming and a bit tedious, but they just looked better.

I really like painting old people - the wrinkles and textures in their faces give them so much character. Here's a recent project with some background adjustments to make the focal point more dominant.

Water pops up a lot in my work: rivers, oceans, and lakes often can be rendered with smaller generic waves/ripples. Stormy seas, waves and white-caps are a different beast.

Thinking BEFORE you paint can save a lot of time. While most things can be painted with standard brushes, being creative with custom brushes often is more efficient and gives a better result - providing you still add some detailing...

When I'm in the "unhappy" phase with my art it's usually because there aren't enough values painted. Everything looks flat. Here's my cheat to add more contrast fast...

Sometimes the palette I choose just doesn't work the way I visualized. When an object's color doesn't interact in the way I want, I use Adjustment Layers and play...

I find using grass brushes makes things too uniform - nature is much more random. Combining techniques overcomes this regularity.

Painting shadows comes up with almost every piece of art I create. Lighting is critical to creating believable scenes and grounding objects.

I've painted lots of people with glasses. I found it easiest to paint the faces WITHOUT glasses first, then add them on a new layer. Same with lenses.

Another method for creating a "painted" surface (different from my Andy Warhol post). In this instance, I wanted to have the scene look like a painted canvas in a style similar to Frida Kahlo's paintings.

"Shiny stuff" appears in all sorts of places. Learning how it reacts with light and surfaces makes it fast & easy to paint these details convincingly.

I was getting lazy with value studies before doing final paintings, yet I always tell students how important they are to creating "readable" illustrations. Now always I take the time.

When I have to render "generic" people, I find it easier to use either reference of a random person, or take traits from multiple celebrities so it doesn't look like one specific person., but still gives me details.

There are times when every minute counts with deadlines. Finding ways to speed things up without compromising quality rates high on my list. Here's just one small example on an in-progress job. (I know the hand needs work).

Back from my travels and back to work: here's a useful (FAST!) way to add lighting and drama to an illustration. I also added extra lighting on face/body using a separate dark and light "Curves" Adjustment layers and masking.