Here's a new piece I just finished. This time I experimented with a more painterly, less layers approach - MUCH less efficient for me.

Experimenting with Astropad on a promo piece of art - an App that lets me run my Mac on my iPad (the circle controls pop-out menu). Captured the screen from my Cintiq, but painting with a Wacom Stylus and FULL Photoshop on my iPad. Lag time is a bit distracting, but I haven't tried connecting via USB yet - this is with a bluetooth/wifi connection. Hmmm. Disadvantage: still need Mac keyboard.

One of my recent projects: Blackbeard! Can see the loose reference to Robert DeNiro? And a wee tip on texture.

Retrospective of 2014 - a very busy year: finished my 100th book cover for Penguin (I'm currently at 112); illustrated a full kid's book; taught a Digital Painting class... Regrets? More time for personal projects, which takes a high priority in 2015.

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.