Eyes are the first thing we notice on a face. For that reason, I always give special attention to how I paint them. I want my people, animals, and creatures to look like they're alive! Unless, of course... they're dead.

Something a little different today: reworking my paintings. In this case it was moving from traditional watercolour to digital as well. And merging illustrations as the story was edited.

Painting skin has always been one of the most challenging things. I'm still not quite happy, but slowly improving as I do more work. This is a Henry Ford book cover I'm working on this week...

Taking time to include extra details makes art look finished and seem more convincing. I try to include reflections when it makes sense.

People think I paint EVERY detail. While this is kinda true, I've found some techniques that make it SEEM that way, but are hugely efficient (since I usually work on a deadline).

While I find many (most?) things can be painted with standard Photoshop brushes, I do have a bunch of custom brushes that speed up specific textures. I haven't made them available for download - most can be made in about 5 minutes.

An artist is their own worst critic. Always. No matter how good it looks to others, every illustrator I know sees the flaws a day later (or a month later, if you're lucky). I try to see this as a positive: compelling us to be better, but there are plenty of times I want to kill that bitchy inner critic...