Adventures in Digital Painting

For a number of years I have tried to teach myself how to digitally paint.  I've read quite a few number of blogs and watched countless process and how to videos put up by established artists.  It certainly helped my photography in post production but my digital painting and coloring was just too pedestrian to help self inspire.  So I took the plunge last month and signed up for Chris Oatley's Magic Box... and its been wonderful.  Of course I'm on the first assignment of 18 but I've already learned more in this exercise than in the last handful of years combined.  Its going to be tough finding the time to execute the assignments but if feels good to be exploring drawing and painting again.  This is the first assignment.  Choose a classical painting with atmospheric lighting rip off the head and place it with an animal of your liking.  I choose a bat (Vampire bat to be exact).  We draw studies and then apply the study to line art then put together color comps.  Next assignment deals with brush techniques so these are rough and more of a map to help find the direction of the piece.