I <3 disgruntled toads.

The initial sketch was another color experiment, using bolder colors in general and deep blues to shade with as I would if I were using acrylics, where I mix pthalo blue with burnt umber to make black. I was curious how the style would work digitally. Then halfway through, I decided that I would tinker with it a bit in Painter. I've had Painter 8 for a long time but I'venever used it much because I hate the interface. But I'm interested in ways to add more painterly textures to my work, so I decided to play around and see what happened. I still hate the interface—I could never imagine sketching in that program, or detailing for that matter—but I think I'm going to experiment with it a bit for that middle stage. I'm not sure how well it will work with more polished/involved pieces… but I feel bored/limited with my style right now, so I'm going to muck around and see what comes of it.

Ref used for the anatomy, since I am not well-versed in amphibians: http://www.navate.com/images/photos/fairy_ref.jpg

Photoshop 7.0 and a touch of Painter 8. Crits welcome. Thanks for looking.