tarwater's turtle

[tarwater]

I'm new to painter. I used it over a year ago once, on a school project and that's it. I've colored a few things digitally before in photoshop, however I never got the look I wanted. I borrowed a friends wacom and sooner or later I'll have one for my own. Here's a 25 minute sketch. I'm trying to get better at painting and I'd like all the help and critiques I can get.

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tarwater/turtle.jpg

[talos72]

I like your colors. One thing I may suggest would be to create a bit of color constrast between the turtle and the background. For example, if you use a cool green for the turtle's key color then use a warm or a complimentary color (purple for example) so the subject pops out of the composition-- center of interest. Also, really deliniate you light and shadow planes (especially on all the bumps of the shell), strengthen the modeling. I would pull the turtles back leg further back to suggest motion, because that adds to the vitality of the character. Just some thoughts....Nice work though. :)