I finished this picture earlier, but am still not thrilled with the mane. Before I started, I did a search for tutorials on animal fur, but wasn't really able to find too much on painting longer length fur. I know lions manes are pretty rough to the touch, but am kinda new at attempting to paint hair (just began within the last year) and was hoping for some constructive criticism.

Any & all info would be humbly appreciated & I thank ya'll in advance.

ceru

I think the mane looks great ceru! Unfortunately I don't paint hair....just my humble opinion :) Linwhite would be one person to ask to take a look and give you some tips.....she's great at hair and very willing to help.

I don't think you'd want to go any more realistic, since the lamb is so stylized. It looks great as is.

I've always wanted to do an image of the lion and the lamb playing together. Definitely a Biblical concept in there. Love the lion, very well done. The mane looks great for texture. If you have P5 and can make the hair in the hair room it would work well with the Poser light set which seems to augment the face and body differently. If not, you might find some lighting capability in Photoshop. If you don't mind, I might take a shot at PS lighting.

No, I don't mind, Eric.....any ps tips would be awesome & ty

ok, I'm working on it. Remind me to slap my hand when I reach for the blend/blur tools! I think the key is to use more contrasting colors in your original brush work. But give me another hour, ok?

I think the mane's colour and texture are spot-on. The only thing that occures to me is that the mane should probably be casting a shadow onto the lion's back (similar to the way that the lamb's head is casting a shadow onto it's chest). If you've got the mane on a seperate layer, you could probably fake it with a drop shadow effect.

• Graham

IMHO, I think you had the highlights in the right place, just needed more contrast. On the top, definitely more bright color. The sun is coming from the top just behind the animals, so a glow about the top of the mane would be good, moreso than I have here. I started out using the lasso tool and the render lights and ended up selecting larger areas, using the curve tool to lighten it and blending. The lower end is a bit strong on the shadow. So this is just a feeble attempt, but its what I'm thinking about. Your mane is wonderful. I just thought it should be lighter and more contrasty. I didn't lighten the center portion and perhaps it should have been slightly brighter.

Wow..I dig.. ok, ...I see what you're talking about and I did leave the mane as it's own layer in ps...gonna play with it tomorrow using some of your suggestions.. thanks a bunch, eric, I appreciate it...

Kewl, love to see it. And when I say the sun is on top and behind, by the shadows, its also very much in front of the animals. Its also quite strong judging from the nose.

I think the mane looks fantastic, looks very thick and soft but coarse. And, where did you get that cute little lamb?

Try using the sharpen tool if you're painting in Photoshop. It could add some visual "coarsness" to the hair. I think you've got a great start. Check out the tutorial section up at the top of the page. Crasher has an excellent tut for painting hair.

The lamb looks like a ToonKitty morph. Is that true? It's SO CUTE!

will check that out Kendra, thx and - grin....yep, the lamb is the Daz Toonimal kitty..