OOOhh this is coming out well! Nice eyes!

You do birds an animals very well:)

LOL xwind. My little brother killed at least fifty squirrels in our back yard over the course of a year... mostly with a pellet gun, but one he got with a bow an arrow, through a window to a tree outside. The funniest part (or saddest, depending on your sympathies) is that he skinned them... I keep telling him he should make a pillow or coat out of them. Yes, horrible, I know. Lori: Nice pic so far, I like the texture. But there's something fishy about the eye on the right...

Very cute picture of a squirrel so far Lori :) I like them almost as much as my dog does. She loves chasing them until they climb up the trees. She gets really upset that she can't climb sometimes barking like "You're just lucky there's this tree between us!"

Alright a squirrel! I love squirrels. I think I was a squirrel in my former life. :D
Hope to see it finished. GJ so far LovelyLori

Ooooh, this is so good, Lori. Love the eyes and the bushy tail.. expect to see it twitch at any moment. (the tail, not the eyes!) lol

well that's unfair, it doesn't have to be PERFECT... if you spend the amount of time they call for on each board, your pic should stay put.... all in the eye of the beholder....

I agree. Mine was a little out of focus, kinda to depict itbeing underwater, and it was moved cause one didn't think it was up to her quality.(all 14 yrs of age and experience).

Alright, if you don't want it moved, how about I offer some suggestions instead, and that way you can improve it a bit, and keept it where you would like it. Alright?

Firstly, I think if you added some more contrast, this would be great. I mean, you have the beginnings of it; the really dark shadows on the tail, there. If you added more of them over the squirrel, it would be fantastic. And maybe if the image was a little sharper? It currently has this mildly blurred quality that isn't terribly appealing.

Also, I think the tree needs to be either darker or lighter, because with its current shade of grey, it kinda melts into the squirrel. Which you may have been going for, I'm not sure. But if you'd like the squirrel to be the focus of the piece, I suggest making the tree bark a bit darker, too. And perhaps you can have a shadow cast from the squirrel on the branch it's perched on?

And I like your background, because it's reminiscent of the glare you get in a photograph, but I think that it could also use some more definition and contrast.

So, in all, I think all this really needs is more contrast. The squirrel is great; you did a wonderful job with the anatomy.

thank you V... I have very little space left to work with on this one, but if I feel more patient later, I'll try these ideas. I agree there's much work left to be done on this, but I lost patience with it earlier... I always tend to blur things, because I don't really understand how to make things look smoother without using the blur tool.... that was really nice of you to give those pointers, thanks again

Finally a comment that is done like it should be. Done with a little thought and consideration. This is the way it should be done. Not just dump, and run in secrecy.

I was going to suggest the same things as Visceral, very good advice... just needs more contrast. The blur tool doesn't really smooth things out, sometimes it tends to smudge them pretty badly if you don't use it in the right manner. The blend tool works really well for that on a low opacity and low flow. I've seen you do really good contrast on your birds... don't be afraid to use the same technique here, on the squirrel's fur. It needs depth within itself, as well as him being brought out more from the background. You can do it.

Yea Lori..don't let it make ya squirrely!

this'll definitely make me squirrely if I work on it long enough... I want it to look JUST like the photograph, but that seems very very very faraway from here... I'm hoping later on I have "the balls" to work some more on this.... if it's not worked on by morning, I give the mods my permission to move it...

Good Squirel! :)
A bit more detail and it would be fabulous.

What we achieve to easily, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness alone which gives everything it's value. How's that for a pep talk? heeheehe..It's worth the effort Lori.. it's come this far.. and it's getting close.. don't stop now!

Hey, Lori... The hardest part of this drawing is over. The next part should be the fun part, kind of like putting icing on a cake. If it doesn't turn out exactly like you wanted, just finish it knowing that you learned something... and you do, everytime you work on something. I think you're just telling yourself you can't, and therefore you can't. I believe you have the ability to do it exactly like you want to, but you have to believe it.

Crikey Lori, there isn't that much left to do! It's coming along nicely! Just take a break and come back to it!

Keep going! You can get this real good! *pushes Lori to computer*

Hey...what a great piece of work here! You 'are' learning how to use those tools...keep it up!

Lori... don't be so hard on yourself.. if you think something is impossible of course it'll overwhelm you everytime you try to face it. Fur is something that is really hard to do. Imagine, the Gerbil and Rabbit on the blockbuster commercials took over one million single strand hairs on each one to make them look real. In that respect none of these pictures can look "just LIKE" the photo. If you set impossible goals for how you want your picture to turn out you'll always be disappointed. I think you should be proud. It's a very nice picture of a squirrel. The contrast would come along nicely if only you set high, but realistic, goals for how you want it to turn out. Art is supposed to be a release from life and troubles and turmoil, not create it. Don't stress over a picture.. just relax, you're great :-D

this is as done as it's getting, I've already gotten extra space once.... thanks Aubrey, such nice words... I've always been a perfectionist, and get real irritated when something doesn't turn out how I want it to.... this little guy would've been better had I taken a different approach from the beginning, but oh well.... lately, I just feel like playing on here, doing things from my mind rather than a reference... and you wouldn't believe how many pics I've deleted recently! lol

I think he turned out quite nicely, Lori, and I totally understand the perfectionist frustration thing. I have been doing the same thing lately... working on stuff and then just deleting it. One of the first paintings I ever did in real oils I got so mad that I painted a huge black x on it and threw it on the floor. It felt wonderful. (But I was like 8 years old lol) I got in alot of trouble, though. :) And the next day I told my art teacher she was ugly and fat (well... she was, and she was mean to me, too) Sometimes you just have to let it go and do exactly that, draw and paint things that you like just because you like them, and don't worry about if anyone else is going to like it or not. Some of your best stuff will come out like that. Right now I am working on the weirdest picture I never thought I'd do.... just because it's a combination of some of my favorite stuff. Even if it doesn't turn out perfect I'm going to post it and be happy. You should be proud of your squirrel... he looks fat and happy to me. :)

thanks dba.. well put.... I hate getting so frustrated, and I try to tell myself not to give a damn about it... but it's kinda hard on this site, I want things to look just so for all who view it.....