thanks, I use layers, I don't find masking very useful unless you are using your brush with anti-alias turned off, it's always screwing up around edges. I use the round brush on full flow/opacity with the soft edge, the third one down to the left of the brush size selector thingy, and then use the same eraser to whittle down or define the shapes. This is a lot like using the pen tool, if you're familiar with shi-painter, but without the flow. Lascaux has a really useful 'preserve layer transparancy' thing that can be used a little like mask and will preserve the smooth edges, that's how I did the crane in the feather shape. I drew in the feather shape on a new layer in all one colour, then preserved transparancy, so I could draw the crane in without messing up the details on the edges of the feathers. The girl and background are on the bottom layer, the spine on the next, and then the feathers and crane on top.
drawn in 1 hour 21 min
drawn in 52 min
I can see it as a T-shirt print. :o