beautiful image...great work

awesome! how did you like Painter x?

thanks all! It's not a manip though, i painted it in Painter. i did use a reference for the violin though, i dont have much experience painting instruments!  I agree, the nose looks a little strange...i might go back and fix that   

I finsihed this a little while ago now but i dont think i ever posted it, the reason i'm posting it now is because it won a Best in Show at my local Art Guild...they had to create a new catagory just for me since i'm the only digital artist there and some of the traditional artists weren't very happy about it!   a few of you ...

neither :)   they are both challenging programs, you might wish to check yoru computer specs against those of each program to see which will run better. i have a duel core with lots of power and ram and 3ds max still takes it toll on it from time to time.

i hope u are having better luck than i am having with my new tablet, it's very hard for me to look at the screen and paint on the tablet! i need better hand eye coordination lol

i hope she didn't come back! that was very rude of her   i used to belong to an art group where a member of the group accused me of copying a "crown" she had made for a piece of art, a crown of thorns to be exact.  I have a piece with a lady with a crown but mine was created from a 3d render and this person doesn't ...

learning 3d can be a huge task, depending on what you'd like to create and what program you are using.  you might try searching the web for tutorials based up the programs you have...it's hard to give a brief answer as to how to begin 3d work in a forum post :)

i can see where you'd make the assumption that the work was copied, but I hope after reading Ian's post you might think of it a little differently. I too have that book and I can see how the images are similar, but the book does give a step by step process and it really isn't wrong for anyone to try to accomplish the same thing, ...

looks great - i love the glint of the sword