Hmm. No crits? danshian, if you want a crit...PM me. +6

Okay, dan! Let's give it a go. First of all, it's a little too smooth. That might be just a personal preference. You can see my work to see what I mean. The head looks like it was pasted on the body...you would see little folds in the skin with the neck turned that way. Plus, there is no real texture to the horse and even though horses are relatively smooth when you look at them, they are not that smooth. Study more references. Go look and sketch some horses form life. It will help.

The hay, while seeming cool, is a huge disservice to the painting. It distracts the viewer. I learned this a while back....do NOT render each and every little piece of hay, hair, etc. It ends up looking messy instead of what you orginally intended. Try thinking of the hay as one solid mass and concentrate on the dark spots and the light spots. We don't see every individual piece of hay when we look at it...so don't paint it.

The wall in the background...have you ever seen barns? The wood planks are not that straight. They are gnarled a bit from being weathered and because that happens over time from wood rot, etc. Keep this in mind. It's much more interesting to do these types of things freehand...if you are off a bit, all the better.

The colors are great. I think you did a fine job. Next time try showing more of your strokes. Lets us see a 'painting'. I don't know if you are using a mouse or a tablet. Get a tablet. You won't be disappointed. The last 2 of my paintings have process shots included in the additonal downloads. Check them out. EVen if you don't like my work you will probably get a lot from just seeing what someone else does in their process.

Okay, you asked...and if you want some more help...I am always here and willing. I am not the best artist in the world, but dangit...I try to be helpful when I can. Talk to you later!

Thanks heaps Mol. Thats very helpful advice . In my origonal copy of this there is a lot more texture than what appeares here because when I saved it for the web a lot of the texture dissappeared (like the creases in the neck). And yea I am using a mouse. Would like to get a tablet but Im just a poor student. lol.
Thanx again

yeah mol may have said a lot but i liked the background and the focus of the picture is the horse not the background anyways and for me the first thing i noticed was that the horse had no body, it seems like there is just a head and a butt, headbutt, so i think maybe it needs some definition to show depth/length