"The Ruby Slipper" WIP 3

Looks like this piece is going to be one of those that will test my patience. ^^; Every now and then, for no particular reason, I get distracted during the color painting phase of a piece and things seem to go really slowly. I usually finish things by working many hours at a stretch, but I've been taking many (maybe too many) mini-breaks on this one.

Usually though, I do save my .rif files (which is the default file format for the Corel Painter) in .jpg so that I can study it and play around with it a little, which would be the equivalent of standing back and looking at your work from time to time to catch anything that's a little off or plan things to come. I often end up with 5 or 6 WIPs along the way and sometimes I compile them into the step-by-step demonstration strip for dA for such groups as Corel Painter and other people who might be interested in how I do things.

Now I have the water ripples at the top, beams of light that come through the water, and the face and body of the mermaid to go... oh, and all the little plankton dots... can't forget those! XD