Well...I'm definitely making progress...slow progress, but I'm getting there. Right now, my biggest issue is coming up with a method of coloring that is photo-realistic.
Heck, I'd settle for "not cartoony." My latest piece (Xtream_BadForce) has a very nice tonal quality to the camo, but his face, boots, and backpack all seem to have that flat colored quality, despite the fact that I had about 3 layers of gradient shading for each item. I'm not sure what' I'm doing wrong...I just know I need to get better...