Busy bee

The lineart as it was est. 5 hours ago?

BOO YA

I've had this lineart on the shelf for a while. I've tried to colour it in the past but it went badly and I put it aside. A few hours ago I decided I had to do something photoshopy, but I didn't want to ink anything. So I started on this again. 

Its a scene from a children's book series that I love far too much as an adult. Erin Hunter's 'Warriors' series. About a band of domestic cats turned wild that live in a forest away from 'two-legs' (humans). 

This is from book 5, where Fireheart (the orange cat) is bravely leading the pack of bloodthirsty dogs, away from his family of cats. 

I still need to put in a background. Backgrounds are the hardest bit. Although I do think I'm slowly getting there. I've discovered a new way to draw and colour eyes to make them look real and shiny.

Shimmery eyes! :O

So I've worked on this now, probably a good 12 hours at least in total. Ignore the cat's tail. I need to recolour it. I also need to recolour all the lineart. Won't be doing that til I place it in a background though... I know their poses are awkward (can't remember where I put all my reference photos, this is an old lineart) but the weird legs and stuff are going to be covered by vegetation and it'll make sense later on!

Why is it that I always seem to work best when I'm sleep deprived and utterly brainless? It just seems to flow better. Less other thoughts cluttering up my head I suppose.