Sunshine Jumpers said:

So this piece is far from done. Obviously, it doesn't even have a horse yet. But for some unknown reason I decided I wanted to merge backgrounds, and so far this is the result.

My question is, how do I get rid of that tree stump? I know the edges and everything else is currently extremely rough, but my main concern is the stump.

I use ibisPaint, so I have no clone tool or anything.

Good luck! :D This looks like it'll turn out beautifully!

Sunshine^^

I see three main problems with this piece.

Number one thing here is color matching. The horse doesn't look like it belongs in the scene right now. Eyedrop common colors from the background and use a few clipping layers on different blending modes and opacities to get it looking right. Wish I could say more to help out there but the right settings totally depend on the exact piece. What I CAN say is that I usually use soft light, hard light, and multiply on these color layers. Just fuck around and see what works.

Next is hair. Hair can make or break a piece and you're looking a little bland here. I recommend checking out some tutorials from various artists and trying out a blend of those styles until you find what works best for you.

Last but not least, you're right. Definitely needs a shadow lol.

As for hooves, I've gotten along just fine by doing a careful little smudge on ~45% to 55% strength. If there isn't a hoof already there then "copy/pasting" an existing hoof over to the spot can fit well with a little bit of readjusting and filling in gaps.

Gem said:

Any critique? Specifically looking for suggestions on how to make a horse have human expression -> happy, excited, joyful in this image.