Will work on that tomorrow morning, when I wake up, thanks

This was my first real attempt at a greyscale, and I think for the first time I really like how the markings/body turned out. However, I am very frustrated with how my manes and tails turn out. I feel as though my shadows and highlights just aren't done correctly. I know as a new artist some things come with time, but I'd like to hear what I'm doing wrong with them from an outside point of view.

I'm using the image below as the most recent example with a lighter colored mane though I think it's occuring with all my pieces.

With this said, I am looking for any and all critique.

I learned this from SamDoesArts; most people arent going to zoom in 250% and examine every tiny thing. Try working on the hair zoomed out further, if you zoom in to far it'll look best zoomed in that much, if that makes sense lol. Zoom out, increase your brush size and contrast ;) I'm going to try to get a detailed tutorial video up in the next two weeks going over it better lol

@[Chateau Montelena]

Hi!! I may actually disagree with KPH here, I do hyperfixate on every single detail at every zoom and I think that contributes to my satisfaction with what I create. Additionally, it not always possible to perfect small details when zoomed out.

Looking at your hair right now, I would say to add more strands and make them thicker. I love the flow and movement you have, just add more strands. Typically, I do 5 layers of shading for my hair in different colors, getting lighter as my brush gets smaller. So my very first hair layer (aside from my base), I go over the entire mane/tail shape with darker strokes of hair. From there, I build up my highlights with smaller lines.

Overall, I love the serenity of the horse and you nailed the pattern!!! The horse colors are gorgeous. I would just work on lighting a bit because the horse feels too bright in comparison to the background. However, you could also make it look natural by identifying the moon as a stronger light source illuminating the far side of the horse.

Beautiful work!!

I do work on both of them while zoomed in by a lot, I'll try integrating both zooming in and out to see if that makes a difference! I might be focusing too much on the little details that it doesn't translate to the rest of the piece well.

I'll definitely try making more strands and using larger to smaller brushes for them, I usually have 3-4 hair layers outside of the base, but the strands are all the same size which might be throwing it off as well. I agree on the lighting too, I think I lost the initial brightness of the moon when placing the clouds over it.

Thank you both for the feedback! I'll be trying these out on my wip piece.