Dark Sentinel (painting)

Alternate title: hardcore mane study
Manes have always been one of my weaker points (and something that I usually kinda skim over at the end of a drawing), so what better to do than paint a horse with a ginormous one? It did take some work but I'm pretty happy with the end result.

Anyways, it's about time I finished another painting! I haven't uploaded any since July. I started this one in Auguest and did plan to finish around September but life had other ideas. Thankfully things are better now and I was able to complete this. I'd almost forgotten how cathartic painting realism is. It's just great to turn on the music, pick up the tablet pen, and then just let my mind float away as I draw. I might have questioned my style of painting earlier this year, but the truth is that photorealism will always have a place in my heart. With stylized art I'm always having to make decisions about the next stroke but the beauty of this kind of art is that it's so mechanical; I just chill out and let the colors flow. And I do feel that I'm slowly starting to learn how to add personality to my realistic pieces; though I didn't get quite the tone I wanted here but it's still pretty close.

Reference by hoodsey
Textures from JadedReality and Wu-KillahD