A light-hearted fantasy epic piece, done for a major contest at the CGSociety site. (This piece won 4th place.) Part of the contest included posting one's progress every step of the way, so if you haven't got enough of the steps I take in creating my art, this thread is a great place to look. (It's got a ton of comments in it, though, so it's really long!)
I've posted a close-up shot, just so you can see some of the detail work that isn't as visible in the top image. Even this close-up is 50% of the size it was actually painted in. The finished image is 6000+ pixels wide.
Michael Dashow - 4676 Reinhardt Drive, Oakland, CA. USA
mdashow_at_michaeldashow.com - http://www.michaeldashow.com/illustration.html