[Chthonic Divinity]

okay, so yup, im a newbie. my first attempts with Painter have been... well a bit disappointing. I cant seem to capture the same effects and such as i can with traditional media. here is my pic:

ive only been working, ohh 15-20 minutes i guess. but i have quickly realized i cannot achieve the effects and qualities of metal. I've often seen people use the Dodge tool in their tutorials and such, but i cant seem to get it to work in my favor. Anyone have any tips on how i should progress from here?
ohh and i would show my traditional sketch (which looks much better ) but i cant find the cable to hook my digicam up to my computer

thanks!

- chthonic divinity

[Odie]

for metal, it's all about the reflection. So picture how the environment would be distorted by the reflective shapes and there's your metal. Add subtle shadows and some specular highlights to the areas facing the light source and you should have it.

If the metal isn't to be as shiny, just blurr it up a bunch.

That's oversimplified but you get the point.

And use lots of contrast!