[jinnseng]

I've started playing with Painter IX for few weeks now (thank you for academic priced software!). I'm posting these more for any critique on my colors rather then my poor painting techniques. I have been kind of afraid to play with color because I really haven't had a whole lot of experience with it yet. I've been mostly working with charcoal and graphite. So far drawing and values have been my main focus when doing any work. I know I have to take the leap into the water sometime so here I go.







I feel the last one looks kind of muddy.
Thanks for taking a look.

[Penguinx]

I'm in the same spot. I've always been a pen and ink (and more recently, ink and brush) illustrator. With that in mind, I am obviously no color expert. I will say that in your last painting, if you are concerned with its muted tones, note their saturation.

That, and your background isn't provided much contrast. If you were to convert your image to greyscale, you'd likely see that the values of your image are all pretty similar.