Na'vi Sweethearts

First off: whew! I'm finally at a stopping point. My perfectionist attitude will never let me feel completely finished with this painting, but it's at a point where I'm comfortable leaving it.

This was obviously inspired by the movie Avatar. I was so blown away by the beauty of Pandora and by the ability the Na'vi had to connect with nature and each other, I felt inclined to create some fan art. Other than doing my best to paint a really beautiful-looking scene, there was little intention or purpose to this piece, so I admit the composition is a bit chaotic.

Despite the amount of time it took to create this, it was pretty fun losing myself in creating the details; at times it felt as if I was actually there. (Yeah, I wish that was me there with my Na'vi girlfriend! j/k… well, not really).

This took about 80 hours, *ugh*. I really need to work on my speed. Even though I spent most of the time filling in small details, a lot of it was correcting problems with the composition and shifting the landscape around. And, for no real reason I began painting my figures without a sketch first (never again will I do that), which ended up being a big waste of time. Oh, and on that note: that dude's pose was so hard to paint! I don't ever want to do that to myself again, at least, not without a reference.

Even though I've already noticed many things that could be improved with this piece, I'll be leaving it open for critiques.

PS - Feel free to vote and comment on my Avatar Poll if you'd like to share your thoughts about the Na'vi way of life!