Hey man, I just saw a comment you left somewhere about learning digital art. Looks like you're getting the basics down now in classes...I'm sure you'll be able to do some quality stuff if you just devote some time to it. For instance, these manips I did from scratch were all 8+ hrs (
[link] [link]
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There really isn't a trick to it once you learn the tools, other than mixing in a variety of them as you go, rather than one or two per piece. Other than that, it's all attention to detail.
Anyway, let me know though if you have questions about anything...I'd be happy to point you in the right direction