I spent most of the night working on this tonight. So there's pretty significant updates here.
First, I got to work on Endy's legs, his pants and his boots mostly.

Fullsize image here:
http://www.jakkal.com/paintings/CelebrationIP27FS.jpgHis boots were a dark grey on my monitor, but I asked some people if it looked too dark to them, They could barely see any of the details, and it was mostly limited to the highlights on the boot (The metal studs and the shine). So I needed to make it a little lighter. I made the whole thing lighter, then added some highlights in, so I think it turned out okay. But it's probably still quite dark to several monitors.
First boot down.

Fullsize image here:
http://www.jakkal.com/paintings/CelebrationIP28FS.jpgTime to work on the second boot. Endy wears leather 'knee high' boots that are popular in the fantasy genre. The studs are clips just to hold the boot tight. It has straps on the sides and on the top, which is covered in the folding over. Endy's from a fantasy setting, so it fits. I'm thinking about adding his sword on his hip to make it a little more obvious.
Both boots done:

Fullsize Image here:
http://www.jakkal.com/paintings/CelebrationIP29FS.jpgNow, Niixa wears a bangle bracelet that Endy got for her. It's a big wooden thing with a nice pattern carved into it, and some kind of mineral in the carving. I think I originally said it was jade, but it kind of looks more like emerald or malachite. Whatever. That's not the point. The point is. Oh my fucking god, I have to paint a bangle bracelet with an obscenely complex pattern on it!
Well yes, and I did it t'boot.

Fullsize Image here:
http://www.jakkal.com/paintings/CelebrationIP30FS.jpgSo one might think, "God, is she stroking her ego or what, over a stupid bracelet a 5 year old could paint." I dunno about you guys, but nonorganic stuff is really hard for me to paint. If it has to conform to a specific shape, in this case a torus, then I'm screwed. Not just that, but it also has to have this funky swirling pattern on it. To me, that's *hard* and that's a *challenge*. And I think I nailed it. But I will also share with you the secrets of doing such a thing.
First, references are extremely important. And often times, when working with fantasy stuff, you won't *have* a reference, so you have to *make* a reference. Enter the 3d world of Second Life. Many of you know I'm an avatar maker in SL. But SL is *very* useful for providing references, from shapes to even character poses. In this case, I textured a torus to be the bangle I need:
I did the texture in Photoshop of course, and I used AlienSkin's wood filter for the wooden BG (which I ended up not using at all in the painting, but it gave me some ideas).

This method gave me a real good idea of how the design I wanted to use on the bangle would actually look on the curved surface of the bangle. So with my reference, all I had to do was sketch, refine, then paint!
So I had the basic design down, now I need to make it look like a carved bangle with a real mineral inside it.

Fullsize Image here:
http://www.jakkal.com/paintings/CelebrationIP31FS.jpgI did some work to Niixa's dress here and there during these pics, when my eyes would get stuck staring at the too-dark boots and the little details of the bangle. So you'll see some changes in there.
So now, even though the characters aren't quite finished yet (Though Niixa now has some earrings), I decided I'd work on the BG. We thought they'd look best on a place near Endy's original home called "Lookout Point" where you can see most of the mountains surrounding his hometown. So I had a bunch of pics of the NC Mountains from vacations, and I picked this one to be my reference. The green works well with Niixa's dress.

Fullsize image here:
http://www.jakkal.com/paintings/CelebrationIP32FS.jpgAnd now here's the sketch of it.

Fullsize image here:
http://www.jakkal.com/paintings/CelebrationIP33FS.jpg