Out There

Hello! I'd like to treat this as a followup since my last critique:
[link]

and this time, I'll start off with the pros/improvements:

your fur texture has improved a lot! It looks much smoother and much more developed. I can actually see a direction in the fur, where it fluffs out, where it traces a muscle, very well done! Your anatomy has improved as well-this looks almost spot on to a house cat, with few errors, a huge improvement!

You've also succeeded in incorporating much more detail into the background. This overall gives the piece a much more appealing pop. The leaves look like actual leaves and the grass looks like actual grass. This is a huge improvement over the last background-a lot more effort is present!

Once again, your colors are great and all work well with one another. The fur actually blends together this time, and looks nice! No real complaints about lighting either, once again you have a fairly good grasp of lighting.

And, now onto the cons:

Although your fur has improved in detail, it's best to start experimenting with mixing soft air brushes and hard brushes. You seem to use too many brushstrokes with hard brushes-try a softer setting and experiment! Your strands of fur seem to be a bit too long-yes, fur can be that long, but you don't see the base of the strand, as it's covered by other strands of fur. Practice varying your sizes and using different directions with individual strands. Here's a quick fur tutorial that may help and give a direction to what I mean: [link]

Your anatomy has improved, but the head looks a bit wonky. The muzzle is actually a bit smaller, and you can't see that much of the cat's eye from a side view. The flesh around the tips of the ear is a bit thick as well-cats have a thin membrane there, and the fur is extremely short. The hind paw could use a bit more work as well-it looks like it has the least bit of detail. Don't be afraid to add more detail even though it's covered by grass!

The grass in the back has too many evident strands of yellow. You shouldn't be able to see when the strand ends, as it blends as it gets darker to the base. The leaves could use a bit more work in refining as well, it looks nice as a sketch but should be a bit more refined for a final piece.

Also, be wary of creating enough contrast between the background's lighting and the subject's lighting. There's just enough here to distinguish between subject and foreground, but to better accent the subject, create more contrast between the two.

I once again bumped off for originality because of the subject matter, but once again it's not to say that you yourself are an unoriginal artist-it's just that the subject has been done time and time again.

I hope this helps!