I have been on a quest to improve my art and one thing I've been doing is messing with shading techniques!

This is one that I was messing with in Sai (one of the more prevalent comments I get about my arts weakness is my simple shading) so I have been messing around in Sai (A program I haven't used in years) trying to teach myself that "painted" look that so many people get out of Sai.

Sadly I haven't gotten it yet and simply did some painted effect on the shading layer...

which while looks pretty cool is just NOT what I was going for.

Another thing that makes this pic different is I sketched it digitally with my tablet rather than draw it on paper and scan it, which is honestly something I have a problem with.

So in spite of being simply a simple pic of My favorite pony it dose represent some improvements and experimenting.

Advice is welcome!