Very nice! I love the shading on the iris and how you did the lashes.

There is a "pencil" brush in the default SAI, but... it doesn't look a whole lot like pencil-on-paper to me. Nothing like what Photoshop does.

Hmm, yeah maybe I'll try that. I started out in charcoal on traditional back when I first started drawing? So sometimes I kinda miss working with it xD And thank you! I'm really proud of how this turned out. Took me about an hour to get it to look the way I wanted.

You're welcome. I'm also a pencil/charcoal person, and I played around with SAI a little to try and get the same look and feel. Well maybe it's just me, but I can't really get the look. I do have some settings for the SAI pen and brush which are pretty close to the overall feel though. If you've got PS or PS Elements, maybe try one of those?

Getting that later this week ^_^ My free trial period ran out xD

Oh, what are you going to get? I've heard rumors that one or more of the really early PS versions is free. And I don't mean pirated-free, I mean really free. I have the PE Elements that came with the tablet. It's OK for the bare essentials but not much beyond that. Combined with SAI though it isn't bad. Ok, combined with SAI and GIMP it isn't bad.

I don't like Gimp, I can never get it to work the way I want it to. I like Sai though. I'm going to get PS CC off the website? It's like $20 a month, then sometime later, I'll probably pick up Elements or something so it's just one flat rate xD

I love GIMP as a strict editor. For manipulating layers, filters, etc. I have not had good luck with it as a paint/editing program. It's probably not GIMP's fault, but I cannot get my tablet to work with it. Oh, and PSD file support... just isn't good. I really like the feel of SAI, but I'm beginning to understand it's limitations for serious coloring work.

My biggest issue with PS CC is that monthly cost. You might want to get PS CS2 for free before plunking down that hard-earned cash for CC. It's older, but free is hard to beat. I have PS Elements and while it seems OK for painting and coloring, it also has some serious limitations (to keep it from competing with the full PS) - so buyer beware.

I've also seen a few artists using http://krita.org/ but I have no experience with it. It is, like GIMP, also free. But it's more for painting/sketching. I know  darksilver uses it.

Oh wow, this is amazing!!! I actually kind of have a hard time with eyes, I guess I want to rush too much LOL!~ This looks marvelous~ I love the lashes, they are very tender looking! And you get a feel for the expression just from this one eye, that is really fascinating!

Thank you so much, hon! *wiggles all pleased*