Will get some more L5R work up in short order - some more coming out of NDA soon.

I do, but I'm working like a machine just now to keep up with my commercial work - drop me a note so we can discuss if its feasible at the moment. Thanks for the watch Das-Wiking, tis much appreciated

Man, oh man it took me a long time to reply, Batman. Sorry about that. After sketching and scanning by hand I mostly use Painter, but there is almost always some photoshop in there for adjusting colours and tonal qualities and recently sometimes a bit of artrage (If you're looking into buying an art package, Artrage has the best value for money you could possibly want - doesn't have the range or versatility of the other two, but for the price, its an ace little program).

From my point of view, I think the best single piece of advice I can give - because I find it works for me and makes my work better - is to get your drawing right before you start painting. Although everyone works differently, It always helps to know where the shadows and highlights are before putting a dab of colour anywhere. Naturally, a lot of that changes when you're in the evolutionary process of the painting, but for me it means I'n not asking a lot of extra questions when I pick up the stylus.

Oh, and loads and loads of practice.