A (very late) Christmas gift for a lovely friend of mine who writes fantasy, among other things. She asked me to illustrate a scene from her story, "Master of Crows", describing to me a renegade sorcerer and his apprentice (and lover), relaxing in a little afterglow . And here is the result.

I put a lot more work into the fabric texture than I ever have before. It kind of turned into an exercise in painting silk and patterns, and I finally hit on a method that really worked for me (I then promptly forgot about it until I was halfway through my next piece and had to mentally kick myself in the shins). I'm definitely pleased with the textures.

The woman's pose is...wrong. I know this, and god knows I've tried to fix it. No matter how many references I dug up or canvas flips I tried, I just couldn't make it work. Any advice?

Photoshop 5.5, graphic tablet.