This one was done for a book cover -- you can tell by the 6x9 format the artwork has to be framed in. As a cover artist, you find you have a lot more latitude with paperbacks, which can wrap around, letting you design things like The Lords of Harbendane and Ice, Wind & Fire (see below -- and incidentally, click the Harbendane cover: it pulls up a 1000 pixel wide version that lets you get a good look at it.
The Harbendane cover is digital art -- meaning, it was painted inside the computer, 100%. On the other hand, no part of it was ever 3D. Whereas, Feeling Blue (top picture this post) was completely 3D and no part of him was painted. The sky is a shot taken in the backyard (!) and the model is ... well, you're back to faithful old Michael, from DAZ -- though I admit, I'd done a lot of work on him by the time I rendered this.
I get asked a lot, what paint program I use to do your actual painting (ie., airbrushing, merging, blending, virtual finger painting, inks and masks and so on). The only program I use for this work is Micrographx Picture Publisher 7. It costs about $15, it has every tool you can imagine and a lot you can't, and (miracle or miracles) the interface is so easy, so simple, it's almost turnkey. Start it up and PAINT, rather than spending two months learning how to use 9,999 things you don't have a use for. Micrographx is -- at least for me -- The Best. It also leaves the cash in your pocket.
Jade, October 6