Story: The beauty of the dead bird's ascending soul is all that the immortal mechanical monkey sees. He is unable to comprehend death - innocently fascinated with what happens when you squish little fuzzy things.

Basically, I wanted to create an image that gave a little tug to one's emotions. A glimpse of the monkey's blissful and innocent disregard for life contrasted against the darkness of his actions and the apparent lack of a concious. He unable to comprehend death - seeing everything as an eternal infant.

With a bit of feedback from my wife and friends, I decided to remove the small tree (it was too distracting), and shorten the image a bit - there was a lot of dead space above the focus.

I really appreciate all the guidance and encouragement. Hope you enjoy it, I did.

Just looking for some feedback before I post my 'final image'. Bascially I just added some more detail, souls, corpses, and a little vegetation.

Just adding a few more details - I think the little sapling and the fern really help pull the background forward - still plants to add though. I added a little detail to the ground, but I still need to add debris and the other critters.
Thanks for the input and encouragement!

The reminents of the bird are now in his hand, and I started mocking up the background - I'm working a lot more free-form than the monkey, so things seem to be moving a little faster.

I like how it is looking, but I am not sure if this background suits the scene - too light/dark? or too detailed?

I intend to work on the foreground trees a bit more - bark and knots and such. Also still need to add the other critters, a couple souls higher in the canopy, pebbles & stones, experiment with lighting, and add some minor vegetation on the ground.

Again, thanks for all the helpful comments!

I finished the mechanical part of the painting... now to work on the environment and deceased critters.

Just a tip: something that works for me when drawing an object with multiple light sources is to draw the entire shape with highlights from one light source, then add in the other(s). In this case, I drew all the parts lit only from above, then added the blue reflections. In all, it makes the texture look more metallic and less rock-like. Hope that helps...

I'm satisfied with how he and the soul turned out - I hope I can do as well on the entire scene.

Thank You for all the wonderful comments. I really appreciate all the positive feedback I have been getting. It is very motivating. I still have quite a bit of work to do...

With a little critique from my wife, I decided to make the bird more peaceful - less flapping and stressed. I liked how he looked in my sketches - something was lost in my previous post. He almost looked like he was attacking the monkey - not what I had in mind.

I also experimented with the lighting of the monkey - more blue-ish tones help bring the monkey and the soul together.

Thanks again everyone, your comments have really helped me refine my image and concept.

I think I have the bird's soul finished - I wanted it to look a little contorted, but a still kind of peaceful.

Just working on some more details. Thanks for the input!
I think I will keep his joints relatively rusty - after working on a farm most of my childhood - I have seen 100-year-old rusty and corroded equiptment work like a charm. I wanted the monkey to seem timeless - never aging/never dying.

Just working on some more details...

Actually, I work at full resolution (larger than the requirements), but at the moment I am building the monkey in separate file - haven't started on the background yet. I have like 50 layers so far, but everything seems to be running smoothly.

Thanks for all the comments and support!