Hey tiltro this rocks!!! Its not cheating to draw paintings out first in fact thats what many artists do!! I think you need more contrast when it comes to where the light on the eyes are! it blends in with the tone on the the bg. the darker greens look really nice and if you have one side of the mantis darker than the other (like side light) it can also boost that contrast!! it looks sick as fuck I hope the crit helps since you want it so bad you GOOOOOOOBERRRR :)))))
amongtiltro