"Dust" Thumbnail Results + "The Storm" WIP

Hi everyone, 

Sorry for my silence the last few days, my boyfriend had the week off last week, and although I was initially planning to work as usual, I quickly realised I needed some days to relax too. I didn't fully stop working, but I did take it easy, which was really welcome. 

I am back to work now though!
I am working on a few things, and I will have updates as I go, but for now, I wanted to update you on the "Dust" thumbnails I asked your pov on the other week, and I'll also be sharing a work in progress of a small painting I have been working on. 

As a side note, I will be sending out all the March rewards this week. I have all of them packaged, and was planning on sending them last week, but I still need to finish the extra print for those of you who didn't want The Collapse in February. I am hopeful I will be done with this this week. 

DUST THUMBNAIL RESULTS 

Thumbnail no1 : Most popular in the poll!

Thumbnail no3 : Second most popular

The poll showed that most of you voted for the first thumbnail, but in the comments,  a lot of you liked the finger blowing away, and the hands of the dark character in the third thumbnail.
Thank you all so much for your opinions, it was incredibly helpful!
I will be sketching out a final composition and will share it with you all as I go! 

"THE STORM" WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Rolling off of my work with "Wanning", and its contrast and monochromatic colour palette, I got the urge to create a piece with a dark sky and dark waters, so I started working on this concept last week, which you might recognise from an old sketch.
I want to practice painting more muted skin tones, and being less literal with skin colour, and I am really enjoying this one at the moment.
It is a tough one to paint, especially since I didn't do any colour comps before-hand, so I am improvising a lot as I go, hence the weird effect with the branches, but I am started to like it, and am getting a better idea of where I want it to head. (woops, no pun intended, haha)
I need to change the expression a little, as it is looking a bit too sad right now, and the branches will probably be light in the end, instead of dark, like...ghost twigs..haha 

I will break it down into a step-by-step for all you lovely $5+ peeps once I am done, and it will be the missing Feb print for those of you who are waiting for one.

And on this note,
I hope you are all well,
Speak soon,
Love, M