Hi, I can help with how to paint the tree top, or more exactly How to paint things in general.

A little example (more about later):


A little philosophy:
To make an image of anything you have to stop painting 'things' and instead start painting 'shapes'.
If you want to make an image of tree, stop imagining a tree in all its infinite details. Imagine a clearly defined 3-dimensional object, that is made of geometrical shapes and colors.

Making it easier for yourself (at least for start), try to make the objects of as primitive geometrical shapes as possible (box,sphere,squashed sphere,cylinder,..).

Back to your tree.
Following my advice, the tree-top is actually a sphere (Fig.2). Since you know how to shade a sphere (or go through the 'noobtorials' in Resurces forum) now you know how to shade a treetop.

Too basic ? Ok, the treetop can be actually made of many different sized and shaped spheres (Fig.3). You still know how to shade them, they are still spheres.
Want to add more detail ? Make the shape of even more, smaller spheres. You can go like this and then you realise that even the smallest bumps on our stylized crown are in fact small, intersecting, basic geometrical shapes.

What about different style with ie. leaves ?
Apply the 'create the shape' process from above again.
What are leaves really ? Something like slightly bent small sheets of paper, piled on top of each other. You know the shape, and since its pretty basic shape, you know how to shade it.
Start with a sphere for basic shape for treetop again. Then put layer of those papers on the top (they can really be square - will be a nice stylisation). Then apply another layer on top of them to add more depth\detail.
Voila, you are painting a detailed treetop ;)

Good luck with it!

(the above wisdom (c) my old high school painting classes professor :)

PS. I sugest you stop trying to mimic Snake's or anybody elses style. He knows all I wrote above and has it deep under his skin. Then he built a weirdly-beautiful style on top of it.
In other words he knows what hes doing, but you, at this point, don't.
Imho its better for you for now to choose easier, simplier, less error-prone style.


Edited by Riva - 10 October 2010 at 12:04pm