In this tutorial we are going to colour a dragon portrait.  Like I always say, it's impossible to make a good painting without a good sketch, that's why if your drawing is not as strong as you'd like, you should go ahead and buy a sketchbook and pencil before taking up Photoshop and a graphics tablet. (Fig.01)

Here, I create the background with my flame brush, with the drawing on a Multiply layer.  First of all I form a dark background and then lighten the parts around the portrait with the same brush – this will help us to see the figure more clearly. (Fig.02)

Using my texture brushes, I apply texture to the background I created, though I am careful not to apply at the same intensity around the figure.  The best way is to open a new layer and go crazy with the texture (apply it as much as you want) and then erase the parts that are too much.(Fig.03)

I start filling inside the figure very roughly; first I apply the base colours and then achieve the lighting effects with lighter volumes of those colours.(Fig.04)