My only suggestion is the hand with the brush. It looks a bit artificial, as if the hand is a Lego man’s hand. If the brush were held in a more natural position (this is the painter in me talking…), it would really sell the picture. EDIT: Oh yeah! And the spilled paint would seem to be glossy because it’s still wet, I assume.
I really like it! Probably because of the kid in me. =D
I agree with the previous posts, but also the right hand (not holding brush) seems unnatural and should be more relaxed, closer to the body. But this is definitely off to a good start.
P.S. Dan, didn’t realize you were an experienced painter.
I love the soft cartoony look. Well executed… and now for the critique…
Maybe subsurf the canvas (to soften the edges) and use edge split modifier to sharpen the edges back a little.
Also as far as the overall composition goes there is too much empty space to the left. There need to be a little more to the story the picture is telling.
And for the paint on cans you could use the fluid sim to drop some liquid on the buckets and let it drip down for a few frames then use the mesh the fluid sim made. I learn this technique from a tutorial andrew price did. Here is a link to a vid that demos the technique…