Hair, Coloring, and Female Necromancer

So my next individual step in my drawing and computer illustrating was that I wanted to do some specific work on hair and making it more realistic. I also wanted to play around with layers (for anyone who doesn't know, layers are a digital illustration tool used to bring certain colors or parts of the illustration to the front, back, or anywhere in between). I also wanted to start using other tools besides just the pencil tool.

Below was my first attempt at creating more realistic looking hair using layers. The blending of my under dark layer didn't work out so well, but the rest of it I was alright with.

For my next big project, I decided to draw a female Necromancer. I wanted to integrate my work with color for the first time, and some new tools. For this drawing, I used the pencil, air brush, and felt tip pen tools.

I was very pleased with how the necromancer herself turned out, as well as the backdrop. However, I was not too pleased with the foreground, such as the person being raised from the dead and the flame coming from her right hand (the one on the left if you're looking straight on at the picture). 

I had been trying to keep the foreground with a little less detail because I wanted the focus to be on the wizard, but instead of my desired goal, it just looks unfinished and primitive. 

So my goals for my near future projects are to integrate more detailed backgrounds and foregrounds, and to continue playing with layers and different illustration tools.