My brother is usually pretty mild mannered but when he puts on the Dora the Explorer hat he becomes the greatest of superheroes. He can find items with ease, talk to animals, defeat swiping foxes, and befriend pet monkeys. All hail the Dora the Explorer hat!

This photo-based digital painting was done by hand using the smudge, brush, dodge, and burn tools. The background was created from scratch. I used a looser style with the brushes than I usually do. Most of my images have a very smooth (almost airbrush) look. This time I tried for something a little rougher and textured. No filters were used in the creation of this image.

The original photo can be found at the following link:

Ian Photo