School Time Nikki

It had been a while since I spent so long on a picture and it was well worth it. It was my entry for a small "back to school" contest, and I ended up with joint 3rd place. Recently I haven't been doing too well in contests, which can be really dishartening after putting in so much effort or when others (myself included) think I deserve to be placed higher.. Don't ask how long it took, but somewhere in the region of 20-30 hours I'd imagine! And despite some minor problems I'm pleased with it. The picture illustrates Nikki standing outside a Japanese school, kitted out in typical Japanese uniform. The sign on the wall says "Highschool" and the kanji in the bottom left is just my signature. It's mid-summer and the clock is pointing to 8 'oclock, which means she's spent all day in school and has just come out- she's a hardworker!
-Date completed: Sep 11th '01. Materials used: Drawn with 2H pencil, CGed using PhotoShop 5.5