Wow. There is so much depth and feeling in that first one. There is some aspect that I can't describe that is pulling me in. The energy of it all mixed with the colors is very nice.
For all of my digital photo editing and painting I use Gimp. It is an open source software that you can download and install for free. If you are familiar with photoshop at all it has a similar layout and many of the same features. I wouldn't say it can do everything that photoshop can do, but it is perfect for artists like me that need high end results with little to no expense. Here is the link to the download straight from their site: www.gimp.org/downloads/
Thanks for sharing. I am following for more. :)