Hi Author, source 3 the sunflower, can you please link it to the picture and information page.

good use of blend modes. looks pretty real.

hippie eye

Congrats skyangel. Nice chop.

job well done.. loved it

Thank you everyone.

YOU ARE BRILLIANT and so is your work.

One can learn A LOT from this side of pxleyes thanks to you guys, AND, the best part is you talk to us and guide us....sheesh, how wonderful is that?

If no outside sources were used, please add a step by step or a description of how your entry was made.

To help you in making a Step by Step for your entry.. it's good to save your progress in a file you can recall later as you go along.. a Screen Capture program is a big help, so you can describe what you've done as you go along. Great to see your entry and good luck

Thank you Author.

Your shadow is way too heavy imo would also be cool if the message and the flower linked somehow, either by bringing them closer or graphically.....

Try making the shadow less opaque.

Okay, that was the natural shadow, so I didn't want to touch it much. I will work on it. Thanks for the tips, everybody!

Congrats nice work

you need to give the text some tecture like the wall and i suggest that you select the part of the text that u gave a darker color where the shadow is and color it again because the light red is seeing thru as if its badly painted over. holding off my vote for now. edit: perhaps if you select the shadow on the wall and color it in on a new layer with a greyish color simulair to the original shadow and then put that layer with the new shadow on top of all layers its fixed too, just get rid of the darkcolored in part where the shadow is now. It is just a little more work but theres plenty time till contest closes

Great Idea!

clever and very well done good luck author

That is sooooo cool.

Thanks!

This is so .... punk!
Good idea, author, good job too.
But looking at hi-res, It could take better care of the edges... IMO.
However, your job is pretty cool.
Good luck

Fun job, author! This is really cool. I agree with DanielaOwergoor...she has a good eye!

Another case of a really good composition and idea, needing a few tweaks to take it to a whole other couple of levels: arm is a bit too "cartoony" compared to the rest of the image (needs something like the specular hilites that are present in the face), the blurry top edge of the sunglasses don't match the sharp bottom edge, the character's mohawk kind of ends abruptly in a squared off angle at the very top of his head ... I'll shut up now.

Thanks for the comments. I agree with the edges. Any suggestions to take care of them? What tool would you use?

Author, the CLONE tool works great on finishing edges if the image has been flattened, if not, an erase tool set at 80% in a sharp edge setting can do the trick.. ,you can also use the BLUR tool if the edges are super tiny but have a lot of sharp edges, blur will soften and blend..

to hunt down Outer debris I usually use the STROKE setting and erase the bad stuff and then shut off the Stroke tool after I've cleaned..

Lots of other suggestions may follow I hope.. (I really have never understood photoshop that much, it's all quite Greek to me, but I got the basics).. Good Luck

Thanks! I'll try these. The clone tool for sure.