The back light glow is a bit too intense around the butt and left leg, while non-existent anywhere else, which makes it somewhat distracting. The lighting on the top front of the face (see the reflection on the mask), and the top right of the arms is also inconsistent and confusing with such a strong back light...

Excellent Work..you're right, it was a dynamic pose, but u did an excellent job transforming her and placing her in a simple but very fitting background..GL

Thanks for the feed back! and I appreciate the constructive criticism Mossy. I see now what you were saying. I finished it very late at night and after seeing it with fresh eyes in the morning you were right about the back light being over done. Also, I agree about the glare in the middle of the mask, but I removed it and it just seemed to take away from the image, so I just toned it down a bit.

I'm with Nator ...you should have kept the glare

I put the glare half way back thanks for your input everyone!!!

very dramatic feel, good work.

awsm!!

If I were the model, I would have this hanging on my wall. This is terrific!

Thanks!!! I sent it to her maybe she will

Congrats for 1st place, super pic

Congrats Robert excellent work

Thank you thank you!

congrats!! cool n amazing

nice..

see if you can blend the wings' color (more golden) to that of the whale's...

small suggestion to consider, let the wing sweep the surface of the water, add water splash, water droplets...

agree with aheman author
nice work

GL author!.........nice job

What a clean and wonderful concept author! Well done!

I like your work but in my opinion I think colors don't match with pop art you should try more vivid colors (it's only my opinion) Good luck!

Never seen anything like that in Pxleyes. Very gorgeous and dynamic in both the pose and color. Even though the character looks painterly, still works quite well with the background. Lighting effect can be better, tho, if you work a bit more on the character like casting more highlight and shadow on the face (the face and hair are the two most flat parts) and costume. The hair can be more real if you combine brushes with different brightnesses. Very high mark from me!

excellent and beautiful.. as langstrum saidthe body parts ( hands, face and hair.) need more shading and highlighting... (it's all in your reference image). the else is FANTASTIC...... Highest marks and favorite from me ...

Fabulous work ! I must admit that its rather difficult to merge a cartoon with a normal background realistically but this one absolutely goes on very well. High marks from me !

Tried suggestions. Added highlights to hair and shading to face and hands, plus some more on the Kimono.

The hair was hard; it seems when I add highlights it starts to look like she was going gray! But I tried.

The face was a different problem. It is suppose to look like a mild version of Geisha (or Kabuki) make-up. That style of make-up is very flat as the whole face is painted white with cheeks and eyes quite red. It was a struggle with this one, how far to go with the Geisha look and still have her look natural. I did try to give it more depth but could not go too far without killing what little of that look she has.

Lamantine, I am not sure what you mean about the cartoon as the original image of the Geisha is a photo and I did not really do much painting ... mostly warped the fabric of her kimono ... but I sort of see what you mean???

Hope you like the changes! Thanks for the help!

woooo hoooooooo, this is sooo beautiful

I understand your problem with the face, but we can make the shadow even with the white object. You can achieve that by using a layer with multiply blending setting, then pick the color on her face and select the dark color on the color palette by go down to the right (on the curve from top left to the bottom right). You can draw the shadow on her face by soft, low opacity brush on that layer, it won't disturb anything.
Do you notice the light on the grasses, the sunlight is quite yellow, so you can do the same thing to the kimono and the face. If I were you, I will use a layer with Color blending mode and use the bright yellow color to paint the highlight on the parts which mostly expose to the sun light, so the character will pop out more from the scene.
About the hair, just the brighter brushes on the front side of the hair are needed, the hair can be dark behind her.
Great to see the quick update and the image now is much improved.

Nevermind, this work is just FANTASTIC

This is an amazing piece of art...great colors...great chopping....great SBS.....and of-course my favorite......Good luck Author!!

Just a fabulous work!! I really like that it looks 'painterly' - woulld make a gorgeous piece to frame and enjoy in a special room of one's home. I agree - IMO - don't change a thing!

Wow, really, I'm not even gonna enter now, this is simply amazing!!!!

this one becomes a very specially manipulated pic,...it has a master touch on it,.....yes just like langstrum said "never seen anything like that in Pxleyes,.......very very perfectly done,.....and I learned much from this pic,......
> langstrum ( so far I am still wonder why is it that your account name is langstrum hehehe), nice contributions I learned from what you informed on this entry......

Sublime !

WOW, fantastic work. I LOVE it beautifully done.

Jaw-drop...eye pop...SWEET !!

oooooow! love it beautiful work

Really fantastic work, great job

It's funny because I can feel that wind blowing on my face just looking at the image...
Very beautiful compo, moody and magical.

This is great Author leave it as is please.
Welcome to pxl,

2 words: HOLY COW!

I'm not sure what some of the complaints are here. This is just flat-out AMAZING stuff.
(ok those were extra words but I couldn't help myself)

Beautiful work! Love the colors and serenity of the image.

Thank you all for you wonderful comments!

Silver, I really loved the support and in particular those extra words!!!

I did want to say that I did not mind the complaints; I took more as critiques and suggestions. More constructive than negative. It never hurts to see things through other peoples eyes

That is one reason why I like these competition. It gives me feedback that I can't get anywhere else and (hopefully) will make me a better artist!

Not complaining about your comment, it was great. They have all been great!

I didn't have any complain here, the image itself got the high score from me, and more "wow" and compliments are not needed because many people will do that. However, no one's perfect and I just gave my opinion about what can be done better. I'm glad that author received my comments very positively, and if author is the good chopper, he/she will know which part of my comment is reasonable and helpful.
@Dekwid: langstrum came from Pippi Langstrumpf or Pippi Longstocking, a character from the Swedish children's book of Astrid Lindgren. She is very famous with her personality, in many countries. I just like her name when I listened to the song "Hey Pippi Langstrumpf" when I was a child (didn't even know that's girl's name) and I simplified Langstrumpf to Langstrum. I read the book later and in love with this character too, so I keep it as my nickname until now. Thank you for asking

WOW! It is a very beautiful work. Goes to my fav.

“Adversity is like a strong wind…it doesn’t just hold us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward, we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be."
Memoirs of a Geisha

Good Luck author.. great job

Driven - incredible quote, it gave me goose bumps! Not only that but I listened to the music from the movie while creating her. It was a huge part of the inspiration! Thank you for the comment and the beautiful quote. Hug

excellent and beautiful ,good luck

Very classy photomanipulation.

wonderful entry ........ this will go to the top 50 pxl entrys ...........

Simply perfect. Could say a lot more about it but i guess that's how I should simplify it.

Agree with all (positive) comments
GL (not that you really need it or so haha )

Oh my what a stunning peice of art
Amazing talent author, thanks for sharing this beautiful image with us

Mind blowing entry, perfect!!!

the onlything i can say
"WOW"
ure winner

Few days i am thinking what to say about these entry author...Because words like, "these is nice,good work,and similar" are to minimal for work like these...This work author is one of the best that i see in my PXLeyes existing time...I adore all segments of the creation...how u distort the sky,what u did with the kimono,painting her face,hair,color on the grass...Simply amazing...i could go on and on on these for hours...I want to say only one thing...Keep going with creating fabulous entry's like these...

beautiful work, author, love the sweeping lines and colors.

Congrants....beautiful entry

Congratulations!

Congrats Arca this is so beautiful, I'd like framed and hanging in my house

Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats,Congrats, i cannot describe how much i like these entry

Congratulations on your first place. very well deserved!

CONGRATS!! Well deserved

Lovely!! Congrats!!

Congratulations for a well deserved 1st place, really quite fantastic. Keep it up.

Nice work! Congrats.

Congrats... a master piece.. with a good score....

wow! spendid!

simply wao........... amazing....