The textures are still artwork created by others...You can only use "natural" texture images.

Very nice work, good visual flow and composition!

It's beautiful, but everything seems somewhat blurry where the bubbles are.

sanjayaisland says:

"he sleep..?"

There is a saying in America, sanhayaisland of "Throwing someone under the bus." It is a euphemism for sacrificing someone to take attention off of yourself when you have done something wrong. It is not meant to be taken literally (except for silly contests like this.)

Author, the contest rules state: "...let one (or more) of the elements in this painting come to life." Not using the oil colors in your render doesn't negate the fact that your elements don't match.

I'm sure that you could create a small "freeform" blotch texture that you could overlay onto the apples, slightly warping it for variation, but I am not a 3d user - there are some excellent 3d artists here who may have a suggestion.

Your apples are lovely, they just don't look like they came out of the picture, they look like someone went shopping and bought some huge yellow apples...

There's nothing in your SBS, and the Hi-Res shows the window through a translucent portion of a stone statue. Since the angle is cool colored, the reflection would also be cool, not brown and not see-through.

Nothing showing any refraction or reflection of the light on the demon. The fuzzy glow you've added at the very bottom does not correspond with the window or the demon.

There also needs to be an 's' behind "Die."
"Art Never Dies," meaning it's immortal.

Great concept, but the lighting on the bear does not match the lighting on the Jumbotron (there is a shadow beneath his head that is missing)

Very imaginative!

Really good work cleaning up that photo!

Excellent enhancement. Good photo to begin with, great photo now!

Great concept, but the nostrils are sloppy and offset. The one on the left goes up into the cheek, and the one on the right is noticeably thinner and is placed too high compared to the one on the left.

They are also obviously painted on, appearing solid black, instead of trying to match the darker tones of the rest of the image.

There's no reflection of the angel or the demon in the water on the floor...

The apples are too yellow and "perfect." The ones in the painting have a lot of red splotches, some green, and a few bruises.

No problem! Looks much better now!

Very creative. Nice work.

Great font for this effect!

Love the smears on the handwriting.
The edges of the "Polaraoids" are a bit too rough and choppy, though. I'd make them clean and smoother, just to give it a bit more "real" feeling.
Nice job!

This is very elegant looking.
I agree with CMYK about the clouds. Great colors, though!

The shirt is a bit too high contrast compared to the rest of the image. It is almost glowing, it is so bright.

I bet someone threw him there...
Funny entry!

The pupils of the eyes are too big and cartoony, and your lighting does not define the nose or sunken cheekbones - but a great idea!

The "shadow" of the heart shape in the bush is too solid of black, and looks obviously painted, rather than natural. You would achieve a much better effect if you cloned in the shadowed foliage from the area to the right, with a bit of the area below the "heart," then making a selection and gently lowering the brightness of it, than trying to paint it.

Funny "disguise!" Nice work.

"Realistic" is not the same as "still looks like a REAL photo..."

"...you can clone out or add in, change colours, apply filters ... generally ENHANCE your own photos."

The author changed colors, but it still looks like a real photo.

The explosion reflection in the water is a bit too dominant, but overall this a good chop.

Those crash diets will kill you...lol!
Nice job with the lighting.

Wild colors! Blue crab apples would make some interesting apple butter, for sure!

I like this version, the old one had too much noise for my taste...
I don't care much for the way the lettering is kind of faded at the beginning, though.

The cherub is too far forward, and is in a shaded area. If you move it back a bit into the light, the illumination on it will be more consistent with the rest of the image.

There's a long shadow behind her arm, and a long shadow behind the pylon just right of her, but no shadows behind her legs or feet...

If you cloned out the giant water drops, this could almost pass for real snow. Very nice work.

Really great work with the ceiling. I like the way the stars and clouds show through. Good image!

I really like this effect, but the yellow cloud seems too heavy on the right, with not quite enough on the left...

Smooth blending. Nice work!

I think you could crop some of all the dead space from the top for a more dynamic image, but good effect, none the less!

Really well done and fun. Of course, she doesn't know the shark is coming, and her friend in the boat won't reach her in time...lol! I like the shape of the water surface the best, it really enhances the overall composition. Best of luck!

Very soft effect. nice lighting, good job!

Nice improvement. This came out well!

The hair is funny, but having the facial features distort to the side is weird, because all the hair should then be moving, not just the top and back of the head...

Looks like a real photo to me.
There's a horizontal line at the bottom of the eye (focus blur that ended up colorized) that you might want to clone out, but otherwise, I think this came out well!

A bit heavy on the hatch marks on the guy's neck and the couple's upper lips. It looks like the girl has a moustache, but a nice kiss!

There's an odd greenish tint to her shoes, but overall, this came out really well. Fun image!

Very nice effect, good effort!

Very realistic effect on the bird. Nice work!

Cool sand castle effect!

Lovely work, The sun rays are really well done!

Nice evolution, but the light reflection doesn't work with the sunlight shining from behind the creature... Better to ditch that back entrance, and make an opening above and to the right, so that the lighting is consistent.

Better illusion, now it looks like the wind caught it!

Really blurry, and the umbrella would be facing the other way if the wind was blowing it as illustrated.

The bottom part looks like a science fiction movie or a Discovery channel program about burrowing wasps. Nice effect.

The top part doesn't really blend well, the colors are too cool in tone for the warmer wasp images, and the swirly, smudgy bird tail looks out of place and distracts from the overall "monster" mood.