Definitly not showing off, need input

[Michael Dread]

Yeah i posted in the main forum, that i am having some self doubt about my work.... i have been in photoshop for 12 years and am self taught.... this image has potential but right now i think it was blended poorly.... idk i wouldn't sell it as is.... any input... I am not a photoshop master nor a guru... I have just sold a ton of work... any input that isn't straight cruel would be appreciated. Thank you

Oh some of your work here is crazy....

I think her hair sucks and everything looks kinda just layered without correct blending.... idk i hate this image... but its some where to start, im not gonna post my best image that would be counter productive....

 

[Paul]

Maybe do the hair and the waves/foam/water/clouds thing on separate layers and look at blending separately using masks to get away from that horrible edged cut out look.
The hair you could use a brush tool for hair and make the edges flow like how long hair does i suppose as with the water use a brush with splashes or spray incorporated into the brush pattern.
Love to see one of your finished sold works, watermark it just so we can get a comparison maybe?

 

[IamSam]

Hey Michael.

I totally understand it when you hit the proverbial wall with a project. This may sound a bit odd, but with my own work, when I don't like something I change it. If it's not working, try something different. The beauty of Photoshop is that you can work entirely non destructively. You can make, and save, as many changes as you desire. Sooner or later you will stumble into something that works for you or you trash the project altogether. After 12 years, I would think that you would have been through this a few times.

For this image you may consider the composition. I would re-frame it and include the top of her head. There is too much background (stars) and the stars are far to uniform. You could make the sphere much larger and behind her. I would try to apply the texture to the subjects body using a displacement map so that the texture looks wrapped. I would mask out her hair and clouds (at least I think they're clouds). I would add some shading to the hair and clouds for strong contrast. I could go on but I won't.

I totally agree with Paul, I would really like to see some of your "better works" so that we have something to compare with. If this is your starting point, as in some of your earlier works, I would really like to see how much you have progressed from here. I'm not sure there's a need to dwell on older works.

Keep up the great work.

 

[Tom Mann]

Another possible improvement ... obviously your intention is to add some texture to the skin. Unfortunately, as it stands, to my eyes, the texture looks like a simple 2D pattern that was slathered over the skin, not real texture. If adding texture was my intent, and one didn't want to go to full 3D modeling, I would generate a displacement map from the texture and use that to add fake "ins-and-outs" to the skin. There are plenty of tutorials on doing this, but I don't have the time at the moment to look up one for you. I'll do so late tonight.

Just my $0.02,

Tom M