I think you have progressed well from the first image and it does take time and a lot of patience.
Keep playing with photoshop or what ever and it will get faster and easier.
Before you invest in anymore gadgetry like or loading freebie bits and pieces if you have Photoshop then I doubt there are many attacthments that you cant already do with Photoshop.
keep learning,look at other peoples images for inspiration,read a few free tutorials and you will get on top of it all.Takes time but good luck.
Eddie