And don't forget Daz's free stuff archive: http://free.daz3d.com/free_weekly/archive_list.php

Thanks!  And no problem.  Hope it works!

Yeah, aprilgem does have a lot of good points there, and after scouting aroud, I've found this for you: http://www.andynicholas.com/thezone/index.php?area=showitem&fromarea=art&page=0&order=0&sort=date&article=3

It's not for photoshop, but like the author says, it can be adapted.  Hope it helps!

Woah, hold on...I've found an even better one.  OK, this one's for paint shop Pro, but again, it can be adapted.  If you scroll down to section 5 it shows you what to do.  (the rest of the tut's pretty interesting too!  Sorry- Star Wars fan.)

http://the-holocron.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=48

Erk - painting white is very difficult - nearly as bad as black.  It is possible, but will require a lot of patience in postwork.  Luckily, there is a cheat. ;)

First of all, you have to analyse how footprints look in the snow.  Google some scenes that contain the sort of animal that you'll be putting into your images and see how their footprints look.  Once you have an idea of that, draw the footprints onto a new layer.  Go to effects, bevel and emboss, and set them to

Inner bevel, and set the direction to down. Set the depth (this depends on your scene, as to how deep you want to make them look), apply an inner shadow (the exact settings depend on your lighting, play around until you find something you're happy with)

And there you should have a footprint.  Duplicate the layer and you can play around resizing and repositioning each footprint. 

PW, have you tried changing the colour of the brush or the background colour?  Some brushes are designed to be used 'white on black' (or any other light colour on a darker surface) or 'black on white' (again, any other dark colour on a light surface). 

I made this image with purely brushes, but I had to have the background black and the brushes white for them to show up properly (except the trees, they were black brushes) - I had the same problem as you:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/35773408/?qo=19&q=by%3Aelfdaughter+sort%3Atime+-in%3Ascraps

Can't wait to see 'em, Stevie!

Blimey, it was a good job I spotted it today, then!  Thanks for letting me know. ;)

Oh yeah, forgot about that button.  Doh! lol!

Right, go onto Microsoft word, 'Tools' - 'Letters and mailings' - 'Envelopes and labels'

On the pop-up window select 'labels'.  Type in what you want/copy paste the design, choose what type of label you want, then click 'New document'.  This will open a new document with all your designs and text laid out in the correct format, and you can modify each label and change it to what you need.

I asked the exact same thing (well, ok, similar..hehe...) on deviantart, when it came to working out how to add more than one colour to a brush.  Here was the reply - hope it helps someone else!

I was enquiring how she got the colouring in this image:

 "If it's over another image, make a new layer with regular settings so you don't do anything to the rest of the image. If it's just the brush, proceed as if I'm not the idiot I seem to be, lol... First, when you select the color, choose a very pretty orange color, almost gold, and make the lovely birdy have its own space on the image. Then take your dodge tool, set it for highlights at a flow of about 23%, and go around any areas you think should be highlighted. Make sure not to overdo it or you'll bleach out the gold color you're trying to achieve. I did that and not just once, lol. Then take your burn tool and set it for shadows at a flow of about 15% and go over the other areas that weren't highlighted, but be very gentle. Make sure you're using soft brushes so the burns and highlights will blend at the edges. Then take the brush itself and choose another color, say a pretty rusty red color. Pick a spot on the color gradient that you think compliments the gold and oranges you've made. Now set your brush for Color Burn with a flow of 35% and turn on the airbrush tool next to the flow drop menu. Line up your brush over the image carefully and paint the brush once over the image. Use a Gaussian Blur on a very low setting to smooth out some of the rougher colors. Now if you want to do what I did, add some Lens Flare accents at various strengths to the feathers on the firebird's tail, or leave it like it is if you prefer it that way.

As for the Bird of Paradise, she was a little more tricky. She used up about 3 different layers for her effects just because of the colors I chose to use.

Choose a base color for her (I used a pale teal color) and paint her on. Make a new layer with the effect set for Screen at a strength of 75%. Now switch brushes to a soft brush, like what you used for the burn and dodge tools for the firebird. Pick another color (I chose a shade of purple) and go along the edges of the wings to carefully catch the flight feathers and color them. Now flatten your image (Layers Menu at the bottom). Make another new layer and set it for Soft Light at full strength. Now choose a different color (I used pink) for the tail and color the whole thing until no blues show through. Now take your burn tool and burn the edges of the tail feathers, and the wings too if you would like. Flatten the image again and carefully use the dodge tool with a strength of 10% on the center of the tail to make the edges stand out more. Now if you like it, add lense flares or leave it like it is." 

Same way you would with an ordinary brush. ;)  Click the arrow pointing down on the top of the toolbar next to the brush symbol (this is assuming you have CS, I don;t know if it's the same with the other versions).  This brings down a drop-down list.  Select the one that says 'Airbrush 50% flow'.  Then change the 50% in the flow tab to 100%...and....tada! ;)

I had the exact same problem as you.  It's actually very difficult to find a decent skin tutorial!

First problem you stated was turning clean plastic-looking skin into realistic-looking skin.  The best way for that is to find a decnt texture...;)  No, seriously, here's what I did to the skin to produce a more realistic look for this image:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/media/folder_128/file_1272516.jpg

Now, I work with Daz|Studio, but as the main work happens in photoshop, it can be used for any 3d program.  It'll also work with any image program that supports layers and blending modes.

Daz|Studio work:
The figure is V3 from Daz with an Aiko pose applied, V3's bonus texture (not the default one, the other one), and a few soft lights scattered about. She was rendered pretty quickly, then whisked over to Photoshop for the real work to begin.

Photoshop work:

First I fixed the places where the pose had creased V3 in odd ways (using a small soft smudge brush), then I took the smudge brush and ran it over her skin, blending it all together and providing a soft base. On another layer I repainted all V3's shadows with a greeny-coloured soft brush, then set a gaussian blur on it (about 10.0) set it to overlay and fiddled with the opacity and fill settings. Then I did the same for the highlights on a separate layer with white.  (gaussian blur and overlay again) I did the same for the shadows under the eyes and on the eyeball with black, then flattened the image. I then duplicated the final layer, did another guassian blur, and set that final one to overlay. I then realised it was much too orange, so I flattened the image and applied auto levels and auto colour to help lift it.

That gives you the softer look to the skin.  If you aren't after as much softness, lower the gaussian amount.  As for adding dirt streaks, or cuts etc, then I suggest (for a very simple and easy method ;) ) finding a picture of dirty ground, opening it in photoshop, and using the clone stamp tool to draw on the dirt you need.  I know you can get some very good blood brushes from deviantart (here's one for example: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/19982524/ ) - just download and install!  (Instructions for installation included in the link, and also tips on creating the blood effect).  You will need to download it to see all the brushes.  now remember, brushes are greyscale, so in order to add the right colour to the blood, you'll need to follow this tutorial: http://ic1.deviantart.com/fs7/f/2005/205/a/5/Blood_Texture.jpg

Hope that helps!!

Thanks Bez!  Think I've found one....

Ah.  ahem  Serves me right for not reading it properly..cough!  Thanks Jeni!

Nope, don't have her, and nope, don't plan on getting her.  Few reasons:

1. I can't afford to dish out more money for yet more clothes props etc for another figure.

2. Why bother?  I have V3, and with all her morphs I can create very different-looking characters

3. I have enough in my library for V3 to create virtually anything I want.