I'm fairly new at this my self but I'll comment anyway. If you put her right arm down so you cannot see it,I think she won't look so stiff.And add a little color to your background and that would be great. Tshirt material! dberryart.com

looks like a bryce background... Try tilting her head just a wee bit as us women always do that so no double chin will happen (when camera comes towards me - I bend a bit to left and thrust chin up and out...). Love the conforming on the bikini top but either right forearm is twisted 2 much or like dberryart said might need to be unbent a bit. Try putting in depth so that the water and sky don't overshadow the character 2 much. For first "real attempt" - all I can say is I cant wait for your next one!

Terrific first attempt. ALternatives to unbending arm, use the blur tool-- or the smudge, I find blue easier to handle-- and go lightly around the sharp edges of all her joints, not just the elbow. Now,again in a paint program, take the lasso and roughly outline her head, invert the selection and give the rest of the picture a slight blur, gaussian if youve got it. There you go, quick and cheap depth of field. She's got a lot of shadow in the face area but it looks right for the scene. Next time maybe render larger than your final and you can do the cleanup in the the big pic and then resize and get an added touch of anti-alias and depth of field. Emily