Very creative, you've done a excellent job it looks outstanding as is, wonderfull ^^

Dear Joleen, I'm such a dweeb about so many things, that it took me a moment to figure out the Twi'lek part. From Star Wars or Star Trek - not sure which one, but I made the connection to the character!!! I rarely use PhotoShop so I can't offer too much specific help with it. About the only thing I do with it is convert stuff from one format to another. I use the Corel suite for all my post work - and a lot more because it has the Visual Basic backend and I can automate virtually anything with it. However, Corel's PhotoPaint is similar in function if not in particular commands, so I can offer a few general sort of tips. Because of the their underlying structure, all high end photo manipulation packages are likely to become unstable at times! SO - save often!!! The first time I save a picture as "PictureA" and the next time as "PictureB." After that I alternate between saving to them every few minutes. This way, even if I get a REALLY pad system crash, I've for sure got a safe "backup" copy from a few minutes ago. Also, use layers for everything (objects in Corel) and leave the original picture at the bottom of the stack. As you work, keep building up layers atop it. This given you control ofthe transparency, addition mode, and a lot more flexibility. On a complex scene, I often have a hundred or more layers (objects) stacked atop each other. If I mess something up, it's on a layer that I can repair, change, or delete and not change anything else. So in this case, my bottom layer would be your original picture. I'd copy it up as a new layer and mask the skin area, then shift the color on it to get the right color. That is likely to evolve into several layers to take care of skin, lips, eyes, eyebrows, etc. I'd start a new layer and do the outline for the "hair" - don't know what it's actually called on a Twi-lek!! ;-) Using this as a guide, I'd paint a new layer using a sampled color form the color shifted face. And lastly, a top layer that I would darken on the edges, etc. to get the round 3D shading look. The nice thing is that if something isn't working, you can delete that layer and try again easily!!! And there will be stuff that doesn't work and that you delete. It's an iterative process and a bit of a learning one two. One last thing - I have a mirror to the left of my monitor and a clipboard to the right. In this case, put a picture of a Twi'lek to the right as a reference so you can always see it clearly and easily. Check the mirror for details of eyebrows, lips, etc.!!! The most important thing is to have fun!! As long as it stays fun, you'll keep wroking with it until everything starts to fall into place!!! I think your current Twi'lek above is already very good!!! As you work a little with it you'll be able to add more detail and shading and stuff!!!! By the way - be warned - doing this stuff can be VERY addictive!!!!!!! Love ya!!! Mereidth