I have decided to give the smudge brush a try. I got a little over zealous on the hair. Will have to work on that. Let me know what you think and how I can improve.

Thanks

You did a nice job and in my humble opinion created just the right amount of balance between a photo and painting for this subject.

Janet

Great work there keiser, Yes i agree a bit over zealous with the hair
In saying that I think most people would agree that the two hardest parts to get right is the hair and the eyes.

Which brush was you using and at what opacity ?

I do try a few brushes out when doing the hair to see which one is best for the hair i am trying to smudge ( i cant seem to find just one that i can settle into using and more often than not use the rough round bristle ) , also the size matters but again that changes with the different types of hair

Palms

I used a hair brush on 100 %. I know that was too high, but I started at 40% and it did not look "smudged". My original file size was fairly large so I increased to 100%.

Thank you all for you comments. I do think I will keep working with the smudge feature.

I used a hair brush on 100 %. I know that was too high, but I started at 40% and it did not look "smudged". My original file size was fairly large so I increased to 100%.

Thank you all for you comments. I do think I will keep working with the smudge feature.

100% opacity is too high try for around 60 - 70% and yes do keep at it

Palms

Redo on the hair. Tried several different brushes, modes, and opacities. I think it looks better, but I am not sure there is enough smudge. How much is too much and what is too little?

Redo on the hair. Tried several different brushes, modes, and opacities. I think it looks better, but I am not sure there is enough smudge. How much is too much and what is too little?

That is better,now how much is too much ? that is down to individual taste and the image in hand,hard to say some like the more photo realistic style others like a heavy smudge style do what you like and what you think best you are the artist :) Another tip have a look at your image full screen and see what you think then

Palms