I tried one of the tutorials and came up with this.

Bobbie

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/photobobbie/100_6510copy.jpg

(sorry but I can't seem to figure out how to get a thumbnail photo here.)

Which tutorial did you do?

Sorry I couldn't find it afterward. It was in the Best Tutorials thread. under The BEST collection of Photo-Art tutorial links

I couldn't get to it afterwards. It is several layers, a blur edges inverted on top, and and palette knife, and brush strokes below.

Bobbie

Welcome, Bobbie! That's a cute toddler in your image, but it's hard to see what you've done due to the small image size. There's a thread that explains how to upload your images (RGB mode, 100k maximum) -- take a look, it might help you. Then you can reload your image at a larger size and get some comments on your work.
http://tinyurl.com/6mpjb

It can take a little while to learn how to navigate around all the information that's available here -- it's easy to get lost! ;)

This is probably the list you started at:
Link to the Great Tutorials - Photo Art
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3244

Was this the tutorial you used? If not, it's another neat one you can try later!

http://www.davrodigital.co.uk/tutorials/haye-island-cafe/hayes-island-cafe.htm

PB:

Another step in the right direction. I'm glad you're giving the tutorials a go. They will help you build some basic skills which will come in handy as you gain experience and confidence.

Keep on growing! You're doing great.

~Danny~

Thank you CJ. You found the correct tutorial. That is the one I used. I'm attaching a larger version of the photo. Thanks for your help.

Thanks also to Danny. I've learned a lot already.

Bobbie

Now that's big enough to see and enjoy! ( Such a beautiful child -- yours? )
I like the results of your work very much, especially on the background and the child's hair. One problem with this technique is that it can darken a person's eyes too much and hide their sparkle -- that's happened a bit here, but that's just part of the effect (the effect also emphasizes the eyes nicely at the same time -- just blots out a bit too much of the eye white for my taste). As you get more practice, you'll learn to make some changes in some of the effects, but at the first, it's enough just to learn how to apply the technique and ENJOY the results! :pleased:

It's one of the first tutorials that I started with, and you can use it on a lot of different images. Welcome to your new hobby -- if you get hooked like the rest of us, we'll be seeing a lot of you in the forums!

Thank you CJ. I appreciate you comments. I would not have thought of making those changes. I copied the eyes and the ball from the original photo, and do like the way they look now.

Bobbie