iSapiens

This is incredibly helpful - thank you so much for writing it! You're right, that actress is lovely, and, in your icon, you've also made her glamorous, luscious. You've taken a businesslike promo shot and made a stunning portrait. That you didn't overwork the image with a single unnecessary element surely needs no apology. :-) The lesson of knowing when to stop - when maximum impact is achieved without additional tricks - is probably as important to teach as any technical one.

Your explanation of the "why"s of selective color was extremely useful. A lot of "eye" work here; actually harder in some ways than purely technical work. It was also fascinating to learn that you had selected individual sections of the face for their own, separate coloring work. Nifty to know you can do that with such seamless results.

It was interesting to see how you had initially lightened and warmed the entire image with fill layers before building it up with more vivid color and contrast than the original had had - like preparing the underlayer of a canvas. ::makes more notes::

It seems my fate that people only ask about the simplest of icons with the fewest cool "tricks."

I wonder if people are just shy about asking? I know I felt greedy asking for another tutorial, even after you had generously offered. *g* Maybe a solution would be just to write tutorials for icons that interested or challenged you, sort of like awmpdotnet does? I'm sure people would pore over them eagerly, even if they wouldn't have asked for them on their own.

Thanks again for the wonderful tutorial! ::hugs::