Hair
I started with a photograph that I repainted in Sketches Pro, and then edited in iColorama. Both the hair and the shading of the face were particularly challenging.
I started with this photo from the Sktchy app. I love her hair and the sculpted look of her face. This was a very small file, so I upsized it twice in BigPhoto.
I preprocessed the photo in iColorama, using Style/Simplify, Effect/Glow, Adjust/Levels, and Effect/Raise, all at low opacity.
I opened the image in Sketches Pro. On a new layer, I painted this hair over the photo (having put the photo layer at a low layer opacity) using two paint colors using the acrylic brush, then I used the smudge tool to soften some of the edges as well as the hair generally.
With a lighter color, on a new layer, I painted with the air brush.
On a new layer, I painted lines with a light-colored pen, then smudged them with the smudge tool.
On a new layer, I painted with the pattern tool, using a dotted pattern, then used the smudge tool to smear them.
On another new layer, I used a black pen to trace in some features.
On another new layer, I painted with a watercolor brush.
On another new layer, I used various tools to paint the face and hand, and used the smudge tool to smooth the strokes.
On another new layer, I used the airbrush to paint color into the background, then smoothed it with the smudge tool.
Now I opened the image in iColorama. I used Adjust/Tonelab preset 4 at low opacity for tonal separation, as well as Adjust/Levels to increase contrast.
I used Adjust/Levels and an inverted brush mask to increase contrast on the mouth area, as well as other areas of the face and hand.
I used various tools under Tone, with an inverted brush mask, to change the color and tone of the background.
I used Form/Warp to increase the size of the face.
I applied Effect/Raise preset 1 at low opacity as a finishing touch.
