I started with this photo from the Sktchy app. I like the shapes made by her hair and features, which I thought would be good for painting in Art Set. Because Sktchy images are small, I used BigPhoto twice to upsize her. There are lots of problems with the image. We will deal with the poor image quality and blown out highlights by completely rewriting the pixels in ArtSet and iColorama. We will blur and paint away the distracting background. The blurriness won't matter because we will paint and draw over her.

In iColorama, I used Form/Crop for a better composition.

I will use this photo from Sktchy for the dress and necklace (which for some reason has no chain! No problem, we will draw one in later.)

In iColorama, using Effect/Blend and a brush mask, I blended the dress, chest, and necklace from the dark-haired woman onto the redheaded woman. With the mask still in place, I lightened and tweaked the color of the lower part of the image for a better match to the rest of the image.

I used Adjust/Levels to increase contrast, I applied Adjust/Tonelab preset 4 at low opacity for increased clarity, I used Style/Flow preset 1 at low opacity for smoothness, and I applied Effect/Raise preset 1 at medium opacity for a bit of 3D look. I felt that these steps would help me get a better result later when I painted over her in Art Set.

I applied Effect/Scrape, softening the image and slightly altering her expression. If you use Scrape, be sure to try all the sliders, and use in moderation. This step had little effect on the final image, and in retrospect I would skip it.

Using Effect/Blur, and using a brush mask, I blurred the background. I tried several of the blur presets.

The background on the right side of the image is too dark. In Effect/Blend, I blended the image with itself: flipping the top layer on its x axis, and using a brush mask, I painted in the background from the left side of the image onto the right side of the image.

I used Tone/Tint to make the dress and eyes green, using a brush mask.

I used Tone/Enhance to alter the color of the background for better separation from the green of the dress, but not straying too far from the color palette of the image, using a brush mask.

With the mask still in place, I used a preset under Style/Water for a smoother background.

I opened the image in Art Set and used a smudging tool on the face and dress.

I continued using the smudging tool on the jewelry and her neck and chest.

I continued using the smudging tool on the hair.

I continued using the smudging tool on the background.

Still in Art Set, I used a pen on the dress and necklace.

I continued using the pen on the facial features and hair.

Still in Art Set, I painted the hair with markers, matching color of different markers to different parts of the hair.

I opened the image in iColorama. Using Effect/Blend, I blended the image with itself in soft light mode and used the lightness slider under Set.

In Art Set, I used a smudge tool to rub out some of the lines and soften some of the other lines drawn on the face.

In iColorama, I applied Style/Water at low opacity. I tried several different presets. My intent was to try to unify the different feelings from the drawn parts and the parts processed in iColorama.

I again opened the image in Art Set and did some more smoothing with the smudging tools.

I again opened the image in iColorama and applied one of the presets under Style/Water. Again, I tried several of the presets.

In iColorama using Brush/Paint, I painted in catchlights in the eyes.

I used Form/Warp to increase the size of her head, to fill the canvas and give her head more prominence. This is Version 1.

Now for a second version. I opened Version 1 in Metabrush. I painted this image using Brushes/Paint with Doodle brush 22/71, using the image itself as brush image.

In iColorama, using Effect/Blend, I blended the Metabrush pattern with Version 1. I tried several blending modes and slider settings. Then I used Effect/Denoise preset 4 to smooth the lines, and Effect/Raise preset 1 and Effect/Sharpen 3 both at low opacity for more definition. I applied Preset/Border preset 3 at low opacity and low radius, using the color picker to choose a color from the image.

I improved the color on the dress and background by using Effect/Blend in Color mode to blend with the Version 1 image, using a brush mask. Then I again blended with the Version 1 image, at partial opacity, to soften the face, using a brush mask. This is Version 2.

For another version, I painted over Version 1 in Shatter mode in Metabrush, with a large triangular brush. Then In iColorama, I sharpened, raised, and optimized color. I applied Style/Simplify preset 17 at low opacity. This is Version 3.

For another version, I painted over the image in Metabrush with an the crtext 16/18 brush, then post-processed in iColorama. This is Version 4.