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I called this image Aristocrat, because the wispy texture gives her the suggestion of an up-hairdo for a fancy dress event. The texture is from Metabrush.
I started with this photo from the Sktchy app. Sktchy photos are small, so I upsized her twice in BigPhoto.
In iColorama, I used Adjust/Tonelab preset 4 for tonal separation. You can see that the image is rough and grainy. But the processing steps I will use will almost completely rewrite the pixels, so the main thing is to have a big enough canvas for a good quality image.
I applied Effect/Scrape and then Style/Simplify, using one of the lower (larger number) presets, at medium opacity.
I opened the image in Metabrush. In Paint mode, on a new layer, I painted over her, using herself as Brush image, and painting with a using a large, medium opacity Doodle 22/71 brush. In brush settings, I used maximum spacing, maximum position variance, medium rotation variance, and no structure or shadow.
Now I opened the Metabrush image in iColorama and applied Adjust/Tonelab preset 4 for tonal separation.
In iColorama, using Effect/Blend, I blended the Metabrush image over the woman in Difference mode. I tried several blend modes and slider settings, including the Lightness and Gray sliders under Set. In difference mode it is tricky to get a good-looking image, but sometimes it is the only one that will give you the results you are looking for.
Now I again used Effect/Blend, this time to blend the pre-Metabrush woman onto the blended woman, using an inverted brush mask to paint in the pre-Metabrush eyes.
I used Tone/Duotone in Multiply mode at low opacity to tone and deepen the shadows.
I used Style/Painterly with the Blur Paint preset at low to medium opacity to smooth out some of the roughness from the blend step.
In Effect/Blend, I blended the image with itself, flipped on its x axis (touch the Flip x button at the bottom right of the screen). Using an inverted brush mask, I painted over the right middle edge of the canvas to replace some awkward bits of Metabrush texture with nicer parts from the other side of the image. Now the texture on the right side look more like wisps of hair.
Now I need to work on the eyes. I used Adjust/Exposure and an inverted brush mask to brighten the eyes. Keeping the mask in place, I used Adjust/Levels to tweak the contrast of the eyes, which is often needed after increasing exposure. Next I used Brush/Clone to copy the catchlight from the right eye onto the left eye. With Clone, simply drag part of the image to another part of the image. You'll usually need to make a few tries before you get exactly what you want. Fortunately, there's an Undo button on the left of the screen.
The bright white of her blouse is too bright for the rest of the image, and it pulls your eye to the blouse. To tone down that brightness, I wanted to add some color to the blouse. I chose blue, because that color is already in the image, in the eyes. I used Preset/Gradient preset 1 with an inverted brush mask to paint her blouse blue. When you open your image in Preset/Gradient, you will see a white screen. Tap the Color button at the bottom right of your screen, and your image will appear. Now tap the color picker (white box) in the lower right of your screen, and choose a color. You will see the entire image become tinted with the color you selected. But Color mode does not work to apply color to a white object. So instead, I used Multiply mode. Since I want to apply the color only to the blouse, I used an inverted brush mask so I could paint the blue color only onto the blouse. You can reopen the color picker to fine tune the color, and you can use the Opacity slider to control the intensity of the effect. I applied, and I exported the brush mask for future use. Then I removed the brush mask. Next I tweaked the color of the overall image using Tone/Enhance at low opacity.
I felt that the blue I used was too bright and needed to be toned down. So I used Tone/B&W. I imported the brush mask that I had previously exported, and inverted it. I used the Opacity slider to control how much black and white was needed to reduce the saturation in her blouse. Finally, I enlarged the eyes in the Elasticam app. I tend to use Elasticam for fine control over warping in areas such as the eyes. Otherwise, I find iColorama's Form/Warp to be best for larger-scale warping situations.
In iColorama, I used Form/Warp to enlarge the head and alter the expression slightly.
There is a hot spot on her neck, and I thought a pendant would be the thing to cover it up. I used this photo from Pixabay, a source of copyright-free images, for blending.
I used a preset in Form/Mirror to flip the photo on its x axis. In this orientation, the pendant will be in a better position for blending onto the woman.
Using Effect/Blend, I blended the pendant image over the woman, rotating the top image as needed, and using an inverted brush mask to paint in the pendant where I wanted it. Then with the mask still in place, I used Tone/B&W at low opacity to reduce the saturation of the pendant.
I used this photo from Pixabay for the chain that will go around her neck to hold the pendant.
In Effect/Blend, I blended the chain on top of the woman. I used an inverted brush mask to paint in the left side of the chain around her neck, rotating the top image as needed to position the chain where I wanted it.
Now I did the same for the chain on the right side of her neck.
Now, using Brush/Colorize, I painted a bit of shadow around the pendant. Then I used Preset/Border preset 2 at low radius for a bit of vignetting, using a brush mask on her face and neck to preserve brightness there.
Now I used Effect/Light at low opacity to accent the highlights on her face. Then I used Adjust/Levels to tweak the overall brightness of the image. As finishing touches, I used Effect/Sharpen preset 4 at low opacity, and Effect/Raise preset 2 at low opacity, to emphasize the edges.
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