smudgepainter

I got rid of the "slobber and drool" that was in the original. Trying for a formal type portrait.

Thanks for looking, Jo

Background style and setting blends and harmoniously contrasts with the foreground image of the Bloodhound. Very good detail on the tags. Jo, I would be interested in knowing if you used the unsharp mask filter to accent the painterly effect, and if you did, what were the "amount" and "radius" numbers you used. If you didn't, did you use the high pass filter with a combination blending mode and high contrast level? Also did you use the anisotropic filter? The reason I am asking these questions is to determine if the bloodhound could have a bolder and even more painterly foreground presence. It may all be a matter of personal style and preference, but I am curious to know these interesting details.
Thanks,
Patre

Patre, my workflow on most pet portraits is done in the following way.
I start out in Photoshop and separate the subject from the background. Next I smudge and then run Paint Daubs and anisotropic filter. Now it goes into Painter where I paint on top of the entire smudge to get those brush strokes that I like. Then back into Photoshop to decide on the background. Since the subject and background are on different layers it is easy for me to change backgrounds. I don't use any blending styles or modes. Do you think the hound should be more pronounced?

Very very very nice, I think you've gotten the BG to FG balance just right, at least for me anyhow.

Peter

Not sure i would call this one a smudge Jo but i will say the treatment looks great.
This looks like a classic painting!
Maybe just a touch more catchlight in the eye would be better ?

Thanks Peter S!

Ronnie I will look at a larger hilite in the eye, thanks for the input.

Jo
Lovely work i too think it would benefit by the eye being a bit more "prominent "
I think your background is great

Palms

Very lovely work, Jo. Super!

(I agree with the others concerning the eye, though.)

Marty