Examples:

(the black horse with the water in the background is my most recent and it is still a WIP)

https://postimg.cc/gallery/D88f4xn/ac42ac41

Versailles said:

Wait, so... No, those backgrounds are not AI generated. You have the right first steps for a photomanip, there's nothing wrong with these at all. It's not a copy/paste and I see where you've put effort in, especially with hair painting, body painting, and body prep. You're fine. It's beginner artwork but there's effort. I see it! <3

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With white markings, select an area, take the saturation down, and then turn the brightness up and adjust contrast as looks nice. :) When you select an area to turn into a white marking, copy it and turn it into a new, separate layer so you can erase appaloosa markings into it! Or whatever else you need.

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I remind about shadows <3 I can teach you how to do those if you'd like. Feel free to PM me whenever

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Background blur would be a good spot to start, too! Whatever is furthest away from the camera would be blurred, since all the focus is on the horse.

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Your body prep on your most recent piece looks nice. I can also see where you've added a little lighting to the edges of the horse. It looks beautiful! Never be afraid to make it dramatic and fun, too! As long as it doesn't overpower the horse, people tend to really enjoy it.

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For pricing, your work is far beyond 5-10k. I would personally start no less than 20k for a SB and see where the bids go/what the price gets bought for in the end and gauge future pricing based off of that and then raise your pricing once you establish a tad more confidence/reassurance, etc. Just because one persons' skill level leads them to believe they need to price their pieces a certain way, does not mean you have to copy that whatsoever - because your works, even in the beginning stages, are very promising.

Versailles said:

Wait, so... No, those backgrounds are not AI generated. You have the right first steps for a photomanip, there's nothing wrong with these at all. It's not a copy/paste and I see where you've put effort in, especially with hair painting, body painting, and body prep. You're fine. It's beginner artwork but there's effort. I see it! <3

.

With white markings, select an area, take the saturation down, and then turn the brightness up and adjust contrast as looks nice. :) When you select an area to turn into a white marking, copy it and turn it into a new, separate layer so you can erase appaloosa markings into it! Or whatever else you need.

.

I remind about shadows <3 I can teach you how to do those if you'd like. Feel free to PM me whenever

.

Background blur would be a good spot to start, too! Whatever is furthest away from the camera would be blurred, since all the focus is on the horse.

.

Your body prep on your most recent piece looks nice. I can also see where you've added a little lighting to the edges of the horse. It looks beautiful! Never be afraid to make it dramatic and fun, too! As long as it doesn't overpower the horse, people tend to really enjoy it.

KPH Equestrian said:

I agree with this^ I'd say 20k SB, 120k or no AB to see where bids get. Right now, I think T3 would suit you, but a bit more practice and you'll be onto T2 :)

ManaBuns said:

I will go ahead and chime in 🖤

First off, going to immediately say that the lovely Versa had tons of valid points and tips within her post, and I agree with most of, if not all, of it!

Also wanting to immediately say that I actually find your work to be adorable! There's clear effort within it + your time is definitely taken with it.

I would like to begin with my own pointers on your work (which is what you asked for), And then I would like to finish this off with some comments against a few things I have read in this thread that I do disagree with. When I do art critiques, I like to be as gentle and helpful as possible. I like to touch on all aspects of the piece, even if some of these are some of your strong points in my eyes! That way I can help give you some pointers and strats I use that you can take with you to help as well if you would like 😊

The biggest one I would like to start with would be SHADOWS.

Always, always be sure to add some type of shadow OR reflection in your pieces. Everything has a shadow, so without one a piece can look a tad funky! Depending on where your light source is shining in from, if there's water the horse is splashing around in, etc. depends on where your shadow will be / if there's a water reflection, etc.

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The next thing I would like to bring to your attention is LIGHTING.

While I do find you adjusting lighting nicely in some of the pieces, others seem a tad lacking (AND OMG let me tell you, I struggled with lighting for the LONGEST time and still do so I don't blame you!!!) - What I do for my lighting is I will take a swatch of color from the background, ie. a pink sunset and will grab some of the pink, fully paint it ovver the entire finished subject in a new layer above it, add a clipping mask and then mess around with the settings of that layer. Sometimes I use 'overlay', sometimes 'soft light', and then will lower the opacity a bit until I am happy with it. I will then go in with another layer, usually a lighter color than my 'main lighting' layer (typically even white) and will create a clipping mask, then go around just the edges of the horse, place a hefty gaussian blur, adjust the opacity down a bit, and you have a nice glow on top of everything.

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Next I would say to maybe focus more on DETAILS.

The horses' details to be more specific. Their muscles, underbelly shadows, nostrils, inside the ears, the mouth......... Basically I use two methods for this. Either a dodge / burn on all the highlights + lowlights (lowered opacity, take it slow) OR I create another layer above the horse, take a blurred black pen, and trace over all of that gently/slowly, throw some gaussian blur, lower opacity. You just want everything more defined - Especially after those pesky, quality - lowering color changes!

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Another thing I would like to bring up is BLENDING.

Another pesky thing that I struggle with daily, BUT, I found a pretty decent strat for myself I think recently?? I DO THIS AT THE VERY END BEFORE I PLACE MY CREDITS - I basically duplicate THE FINISHED background, place the duplicate above EVERYTHING else, take a fuzzy eraser brush, and erase everything up to the horses hooves. I will mess with the sizing and opacity on this as it gets closer to the bottom of the hooves, and then that will be my main blending. THEN I add the background details OVER the horses hooves/legs/wherever it needs to be. So if the horse is running in the ocean, I will add my splashes and water reflection. If the horse is running on a dirt path, I will add some hoof prints in the dirt behind him, his shadow, and some dust flying into the air. If the horse is running in a shallow-cut field, I will add her shadow, and draw some grass in a separate layer over the hooves/legs that are touching the ground, etc. etc.

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Next up, I would like to point out BACKGROUND DETAIL.

This would include blurring the background where it's furthest from the horse so the horse is the main focal point. This would also include maybe editing out portions of the background that may not make total sense; ie. the surfer in the background of the WIP you made with the black horse on the beach or the buildings and city that are directly below the rearing Paint Unicorn in one of your other WIPS. For those kinds of edits, I highly recommend the clone stamp tool. Small brush, zoom in, take your time and go slow with it to get it all blended and looking realistic.

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Next, the BODY PREP.

Your body prep looks very strong! Especially in your recent WIP with the black horse on the beach. The horse is not overly smudged, you can still see the majority of it's details, etc. Nicely done! I used to use the smudging tool on the body until I realized the quality was lowering more than I'd like. I usually just use the reduce noise tool once or twice and besides the detailing suggestion I placed above, that is the most I do for my body prep lately. Lastly, wanted to touch on HAIR. You hair already has a great amount of detail in it. You're doing awesome! My only advice would by to add some details in the hair. Shade the base of it or where shadows may hit, add some lighting highlights to mimic shine, add more loose flyaways for it to look less stagnant and more realistic.

Overall, ShiningStar, you are honestly on an amazing path. Yes, it is beginner artwork, but let me tell you - Some of these pieces look even better than what I started out with! But we all start somewhere and you really are off on a great start. You, as Versa stated, have the right first steps for a photomanip. Keep going!

Now - I am going to try to keep my cool here.

To be told that your work is copy/pasted is.. A bit mind boggling to me. Also to go a step further and accuse you of AI use. I can tell you right now, that you do not just simply "copy/paste" your work and call it a day. You take your time to stock hunt, you place the photos together, you do the body prep/color changes/lighting/blending, etc. I also do not see you using any sort of AI tools... There's ways of being able to research all that stuff, and that is not prevalent in your work.

For pricing, your work is far beyond 5-10k. I would personally start no less than 20k for a SB and see where the bids go/what the price gets bought for in the end and gauge future pricing based off of that and then raise your pricing once you establish a tad more confidence/reassurance, etc. Just because one persons' skill level leads them to believe they need to price their pieces a certain way, does not mean you have to copy that whatsoever - because your works, even in the beginning stages, are very promising.

If you ever need/want pointers, feel free to PM me whenever 🖤