CGAN Jan 2015 Challenge - White as Snow - WIPs

A good trick for adding realism to skin is to use the burn tool. You need to be sparing with it, but it can create some really nice subsurface scattering effects.

Val: Painting from 6 different models can't be easy dude!! Those are some hefty references!! I can see why you might want to elongate the image and include her bosom looking at these ref's. I personally find using a painting as a reference less helpful than an actual photograph of a person, because the lighting and texture are far more natural in a photograph. Although, in this case I think you seem to have captured the eyes of the top right hand painting, the one with the diadem. They are darker and much more symmetrical in the image, presumably because they are copied, flipped and pasted.

I love this sort of thing. You see so much more by looking at an artist's process than with the finished article!

That's interesting. It's strange how people view pictures differently: I see the top left reference most in my pic. And it's interesting that you mentioned the symmetry thing. As well as not using just one ref, the other thing I was determined not to do is one of those face-on symmetric heads. As you can see Melanie Delon does great ones and in our gallery here there are some good ones too but when I try them they always look rather flat so I thought it'd be good to do it not straight, not three quarter view, but just slightly at an off centre angle, those kind of portraits always look interesting to me.
And on your other point I think it's easier to use other paintings for reference. Painting from life is hardest because stuff moves and you have the 3d parallax problem, photos are easier because it's static and it's already flattened for you, and finally paintings are easiest (for me at least) because the image is already simplified and you can see how the artist has emphasized some things while playing down others. And doing master copies is a fantastic way to learn. The downside of using paintings as reference is one of copyright, if you just use one as reference it's just someone else's work so it's always best to use several references and try to use them as a loose influence. Not that I always listen to my own rules.

Anyway my pic is done and the hair is in and looking good. Sadly not quite as good as in your paintover but I'm pleased with the change so a big thank you for your effort. I'm also pleased with the snowflakes even though they may not be to everyone's taste. (I've also made her shoulder start to break apart into flakes. And to keep the reference thing going that was inspired by Natascha Roeoesli's painting Can't Stand The Light which shows an angel-type figure watching her hand break up in the sun.)
And sorry everyone, I don't think I'm gonna crop after all (but don't fret everything's covered up). I'll make the final decision tomorrow and then dump it in the finals. I need to sleep before I choose.