[graphic / editing, etc] i need opinions & advice - did i do too much?

[kassie]

i was making myself a profile picture for myanimelist and this is what i came up with;
[NOTE] the empty strip is where my username goes, not keen on everyone knowing it

Version 1:

Version 2:

Original [resized, minor edits]:

so yeah having not slept at all i'm not sure if it looks all that great so any advice & opinions would be lovely!!

 

[derezzed]

Hey kassie, I don't think you did too much at all. In fact, I'd probably still call that avatar pretty simplistic, haha.
The thing is, you just went about adding effects in a non-ideal way. There's definitely a problem when the original version of the avatar looks a lot more high quality than your edits do. It would be a good idea to stop, or choose a different way of editing the image, once obvious signs of discoloring and graininess appear.

I've circled the main problem areas of the first avatar here, so you can see what I mean:

Though to be honest there is a lot of unnecessary pixels everywhere, keeping your avatar from looking smooth.

For the image you decided to use, I think it'd look a lot better if you focused on lighting and coloring adjustments instead of textures or filters (which I am assuming you used).
Good luck with any future avatar editing you may do ;-]

 

[kassie]

-

thank you so much for your reply! after some very much needed sleep i see exactly what you mean. i love textures, sometimes a little too much haha but yeah, i'll try focusing more on lighting (which i know is super important and i'm still trying to get the hang of) and color adjustments.

thanks again for your detailed reply, i love the work that you do > v<b

edit: ahh i think the uncessary pixels may be coming from the fact i set one of the layers to dissolve, giving it a grainy look

idk why but i thought it looked good at the time ahaha