Clare: "...The one thing I don't like though is the canvas texture. It's too blatant. You just won't see that on a painting unless the artist is really watering down the paint...."
You are absolutely right to point that out!
In fact, there actually are *two* problems with the texture effect I used - both its spatial frequency and its amplitude. I suspect most people would think you were only talking about the amplitude or relief of the texture, but, in addition, the size of the weave that I used makes it appear like we are only seeing a tiny section of canvas, say a couple of inches on a side. To further complicate matters, the size of the weave (aka, its spatial frequency) shouldn't vary if you print a given image at different sizes, so, as you correctly point out, texture should always be put on in an adjustable way (ie, either as a smart object, or at the very end) so it can be made appropriate for a given size print.
That being said, I tend to overdo such effects intentionally for these sort of beginner demos because I want to make them obvious.
Good call.
T
PS - ALB: What's the story on the re-shaping of the head & eyes, the introduction of the 2nd visible ear, etc? Did you do all of that?