Kittie said,
"Ah, I wish there was a fair way to see all of the externals before the voting."

I agree.

My externals: ( ).

yep... mine too.
http://photoshopcontest.com/images/tourney/fullsize/48473741d587e681e6081d372139854df639b4eb376634.jpg

Sand & Screw. No outside sources.
http://photoshopcontest.com/tournament/view/7328/display.html
I was happy with it. BUT
I should have done more. Wasn't 'interesting' enough.

...and looking on the bright side: I did get the blackfox's vote!

And mine ( http://photoshopcontest.com/tournament/view/7322/display.html )

...

By far the quickest H2H entry I've ever done. I figured making a ball ripple would blow away my competition... but the ugly perspective of the tee is what caught the attention. Congrats madonnemay.
http://photoshopcontest.com/tournament/view/7325/display.html

This one was my favorite!

I used the sand to create the planet. Just filters and blending modes. The background is all PS. The foreground ships are created from the screws using the template, and the background ships are external.

This looked like a Nancers chop!

Originally I was going to put the cat's head on a human body but ran out of time. So I fried it instead!

Hi. Thanks for votes and comments - much appreciated!

Claf asked how much was drawn versus use of externals... no externals. Not many good narwhal references, hence the intentionally comical asymmetric look and sinister demeanor. Cloned/warped the sand to use as narwhal skin - more evident on narwhal on right - dark patch on belly is dark patch from sand. Applied blending and adjustment layers to smooth out the texture.

Seelcraft noted low res... umm yeah, noticed that too once live. My vision kinda comes and goes - looked great when I posted. lol. Especially wtf re bubbles... all I can think is that they got covered in bear fur to make them so fuzzy.

Salvezza noted that image might be perfect if screws retained source 'look'. Had them as such originally, but turned sinister narwhals into sadistic narwhals and was concerned the kids might cry. Actually I created this image for a friend and she didn't like the 1st look, so changed it knowing there would be risk. Worked out OK.

It was a lot of fun to create. Inspired by this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykwqXuMPsoc
- you know, they can beat a polar bear in a fight (because they cheat! lol)

Lots of great images in this round and some tough choices too. Good luck all!

Cool! Nice work! Some illustrative talent!

Hard source! Didn't know where to go... went this direction, and posted this "plenty of flaws" chop! Hope I'll be more inspired next round...