WIP study, Keyth I need yout help!

[I.was.ink]

O.K This is my first try at actually painting something from reference, in painter. And since I'm new to it, I can't get the colors to blend like I want them to. Can someone help me out? Keyth, If you're reading this. I want to achieve the smooth blending u get in your self portraits.like the ones here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1555)
Does any body else know how he achiecved this? I would love it if someone messed with it and told me what it was that u changed, and how u did it. And if thats asking to much. can someone just give me some pointers then? Thanks for the help
:D

http://members.fortunecity.com/iwasink/woman.ps.jpg
the one on the left is the reference and the one on the right is my version.

here's a closeup. Its not that pixelized, but I show it to show that it looks okay farther away. I want it to look better and more detailed.

http://members.fortunecity.com/iwasink/close.up.jpg

C & C PLEAASEEE!!!!:)

[I.was.ink]

I figured it out. Its that the resat was at 100%. So now I can blend ,but how do I stop it from first picking up the white? To fix this I need to put the resat, under the well option back to 100%, but then I won't be able to blend. You can see the dilemma I'm in. So can someone help me out here?

[keyth]

hey iwasink. just saw this thread today. ummmm. post your brush sets and stuff. did you get my PM? as far as the white thing goes, you must be using painter 6. if you are using painter 7, click the box in the layers section that says "pick up underlying color". if you are in painter 6...download the patch for it. i tried to no avail.

i have to leave for lunch atm. i'll stop back by in a bit.

[I.was.ink]

I figured out what was wrong. If you first put some basic colors first as an "undercoat" per say; and then come back with the resat at a very low resolution. I can now paint on top of those basic colors the way I wanted too, but now I click on the layer options where it says keep transperancies. Once I do this everything works out fine. It was pissing me off, and I was getting so frustrated:bash: and had some family problems. So I'll start something tomorrow or on monday. I'll post my options tomorrow keyth, thanks for the help:D