Tried a different way of editing in photoshop trying to get better realism. Think it looks alright. (ignore the crappy background) Feedback is appreciated as to what takes away from the realism.
It all started as a small project to see, if I can still pull smth at least somewhat photorealistic off.
I wanted to see how far I'm away from the project that originally fried my old rig before I try to tackle it again.
The second image is a field test for the style I want to use in my short story "Toybox". Yes, I haven't forgotten about it and I'm currently working on a rewrite of the ending.