Reconstructing Pirate Opal and Color/Saturation Variations

Last month for my monthly challenge with Madison, I came up with the pirate theme using my miniature bear, Opal, as a model.

This month I have been more into playing with color variations and decided to use my Pirate Opal as my starting point.  Using Procreate, I took Opal apart creating individual components so I could dress, change arm positions, etc.  Most of my work was done in Procreate but also used Photoshop Elements as well since both applications share most of the same mechanics.  Much easier to see on a larger screen but some mechanics easier to perform in one application versus the other depending on what I am hoping to achieve.

This has been a three-day project (trial and error, several layers, several different file saves, and final results) and I could spend even more time if I chose to.  With each change in arm position and head, I had to make changes for each part to seamlessly blend in together.  That was accomplished by "pulling" area color using the "Smudge" brush tool within the individual parts to match up to the next section where they joined.  Same with any additions/changes with the clothing.  

Sample of individual parts:

Sample changing arm positions as well as the head (on one example), and my first attempt at creating different clothing and color of Opal:

After the initial change as seen in the center of the above photo, the real fun began - Various changes in clothing, color, texture, and variations of fur color.

With this final sheet, it shows where I started playing with using a selection tool making irregular shapes within an area, feathering the selection, and changing color to give a double color variation as seen in a few shirts and one of the bodies (bottom row, two over from the left).