Image in the sky
original image

Entry guide: step 1 of 6

Photo I took.
Entry guide: step 2 of 6

Used brushes, blur, and a gradient underlay to create grass.
Entry guide: step 3 of 6

Gradient over sky photo to create sunset look. Used transform>skew and distort to create curve.
Entry guide: step 4 of 6

Using the rock background from the source photo, I created patterns and used the patterns to create "mountains" I used the blur tool and the smudge tool to blend in the lines from the patterns. I used the burn tool to darken the side of the "mountains" not in the sun.
Entry guide: step 5 of 6

Clipped the background out from the elephant. Pasted into a layer. On new layer used cloud filter to create cloud look and then created a clipping path to the elephant. Then using brushes and blur tool, created dimension and fluffy looking clouds. Dropped the opacity.
Entry guide: step 6 of 6

Drew ovals and created clouds using the same steps as I did on the elephant.
final result

| go to the big elephant contest (full view) |
