After my class critique I went back in and polished up the Seabra. Using a mask in photoshop I let more of his white show through and blended his hard edges in to the background more, increasing the atmospheric perspective. I also used the smudge tool on his stripes making them a little more organic and less airbrushy. I also applied some filters to the photo background making the whole image more painterly overall.

I popped the original post into scraps if you want to compare them.