For sure, for sure, I try to limit it as much as possible, and have almost abandoned it, unless I'm looking to alter the shape along with the increase in volume. For the most part I use pen paths for the most brutally accurate masks I can produce, then I tend to use asymmetrical transforms to achieve the expansion, and do any clean up with liquefy.



But going by your other pics of this nature, you do far more then that as my process would begin to break down by the time I reached something along the lines of your Lissa.



Also, your hips here, how did you pull those off, I would normally try to use liquefy to achieve that effect, but I would have likely stop sooner then you did, before I began distorting the image too much, and too much of the surrounding area. It seems like you didn't just cut out her bodyshape off the background, but the cloak as well to allow it to distort with her, but leave the background alone.