QUESTION: Looking for convincing ‘painting’ technique…

B
Posted By
BD
May 16, 2006
Views
1341
Replies
23
Status
Closed
Hey, all.

I have a series of portraits I took recently, and am experimenting with effects which could make them look more interesting. I’ve used Diffuse Glow, and Texturizer with the Canvas texture, to some pleasing effect.

I am trying to find a good technique for giving a photograph a ‘painted’ effect, to make it appear as if it were an oil or watercolor painting. The built-in filters alone (CS2) aren’t quite doing it for me as yet, and I haven’t developed the ‘instinct’ with PS as yet to be able to see how these filters could be effectively used with layers or other filters to provide the desired effect.

I did find this tutorial today, which might prove interesting:

http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161032

I’ve Googled for Photoshop Painting Tutorial, and most of the results are techniques for painting, not transforming a photo _into_ a painting.

I’m hoping some kind folks might have some decent examples flagged somewhere, for me to peruse…

Many thanks in advance!

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

BH
Bill Hilton
May 16, 2006
BD writes …

I am trying to find a good technique for giving a photograph a ‘painted’ effect, to make it appear as if it were an oil or watercolor painting. The built-in filters alone (CS2) aren’t quite doing it for me

I’ve played with this a bit and I think the built-in filters are a bit disappointing … if you really want to do this well I think you should invest in the program Corel Painter IX, buy a Wacom tablet and buy the book "Painter IX Creativity" by Jeremy Sutton … he earns a good living doing this (using Painter to create paintings from photos) and he explains how to do it well in the book, I think. I had a lot of trouble learning this program before buying this book.

Here’s an example of what he’s doing …
http://www.paintercreativity.com/gallery/jsgallery/page06.ht ml

There are other ‘push-button’ options like Deep Paint and Xaos that work OK on some images but you have a lot more control with Painter, I feel.

Bill
R
Roberto
May 16, 2006
Second vote for Corel Painter. Nothing touches it for natural media painting. The Auto-Clone option can give you a painted looking image in just a few minutes or you can do it manually with spectacular results.

http://www.corel.com

R
HL
Harry Limey
May 16, 2006
"BD" wrote in message
Hey, all.

I have a series of portraits I took recently, and am experimenting with effects which could make them look more interesting. I’ve used Diffuse Glow, and Texturizer with the Canvas texture, to some pleasing effect.
I am trying to find a good technique for giving a photograph a ‘painted’ effect, to make it appear as if it were an oil or watercolor painting. The built-in filters alone (CS2) aren’t quite doing it for me as yet, and I haven’t developed the ‘instinct’ with PS as yet to be able to see how these filters could be effectively used with layers or other filters to provide the desired effect.

I did find this tutorial today, which might prove interesting:
http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161032

I’ve Googled for Photoshop Painting Tutorial, and most of the results are techniques for painting, not transforming a photo _into_ a painting.

I’m hoping some kind folks might have some decent examples flagged somewhere, for me to peruse…

Many thanks in advance!

You could try Buzz pro
http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/software/Artmaster/Buzz.htm

I used it to manipulate these images!! I applied a Photoshop texture to finish!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harrylimey/sets/259660/
HL
Harry Limey
May 16, 2006
"BD" wrote in message
Hey, all.

I have a series of portraits I took recently, and am experimenting with effects which could make them look more interesting. I’ve used Diffuse Glow, and Texturizer with the Canvas texture, to some pleasing effect.
I am trying to find a good technique for giving a photograph a ‘painted’ effect, to make it appear as if it were an oil or watercolor painting.

You could try Buzz pro
http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/software/Artmaster/Buzz.htm

I used it to manipulate these images!! I applied a Photoshop texture to finish!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harrylimey/sets/259660/
B
BD
May 16, 2006
Jeremy Sutton

He does have one tutorial on his site, taking a photo of a ballerina and transforming it.

Looks very compelling.

Thanks!
B
BD
May 16, 2006
The Auto-Clone

I will see if I can secure the software, and give it a go. Thanks!!
RB
Rudy Benner
May 16, 2006
That software comes with the Wacom Intuos 3 tablet.

"BD" wrote in message
The Auto-Clone

I will see if I can secure the software, and give it a go. Thanks!!
B
BD
May 16, 2006
That software comes with the Wacom Intuos 3 tablet.

The full version, or Essentials??
D
Dave
May 16, 2006
On 16 May 2006 12:27:56 -0700, "BD" wrote:

Hey, all.

I have a series of portraits I took recently, and am experimenting with effects which could make them look more interesting.

I am trying to find a good technique for giving a photograph a ‘painted’ effect, to make it appear as if it were an oil or watercolor painting. The built-in filters alone (CS2) aren’t quite doing it for me

Many thanks in advance!

There is of course a few things Photoshop can nòt do, one of which is painting. Photoshop simply can not paint.

Like pointed out to you by more people, you should buy
Corel Painter IX.

Here is a few paintings only to show you the realism
in Painters work.
I have posted an exaggerated bg1a to demonstrate
the brush strokes, and then finished it off with bg1b.

Auto Clone is not one of my favourite facilities,
because that takes the art out of it.
Lioness_b is Auto Cloned.

Changing a photo to a painting in a realistic way,
is hours work; hours of enjoyment (and frustration:-)

I bought "Painter for Photographer’ by Martin Addison, and find it good. (So should any course be for a novice, and I assume they are all good.

I have uploaded this now for you, and please keep in
mind this is A2 size Tiff’s being reduced to small jpg’s.

Uploaded it right now, only for the sake of this conversation, because I am still working on all of them, so I will take it of tomorrow or so again.

Dave

Again – it is not in a album because off what I said,
this is only for the sake of this talk.

http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/paintings/experiment_in_o il.jpg http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/paintings/lioness.jpg http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/paintings/pelican_in_chal k.jpg http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/paintings/pelican_in_wate rcolor.jpg http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/paintings/bg1a.jpg
http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/paintings/bg1b.jpg
http://home.intekom.com/davesplace/paintings/lioness_b.jpg
B
BD
May 16, 2006
Here is a few paintings

Thanks, Dave. Yes, I think that Painter will be the best option for what I have in mind. I have used older versions, back when it was Fractal Design Painter. I look forward to discovering its evolution.
D
Dave
May 16, 2006
On Wed, 17 May 2006 00:18:04 +0200, Dave wrote:

I bought "Painter for Photographer’ by Martin Addison, and find it good. (So should any course be for a novice, and I assume they are all good.

Should have been ‘ "Painter for Photographers’ by Martin Addison,

‘s’

Here is a review
http://www.kickstartnews.com/reviews/books/painter_ix_photog raphers_addison.html

Dave
D
Dave
May 16, 2006
On 16 May 2006 15:52:39 -0700, "BD" wrote:

Here is a few paintings

Thanks, Dave. Yes, I think that Painter will be the best option for what I have in mind. I have used older versions, back when it was Fractal Design Painter. I look forward to discovering its evolution.

Big pleasure, BD.

If you intend painting to make money, and people will by ‘Auto Cloned’ paintings, then you do Auto Clone.
If you want to paint for the art of it, and be proud of what you done, you must be willing to spend hours on a painting.

Good night:-) It is already one hour into Wednesday the 17th.

Dave
B
BD
May 16, 2006
If you want to paint for the art of it,

Oh, absolutely. This is for me-the-perfectionist, so I am quite willing to take the time required to do a good job.

Heck, I spent _days_ on one effect I wanted from a picture of this particular model. A few hours would be a nice diversion for an evening.
BH
Bill Hilton
May 17, 2006
if you really want to do this well I think you should invest in the program Corel Painter IX, buy a Wacom tablet and buy the book "Painter IX Creativity" by Jeremy Sutton

BD, here are some photos I "painted" using Sutton’s techniques … I can’t draw or paint from scratch worth a damn so this is what you can do with zero natural talent with Painter … I think these were with pastels or chalks, not oils, but you get the picture …

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/zoe_pastels.jpg
http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/p_caribou.jpg
http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/flicker_chalk.jpg
http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/antelope_chalk.jpg

I think I have the photos of the caribou and flicker on the web somewhere if you want to see the starting point … these were done by painting the muck-up with a large brush, then going to a smaller brush, then still smaller, then ‘soft-clone’ brushes to add details back in certain areas like eyes … this is explained well in his book.

Dave said in his post that any of the books should be good for teaching a beginner but I tried learning from the "Painter Wow!" book and one other book (not the one Dave mentions) and the light just didn’t click on until I read Sutton’s book … maybe I was just a step or too slow for the program though.

Bill
2
2
May 17, 2006
"Dave" wrote:

There is of course a few things Photoshop can n
2
2
May 17, 2006
"Dave" wrote:

If you intend painting to make money, and people will by ‘Auto Cloned’ paintings, then you do Auto Clone.

You got a printer that works on black velvet?
2
2
May 17, 2006
"BD" wrote:

Heck, I spent _days_ on one effect I wanted from a picture of this particular model. A few hours would be a nice diversion for an evening.

Don’t quit your day job.
T
Toby
May 17, 2006
Try JASC Virtual Painter–quite nice oil, gouache and watercolor effects. I think you can download a trial version. You don’t have as much control as with Corel Painter, or Photoartmaster or the Buzz3 plugin, but the effects themselves are quite nice and easy to use.

Toby
R
Roberto
May 17, 2006
Corel has done a good job cleaning it up and making it work like other image editors. It is nice having things like layers standardized.

R
D
Dave
May 17, 2006
On 16 May 2006 17:14:34 -0700, "Bill Hilton"
wrote:

I think I have the photos of the caribou and flicker on the web somewhere if you want to see the starting point … these were done by painting the muck-up with a large brush, then going to a smaller brush, then still smaller, then ‘soft-clone’ brushes to add details back in certain areas like eyes … this is explained well in his book.

Bill

the soft-clone brushes – this is where I tend to be very carefull, Bill. Trying to prevent a potrait kind of painting with eyes which is obviously photocopies.

You got me adding Sutton’s name to my searchmachine now. More people then only you speak with high praise of
Jeremy Sutton’s book. And I love books; got nearly
a library on CS & CS2 – maybe I should add his:-)

Dave
BH
Bill Hilton
May 17, 2006
Hebee Jeebes writes …

Corel has done a good job cleaning it (Painter) up and making it work like other image editors. It is nice having things like layers standardized

I wish they did a better job with formal Color Management though, they seem to be way behind the curve with the ICC flow …

Bill
D
Dave
May 17, 2006
On 16 May 2006 17:14:34 -0700, "Bill Hilton"
wrote:

these were done by
painting the muck-up with a large brush, then going to a smaller brush, then still smaller, then ‘soft-clone’ brushes to add details back in certain areas like eyes … this is explained well in his book.

the soft-clone brushes – this is where I tend to be very careful, Bill. Trying to prevent a portrait kind of painting with eyes which is obviously photocopies.

Dave said in his post that any of the books should be good for teaching a beginner but I tried learning from the "Painter Wow!" book and one other book (not the one Dave mentions) and the light just didn’t click on until I read Sutton’s book … maybe I was just a step or too slow for the program though.

Bill

You got me adding Sutton’s name to my search machine now. More people then only you speak with high praise of
Jeremy Sutton’s book. And I love books; got nearly
a library on CS & CS2 – maybe I should add his:-)

Dave
SP
Scott Peterson
May 22, 2006
"Bill Hilton" wrote:

if you really want to do this well I think you should
invest in the program Corel Painter IX, buy a Wacom tablet and buy the book "Painter IX Creativity" by Jeremy Sutton ..

Corel has a special running through the end of the month. You can purchase Painter IX.5 for the upgrade price which is a substantial saving. Go to http://www.corel.com and click on the Painter upgrade promo.

You should also check the O’Reilly Fine Arts Effects Cookbook for CS2. Any good sized bookstore should have it. It describes techniques for applying a number of different painting effects to photographs.

Scott Peterson


The world is full of willing people:
some willing to work and some willing
to let them.

(107/708)

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups 🔥

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections