Since there has been a lot of interest in Smudge painting brushes, I thought this image I found on Morgue file (http://www.morguefile.com) would work well with his/her beautiful feathers. The full size image can be downloaded off morguefile.com You can search for parrot or by the image file name which is: parrotCn_3220.jpg
Have fun.
~Nancy~

Used my new toy (Eye Candy 3; free version) to create the strokes. Also GIMP's bumpmapping for relief texture. :)

Used my new toy (Eye Candy 3; free version) to create the strokes. Also GIMP's bumpmapping for relief texture. :)

Love that pattern, didn't know Eye Candy had a free version. Will have to go check it out.. Thanks for the ifo!

~Nancy~

went a little wild.

craig

Great project Nancy used Sarsa's hair brush on this one, with opacity at 60%

Palms

Added a second one this time done with Trimoons smudge brush soften edges

Love that pattern, didn't know Eye Candy had a free version. Will have to go check it out.. Thanks for the ifo!

~Nancy~

Hey Nancy; check this link (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12860) out from Danny

lk,

like nancy said, interesting pattern. nicely done :)

and palms, you know i always like your smudges :)

craig

Used the Highpass filter and then selected the lightest grey color. Created a fill layer and Inverted the color and set to Color Dodge. Some additional cleaning and sharpening (also used Flaming Pear's Mr. Contrast filter) and voila. :)

went a little wild.

craig
You should get wild more often! Looks heavenly... like a dreamy effect!

Nice Palms, don't you just love those smudge brushes? I know you have been working with them a while, and it show. :-)

kroll: great sketch effect for just a few steps... very clean. And thanks for the link-wish they had it for mac!

~Nancy~

lk,

i like that. a lot of sketch type results leave out a lot of detail. i prefer, often, those that do more fill, like you've done here. very nice.

nancy,

thank you.
it could only loosely be classified as a smudge. and where i dont recall all the steps, the main one was done with dreamysuite's free plugin, the ghosting/blurring one.

ok, here's a more traditional smudge. this was mostly done with the 'push' tool in Paint Shop Pro 10. only 3 layers were used and the only reason i did that many was because i get to one point and go, 'ok, i like that to this point'. so, i sort of 'save' by making a new layer and continue on the new layer to refine things. generally, each time i add a new layer, i lower the impact of the tools, either by lowering opacity, density, size of the brush, or the type of brush used. this gives you a gradual smoothing and refining effect. this one took roughly 90 minutes or so to do.

craig

Way to go Craig you are getting there ( took your time though :lol: ) Your smudge looks great,

Ikroll good sketch how many different ways of doing a sketch do you know/use?

Nancy thanks, i have been trying to do smudges for some time they do take a LOT of practice, i have posted another one done with a different brush so the different effects they make could be seen

Palms

I like how soft he looks craig, while there is still feather detail.
Well, I'm done with mine. Used both hair and skin brushes, and smudge brush while saturating some of the colors already in the bird. I thought the green in the background was distracting so I used a layer and "color" blend mode alone with hue/sat to change tone it down.

~Nancy~

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palms,

thanks :)

this wasnt quite the traditional smudge work. normally, i wouldnt use the extra layers and gradually fade it down like this. so it's not a 'true smudge' like i see you do and which i like so well. and yes, i'm working on it :)

craig

nancy,

i like that! the extra saturation really did the trick there. i had thought about removing or fading the background on mine and after seeing yours, i think it's the right way to go.

craig

Great project Nancy used Sarsa's hair brush on this one, with opacity at 60%

Palms

Added a second one this time done with Trimoons smudge brush soften edges
I really like the second one, looks really painterly, especially like the beak. I haven't used that brush, will have to give it a try!
~Nancy~

borrowing (flagrantly ripping off) nancy's idea of more saturation, i did that and added some sharpening and removed the green background.

craig

Still can't beat a hand smudge; getting a little tired of my ball mouse (not even an optical). Like I said; maybe by April, I will have some additional dough saved up for a Wacom, but I'm also saving money up for a new (well a good used) car, so priorities will have to be considered. :)

Studio Artist for paint. Photoshop for smudge.

Beautiful birds, everybody! Thanks, Nan for a fun image to play with. I'm not sure about my results, but I was trying out a Jeremy Sutton tutorial on using the Dense Sponge brush in Painter.

Nancy loved your parrot, I now know who to come to for advice instead of struggling along,
Kiska adored the colours on yours he looks quite pearlescent ( think that is how you spell it ! ! !)
Catherine how can you not be sure of your parrot, i think it is smashing

Palms

When I start these things I have no idea where they will end up. It is different though. Craig went one way and I drifted toward the other. A very nice starting photo.

Gee what lovely interpretations; all or them.

I like that craig, especially where you pulled the blue into the beak -very nice.

kiska: beautiful! Love the soft flow of colors; I tried Studio Artist and just couldn't get the hang of it. I had Studio artis 2; what version are you using?

Hey Cat, I tried Jeremy Suttons brushes on a dog the other day, I like that chalky background. Would you mind sharing the url for the tutorial; mine didn't look quite as nice as yours.

Pretty background Phil; is that Photoshop?

Palms: thanks for the nice comments. I'm like Phil, sometimes I start in one direction and find myself somewhere else! lol

~Nancy~


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www.fixthepixs.com
www.datepixs.com

Yes Nanis I made the background in Photoshop. I agree there are a lot of very nice intrepretations of this lovely bird.

Thanks Nancy!, I have SA 3.0, they've just come out with 3.5. The interface is horrible, really a struggle, but the brushes (paint patches) are fantastic.

Thanks, Palms. :classic:
Nan, that's a tutorial on one of his Painter IX Simplified DVDs.

thanks nancy :) it was your idea :)

kiska,
quite the rainbow parrot there. nice :)

cat,
i like that effect/technique. in all honesty, i like the background more than the parrot :)

phil,
that's quite original. it has a sort of glassine or ice crystal look to it. very nice!

craig

this one is not a smudge at all. in fact, it's just about the reverse. but it seemed inappropriate to start another thread on the same picture.

this was done using the eye candy demo plugin and a 'blend emboss' filter. there was also a gray fill layer with a burn blend. i just liked the colors and definition of it.

craig

Just a quick effect with smudging and conte crayon.
MargaretM

that's an interesting effect, margaret. almost looks like a silkscreen. what is the 'conte crayon'? not familiar with that.

craig

Heh Craig. Conte crayon is similar to colored chalk and has been around a while. Some impressionist work was done with these. Photoshop has a filter - Filter-sketch-conte crayon. I liked the effect - a happy accident!
MargaretM

thanks margaret :)

craig

A finger painting smudge followed by a small amount of dry brush filter

cass,

very nice. could you clarify what you mean by 'finger painting smudge'? i mean, i know what finger painting is and i know what smudge is, but is there some filter or tool you're using for this?

craig

Craig thank you.

Using Photoshop CS2 in which the smudge tool has a finger painting option which slightly changes the smudge affect including starting a new area with an addition of colour taken from the foreground colour I think.

ah, ok. thanks cass :)

craig

Sorry not a smudge one

Peter

Sorry not a smudge one

Peter

But very nice nevertheless.

Janet