Original
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2036/2092194326_a429b6c6ce_o.jpg

Painter version
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2117/2092194988_ab9d09be7f_o.jpg

If anyone could give me the prper way to post thumbnails for this site, I would appreciate it.

If that is your first attempt boy are you going to go far when you have put more practice in

Palms

What Palms said. :-)

Kelly ...agree with Palms and Swampy...your first try is great...cant wait to see what you do next!!!

Patricia............:grin:

Well done Kelly and welcome. My first attempts at Painter did not come close to this good. No kidding. :)

re: If anyone could give me the prper way to post thumbnails for this site, I would appreciate it.

What you did is fine; see link below my sig. for another method. E-mail or PM me (click my name above left) if you get stuck. Glad to help.

Look forward to seeing more of your artwork...

Kelly:

There's many ways to do this kind of thing. This example is to give you some "food for thought" and should not be construed as "mine is better than yours," OK? Just something to chew on.

I added some contrast and added some saturation to the colors, plus "smushed" the fence detail and other edge lines a bit. In the original the fence looked a little too photographic, which conflicted with rest of the painterly look.

FYI: I think this would make a great BW print, too! :) It's a terrific photo.

Thanks everyone for your kind words.
Danny,
The contrast and sat. was definately needed. Thanks for that advice.
I removed the straw from the fence and will have a go at your smudging of the fence. Did you do all of your edits in photoshop?
I appreciate you taking the time to assist me with this one.
Kelly

Here's my latest attempt after all your advice. Thanks to all of you!
Kelly
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/2095558208_eb835e9216_o.jpg

Thanks everyone for your kind words.
Danny,
The contrast and sat. was definately needed. Thanks for that advice.
I removed the straw from the fence and will have a go at your smudging of the fence. Did you do all of your edits in photoshop?
I appreciate you taking the time to assist me with this one.
KellyI like where you're going with ver 2.0. To me it definitely looks more "painted" and my eyes were not drawn to the fence upon first open.

Thanks for the reminder: It was late and I meant to mention I did the smooshing in Painter (using Grainy Blender and Oil Pastel > Chunky Oil Pastel as a cloner at times, as a blender at others [set Resat = 0]) and the color and contrast tweaks using Photoshop adjustment layers (Hue/Sat, Curves, Levels).

I usually:
* Add an adjustment layer
* Make the settings... perhaps on the "too much" side
* Airbrush with black on the mask to suppress the effect where I don't want it, e.g., on his face where saturation boost wasn't warrented.
* Tweak Opacity to dial it in.

Thanks Danny!
Kelly