There are two pictures that I'm considering working on first. The baby is the owner of the hands picture that I posted initially. They are completely unedited (straight from camera-raw).

If you want to play with them and see what you come up with feel free.

Brandi

Brandi:

Thank you for the wonderful pix to work with. :)

I couldn't resist, but who could?
only a quick smudge but i have some other ideas when i get some time

Palms

Thanks for the opportunity to work on these great pictures.

Palms thats a great idea clouds, inspired.

After Danny's B&W on the last posting I thought I'd try one myself, though it's not as good.

Peter

portrait attempt

Geesh! This stinks...way harder than a puppy! :) Here's my first feeble attempt at a portrait. I included the original, the painting, and the painting with texture. This is gonna take some serious time and effort to get good at.
This attempt leaves me with lots of questions...
How short/long should the strokes be?
Which direction should the strokes go...diagonal, up/down, circular?
How do I make it look more like brush strokes without upping the opacity so much that it makes it look blotchy?
Should I give up now?

Thanks for any input.
Brandi

Dont give up Brandi
I think smudging is one of the hardest techniques to "do"
and it differs so much between different subjects and images, with people being the hardest subject but others may disagree and think animals are ?
My thoughts on your questions are (again they may differ from others)
the length of your strokes really depends on what you are smudging i suppose i tend to use a back and forward motion, longer on say hair than on faces ( it is awkward to explain)
Direction sort of go with the flo is the best way i can describe it you got it right on your dog image not sure if you did on that one but start at the outer edge of fur and work you way in so that you sort of overlay each stroke on the one below
enlarge your image and see if it looks more painterly ? smudging does need to be seen big
hope this helps some, ask more questions if you need to

And i will ask you one some "smudgers" sharpen before smudging do you ? I do some times and not others cant make my mind up on that one yet ! ! !

Palms

and another play, Same thought process nearly Peter i thought it would look good as a black and white but with a little selective colour !

Palms

This portrait was done in Photoshop starting with the Impressionist filter followed by smudging and a lot of hand tooling. Finished with a selective application of canvas texture.

Thats nice PM, I thought I'd give this another go myself.

Peter

Just a quick shot at it before heading out the door.

I know, I know....needs work...lol

Shiney baby. :)

Hi, Brandi

I'm new to smudge painting as well. It can be hard! I try to paint in the direction of the area. For example, on her cheeks, I did small strokes, but on the dress I did longer strokes in the direction the dress was going, and on her hair, I just "combed" in the direction of the hair growth. Sorry I didn't leave her leg in the painting, but once I got to pulling the dress out, it just didn't look right.


Don't give up!

Cindy

An illustration this time. :)

Brandi,
Such a nice picture I sort of hated to mess with the pixels..

Thanks for letting us play with your photos Brandi! She's so sweet!

-jordan in cinci

Hi, Brandi

I'm new to smudge painting as well. It can be hard! I try to paint in the direction of the area. For example, on her cheeks, I did small strokes, but on the dress I did longer strokes in the direction the dress was going, and on her hair, I just "combed" in the direction of the hair growth. Sorry I didn't leave her leg in the painting, but once I got to pulling the dress out, it just didn't look right.


Don't give up!

Cindy

Awesome work! I haven't had time to practice on this lately...wedding pics to edit...but this inspires me to try again. :)
Brandi

Here is my quick take. Combo of back and forth between Photoshop & Painter. Comments Welcome. Beautiful portrait was fun to do! (Just picked a name that seemed to fit the baby)

Hello from Texas
This is my first post, so Im not sure exactly what I am doing. I'm new I just found this website last night. I am so excited to be able to learn . I'm new to photoshop also. I have just been learning as I go. I have ALOT to learn.
This baby is adorable. I tried several things with the photographs. Including making a brush out of one and stamping the other.

Hello from Texas
This is my first post, so Im not sure exactly what I am doing. I'm new I just found this website last night. I am so excited to be able to learn. I'm new to photoshop also. I have just been learning as I go. I have ALOT to learn.
This baby is adorable. I tried several things with the photographs. Including making a brush out of one and stamping the other.Welcome to RetouchPRO. You did just fine on your first one.

For being new to Photoshop, your results are very, very impressive. I especially like the way you did the colors.

I look forward to seeing more of your creativity in the future.

Hi, Brandi

I'm new to smudge painting as well. It can be hard! I try to paint in the direction of the area. For example, on her cheeks, I did small strokes, but on the dress I did longer strokes in the direction the dress was going, and on her hair, I just "combed" in the direction of the hair growth. Sorry I didn't leave her leg in the painting, but once I got to pulling the dress out, it just didn't look right.

Don't give up!

CindyHi Cindy...

A belated welcome. Glad you found us. We can always use another member who is accomplished at smudge painting. Your words of advice and encouragement are appreciated.

I especially like how you did the border area on this one. It really ads to the effect.

Hope Im not to late on this thread, I didnt notice and tried to post on a thread that was over a year old lol. Nice picture to try some different things on. Used Swampys stamp pattern method for the backdround with a red filter, surface blur, hue/sat.

Hope Im not to late on this thread, I didnt notice and tried to post on a thread that was over a year old lol. Nice picture to try some different things on. Used Swampys stamp pattern method for the backdround with a red filter, surface blur, hue/sat.It's always OK to add to an existing thread... no matter how long it's been inactive.

Glad you added your interpretation to this thread. I esp. like the BG effect. Swampy's method really worked here.

Im new here but loved this image so much i thought i would smudge it.