PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #11 - Granddaughter of Jim Caffrey

Here’s another “mini-challenge” to play with in the Photo-based Art category.

Unlike “official challenges” for this forum which can be found here (http://www.retouchpro.com/challenge/index.html), this one will be self-contained within this thread. It is intended as an opportunity to engage in this artform until the next official challenge is posted.

The rules are more-or-less the same:
* It’s a challenge, not a contest -- intended to provide opportunities to experiment, share methods and/or techniques.
* Everyone who participates is a winner.
* There’s no expiration date.

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PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #11 - Granddaughter of Jim Caffrey

This is the image Jim used as a basis for the terrific Art History Brush tutorial (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2846) he wrote. I thought it was a lovely image and with Jim's permission, I'm posting it as a mini-challenge subject.

Convert it to photo-art using your best techniques.

------------------

Guidelines:
1. Use any method, application(s), style(s) you like:
. * Convert to sketch, grayscale, abstract, watercolor, oil painting, pen-and-ink, Conte crayon, impasto, van Gogh or any style of your choosing
. * Add elements from other images (collage)
. * Hand painting? Tracing? Freehand? You bet. Always appreciate entries of this nature.
. * Apply filters from your favorite application(s)
. * Tweak it with 3rd party plug-ins

Bottom line:
How you create this masterpiece makes no difference. Whatever floats your boat as long as you follow guideline #4 in the process.

2. When done, reply to this thread and attach your work (don’t forget the 100kb size limit).

Note: Multiple entries OK if you’re so inspired.

3. By all means include some verbiage on how you achieved your masterpiece so others will benefit from your skills and experience. Make it as descriptive as you like. Grammar and spelling will not be graded. Priority given to content, not how it is written.

4. Have fun.

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By now you're probably stomping at the bit to get started, aren't you? That's good! Go for it.

In the mean time keep having FUN!

~DannyR~

Painter and soft portrait actions (from Danny's link (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3436)) and some blend modes and curves and levels.
:wavey:

here's mine ;)

She's so sweet and angelic, I tried for the simplest possible look, keeping it as gentle and delicate as possible--aiming for simplicity (fewest lines, fewest colors) and soft pastel coloring.

First I outlined with Sandi's method (two layers, B/W, invert top, blend mode color-dodge, gaussian blur, multiply, repeat as needed) using motion blur set at a higher than usual number to get some smudging/shadows as well as the outlines. Then I clicked the KPT "electrify" blur filter several times to soften it up, then lowered the contrast on that layer to get rid of all the white and colorized it to skin tone. Combined this layer with "luminosity" over the original picture used "smart blur."

The hair was gray instead of brown, and too blurred with no detail, so I put another original underneath, and erased away all but the hair, then erased over the hair with a very low opacity eraser, then smart-blurred the hair again a bit to match the rest of the picture.

Phyllis
www.innographx.com

...first i applied the evm watercolor action, then i merged everything and hit ctrl+J.
applied flamingpear "swap red/blue" to the new layer, inverted it and put the layer
in burn mode at 80%. i then painted her face with a brush using an olive color and
lighten mode. Merged the layers and played with color balance and hue & saturation.
...i think that was what i did, sorry, made it in a hurry and didn't pay that much attention
to what i was doing...btw i could have thrown away the texture layer in the early stage and
put it on later cause now it looks quite odd when it only appears on her skin.

Some very creative renditions here...

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PHIL:

Excellent results from your combination of effects and methods. Colors came out kinda like stained glass-like.
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CHIQUITTA:

A somber, yet tender effect you achieved. Nicely done.
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PHYLLIS:

I especially like this one. The subtly blurred pastel-like colors are very effective.

Nice job on the hair restore, too. My wife wanted to know if you could do the same for me! :)
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EVM:

What a unique approach you took. Very, very interesting. Appreciate you spelling out the details the best way you could.

Hope to see more of your work in the future. WELCOME to RetouchPRO!
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In an attempt to get a "sketchy look" my entry was created using the 'Watercolor and Ink' effect from Media Chance's PhotoBrush (http://www.mediachance.com/pbrush/index.html) program against a desatuated version of the image.

Duplicated the layer and ran Waterpaper filter against it for a little texture; used a layer mask to selectively apply the effect.

Keep 'em coming.

~DannyR~

Here's my submission, I just messed around a bit with Paint Shop Pro 7 and jasc's virtual painter filter until I got an effect I liked.

Wow, Ken... This is really unique.

How in the world did you get such cool mix if different sized tiles?

The differing tile sizes are built into the filter so I can't take all the credit.

I wonder if that "tile" effect could be done with Photoshop's pixellate filter and selected areas of an image. I'll probably have to try it NOW. Thanks. Just what I needed - another thing to add to my "to do" list!
:wavey:

Mystery solved...

I wuz barking up the wrong tree. I thought it had to be a Paint Shop Pro filter that Ken used.

Not true.

It's the Rectangles effect within the Jasc Virtual Painter (plugin) that he used. Its built-in intelligence detects blocks of similar colors and edges, and sizes rectangles accordingly.


Ken: You just made my day! Thanks. You may not be able to take credit for how the filter works, but you sure can take credit for using it and posting the results.

Shoot: I never knew VP could do this.

I was so inspired by this discovery that I generated another version. Using an image based on Paint Engine and Photoshop's Dry Brush, the VP Rectangles effect was applied to a copy of the final layer. The VP layer was then Embossed and the blend mode set to Overlay. The effect was "painted in" via a layer mask.

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Phil:

I'm sure you could do something like this with Photoshop Mosaic filter on multiple layers with layer masks, but it would sure be a headache to customize for each image.

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One thing's for sure: I had FUN tonight on this one.

Cheers...

~DannyR~

Very cool Danny, I was surprized in the filter too, I haven't made much use of it yet and I've had it awhile now.

Smart Blur: R=68, T=28
Texturizer: S=50, R=2, Light=btm lft

Here is my efforts with this mini challenge... I used Photo Impact 7 and one of the available (from PI users) tasks, similar to Photoshop actions.

with my last post, but it didn't upload my image for the challenge. I'm trying it again.

I can hardly believe this is actually my first posting of a mini-art challenge. I've been enjoying all the wonderful submissions and hope to participate more in the future. So, here's a short description (as if anything I do is short - ha ha)...

I used my tried and true method of duplicated the layer. Selected all on dup layer and inverted. Then change mode to grayscale mode without flattening the layers. Change blending mode to Color Dodge and then Filter Blur Gaussian blur until I like the result. To clean up areas I thought were over saturated with this method - I used the color dropper and chose the white areas to match. Then I used the airbrush and cleaned up what I didn't want. After that, I changed back to RGB mode. Saved the picture naming it Grandaughter charcol. Then I opened the original - selected all, copy and pasted into the grandaughter charcol image. Then changed the blend mode to one that worked. In this case hard light - most time I use soft. After that, I used select color range and chose the darkened areas. I applied a filter , brush stroke cross hatch to these areas to soften the image and make it more like a drawing. The last stage was to save it and open it over in Painter 7. I fooled around with the oil brushes and then - that was that! Did I say something about a short description???

Lisa
P.S. Miss you guys!

Nice work Lisa!

Beautiful, Lisa, I love it:)

Wanda

Jim, beautiful grandaugher:) Thanks for the opportunity! I painted the photo in Painter Classic using, just add water brush. Opened in Photoshop, dupe, circular vignette, mask, painted until the subject was almost uncovered. Opened in Painter Classic, selected the subject with lasso tool, fill, granite, scale, 360%, opacity, I think around 15%. She's not as refined as I would like, but I see I will never get it posted if I don't do it now!! At the moment my peach trees are calling me, and I have to make jam. Lots of it!! Thanks, Danny for the mini-art challenges:)

Wanda

Very nice, Lisa. The charcoal look is perfect for the mood of the picture.

Gene

Lisa:
"Selected all on dup layer and inverted. Then change mode to grayscale mode without flattening the layers. Change blending mode to Color Dodge and then Filter Blur Gaussian blur until I like the result. [etc.]"

Very effective method and thanks for sharing it...can't wait to try this.

It's a great job...I especially like the way you added brush strokes to the hair...very realistic.

Phyllis
www.innographx.com

Wanda, what I love about your rendition is that it looks like an old master did it...one of those guys who could make a painting look like extremely realistic. Almost like working backwards...making a photo look like a painting that is so good it almost looks like a photo! Excellent job!

Phyllis

I'm not sure if this really qualifies as art but here it is. Lots of layers and masks.

Sure it's art. If a pile of bricks in a London art salon can draw millions of people and thousands of dollars, then something as beautiful as what you've done, not to mention spent time doing, certainly classifies. That's a really good job.
Debbie

Thanks Debbie. :) I certainly had fun doing it.

:)

Phyllis, you make me :blush: I've seen your work, such encouraging comments makes me feel hopeful that I may be doing something right:question: Thanks so much!!

Wanda

:)

Of course it "qualifies as art":) VERY creative, and very cool. You have quite the imagination, but that's what makes for a great Artist. Love it:)

wanda

Thanks for the kind words Wanda.

Slightly off subject but good luck with the jam making. :) My wife does this too so I know it's a lot of work.

my attempt with the history brush, also added some texture.

:)
evm, now that is mighty fine:) You can do that with the History Brush, WOW!! I'm going to check that brush out. Thanks:D

Wanda

Very nice evm, especially the background :)

thanks, i never bothered with the art history brush until a week ago when i found out it's quite neet. this is how i approached it:
(a more thorough explanation can be found in the "photoshop wow 6 or 7 book", quite a good book)

open image

new layer - fill with black - opacity 70-80% (lower if result is to dark)

make a snapshot

new layer again this will be the art brush painting area - change this layer to overlay (or dó it at a later stage)

select the art history brush, i used these settings:

an artsy brush 14-20 px, mode normal, opacity 85%, style tight short, fidelity 85%, area 50 px, spacing 3%, brush dynamics size:stylus, opacity:off

i just painted all over and then ran a smaller brush along facial lines etc.

change layer to overlay if you haven't done so, i think i used three layers with different brushes.

i also merged all layers, then ctrl+J and ctrl+shift+U, applied the emboss filter (height 1 pix, amount 400%), changed layer to overlay 20% opacity. after all this i applied the texturizer filter on two layers of 50% gray, one vertical & one horizontal, i think i changed them to softlight or overlay (can't remember, sorry) and lowered the opacity a whole lot.

hope this helps, i'm not that good at writing tutorials and especially not in english!:)

Granddaughter


What an attractive little girl, however I don’t like the two black discs that her eyes have turned into … therefore I decided to give blue eyes (I don’t know what the real color of her eyes are). You will notice the change of feeling of the picture. I also decided to put her on a piece of canvas.

Duplicated image.

Selected the eyes individualy and put them on separate layers by Layer > New > Layer Via Copy. Went to color picker and selected the colors for the eyes and applied them with the Air Brush Tool at a pressure of 58 and a fade of 3, adjusted to opacity.

Selected Filter > Texturizer: Texture - Canvas, Scaling - 75%, Relief - 3 and Light Direction - Top Left.

Adjusted contrast with Layer > New > Adjustment > Curves.

Flattened.

Don

Don:

Glad to see you're nibbling away at the minis. Always good to get fresh perspectives on these.

RE: Eye tweaking
I like your intentions here. The improved eye appearance and application of the color is excellent; doesn't look "painted on" at all to me.

To me the resulting color is a little too light (blue-wise) and was mildly distracting.

You didn't mention it in your writeup (another nice job w/detail, btw), but here's another way to selectively apply color. If you haven't used it before, it affords considerable flexibility:
* Create a hue/saturation adjustment layer above the target layer; click the 'colorize' box (image will go sort of red-ish; not to worry)
* Adjust the hue, saturation and lightness sliders until you get approximately the eye color you're looking for; OK when done to close the dialog box.
* CTRL + I to invert the adjustment layer (thumbnail goes black; colorization disappears)
* With airbrush set to fairly low pressure (20%-30% or so) and foreground color of white, airbrush onto the adustment layer (eyes) to reveal the color. Switch to black to "undo" or correct.

You can then open the adjustment layer to further tweak the sliders for the final look.

Later when some fussy critic (or mother or whomever) says something like, "Hmmm. Blue is nice, but I really wish you would have done them in green," no sweat. Open the hue/sat adjustment layer, adjust sliders accordingly, and you're done (for the moment).

This method works whether or not you've modified the original (like you did here) to repair the eyes beforehand like you did this time to add back some iris area.

Anyway keep plowin' away. Glad to see you're experimenting and having fun.

~DannyR~

DannyR

I appreiate you taking the time give me this tip ... as you have gathered I am new to this and I accept any help I can get.Thanks again.

Don

This interpretation was a result of practicing techniques described in Friends of Ed's Photoshop Face to Face.

Beam me up, Truman! Very cosmic and as realistic as sci-fi images can be.

Too bad "real" cosmetic surgery can't be performed using these wonder tools! :D On second thought, maybe it's a blessing.

RE: Face to Face book.
I was a little disappointed at the overall (lack of) value to me, but maybe I'll give it a second read.

Face to Face is definately a light read, but I find the images inspiring. Luckily I have a book budget at work :pleased:, or I probably wouldn't have gone beyond flipping through it in the bookstore.

Truman, that's an awesome image! I have saved it to my keeper file.

How did you make those wings?

Phyllis

Phillis, here's how:

1. Create layer and fill with white, then sketch in the wing shape with black - filling the entire wing shapes with black. Blur significantly with Gaussian blur. Then refocus the blurred shape by tightening up the white and black points with the levels dialog box (this, of course, is an old Photoshop trick for creating smooth shapes).
2. Use a channel of the new layer as an alpha channel and create a selection.
3. Create a new layer for the wing's drop-shadows; set the layer fill to 0% and then fill with a solid color. This gives you a tranparent object with drop shadows. This really wasn't a necessity with this image since the background is so dark, but I thought it added a little something to it.
4. Create a new layer and fill the same selection with a solid color. This is the base layer for the wing. Set opacity REALLY LOW. I used 9%. Set blending mode to Stroke (center, white). This creates the edge highlights.
5. Create another layer and brush in wiggly white "veins" within the same selection. Blur slightly and add Outer Glow blending mode. Set opacity low (ie. 5%) and duplicate the layer for stronger effect.
6. Create another layer using same selection and handpaint thick blue and black streaks for the wing wrinkles/folds. Blur significantly and set blending mode to Soft Light. Adjust layer opacity to taste.
7. Create a final layer using the same selection for a depth cue. Fill the selection with a solid-to-transparent gradient, radiating from the base of the wings to the top. This will add the sense that the wings are more transparent as they get farther away from the body.

As I said in my original post, this was practicing techniques described in Friends of Ed's Photoshop Face to Face, specifically - Chapter 5, Fantasy, pp 122-131, Nalith-Fairy.

Truman

Truman
Your work is great and inspiring to look at.. I learned a lot just from looking at your screenshot of your layer pallet..My layer pallet looks like beef stew compared to your organized work..thanks for sharing..

I have been working on glazing techniques and thought I would try it on a portrait..Jim's beautiful grandaughter is a great subject. Here is first try at a portrait..

Jerry
:D

Jerry, that's lovely...perfect treatment for a young girl...bet she'll love it!

Phyllis

Here's my try;

If you go and see my album I have used almost the same method her as I did on my Cold Blue. To give it that "Cold Blue-effect" I used "Selective Color" and tweeked neutral and white several times(after converting it to greyscale, then RGB). Used the erasertool on a small amount to take away those details in the face that wasn't neccesary. Turned up the contrast.

Then I wasn't satisfied with the lack of detail in the eyes, so I took a photo of one of my steph-sons and rubberstamped some detail from that photo's eyes to this photo.

Finally, I pasted the original photo in as a new layer, used the erasortool to get all the detail from the eyes showing through, and then tweeked the opasity of the original quite much to get that "clean" look". As usual, with these challenges I learned a bunch while working on it. I think it got almost a hand-colored feel to it. And this beautiful girl almost have a Mona Lisa dignety, don't you think?

;)Trine

This is the layer I merged with the original

Jerry - thanks for the organizational compliment. The ironic side of it is that I have a reputation at work for having the messiest office around.

Trine - I took a peek at your website. One word: gorgeous. You have an excellent eye for color and composition.

Truman

JERRY...

I keep likin' how you're using this technique. Very nice rendition.

= = = = = =
TRINE...

This is a very interesting technique. The results are so subtle, almost angelic.

Thanks for sharing more of your experience with us.

~Danny~

Anyone any idea how I could show the pages in this attempt.
Frank

This is brilliant, Frank! You're a real breath of fresh air. Sure glad you got those upload issues resolved!

If you have a digital camera, could you not just photograph a stand-in book from one end and slice/dice/stretch that?

It would probably be very difficult to get a decent image from a flatbed scanner.

Frank, very clever idea to make a book jacket. I just love the way folks here think...always something new! Hey, those are my copyrighted words on the back! I DEMAND ROYALTIES! (Dialing my lawyer... :) )

To show the pages peeking out at the bottom, I would suggest using a picture of an actual book in that position and drawing from it, over it, or just cheating and incorporating the book pages into your picture.

Trine, what a delicate result you got...worth the time for sure! And you're right...she DOES have a Mona Lisa look! Someone should put her in that painting, don't you think? Anyone up for it?

Phyllis (too lazy!)

This looked easy! Or so I thought! Photographed a book and then a lot of distorting, perspective, skewing etc to get it all to line up and fit. Good exercise though.
Thanks for the kind comments, I'm new to digital and Photoshop this year, perhaps there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel now. :)
I registered in August but for various reason didn't start here until yesterday. Now I've started, you might be sorry! :tongue:

Phyllis, I have always loved a challenge. So, here she is, the Grandaughter as Mona Lisa, or maybe Mona Lisa's grandaughter?:tongue:

Frank...
I'd say you just "wrote the book" on creating a book cover. Just sensational!

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Trine:
Totally cute. Great color and texture matching.

Frank, excellent job on adding book pages...even got the shadow.

Trine, that's really lovely... you even gave her the famous Mona Lisa smile.

I got unlazified (?) and gave it a try myself. Didn't change her face at all...just "glued it down." :)

Phyllis

Frank the book renditions is awsome.

Trine & Phyliss you did a great job on the Mona LIsa, where did you get the picture. I need to build my clipart up.

Here is a new thing I just learned and the variations are limitless.

Phili, nice sketch! I like the way you did the background too.

Is that the same method that is on the Shanzan site? I call it the blur/dodge sketch method...first posted here this past summer by Sandy. Shanzan's site is great, btw.

Don't remember where I got Mona Lisa...but she's all over the web, I'm sure.

Phyllis

Yes Phyliss. I have been experimenting with it and its use and changability is vast. The last one I used color dodge this one linear

Another variation. I love this action it has so many variables.

Phili, love the tones and brush strokes in that last one. Keep em coming! Let us know what other good combinations you come up with, ok?

Phyllis

All Challenges were very interesting to view. Thought I'd do some painting with light.

Looker thats great. You obtained a 3 dementional look. I like the lighting effect. Nice job

I had to edit my reply. I really ike your rendition, it a for sale type job.

I guess what I liked most was her smile....

This is all done in Photoshop CS.

I started out by touching up her eyes, lips, and eyebrows with the rubber stamp tool.

Next, I used Dave's Simplifier Action (available at http://atncentral.com/download.htm), lowered the opacity of the simplifier layer to 40%, then flattened the image.

I made 2 duplicate layers, then turned off the visibility of the top layer and selected the middle layer.

In the middle layer, I chose Filter>Brush Strokes>Angled Strokes 50-4-3, and set this layer to Hard Light Blend Mode.

Next I selected the top layer and applied the MS Impressionist Filter, using the Natural:Gauze Underlay Style, and changed the brush size to 58%.Then I set this layer to Overlay Blend Mode, at 85% opacity.

After that, just a little touch-up with the rubber stamp and dodge tools, and flattened the image.

I was going for the rich but aged look of an old classic painting.

What a lovely young lady.


This is my first post on RetouchPro.... be kind :-)


Sharon

Sharon--here's an unofficial welcome :) (Danny's out of town for a few days). It's great to see new people and new ideas. Thumbs up on both the art and explaining how you did it.

I like this place.....nice people and tons of good ideas. I have been learning a lot here.

Sharon

Wow lots of great examples... Though I have to learn to check the dates on these.. this one seems to be an old one oops :)
but still fun

I too am newish to submitting, though I do love Art Tag!! Wink Wink .. you should all give it a try... Come find us in the Studio :thumbsup:

ok nuff of that campaigning for more players

heres my attempt at this fun project..

Ok I have never been good at keeping track of what I do to an image...
taking time to take note never seems to come naturally during the creative process... ;)


So bare with me as I try to explain a bit

I tried to stay away from filters as I rely on them a lot some times. So only filter used is G.Blur.
I relied this time on layers, inverting, layer styles, curve and opacity. 12 layers later but only 7 in use I got this result.
The textures on the body and back ground is an image I got of a tree trunk really close up, her hair is a close up of a large bush, had a nature theme going here

that's it,
Sorry again for a lack of real details, going to try creating actions so to have a record of
the path I take

Kissed

I tried to add magic to this portrait. First buzz slightly, then xero lithograph on one layer and another with VP pointillism.

AmyHutton

Photofixer: A big ditto on what Cheryl said; it's always great to have new folks join us. There's always room in the pool. Appreciate the "how to" info, too.

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Kissed:

Very, very nice and no problem creating w/o filters and plugins. Yours is a very refreshing and creative approach.

Also, it's perfectly okay to take a swipe at older threads. None of these ever expire = there's always one to try. If you see one you like, give it a go.

- - - - - - -

Amy: You just keep getting better and better the more you do this stuff. It's fun to watch you spread your wings and continue to grow.

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CH: Thanks for pinch hitting for me. Ya done good! :)

~Danny~

Historical note:

This photo was contributed by Jim Caffrey, one of the charter members of this forum. Although Jim passed away about a year ago, his artwork lives on here at RetouchPRO. Do a search via his profile and check out some of his beautiful creations.

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It's been awhile since I looked through this thread and was amused by my earlier contributions. I'm happier with the results I got with this set of interpretations than the ones posted before. I can honestly see that my "style" (if you can call it that) is maturing, which is a good thing, I guess.

I used the Microsoft Impressionist plugin, Virtual Painter plugin and common Photoshop filters to generate several layers, which were blended and combined using layer masks and layer blend modes. See the Layers Palette snapshot for the details. Don't hesitate to ask (or send e-mail or PM) if you have questions.

The first version was intended to look like a chalk sketch. (In the Layers Palette snapshot, this is layer "I.")

The second version was rendered by applying the Virtual Painter Oil Painting effect on layer "I." (This was a CherylH suggestion and I really like the Watercolor-like, smudged effect.) Although it looked pretty cool in grayscale, I added color just for something different: Duplicated the original Background, dragged it to the top of the layer stack, changed the blend mode to Color and lowered the opacity.

~Danny~

Extensis Intellihance Pro Soft Enhance
Xero Fuzzifier
Dave's Simplifier (Last Half)
Changed Opacity to 50%

Cheers
Duv

I like what i did ..she looks like a sweet senorita (at least to me!)

Here's another done with my favorite toys...ps7, impressionist, virtual p., buzz. Layers Palette shown below.

Holy Smokes! Absolutley incredible work on this thread! I agree she worked exceptionall well for the Mona Lisa, and I absolutlely loved the fairy! What is really neat about looking at an old thread is to see how people have refined their techniques and preferences.

Was sad to read Jim has passed away, he has a lovely grandaughter.

I have been fiddling with some variations with the basic steps I used on another portrait, here are my steps.

I did all the preliminary work in Corel Photopaint just because I am more
familiar with it than Photoshop. I have only had photoshop for about a year
and still have much to learn about it.

-desaturated original
-adjusted color balance- shadows a dusky blue, highlights peachy
-ran Paint Alchemy (a variant of sponge clip) the Impressionist filter
would work great too (a spongy look, geez I love that plug, It's incredible!)
-saved this as image1
-opened original and desaturated about 50% ?
-saved as image2

-opened image1 in Painter 8 this was the working image
-opened image2 in Painter, set this as the clone source
-added a new layer in image1 and used a smeary camel varient set to clone
her face and edge of hair. Set this layer to 50% transp
-added a new watercolor layer and touched up the eyes, lips, hair and added
some red in her shirt
-dropped all layers and added paper texture, parchment.

-cropped, resized, unsharpen mask to bring back clarity

Holy Smokes! Absolutley incredible work on this thread! I agree she worked exceptionall well for the Mona Lisa, and I absolutlely loved the fairy! What is really neat about looking at an old thread is to see how people have refined their techniques and preferences.

Was sad to read Jim has passed away, he has a lovely grandaughter.

I have been fiddling with some variations with the basic steps I used on another portrait, here are my steps.

I did all the preliminary work in Corel Photopaint just because I am more
familiar with it than Photoshop. I have only had photoshop for about a year
and still have much to learn about it.

-desaturated original
-adjusted color balance- shadows a dusky blue, highlights peachy
-ran Paint Alchemy (a variant of sponge clip) the Impressionist filter
would work great too (a spongy look, geez I love that plug, It's incredible!)
-saved this as image1
-opened original and desaturated about 50% ?
-saved as image2

-opened image1 in Painter 8 this was the working image
-opened image2 in Painter, set this as the clone source
-added a new layer in image1 and used a smeary camel varient set to clone
her face and edge of hair. Set this layer to 50% transp
-added a new watercolor layer and touched up the eyes, lips, hair and added
some red in her shirt
-dropped all layers and added paper texture, parchment.

-cropped, resized, unsharpen mask to bring back clarity

A simply lovely interpretation. Jim is certainly smiling about this one.

~Danny~

Hadn't spotted this lovely lass until today.

PSP8.1

Smudged everything.
PR Brightness Filter
Darkened Eyebrows
Impressionist/Fluffbutt2 - Stevie Goache/Modified.
Added two layers - One Soft Light 30%
Other Multiply 40%
Merged and flattened.
Added canvas texture.
Also darkenedd outside edges slightly.

Northernshadow, I love yours!

Here's mine.

I was looking for images to practice portrait techniques and thought this one fit the bill!

I used TM watercolor AHB, highpass filter, smudging, and texture.

I was looking for images to practice portrait techniques and thought this one fit the bill!

I used TM watercolor AHB, highpass filter, smudging, and texture.Glad you took a shot at this one. It's one of my favorites.

This thread was started a couple years before the "portraits" subforum was started by one of the founding members of the photo-art forum. Although Jim passed away about a year ago, I'm sure he would haved liked this interpretation a lot.

She's such a cute little girl!

My goal was to achieve a soft painterly effect without losing detail in her face.

Can't remember how I did this... arrrgh... I tried several approaches and liked this one best.

To many other subtle steps to mention. :)

Used this as practise to become more familiar with Painter. Painted from a cloned source with canvas texture. Many more great creative versions than mine here but Photoart is my "Sunday hobby".
Margaret M

Did another version - tried to make a delicate pencil sketch. Used just Photoshop here and inverted, then blurred. Such a delightful subject!

Used this as practise to become more familiar with Painter. Painted from a cloned source with canvas texture. Many more great creative versions than mine here but Photoart is my "Sunday hobby".
Margaret MSo it looks like the "pencil sketch" would be your "Monday hobby," right?

(I'm pulling your leg, here... :)) Both are very nicely done, Margaret. Glad to see you're getting into Painter. It has a lot of potential.

So it looks like the "pencil sketch" would be your "Monday hobby," right?
Thanks Danny - I'm hoping to come up today with a Tuesday hobby as well, and so avoid real work three days in a row.
Yes Painter is interesting - I need a quick and dirty Tutorial on different kinds of brushes and their resulting strokes. The choice is so extensive and baffling to a non-artist like myself.
Keep up the good work - MargaretM.

Hi all,
Love this picture and all the entries so far.
Tried another waterycolour effort.

Paint Shop Pro

coloured edges
desaturated and lightened
VP oils

Second layer of rough black brushstrokes set to OVERLAY
adjusted sliders on brushstrokes.

Merged all and unsharp mask.

Regards to all,
Mitch.

Hi all,
Love this picture and all the entries so far.
Tried another waterycolour effort.

Paint Shop Pro

coloured edges
desaturated and lightened
VP oils

Second layer of rough black brushstrokes set to OVERLAY
adjusted sliders on brushstrokes.

Merged all and unsharp mask.

Regards to all,
Mitch.
Wow. Very nice interpretation. I espcially like the texturing.

Did you manually paint the brushstrokes with Paint Shop Pro?

Been lurking here off and on for a while now, thinking that some day when I had more time, I'd start participating in lots of challenges and really immerse myself in this really cool corner of the net you guys have built here, but I finally decided that since it could be a while before I make it to that vast oasis of freetime, better at least stick a toe in here and there when I've got a chance. So when I saw this mini-challenge, I thought I'd give it a try.

Fair warning, I come from the world of fanart, don't know what kind of a rep that has around these parts, but, you know, I see a picture of a pretty girl, can't help following my same old familiar fanart procedures... which in this case is (1) layer on stock images I happen to have on the harddrive in various opacities and blend modes (2) because I'm using PS5 without gradiant map adjustment layers, use mehdi's free gradiant smithy plugin to replicate a gold-to-violet gradiant, setting the layer to soft-light (3) Use adjustment layers (levels and selective colors) to further tweak the colors/contrast.

vvs,

welcome to RetouchPRO!

lovely rendition! you've brought out what i saw as the 'mona lisa' quality this image had from the start. you really see it in your work. very well done!

Craig

Hi Danny,

Sorry, I,ve only just come back to this thread. The brushstokes were from a Tut I downloaded some time ago. I just resize or cut to suit. Until I get a tablet I'll have to give up on Paint Shop Pro brushes. With a mouse they're full on and off - or it's just me. The brushstrokes were a scan of 'real' paint on paper.

Regards to all,
Mitch.

mime time! i've always wanted to be an actress, mime's good, too ;)

pozdrawiam!

thana,

how cool :) first mime i've seen someone do that. it's now mime favorite ;)

Craig

I love the old world look of the beautiful girl. I thought I would give her a renaissance look. I edited the photo, Hue&sat, levels, color match to a Leonardo painting, smudge brush set to oils, crackle texture overlay mode. I added a different background and arch.

Cathy :pleased:

Very well done, Cathy!

Does anybody know if pierced ears are historically accurrate?

Pierre

Thanks Pierre. I think that women's ears have been pierced for centuries, especially if they were wearing valuble jewels.

Cathy

cathy,

i love that look also. just cant beat the classics! and i love your crackling! nice job :)

Craig

pencil sketch... interesting effect.
~Nancy~

Thanks Craig. I think the girl is lovely and that she has an "old world" look. :grin:

Nice work Nancy. I really like the effect.

Cathy
:classic:

Isn't she beautiful!

I did this in painter9.

Its a cross between adding chalk, and then cloning then taking it to photoshop7 and changing the hues etc, basically i just go with the flow and see how it comes out, i dont have a method on each picture its just a shot in the dark LOL!

I use the mouse not a tablet and pen.

Ella

Blimey its like being new again i cannot suss out the uploading it to 100kb it will have to do its almost 2am.

definitely mediteranean renaissance, cathy. lovely :)

Craig

Merging my new Highpass sketch technique for color (set the result to value with the original as base) for this one. Had to do some additional cleanup work and colorization, so this one is not all filters. :)

Great photo and really nice Mona Lisa interpretation, perfect for the classic mood of this.
I tried similar, making it look like an old painting. I used tone curves and a tinted yellowy layer to adjust the colours, then duplicated a few times, used blurs on one layer, smudges on another and a lighting effects filter to texturise and try to add depth, then played with opacities to find something i liked. I overdid her neck area smudging so copied from the original and used lightness mode and a low opacity to put a bit of texture back.

Great photo and really nice Mona Lisa interpretation, perfect for the classic mood of this.
I tried similar, making it look like an old painting. I used tone curves and a tinted yellowy layer to adjust the colours, then duplicated a few times, used blurs on one layer, smudges on another and a lighting effects filter to texturise and try to add depth, then played with opacities to find something i liked. I overdid her neck area smudging so copied from the original and used lightness mode and a low opacity to put a bit of texture back.This is a lovely image and I'm glad you did an interpretation of it. You definitely have a knack for this sort of thing. Keep 'em coming.

~Danny~

You certainly nailed the look you were trying for. Very well done!

Looks almost like you took a photo of a renaissance painting in a gallery.

Just great!

Steve

I love the old world look of the beautiful girl. I thought I would give her a renaissance look. I edited the photo, Hue&sat, levels, color match to a Leonardo painting, smudge brush set to oils, crackle texture overlay mode. I added a different background and arch.

Cathy :pleased:

Cartoonish effect using Photoshop cutout filter, layers, and a bit of touchup cloning.

Steve

Thanks Danny, I'm having fun, trying to improve and will hopefully post more for critique soon.


Angela

What a lovely little girl. :-) Thanks for the photo, Danny

Objective: To soften the stark hard lines created by the flat dark hair (head outline) and the dress neckline and render a very soft pastel version.

Used quickmask to select the subject and copy to a new layer.

Created a new layer and filled it with a soft parchment color and added texture. Placed this layer above the selection layer

Used a very soft drybrush at very low opacity and the eraser tool to paint through the textured layer below.

Added another textured layer above the first and with the same drybrush, painted in the mottled background.

Merged all and recropped.

These images aren't actually being shown to this girl are they? I may be losing it... http://www.jereme.com/clients/challenges/granddaughter.jpg

What an old thread this is.
Time to revisit
Great picture.
An experiment from me

Peter