FIRST MINI-CHALLENGE -or- NEW TO PHOTO-ART?
See below for "Information and Guidelines."

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PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge #61 – Samantha

Here’s another “mini-challenge” to play with in the Photo-based Art category until the next major challenge is posted here (http://www.retouchpro.com/challenge/index.html).

The base image can be downloaded by clicking the link near the bottom of this lengthy introduction!


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This weeks’ trio of base images are courtesy of Gladys S, whose work can be viewed HERE (http://www.pbase.com/gladys). This is just a darling shot of Samantha from which I know you’ll create something nice.

Thanks so much, Gladys. Really appreciate you letting me use your splendid pics this week.

~DannyR~

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LEGAL VERBIAGE
Gladys S retains the U.S. and international copyright © not only for the original image, but also for any photo-art versions of it. Unauthorized distribution or use of this image without permission are prohibited.

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INFORMATION AND GUIDELINES

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 art form until the next major 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 and, most importantly, have FUN.
* Everyone who participates is a winner.
* There’s no expiration date.

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) or replace the background
. * Hand painting? Tracing? Freehand? You bet. Always appreciate entries of this nature.
. * Apply filters from your favorite application(s) or tweak it with 3rd party plug-ins
. * Feeling animated? Animated entries are definitely welcome. There have been some really funny ones submitted in the past. Fish jumping, leaves falling, wheels turning. You get the idea.
. * Any or all of the above

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.


A special message to those who are new to Photo-art
… Who may be feeling a little uncomfortable about posting an entry.

If you’ve read this far, it means you’re at least curious. That’s a good sign. :)

But what if you’re feeling a little squeamish about posting your first image?

From time to time I hear from those who want to participate, but have considerable anxieties about posting their creations in these mini-challenge. “I’m just a beginner. My pictures don’t belong,” “I see the works of others and I know I’ll never get that good,” “How am I supposed to compete with those wonderful creations?” are typical expressions of concern.

To which I say: Put your fears to rest. This isn’t a competition. You will not be judged in the traditional “art critique” sense. Your honor isn’t on the line. This isn’t about who’s best.

Don’t hold back from participating and posting your creation because your initial attempts don’t measure up (in your own mind) to images generated by folks with more experience than you.

This is a no-fault, all-fun way to jump in the pool. Everyone started the same place: The beginning. Everyone who is more skilled and experienced than you got to that point by practicing, experimenting, asking questions, learning from others, and participating.

Can one learn without interacting with others? Sure. Can one learn as fast? Absolutely not.

When you participate, others get to know you. That makes it easier to ask them questions. Asking questions leads to learning from those with more experience than you. It just keeps getting better and better!

By all means give it a go. You’ll be glad you did.

The pep talk cheerfully brought to you by:

Danny Raphael
Photo-based Art Forum Moderator

To the trio of Gladys pictures, I have used the same basic effect (here) (http://www.retouchpro.com/challenge/art/challenge1/challengeA1_sampson.html) and varied the background layer color, texture and layer blend modes only.
:wavey:

Beautiful little girl! I did a watercolor layer over a Find Edges layer set to Hard Light, merged, added a layer mask and masked in some of her skin coloring plus much of the dress. Added shadows on another layer to the pillar in background and to Sam's neck.

This is based on another Mike Finn action, "Textured Oils." I'm including a snapshot of the Layers palette in the next post in case anyone is interested in layer ordering and settings.

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CJ: You and I were kind of going in the same direction. Great minds or what?

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Chuck: Reliable is a good thing. Works well on this little darling.

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Phil: Very unique result. I like the way you spice things up!

Screen grab of Layers palette...

Blacknight, I love what that dark glow does to her face, hair, and dress. Thanks for the location of the technique. I have copied it to my "tips" folder for when I have more time again to play.

Danny, I love the diagonal texture in yours...and the outline technique really suits this pic.

Mine is sort of a soft sketch, done with my new favorite "outline" method, which really doesn't make an outline so much as a wider shaded fading border on all the edges, like instant sketch. On the color dodge layer I use KPT gaussian glow instead of gaussian blur or other blur filters. (Remember, you can duplicate the gaussian glow with two layers...top one blurred then set to darken mode.)

Phyllis

I was attempting a watercolor effect but, as usual, I'm afraid it has escaped me.

Mostly BuzzPro with some Photoshop artistic filters added.

Jim

Jim -- lovely! Soft, yet vibrant!

Danny -- Great minds, of course! ;)

I thought this young girl would wake you all up. I thought everyone had gone away for an early Christmas. Nobody fancy the Christmas one!

Jim, maybe it escaped you, but all the better, since I love what you ended up with.

Phyllis

Samantha.

Samantha in the forest.
:wavey:

What a gorgeous picture!

I added a gaussian blur layer, copied several times with different blending modes (overlay, screen and soft light, if I remember correctly.) Then selected Samantha, desaturated the background and added some splatter filter.

Frank, wonderful soft look.

Blacknight, why would you put that sweet little girl in the middle of a forest! The big bad wolf could be prowling! She looks pretty and content though, matching well as if she belongs in the setting.

Ecurbh, that is a wonderful treatment...the soft focus against the starker b/w background really sets off her gentle beauty.

Phyllis

Chuck,Blacknight,CJ, Phyliss, Danny Frank anf Jim. Very nice, super, everybodys has a different flavor, wow Its amazing how many different ways we can look at one picture

Ok mine is a combination of Shan Canfields pencil drawing and colorization by Phil.

I took a second try at this one. This time using Deep Paint.

Jim

Phil, wow...really great job on that first one! (The second one has colored specks showing here and there for some reason.)

Jim, Deep Paint does a nice job. Does it do it all for you or do you have to add brush strokes etc. also?

This one is just a bright soft focus with darkened background to set her off even more. Made a dupe b/w layer set to hard light, then gaussian blur followed by equalize adjustment. Duped that layer, keeping same mode setting, then lowered opacity so the back wasn't tooooo dark. Placed dupe of original above these and set to color mode. Touched up the hair with dodge tool just a touch to keep it out of the shadows, did some color tweaking, then merged.

The equalize adjustment is useful for some pretty nice effects. I used it yesterday on the flowers, fish, and produce (described there), and now I've found something else I like about it. I just put a post in the forum on Photoshop Filters describing two ways to use it in combination with gaussian blur, along with samples of each.

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=39133#post39133

Phyllis

Phyliss, THanks I did not notice it on my screen for some reason anyway its fixed. Nice soft focus effect, I use it all the time.

JIm nice touch , I like paint effects.

Originally posted by pstewart
[B
Jim, Deep Paint does a nice job. Does it do it all for you or do you have to add brush strokes etc. also?


Phyllis [/B]

Phyllis,

With Deep Paint you have to do virtually everything yourself. It is labor intensive. There is, however, a great deal of control. Lots of brushes and textures each of which can be modified to suit your personal taste. It functions either as a Photoshop plug-in or as a stand-alone program. It is PC only...Mac version is yet to be released.

A fully functional preview version (60 days or 40 hours) is available at http://www.righthemisphere.com/products/dpaint/

Jim

Hi Folks
Late to the party again..I just got back and found this beautiful young model and had to take a crack at this one..The entries for this pic. are all sooooo good..Here is my try at it..

Jerry :D

Originally posted by JBCaffrey
With Deep Paint you have to do virtually everything yourself. It is labor intensive. There is, however, a great deal of control. Lots of brushes and textures each of which can be modified to suit your personal taste.

Sounds a lot like Painter, which I have but seldom use because there is so much labor involved. Then again, I have yet to read the manual...gotta get to that when things slow down here I guess.

Phyllis

Abstract Samantha. See my last submissions in flowers #62 and produce #63 minis for basic technique. I also did some extra things here though to get the color added in cutout form also, and removed some unpleasant lines from her face.

Phyllis

I just posted a tutorial using a new picture of Samantha as a sample at:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=40867#post40867

The picture itself is here:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=40868

Phyllis

been gone to long folks, good to see you all again...
and here we go, to the little girl painted highlights and shadows to give more of a glow, copied layer, removed her and the front pillar, put overlay of brown on back, switched layers around and she pops out a little lore.. then gave a skecth and paint daub filter to it, thats all i can remember..well thats that for now.. and all the entries are simply beautiful and amazing..:)

Absolutely fantastic work everyone:)

I painted this beautiful little girl in Painter Classic using a different brush this time. Palette knife, fne dry brush. Gives more of a soft look, I need more practice with this brush! When done opened in Photoshop, duplicated, image adjusment, desaturate. Styles, photographic effect, grey green tone. Blend mode, darken, adjusted until soft coloring came through. I was trying for a soft, old fashioned tinted look. Oh well, I had fun, and a lot of practice with the dry brush:) Thanks everyone for sharing your wonderful talent.

Wanda

I love everyones work here. Hard to come up with something that has not already been thought of.

this little girl looked like an angel to me.

made cloud background, cut out girl and pasted onto new back ground, used slight antimatter on girl and the put a very soft rainbow glow.

:)

I am new at this and forgot to upload pic so here it is :depressed

tamalyno34...

Not to worry about the upload thing. Happens all the time.

You may be new (and WELCOME, by the way), but you've certainly made a great first impression.

Your interpretation is very creative. Hope that you'll participate in more mini-challenges in the future. It's always nice to see fresh ideas.

If there's anything I can help you with, don't hesitate to send me 'private mail' (PM button below/left) or post questions in the forum. Lots of folks will be eager and glad to help.

Again, welcome... and keep havin' fun!

~DannyR~

My first try at this forum.

Photoshop Danny, this forum is MUCH nicer than DPReview!

Although I waited nearly 8 hours to submit the first attempt once I completed it, I still was not happy. So I took another stab and I like this one much better. I use PhotoDraw 2, and try to keep as much of an actual photo in the picture as I can. What a wonderful forum!

Take care,
NiteOwl

NiteOwl:

Welcome to RetouchPRO. Having new folks join us with fresh ideas is always a delight. Your #2 rendition is especially striking. I like this one "a lot."

We are especially fortunate to have a forum dedicated to this art-form, thanks to the vision of our webmaster Doug Nelson and the numerous folks who generously post their wonderful creations and willingly share techniques and help other folks.

The forum software offers flexibility that others do not, namely the ability to upload files, e.g., actions, textures, .jpgs, etc. w/o resorting to external sites such as Pbase.com. This upload model works very well to reduce the number of "broken links" inherent in the embedded URL method. Uploads ensure the value of threads specifically (and the site in general) will not diminish over time.

Anyway, WELCOME again... hope to see more and more of your creations as time goes along. Tell your friends!

~Danny~

The work everyone has done is so good! Anyone would like to have Samantha's picture on there desk. Speaking of which, here is my humble submission.

dupped layer (of course)
extracted Samantha (actually I just deleted anything that did not look like a little girl - didn't like the extract results)
a little gauzian blur - maybe more than I should have
added grey layer behind her
render - lighting effects - soft omni

If I need a picture of a little girl for my desk she will be the one!

Impressive, to say the least, I think this is for me anyways, the best of them all! Wow!

Bubba:

Very nice results. The lighting and "softness" are a very effective combination.

~Danny~

NiteOwl and Danny - thanks for the kind words. I enjoyed doing that one.

Such a pretty photo and such a lovely young lady!

Thought I would play around with Painter and try to create an oil...only my second attempt at learning Painter. I used numerous size brushes with the camel brush oil cloner. Then I saved the image and opened it in PhotoShop where I added a level adjustment and a frame using Splat.

~T

Took my oil version and applied John Buchmann's sketch technique then applied angled brush strokes.

~T

Both are very nice, T.

Only your 2nd try w/Painter? Wow. That's impressive. Lots of folks getting into that program these days. Best wishes as your skills develop in that dimension, too.

~DannyR~

For some reason I've not looked at this thread in a long time. Wow, there's such a collection of varied styles and creative approaches on this one. These are great! We have such talented folks here! :)

Phyllis

NiteOwl - just looked at you post again. Very nice. Wonder how it would look colorized? This is such a pretty little firl it would be hard not to do a good job!

bubba

Bubba, thanks once again for commenting on that picture,...I just wish I could have done more! I agree color would have just been the cat's meow!

However, at this point in time, I have figured out only how to open a picture in PhotoShop,...I am not advanced enough yet to dooooo anything!!! This is driving me nuts. But I will eventually, and then, you betcha,...I will try this one again! With some color of course!

Just learning, been using PhotoDraw for years, and just recently on photos,..so, I have lots of homework ahead. Hey, if you can make it happen, by all means, go for it!

Take care, and gosh golly jeepers,..thanks for piping in and adding your comment! :)

NiteOwl

NiteOwl - since I mentioned colorization I just did one
colorized (not very good job) and textured

bubba

Here is one more oil. I took the oil I did in Painter and opened in in PhotoShop where I applied some layers with emboss and texturizer to bring out the paint strokes.

~T

T Paul - very nice look. Wish I could do that!
bubba

This is a fantastic pic! I can't possibly comment on all the great entries...there's too much diversity and great work to single any out, and I wouldn't want to forget any from this challenge.

For this, I wanted to try to duplicate a Degas feel, so I turned Sam into a ballerina. What little girl doesn't want to be a ballerina? (Well...I wanted to be a carpenter, so I guess I don't count. :tongue: )

I used Paint Engine several times as well as Photoshop sprayed strokes. I don't think I quite got it right for Degas...not enough texture to the strokes and not enough yellow. I do like how it turned out, though.

What a lovely Degas ballerina! Did you create the body from scratch? Very well done!

~T

Yes and no...

I found a ballerina online that had her arms in the right position, then superimposed Sam's head on her. I isolated the frill around the top of Sam's dress and used that as the tutu after a lot of transforming and skewing.

I'm glad you liked it!

Samantha with xero lineart and a couple other things thrown in for good measure.

AmyHutton

I have not been here in a while, but when I saw this darling picture, I could not pass it up.

I used Photoshop usm, aniso, lighting effects, buzz pro, VP Oil Paint, and a number of textures.

Shari

Shari:

This is a positively lovely interpreation.

You've been away for FAR too long. Welcome back. Your creativity is always welcome.

~Danny~

Am new here, but had to reduce size of picture to get the quality I wanted. If someone has a better suggestion would appreciate hearing. Put picture in LAB mode and screened it, added cloud texture to it.

dandelion - this is a very unique interpretation and none like I have seen before on this popular challenge. I admire your creativity.

I welcome you to try other challenges. There is no expiration on any of them.

~Danny~

Very pretty young lady....
Joy

Congratulations! Everyone's done marvellous work!
Here's mine. Mostly fill layers and layer masks, one g'blur layer for softness, filter render clouds a few times with diff colors, fill color layer blue and mask, overlay blend low opacity with original to bring back a hint of the backgr. Brush used was watercolor low opacity for the effect.

Click Here For Larger Image (http://www.pbase.com/image/36048130.jpg)

History log (http://www.trimoon.com/Photoshop%20Edit%20Log.txt)

And This One (http://www.pbase.com/image/36050986.jpg)

Wow... She is beautiful, almost a living "Doll.".....

Thank you for the log, it is for both versions or just the second. That sure was a whole lot of "doings." HOw does one go about making a "log" like that?

One of most difficult steps, if not impossible for me would be the "Color Correction" and especially the "Selective Color." Are there charts that might help with just the basic colors. Like how to remove yellow or greens or reds, or add them. Sure hope so...

Getting closer to the 15th,... can't hardly wait for the release of your latest CD!!!

My fav combo-- virtual painter+impressionist plug-in.

My fav combo-- virtual painter+impressionist plug-in.

Nice combo...very painterly. Do tell (the particular settings), please.

Nice combo...very painterly. Do tell (the particular settings), please.

Hi Danny. I'm sending an scr capture of the layer palette if it can help.
Most important of all, i created a brush file with the original image for my impr plug-in....Here's how i do it -- Desaturate image, invert and apply g'blur of about 9. Save as a tiff file in the impressionist brush folder. When needed, use this file as a brush with these other settings:
General-bckgr-image; brush size 25%, coverage 100, pressure 55.
Brush - Tiff file, smudge 10, pressure 55.
Placement randomly coverage 100.
No. of sizes 7, from 2 to 12, about even.
Orientation optimally 16, 45, 360.
Color - stroke color image, H 0, S 10, B 10. Background - image. Brightness 50, contrast 70.
I call this my "soft watercolor" style. Sometimes i need to change the settings a wee bit, mostly brush size depending on the effect.
As for the other layers that u'll see in the layers palette image below, its pretty obvious. If not, feel free to ask anytime. :wavey:
BTW by "merge" i mean "select all, copy merged and paste".
Also, maybe you'll be kind enough to create an impr settings file with my name. ;)

Jaykita, you do such nice work. I'm always impressed.

Janet

Jaykita, you do such nice work. I'm always impressed.

Janet

(blush) Thank you Janet! :happy:

Lots of superb efforts and hard acts to follow :bow: :bow:

EPS 9 - Dupe this layer
L2 - Col. Foil 1/4/340/White
Mode Screen 100%
Merged and dupe
L3 - Paint Shop Pro/Brustrokes/WC
Mode Normal 58% - Dupe this layer
Merge top two layers.
L2 - erased for eyes, mouth, face and
around edges of face.
Merged all.

It is a combination of custom+water colour and some play with levels...

I did a few versions of her. Each started out with the picture run through Unsharp Mask Filter, Stylize-Diffuse-Anisotropic, some lighting enhancements and a bit of smart blur. I did some blending of layers with overlay too.

With this as a base I made a pattern out of the picture then painted the picture back using the pattern stamp and a photoshop brush "Dry Brush" in various sizes.

Here is the second one starting with the same base as my previous version.
This one was done with the Artistic Filter rough pastels. I had to increase the resolution of the image before I ran the filter to get the kind of detail I wanted in the pastels. Then i downsampled again to the original file size.

one last version...
this one is a watercolour version. i added a greyscale scan of watercolour brushstrokes underneath the picture layer and then put the blend mode of the picture layer to overlay. I added a duplicate layer on top for darker colour (lowered the opacity until it looked OK).

the brushstrokes are a bit broad for a portrait but it looks interesting.

All three of them are very interesting Helena. I like your style.

Janet

Welcome back, Helena...

I appreciate you sharing your methods. I like the watercolor look the best. The scanned brushstrokes converted to a brush is something I've wanted to try. They sure render a unique look.

What was the source of the brushstrokes you scanned?

The watercolour brushstrokes thing was NOT my idea. It was from an online tuturial. They showed the method and then you could download the files and try it. These broad brushstokes look really great with a less detail composition like flowers or a landscape.
If you want to see the tutorial (and some other nifty ones too) go to www.casmaran.com and click on the top button "Cricket's Tutorials".
I think this method would work really well to get a setch effect too. Scan in a hand drawn series of pencilled crosshatches and use it the same way I used the brush strokes. If anyone tries it - please post an example!

Helena

Microsoft picture it program:

1. opened original picture
2. effects, illusions, paint, dry brush
3. effects, illusions, pencil drawing
4. mask, cool edges, wavy torn paper with a light blue edge.
5. saved a copy and closed picture

psp7:

1. opened saved copy of picture
2.selected light blue edge of mask
3. added drop shadow, set at 4, both horizantal and vertical
4. selected white area of mask
5. floodfilled with color #578DAF
6. added drop shadow, set at 4, both horizantal and vertical
7. select none
8. effects, virtual painter, color pencil (or you could use effects, color pencil)
9. effects, noise, edge preserving smooth, set at 30.
10. do step 9 again.
11. effects, illumination, lights, floodlight, set at 88/89 on white color
12. effects, fm tile tools, blend emboss
13. added black border
14. added text with a drop shadow
15. save and close.

Microsoft picture it program:

1. opened original picture
2. effects, illusions, paint, dry brush
3. effects, illusions, pencil drawing
4. mask, cool edges, wavy torn paper with a light blue edge.
5. saved a copy and closed picture

psp7:

1. opened saved copy of picture
2.selected light blue edge of mask
3. added drop shadow, set at 4, both horizantal and vertical
4. selected white area of mask
5. floodfilled with color #578DAF
6. added drop shadow, set at 4, both horizantal and vertical
7. select none
8. effects, virtual painter, color pencil (or you could use effects, color pencil)
9. effects, noise, edge preserving smooth, set at 30.
10. do step 9 again.
11. effects, illumination, lights, floodlight, set at 88/89 on white color
12. effects, fm tile tools, blend emboss
13. added black border
14. added text with a drop shadow
15. save and close.

To my knowledge you are our only Picture It! / PaintShop Pro artist. You've certainly done a great job defining your steps in achieving a very unique result.

Well done, and pul-eeze do some more!

~Danny~

Thanks Danny, I will. I saw the one you did with the wine glass and books, that was really good.

Here is the second one starting with the same base as my previous version.
This one was done with the Artistic Filter rough pastels. I had to increase the resolution of the image before I ran the filter to get the kind of detail I wanted in the pastels. Then i downsampled again to the original file size.


I like the detail of her hair. It came out very well

I like the detail of her hair. It came out very well

Thanks Reason! I do pastels in "real life" (as opposed to digital) so I'm particularly fond of the pastel look in digital art. I'm always looking for new ways to get it looking more real. That's the great thing about these forums. I've learned so much from what other people have done.
So thanks for including all the detail in your explanation of what YOU did. It's hard to learn how to improve without some kind of hint on how a person got that "look" you like!

Helena

Vector conversion techniques. Used Potrace (http://potrace.sourceforge.net/) for the conversion. If you have an SVG Viewer (get one free from Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html) or Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org)), you can view the vector drawing by clicking here (http://bellsouthpwp.net/l/y/lylejk/mini-61-gladys-samantha.svgz). :)

Vector conversion techniques. Used Potrace (http://potrace.sourceforge.net/) for the conversion. If you have an SVG Viewer (get one free from Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html) or Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org)), you can view the vector drawing by clicking here (http://bellsouthpwp.net/l/y/lylejk/mini-61-gladys-samantha.svgz). :)Facinating approach and very interesting results, Lyle.

Thanks for sharing those links...

~Danny~

Sharing ideas, filters, tools so that other's can use and share their creations is what this forum is all about. It's amazing what people can do with the tools that they use. They do some things that you would not even think about.

Sorry that I've not, until recently, visited RetouchPro as often as I should. I've tried to make it a point to see what other's are doing daily now. :)

Beautiful subject, perfect smile, great lighting....just a great photograph!

Just didn't want to mess with it too much.

Steve

Don't know if I pulled this one off. Anyway, the illustration was easy to do. Color Invert Dodged median skin tone to ligten it up a bit. Ran Flaming Pear's Mr. Contrast and set to overlay (duplicate layer of course) to enhance the contrast. Flatten, and duplicated the layer. I ran DCSpecial's 1969 filter and set to Value (still using GIMP; told you I was cheap) and adjusted down the opacity. This step (1969) is my favorite for illustrations since it accomplishes two things simultaneously (brights and enhances saturation and color). Then some mouse smudging (still need a Wacom, but still too cheap to buy one) and done. :)

Ikroll, I think that you are doing pretty darn good without the extras! Nice work.

Cathy :lol:

With my filter work, and your brushwork for much needed and added soul, we could make millions (LOL). Like I told you before; I can't compete against a Wacom, but I won't stop trying. Thanks a heap for the complement. :)

Samantha at Cypress Gardens

lovely, dee dee :) i think anything classically southern would work with this image... that dress, that girl... it all says 'southern belle'.

Craig

The belles of Cypress Gardens is a great central Florida tradition. Young ladies get to spend a day as a "southern belle" dressed just as this Samantha. They pose for pictures throughout the park and delight the tourists (to say nothing of their proud moms and grandmoms).

The background that I used is from a Cypress Gardens promotional brochure.

Wow, I forgot about this lil cutie!

Dave

dee dee,

i shld have known :) little girls, moms, grandmoms... it all fits. sounds like a great day for all :)

duv,

nice extraction. well done!

Craig

i dont have my normal tools right now, but wanted to play also.

Craig

Here is my contribution,I almost kept up with each step.I was inspired by post # 13 ecurbh and just added a few extra steps. On what became the base image for further versions, I applied Gaussian Blur at an opacity of 25% I then duplicated that layer in overlay blend mode at 25% opacity then added screen,soft light, multiply then screen again,all at 25% opacity and duplicateing from the previous layer.I then applied to a duplicated lower layer one of the paint filters ,I believe it was paint daubs,but you can try severel as there seemed to be good results from many of them.On my new base image that I call an Oil Painting effect I applied below the upper layers different filters at varied opacity and blend modes for unique effects.

This thread goes back for years. My 5 cents. Painter>Photoshop. Pavel

It may be an old rerun to you but it's a new show to me. ;) Very nice effect Pavel.

It may be an old rerun to you but it's a new show to me. ;) Very nice effect Pavel.

JimJam, thank you. Pavel

So glad you resurrected this thread Pavel123 - a wonderful photo for a painted portrait. Here's a Renoir style version done in Painter.
MargaretM

So glad you resurrected this thread Pavel123 - a wonderful photo for a painted portrait. Here's a Renoir style version done in Painter.
MargaretM

I believe JimJam was responsible for the resurrection of the image.

Nice painting.


Pavel

MargaretM I can't stand your image ( jealous as heck ). What a wonderful tranquil atmosphere you have created, It captures the dreamy look in her eyes and face so well.

Thanks JimJam and Pavel 123. As you know in creative mode, sometimes things work and sometimes they don't. Fortunately there is always something different to try. My first go round with this photo was dreadful, but I liked the way this second attempt turned out. Loved all your versions!
MargaretM

PSCS Art History Brush
Regards.
Alex

she is a little doll, isnt she :) nice, alex :)

craig

PSCS Art History Brush
Regards.
Alex

Alex,
I like your sketch.

It may be too late to ask... could you give some detail as to how did you do your "woman in a hat" painting (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=36726)

Pavel

To Kraellin: Thanks Craig, she is very beautiful young lady.


Alex,
I like your sketch.

It may be too late to ask... could you give some detail as to how did you do your "woman in a hat" painting (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=36726)

Pavel

Thank you Pavel for your comment.
An answer -
I don't remember exactly, but I always do a sketch from background in new layer
then I dup the background and use Impressionist filter (two times with fading) then blending the layers (multiply or line burn with reduce opacity)


Alex

Alex, thanks a lot.
You are getting a lot of mileage out of the Impressionist plug-in.
Looking forward to see more of your works.

Pavel

I used mostly noise,color halftone,crosshatch and paint daubs,the different blend modes created the darkened areas.I used on the last layer Auto FX's Mystical Tint Tone & Color gradient filter pink & blue it helps to give the impression of a beautiful sunset.

Resurrecting this very old but very pretty thread :)

Began with Snap Art Pastel filter in Photoshop and followed with color adjustments, several blending layers and lots of detailed brush work.

Pam, another winner!

i started this one in Paint Shop Pro, cropping and adjusting brightness and contrast. i then took it to filterforge and ran 'chinese water color' by MeKenzie. i brought that back to psp and added it over the cropped image with a luminance blending at about 80% opacity.

trying for a painted look with this lovely wee girl

Finally got round to this one!!
47055
Peter

Better Quality image :-

[img=http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/8298/samhdh1.th.jpg] (http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=samhdh1.jpg)

very lovely, gilbert.

There are a lot of great posts so far; I opted for the speed challenge to test some of the Smart Filters in CS3.

went with a bit of Paint Daubs, then Diffuse Glow. Rasterized a version of the Smart Filter Object, then opened the Exposure slightly. Great shot to start with!

Thought this was so sweet and just had to give it a go...

Nice young lady, I took off the makeup, gave it an old photo effect.