For those of us who are sick of looking at beautiful women, I humbly submit a beautiful dude as a portrait study. This guy is from the Corel Gallery.

Am I right, Ladies???

Amy

Bless you Amy. It's about time something besides young, pretty women were posted.

This is from an action I made a while back.

Start with 3 dups of the background. On the lower copy run impressionist (thick dabs) and then paint engine (soft paint).

On the middle copy run buzz simplfier 2 (around 100), edges mono, emboss (mono .2). Then run the sketch layer through impressionist and paint engine (same settings as before). Adjust brightness and contrast slightly. Set to soft light.

On the upper copy, create a gaussian blur sketch. Set to soft light (or overlay) and reduce opacity slightly.

awwwwwright!!!!

Amy,

He's OK. Not sure about the posting of images from Corel Gallery - you could be breaching copyright.

Christine

I think I see a resemblance to me 35 years ago....maybe not. My wife says definetly not!

Cheers
Dave

here's my humble attempt at a watercolor. I find doing people portraits the most difficult in digital art.


1. levels adjustment
2. dup background, desat, impressionist plugin
3. dup background, find edges.
4. blend=lighten
5. merge visible, crosshatch
6. dup background again. desaturate, blend=vivid light
7. dogdge and burn
8. dup background,blend=color
9. merge visible, tweek colors, add edgework.

Two images. One buzzed, PMAG handdrawing, Buzz. Played with contrast, not too light and not too dark.

The other buzz, VP oil (normal-subtle-subtle-sintle-intense)

Merged them both on Darken, I think. Cleaned up the result a tad.

Amy

amy -- i really like this one. nice job! what is PMAG handdrawing?

bk

PMAG=Picture Man Art Gallery Plugins

Amy

Just added a hint of mystery... added a copy of different channels, a layer of photocopy, find edges...

I humbly submit a beautiful dude as a portrait study.
Am I right, Ladies???

Amy


You are soooo.... right - he is very beautiful.... although still, not my type.

Mig

:lmao: That's an amazing face Swap...

B

First of all, THANK YOU, Amy for coming up with and positng this pic of a handsome guy to work on. I was hoping someone would step up in this regard and you did. I was feeling a little guilty about all the females to work on, but that’s because I just haven't come across any (what I thought were) decent pics of men.

- - - - -

Mig: Your talent always amazes me and your sense of humor never ceases to tickle my funny bone.

GR-EAT manipulation.

- - - - -

On mine I used:
* Photohshop 7
* The Microsoft Impressionist plugin (contact me if interested)

IMAGE PREPARATION (see attachment for before/after image preparation example)
1. Duplicated background
2. Hair was too dark. Applied Levels adjustment layer to lighten overall. CRTL + I to invert it. Painted white on areas where image was darkest. Turned out I did a lousy job of this and had to correct for it later. Oh well.
3. Merged down to combine the two layers.
4. Highlights on nose, forehead, cheek will cause problems. Need to cover them with some paint, otherwise filtered results look blotchy.
5. Created a new layer.
6. Selected Brush tool; turned Airbrush option on. Opacity ~ 40%, Flow ~ 50%.
7. To set foreground color, Alt + Clicked with Brush tool areas adjacent to nearly white areas on face. Airbrushed as needed to fill in hot spots.
8. When finished, merged down to combine the top two layers.
9. Duplicated the new layer and applied Gaussian blur to it, to smooth the background.
10. Changed the blend mode to Multiply.
11. Added a hide all layer mask and airbrushed white on the layer mask to reveal the smoothed/blurred background.
12. Merged to top two layers and named the resulting layer “A=Base.”
13. Result: Areas of extreme shadows and highlights removed; background smoothed and darkened (for contrast) as a result of the Multiply setting.

THE REST OF THE IMAGE (see Layers Palette snapshot attached)
1. Layer = Base: Duplicated. Named A. Base Desat.
2. A: Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. (Tried Channel Mixer, but plain, ol’ Desaturate worked better)
3. A: Duplicate. Named B.
4. B: Applied CherylH method for selecting non-all black areas. Click HERE (http://retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8242).
5. B: With selection active, applied Impressionist Pencil Sketch-Detailed Monochrome.
6. A: Duplicate. Named C.
7. C: Drag to top of layer stack.
8. C: With selection still active, applied Photoshop Colored Pencil (2,6,47)
9. C: Change blend mode to Darken
10. C: Add reveal all layer mask and mask out blob uder eye.
11. A: Duplicate. Named D.
12. D: Drag to top of layer stack.
13. D: Change blend mode to Hard Light
14. D: Add hide all layer mask and airbrush white around eyes to bring out detail.
15. At this point I didn’t like the heavy black line around the top of the head. Too late to go back and start over. Proceed with correction.
16. Original Background: Duplicate. Named E.
17. E: Drag to top of layer stack.
18. E: Applied Impressionist Pencil Sketch-Detailed Monochrome.
19. E: Add hide all layer mask
20. E: With airbrush, paint white around too-dark area around edge of scalp.
21. Add Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and name E1
22. E1: Layer > Group with previous
23. E1 settings: Brightness = 100, Contrast –45. This blended the hair tone into the rest of the image.
24. Create new layer at the top of the layer stack. Named F.
25. F: Merge all visible layers below (Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E). Thought about stopping here (this looked pretty sketched), but decided to try something else just for fun.
26. F: Duplicate. Named G.
27. G: Applied Impressionist Charcoal Default.
28. G: Change blend mode to Darken. Hey... I kinda like this look. Pays to experiment. Eyes still a little too dark for me.
29. G: Add reveal all layer mask and mask around eyes to lighten them up a bit. Hmmm... eyes STILL too dark.
30. G: Duplicate. Named H.
31. H: Click on layer mask to activate it.
32. H: Ctrl + I to invert layer mask.
33. H: Change blend mode to Color Dodge and lower opacity to about 45%. Again, to further lighten areas around eyes. This should do it. Yeah!

- - - - - - - - - -

More dudes welcome in the future!

~Danny~

Pretty cool, Danny. I like the hair.

This reminded me of a cd cover that I must've stared at for several minutes. It's a Sarah Brightman cd. If you're ever in a music store check out this cover. It's better to see it close up. This screen shot doesn't do it justice. (It's also a good cd.)

It's a nice effect.

Mig

Impr plug-in - large strokes on white, dry strokes on pitted stone (modified),etc. many blends, one layer had a difference blend and surprise! produced the bright colors...can't quite explain that!

In addition to the steps taken in the screen shot, there were some places where the color went haywire. I used replace color to fix those.

The vignette and gradient were both added on other layers and blended to get the desired effect after the initial art piece was completed. I only did that because the hoped for background ended up looking like grey mud. :aghast:

I really like what you did Janet!

Just a simple variation cropped tight. I was trying to get the nice eyes (just like mine ha ha) in thirds but couldn't quite get there.

Cheers

Dave

I think I like the close-cropped version better. Good job Duv.

Thank you Janet. I thought the white space on the left side and his neclkline was a little bit awkward but I tend to give up a lot to get to the eyes. What I enjoyed about yours was the halo that not only compelled you to focus on the face but emphasized the calming look. What I so enjoyed with the original image and the renditions to follow was the idea "Out of clutter..find simplicity".

Cheers
Dave

Oh dear me. My very first impressionist post - and it's some dude? This can't be right.

See layers in attachment:
1) Background - some gets through right to the top;
2) BB: Masked to get only the darkest parts, impressionist (mostly chalk I think - got carried away and forgot to write them down :thmbdwn: ), blending darken;
3) BH: Masked to get only the near dark parts, impressionist (..), blending darken;
4) HB: Masked to get only the near light parts, impressionist (..), blending lighten 60%;
5) HH: Masked to get only the lightest, impressionist (..), blending lighten;
6) Outline: CG Lineart :thumbsup: from Stephen Marsh (http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/PSTV_convolcorner.html), invert, levelled with max at 127, overlay;
7) Canvas: Mid-gray with PS canvas texture, overlay.

Ok, enough of that, now for the ladies!!

Roland

Oh dear me. My very first impressionist post - and it's some dude? This can't be right.

See layers in attachment:
1) Background - some gets through right to the top;
2) BB: Masked to get only the darkest parts, impressionist (mostly chalk I think - got carried away and forgot to write them down :thmbdwn: ), blending darken;
3) BH: Masked to get only the near dark parts, impressionist (..), blending darken;
4) HB: Masked to get only the near light parts, impressionist (..), blending lighten 60%;
5) HH: Masked to get only the lightest, impressionist (..), blending lighten;
6) Outline: CG Lineart :thumbsup: from Stephan Marsh (http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx), invert, levelled with max at 127, overlay;
7) Canvas: Mid-gray with PS canvas texture, overlay.

Ok, enough of that, now for the ladies!!

Roland

Ro...

Glad to see the Impressionist fire is lit. I can see this tool has great potential in your capable hands, too.

re: CG Lineart
I did a half-way search at Stephen's site, but wasn't able to track this down. Is it a PS plugin? In which section did you find it.

~Danny~

re: CG Lineart
I did a half-way search at Stephen's site, but wasn't able to track this down. Is it a PS plugin? In which section did you find it.

Sorry, I took the link that is mentioned inside the action, and I didn't check it out.
The full link to the page is :Convolution Corner (http://members.ozemail.com.au/~binaryfx/PSTV_convolcorner.html)
and the actions are here: Custom_convolution_actions_APS5.zip
There are about a zillion :dizzy: actions in the download, worth a few minutes sifting through them!!!

Rô.

A bit of cloning in corel painter with pastel brush for texture, then ps7 impr plug-in- chalk-medium covered colored, and finally usm 400, .5.

A bit of cloning in corel painter with pastel brush for texture, then ps7 impr plug-in- chalk-medium covered colored, and finally usm 400, .5.

Very nice effect. I like this one.

You've been on a real creative roll lately! Keep it up.

~Danny~

Very nice effect. I like this one.

You've been on a real creative roll lately! Keep it up.

~Danny~

Thanks, Danny. You are very encouraging as always, and i appreciate that.

Too much fun playing with techniques to pass this one up. I tried Trimoon's watercolor tutorial and added a spin of my own.

Too much fun playing with techniques to pass this one up. I tried Trimoon's watercolor tutorial and added a spin of my own.

JP:

A favor, pleasse.

Click Edit button on your post and via Manage attachments button upload a version w/o the texture layer, would ya?

I think I like what I see a lot, but can't tell for sure with the texture.

~Danny~

I'm sooooo sorry. I've been working really hard lately on cleaning out my huge file sizes. After I finished this pic and uploaded the screen shot. I flattened the image and saved it as a tif. The file you requested no longer exists.

I guess I should wait a few hours/days before I downsize. Forgive me.

Janet

- - - - - - -

No problem. Considering all the nice stuff you contribute, you deserve a break once in awhile! :) ~djr~

I'm having fun with Trimoon's technique as well.

Duplicated the background
New empty layer filled with white.
With Art History brush set at 25 pixel and 35% opacity started painting back detail. Changed brush sizes to get more detail.
Created layer mask on white layer and with soft small white brush painted back about 60% of eyes and mouth.
Hue/Saturation layer, boosted Sat.

Cheers
Dave

Nice job Duv. I see you had the same thing going with a nice slice of white down the bridge of the nose. I finally gave up on that and flattened the image then painted over it some to reduce the shine. I also had some of those little white flecks and decided to add a bit of yellow where most of them were then blend it in with smudge. I always enjoy seeing your results. This one in particular was a good one. Thanks.

Janet

Hi Janet

Thank you for your comments. I agree about the nose and the white flecks. I think where I ultimately want to get to is producing something with a minimal number of brushstrokes that approximates a rough watercolor portraiture of the subject or scene. I'm not sure what the key is other than bringing back obvious detail in eyes, mouth, etc, but it sure is fun playing around and learning.

Cheers
Dave

Color illustration - abstract outline plus color blend to retain skin tones. Now he's ready to meet "Blonde on elbow - Relaxed".

Been working on some actions - and seeing as this is a sharing place.....

First one. Makes what I call an "Art Base" - ends up with a sharper more contrasty version of the orignal photo, which I find a good place to start the arty stuff. After you're through twiddling the opacities, flatten and go to the....
Second one. Makes 4 layers with 4 different masks according to the luminosity range - BB is darkest, HH lightest. I use this to identify which layer contains the details and which are just background - then vary the Impressionist filter accordingly.

Hope this is useful.

Rô

Adding another version of Trimoon's latest history brush technique..

Been working on some actions - and seeing as this is a sharing place.....

I use this to identify which layer contains the details and which are just background - then vary the Impressionist filter accordingly.

Hope this is useful.

Rô

How do you apply the filters? Do you have to flattened before running the 2nd action?
manju

Do you have to flattened before running the 2nd action?

Hi, manju,
You should flatten because the "Art Base" is a new starting point - however, I usually make a duplicate merged copy of the photo, which flattens the layers but doesn't destroy the original.

How do you apply the filters?
The impressionist filters? Each layer is a masked duplicate of the original, so just select the layer and apply a filter. I do it like this....
Turn off all layers leaving only the black canvas. Turn on each of the four layers in turn and see what is showing (At this point the only difference - between them is the masking). Select a layer and apply an appropriate impressionist filter setting (of course, doesn't have to be impressionist). For example: on a layer that shows the skin of a young lady's face I'd go for Chalk.Pastels. On a layer that shows background I'd use something "chunky" or "abstract".
- If something goes very wrong on a layer you can make it again:duplicate the "background" layer and apply the mask from the channels palette.
- If the masking is getting in the way, paint over the mask.
- Change the blending and the order of the layers
- Have fun.

Rô

Adding another version of Trimoon's latest history brush technique..

In a word: Marvelous

Thought i would drag this one back u again.

Painter IX:
Photoshop:

Mixture of Wet Oils Brush, Camel Oil Brush
The settings varied depending on what part of the image i was concentrating on.

Photoshop for post image processing of colours and lighting.

Nicely done Axle! I like it that it wasn't overdone. I've had Painter 8 in my quiver for years but never touched it. Maybe I'll get into it there seems to be a bit of interest here. In the meantime, here's good old Art History Brush followed with periods of smoothing and more Art History Brush. Ran Fievels Gothic Glow action. Finished with The Lights Right Sharpening Tool Kit: Capture: USM Enhanced Dual Contour Edge with USM set to 300/4.6/0. I've included this last action as a layer palette. Unfortunately, I merged everything else before. If you haven't checked out TLR Sharpening Tool Kit, I recommend you do so. It's quite sophisticated. Cheers to Mitch!

Dave

Dude this time around got a shot of impressionist Paint>Fluorescent Pallet Knife at 200 and another layer with Xero lineart which was then buzzed at 500. Then sharpen the whole thing a bit.

AmyHutton

Dude this time around got a shot of impressionist Paint>Fluorescent Pallet Knife at 200 and another layer with Xero lineart which was then buzzed at 500. Then sharpen the whole thing a bit.

AmyHutton
Amy... You inspire me once again.

I used your recipe (without the Buzzing) as a basis for mine; then took it over to Painter for some Grainy blender strokes and some Luminance Surface Effects for depth.

nice job, Danny. re: Painter-I got it but I haven't tried it much... I did some experimenting with PSP9, and I think it is probably easier to stay with what I know-PSP. But it does have some things that are very much like Painter.

Amy

Super Great..Danny. Really wish you had turned on Painter's script and let us watch you create those fabulous strokes!!! Hint

I hope I'm under the wire ... here's my view. The face needs color and drama, so I added color thru Studio Artist via the adjust settings. Background added thru PE2 ... vignetted the portrait ..... MH

:bow: :bow: If we had a "Hall of Fame" here at RP I wouldn't hesitate to recommend yours be placed there pronto Danny. Fabulous result. Well done Amy on your "inspirational and motivating" post. It's a real pleasure viewing such talented results. :happy:

Decided to try my hand at the Dragan look...(for more on this effect click here (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9898))

This was a quickly done in about 30 mins

1. Cleaned up image in Neat Image
2. Sharpened image
3. New Adjustment Layer, Hue/Sat, set master to -25
4. New Adjustment Layer, Selective Color
Whites: Yellow +50, Black +28
Neutrals: Cyan +11, Magenta +17, Yellow +37, Black +7
5. New Layer, Painted over background and parts of subject with black at varying levels of opacity
6. New Layer, Mode Overlay
Paint black with 5-50% opacity brush darkening details
7. New Layer, Mode Overlay, Opacity 60%
Paint White to white areas of eye to brighten
8. New Layer, Mode Color, Opacity 50%
Paint eyes blue
9. NIK Color Filter Darken/Lighten (can duplicate this by applying a radial gradient layer set to foreground (black) to transparent)
10. Duplicate layer, Mode Overlay
Renedering Lighting Effects, Spotlight
Adjust to fit photo
11. Curves Adjustment Layer to tweak colors, Mode Soft Light

Excellent entries by everyone!!!

Cheryl H,
Love the soft paper texture effect. Really nice results.

Mig,
Outstanding face swap! You matched the skin tones perfectly!!

Jaykita,
Really like the torn paper look.

CJ,
Excellent illustration! I really like the crisp clean feel you created.

byRo,
Beautiful results with your actions. I like the large strokes of color and really like the texture.

Thanks for your very kind words re: "Dude ala Amy"

Nothing special on the Painter method:
* Used Blender > Grainy blender 10, 20 and 30 to "smear around the paint"
* Then as suggested by Christime applied Effects > Surface Effects > Luminosity to bring out the depth

- - - - - -

On this one I was experimenting with the long-time favorite of "duplicate background, desat, duplicate, invert, (color dodge) + Gaussian Blur" method.

On the Gblur layer I tried applying Angled Strokes. Took about 4 applications of the filter for them to finally show through. Looked interesting, but by the time I got done many layers later, you couldn't tell.

But it was fun playing.

Layer D: For those who have not tried it, applying the Virtual Painter plugin's Oil Painting filter does some very interesting things (kind of a watercolor effect) if all the settings are set to minimum values.

When I got nearly finished (Layer L) I noticed there was "a big patch of grayish white" where hair used to be on the right. From Layer L I "borrowed a chunk" (selected using the Lasso) and Ctrl + J to create Layer M.

The new piece was selected (Ctrl+click on layer name) and rotated it a bit with the Free Transform tool before I blended it in using a Layer Mask.

~Danny~

I like that last one Danny - very subtle effect.

Christine

Thought I'd try out the new Xero: Caravaggio plugin. Added Filters Unlimited: Shiver and Draganized.



Cheers
Dave

Thought I'd try out the new Xero: Caravaggio plugin. Added Filters Unlimited: Shiver and Draganized.

Cheers
Dave
Now that's an interesting interpretation, Dave.

When you get a few minutes would you update your post (click Edit) and via Manage Attachments upload separate Xero: Caravaggio-only and Unlimited: Shiver-only versions to illustrate what effects these filters render? That would be really educational.

Very cool job.

~Danny~

Hi Amy,

Please find attached my view of your portrait.

I copied and flipped half of the face to make it symetrical, then used the Transform command to narrow and make the face slightly more pointy.

I then used the Fiendish Liquify Filter to make the ears, chin and nose more pointy, and also adjust the eyebrows. The horns started out as the top of a wine bottle.

Finally I created a layer of flames in front and behind the face.

Hope you like it

Regards

Con

Way Cool, errrrr should I say "hot", Con. What you did fits the face perfectly.

Evil Snicker,

Janet

Gals....see what men do to a nice looking dude? I think we should have some fun with all the pix of beautiful women, don't you?

Seriously, very cool effect!

Amy

As a woman of a certain age, I thought I'd see what Dude would look like at a mature age. I like it.

Amy

What a great job of aging him, Amy. I have just managed to find my way here, and I am impressed by all of the artistic works that everyone has submitted. I am also going to give this one a try.

Cathy :)

I am also going to give this one a try. Cathy :) Look forwarding to seeing it, Cathy!

Fooling around with PSP's rotating mirror feature. I took dude's face, straightened the image up, and made two different personalities by mirroring the sides of the face. Two different personalities to dude.

Amy

Fooling around with PSP's rotating mirror feature. I took dude's face, straightened the image up, and made two different personalities by mirroring the sides of the face. Two different personalities to dude.

AmyIsn't it amazing how slight modifications like this give one different impressions of a person none of us actually know except Toody? In many situations a first impression is a visual one, and they do count.

way too many good works to try to cover them with individual comments :)

i'll add my own novelty, though. (you've no idea how hard it is to find a frog with his back facing to you)

Craig

Fooling around with PSP's rotating mirror feature. ... and made two different personalities by mirroring the sides of the face. Two different personalities to dude.Amy


I used to love doing this as a child after I first saw an example in a magazine -- had to use a real mirror (slog to school by foot in the Arizona sunshine, slog home by foot, rest a while, get up and find a mirror in the bathroom and walk all the way down the hall to my bedroom to use it on photos). Couldn't make copies, so had to walk into the living room to find a family member to come laugh with me at the funny looking faces of our other family members.

Amy -- this worked really well on the Dude -- two very different looks. Thanks for reminding me! :happy:

... (you've no idea how hard it is to find a frog with his back facing to you)Craig


:rolleyes: :spchless: :wink: :lol:

Here we go again with 3 layers..

top: torn edges + crosshatch (?) at 50%
med: fotocopy (contrast adjusted) at 75%
bottom: original (color adjusted)