Try this one out. I'm looking for a good looking guy in his 50s, but haven't found a good pic yet.

AmyHutton

On this one...
* Zapped the background
* Cropped
* Converted to Grayscale
* Duplicated grayscale layer and applied Photoshop Dry Brush a couple times (for arty look, but with important detail retained)
* Then started experimenting with various Impressionist styles applied to copies of the grayscale layer and blending them with layer masks. Among them, Chalk: Detailed opaque strokes, Chalk: Chunky strokes, Pencil Sketch: Detailed Mono
* Moved Dry Brush layer to top of layer stack and blended in detail with layer mask
* Merged all layers onto a separate layer (Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E) and duplicated this layer
* Applied Virtual Painter Oils and selectively applied that effect with a layer mask

Fun pic to work with Amy. Thanks for sharing it.

~Danny~

p.s. Look forward to the 50s hunk pic when you find one!

Done with masks. Lastly, vp and impressionist.

I decided to open up the shadows to show more of his eyes.
M.F. Mystic Glow, run twice
Feivels: gothic glow
Perry's Luce: Highlight right side of face
Virtual Photographer: Increase Contrast
Impressionist: Tinfoil: Opaque Background: Image Brush: 25%

Cheers

Dave

This good looking young man was perfect to try a new technique I've been working on. The results weren't as good as some I've done this on; but tis time I quit for the night. Technique explained in the screen shot.

Have fun all. Happy painting.

Janet

This good looking young man was perfect to try a new technique I've been working on. The results weren't as good as some I've done this on; but tis time I quit for the night. Technique explained in the screen shot.

Have fun all. Happy painting.

Janet

I like the overall concept - A LOT. :bow: The only thing I would consider changing is the Background setting in the Impressionist style you're applying. Instead of black, give either white or "image" a go. All those black flecks attract attention away from our handsome dude.

Also: Say a few words about the pencil sketch layer. How are you creating that?

Well done. Thx much for the layers palette screenshot roadmap. That helped a lot.

~Danny~

Tried a new technique (well new to me anyway) added curves layer and with the pencil drew a squiggly curve across the grid. Merged the layers and applied impressionist paint.

Christine

Thanks for your comments Danny. They are much appreciated and well taken into consideration.

I don't have the specific steps to create a pencil sketch off the top of my head; but this is what I did. The pencil sketch layer was created very first and moved to its present location, turned off so it didn't affect future work, and only turned back on when it came time to blend the layers. There are numerous tutorials for creating a pencil sketch. Shan Canfield (a Retouch Pro member) has a good one. I like the action done by Jaime Romo and submitted to the Studio Exchange at Adobe.com (probably because I'm lazy). An action is easy to create if you might use the pencil sketch often, as I do.

P.S. A note about the background... The black flecks might detract some, tis true. I wanted yellow to go with this pic. It just seemed to call for it. However, the yellow became too much and looked phony or staged. All of the impressionist styles I tried added something I wasn't happy with until I tried the present one with the black flecks. They don't add any color to take the eye away from the bright coloring of the subject. If one looks closely (I know tis hard on such a small file), they will notice the yellow is not static. Before I applied the impressionist, I added a radial gradient in yellow and white and a Filter>Render>Cloud layer in yellow and white (reduced in opacity, blended together, and overlaid on a yellow background). Then to mix it all up, I applied the impressionist.

I know, I know. This is a very long explanation of a very simple technique. Thanks for reading through it. :)

I'm trying to get my arms around Trimoon's method based on the Art History Brush. If I ever "get it," I'll share what I've learned, but so far it's very hit and (mostly) miss...

~Danny~

Great efforts by everyone as always :bigthmb:

Duped bottom layer.
Neat Image/Noise
Smudged out all the artefacts still left on his face and around
the shirt neckline. Smudged his hair. Buzzed to smooth further.
PSP Art Media Effects - Brush Strokes 1
Blend Mode/Luminance (L) 60%
Merged both layers.

Cheers

I'm trying to come to grips with it myself Danny. It's hard to find a balance between chunky raw and refined blurry. I've had some interesting results using Blend If to bring back more detail. Also, I think the technique works better on high resolution images with strong edges. Dude kinda has this weird hair thing happenin but I got some of it back with Blend If.

Cheers
Dave