Looks like it has interesting possibilities.

i'll go first, tho it already looks like a painting to me! Very colorful, very nice.
I gave it a more muted look rather like monday mornings :depressed
One layer Photocopy, one channel mixer mono, one sketch layer, g'blur the original and screen blend.

Very clever Jaykita....I didn't like all that red and this is a nice result.

Experimented as I went in PSP8.1

Reduced Noise/Neat Image
Decreased Hue/Sat
Lightened B and C
Duped Bottom Layer

on Bottom Layer....
Paint Shop Pro Artistic/Brushstrokes/Default - Blurred Blockin

L2 - Mode Difference
Dupe L2 and merge all 3 layers.
Dupe bottom layer
L2 (UP) - Screen Mode - Merge both layers.
Dupe again - Burn Mode on L2
Merged All.
AIM/USM - top two settings were 222/45, rest were
default settings.
Merged all.

Thank you Neve. Yours is good too, tho maybe less noisy might be better, if you dont mind my saying so.
Here's my all-time favorite in watercolor. What else! :grin:

Street life to me blends in with just a second thought, if i saw this in a day to day life i would remember only the fire engine, more than the people so don't rely on me in a line up!

What i did...(Paint Shop Pro users)

I added the opacity to 50% and added grey overlay.

Then added a colour layer of the engine.

Then added the writing with the windows and wall as a fill in.

Then smoothed the whole picture.

(I had to reduce it size by half so hopefully it comes out okay)

it seems to me i've lost the pic somewhere on the way ;) sorry 'bout that...

also the red house's been too much to me... had to recolour it...

JustChecking, I don't think you lost the picture at all. With that much going on, it needs to be simplified, as you did and also Jaykita did in her second one. I would be interested in knowing the steps you took.
(Awesome web site.........lots of it way beyond me:)
cat

Experimenting with the art history brush. Good fun!
I first took a snapshot of the original image. Made a new blank layer, filled with black, painted on it with art history brush - natural brush- stipple dense. When done, Went to fill- history, low opacity to put back a bit of the original image that was lost. Finally usm to enhance texture.

Experimenting with the art history brush. Good fun!
I first took a snapshot of the original image. Made a new blank layer, filled with black, painted on it with art history brush - natural brush- stipple dense. When done, Went to fill- history, low opacity to put back a bit of the original image that was lost. Finally usm to enhance texture.

One thing that bugs me about the AHB is the unwieldy strokes, but this one came out especially good. Very pleasing experimenting results.

- - - - - -

Here's a technique that works kind of the same way and (in my opinion) has better brush control. For those who missed previous discussions, it's referred to the WOW watercolor method.
* Select > All (on background)
* Edit > Define Pattern (name it something meaningful)
* Create new layer and fill with white (or a suitable background color)
* Duplicate BG and drag above white layer. Lower opacity to 10%-!5%. Use this for reference.
* Click on white layer below
* Engage Pattern Stamp Tool (same tool position as Clone tool)
* Choose appropriate brush or preset. Low opacity and flow values (usually) work for transparent-like strokes.
* From Pattern menu at top of screen, choose pattern defined above
* Start painting.

The Pattern Stamp draws colors from the saved pattern, much like AHB does from the snapshot. It might be interesting to combine WOW with Art History Brush.

Another experiment for another day!

JustChecking, ... I would be interested in knowing the steps you took.
thanks... unfortunately i don't remember much anymore :surprise:
at first i recoloured that house, used a bit of simplifier, copied layer and imp->charcoal (?), lowered opacity, pasted to new layer, again a bit of simplifier, copied layer and imp->chalk sketch (?), blend hard light (?), adjusted HSB, pasted to new, copied, glowing edges (1, 6, 5 or so), blend screen (?)...
-all imp runs were w/ smaller brush size and background-"image"...

that's all i can rem, and for sure not correct... i'm afraid i got a bit too excited during the making of... ;)

(Awesome web site.........lots of it way beyond me:)
thanks a lot :blush: if only i were not that lazy... i'd put there some "good stuff" finally ;) :)

:wavey:

josef