Smudging resources

[palms1]

Originally Posted by janie

Are these tool that I should download into Photoshop CS3 - or does CS 3 come with all these brushes/tools. I'd love to try something like this!

As well as the brushes from Sylvia's site there are the links at the beginning of this thread, As well as what comes with ps ( rough round bristle )

Palms

[amica999]

Well, didn't like the blues too much. Anyhow nice peace to practice, Thanks Peter.
Used Chalk light brush with almost an overall 60% opacity, different modes

[palms1]

I thought i would go more down the photo realistic way (sort of Scott Deardoff's way )
first i boosted the colours a bit, then raised the resolution to 200
added usm at the settings of 200 amount > 1.00radius > 0 Threshold, and ran the anisotropic filter ( the usm settings i used i had read somewhere that someone used, so i am giving them a try and the aniso i got from Scotts pdf )

on the actual smudging i used Linda's smudge brush at 40% for the face, ear and breast

Changed to the rough round bristle brush for the fur at 50%

changed the background ( less smudging ) not 100 % happy with it though
Finished by using Paint daubs at settings 1&4 ( not really got on with this before but keep trying it, and a little usm i think it was 100>0.3>0
And finally a bit of dodge and burn

Again well done Amica I havent tried the chalk brushes, I will have to give them a try And i will get round to your cats soon i think a soft fluffy smudge for them ! ! ! !

Palms

[amica999]

Thank you Palms and giving compliment back on yours.

[mikajomc]

Peter, Amica, and Palms- really love all 3 of your smudge versions! This photo seems very well suite for smudging Peter, good choice.

Palms- you say the anisio made it HARDER to smudge? Any idea why? Was it just harder to see where you had smudged?

[amica999]

Thanks Jordan

[palms1]

Originally Posted by mikajomc

Palms- you say the anisio made it HARDER to smudge? Any idea why? Was it just harder to see where you had smudged?

No its hard to explain but the brush sort of seemed heavier and took a little bit longer, not too sure if it was worth it , but when i get time i will try again without the aniso and compare the two

Palms

[palms1]

Amica hope you like this one i had to guess the eye colour hope i got it right !

I used trimoons #23 smudge brush at the set opacity of 73%


Palms

[Joeven]

I like all the smudge versions here. Way better then what I've come up with. I must be doing something wrong. I've tried every brush available and any time I use an opp greater then 30% it removes all detail from the fur. No amount of sharping helps. Palms do yo vary the brush size as your going or do you basically stick with the one size on the fur? My attempt looks like a giant blue fur ball with a face on it.

Joe

[palms1]

Originally Posted by Joeven

I like all the smudge versions here. Way better then what I've come up with. I must be doing something wrong. I've tried every brush available and any time I use an opp greater then 30% it removes all detail from the fur. No amount of sharping helps. Palms do yo vary the brush size as your going or do you basically stick with the one size on the fur? My attempt looks like a giant blue fur ball with a face on it.

Joe

Joe please please post your blue fur ball it sounds great

I guess you are doing the guerrilla i change the size depending on the fur, using small strokes,
Seriously post even just a bit of what you have done then i can see what you are doing and offer some better advice that way

Palms

[Joeven]

Originally Posted by palms1

Joe please please post your blue fur ball it sounds great

I guess you are doing the guerrilla i change the size depending on the fur, using small strokes,
Seriously post even just a bit of what you have done then i can see what you are doing and offer some better advice that way

Palms

Hey Palms this is smudged at only 13% opp. Sharpened heavily and the fur still looks like crap. What am I doing wrong? It doesn't matter what brush I'm using.

Joe

[Peter S]

Originally Posted by palms1

Amica hope you like this one i had to guess the eye colour hope i got it right !

I used trimoons #23 smudge brush at the set opacity of 73%


Palms

Very nice smudge there Palms, and of a CAT as well, we don't see many of them here do we.

Peter

[amica999]

Originally Posted by palms1

Amica hope you like this one i had to guess the eye colour hope i got it right !

I used trimoons #23 smudge brush at the set opacity of 73%


Palms

Love it Palms, the eyes were shaded orange, but I do like the blue ones as well. By the way, he never looked that smooth in real life, he was a living "fur-ball". Absolutely beautoful, let me check if I have that brush as your edges look so perfect. Thanks for the play. Aynone wants more CAT pics, i must have hundreds of them, they are such thankful modells...no wrinkle removal, no makeup..:-)

[mikajomc]

OK, I finally did it. I smudged for real. I actually sat down and studied a few tutorials.
Here it is. <Gulp> I actually had fun doing this.

I used Sarsa's brush on the fur and Linda's brush on the face & ear. I used Sylvia's background brush for the background.
Sylvia- that brush is awesome!! thank you!

[palms1]

Originally Posted by Joeven

Hey Palms this is smudged at only 13% opp. Sharpened heavily and the fur still looks like crap. What am I doing wrong? It doesn't matter what brush I'm using.

Joe

Joe try this
usm> 200,1.00,0
then get the rough round bristle brush (from the thick heavy brush set)
opacity 50 size 30
zoom in on image to about 190-200% (big) then work from the outside in with small strokes ( best way i can say is about the same size movement as if you are doing a capital letter ) in the direction of the fur ( try not to scrub backwards and forwards you may need to go over the area a couple of times ) then sort of layer the fur on top of each other (Had a thought i mean all on the same ps layer dont use different layers hope this isnt confusing )
when you think you have finished look over the image again a bit at a time to find bits that you have missed ( they are easy to spot when you have used the usm )
See how you get on take your time (sorry not a quick thing) and post any problems
thank you for posting there are plenty who say they cant do it and wont post it makes it hard then to see what the problem could be

here is a couple of images that i hope will help where i have done just a little bit ( so ignore all the background and unsmudged bits )
Palms

[palms1]

Originally Posted by amica999

Love it Palms, the eyes were shaded orange, but I do like the blue ones as well. By the way, he never looked that smooth in real life, he was a living "fur-ball". Absolutely beautoful, let me check if I have that brush as your edges look so perfect. Thanks for the play. Aynone wants more CAT pics, i must have hundreds of them, they are such thankful modells...no wrinkle removal, no makeup..:-)

Amica i have added another image with hopefully the right colour eyes ( i had done them on a seperate file and kept the psd)
Not sure about anyone else but maybe try a human next, Harder i think ? so will look for a image for that.

Palms

[palms1]

Originally Posted by mikajomc

OK, I finally did it. I smudged for real. I actually sat down and studied a few tutorials.
Here it is. <Gulp> I actually had fun doing this.

I used Sarsa's brush on the fur and Linda's brush on the face & ear. I used Sylvia's background brush for the background.
Sylvia- that brush is awesome!! thank you!

Jordan i think that you are getting the "bug" well done

Palms

[dkcoats]

I've never had much luck with the whole smudging thing so it is with some trepidation that I dare to post this.

After the smudge I took into Painter to muck up the background a little. I hope that isn't considered bad form in Smudgeland.

Okay, here goes (clicks "Submit")

[Peter S]

Originally Posted by dkcoats

I've never had much luck with the whole smudging thing so it is with some trepidation that I dare to post this.

After the smudge I took into Painter to muck up the background a little. I hope that isn't considered bad form in Smudgeland.

Okay, here goes (clicks "Submit")

"He who dares wins", glad you submitted
Its not bad, you got the bug as well.

Peter

[mikajomc]

And it is an addicting bug, just as everything else with this hobby!

Well done dc. The ear looks a little sharp, but I like the eyes. I have seen several smudge paintings where the background was done in painter!
I've actually been wondering how different it would be to smudge the whole thing in painter. I know some do, but I haven't tried it yet. Anybody have any tips on that?

[sylvia1065]

Originally Posted by mikajomc

I used Sylvia's background brush for the background.
Sylvia- that brush is awesome!! thank you!

You're very welcome!!
Sylvia

[Joeven]

Thanks Palms for the advice. I'm going to learn how to smudge even if it kills me I mean it. Just kidding.No really! This smudging is driving me nuts!

Joe

[palms1]

I have added two more links to the origingal post one for Sylvia's smudge brushes (thank you Sylvia) and another for some more links from mikajomc (thanks)

Dc great work, as said there are quite a few people who use painter for the backgrounds as well as the smudging, but i dont have painter so cant really comment on that but maybe someone will jump in

Joe you will get there remember the best tool for smudging is patience and you might find that other subjects are easier Sylvia has said she finds people easier ( thank goodness for that maybe she will be able to give some more advice when we give them a try , Well if we smile nicely and say pretty please) Like jordan i find animals (Peter read that as cats ) and flowers easier

Palms

[sylvia1065]

Originally Posted by palms1

I have added two more links to the origingal post one for Sylvia's smudge brushes (thank you Sylvia)

Sylvia has said she finds people easier ( thank goodness for that maybe she will be able to give some more advice when we give them a try , Well if we smile nicely and say pretty please)
Palms

You're welcome! I just updated my site and placed some new smudge presets.

I used my "- SD - Oil Streaky" to do Janet's excellent pictures of the old lady and the old guy and version 2
These are the original links to Janet's pictures:
Old Woman
Old Man Revisited

As for the colors, I usually darken the outside, and lighten the face a bit with these steps:
Select the lasso tool, feather around 40, hit Ctrl J (Cmd J on Mac) to place the selection on its own layer, Ctrl M (Cmd M on Mac) to open the Curves, click once on the middle of the graph and pull it up a bit. Hit OK, adjust the opacity if necessary and merge (Ctrl E / Cmd E on Mac).

Any other questions, just shoot, but I'm not the big expert on the subject.

Sylvia

[amica999]

Thank you Sylvia, I have already admired your face smudgings, haven't been brave enough to give it a try, yet.

[gholmes1936]

I gave up on smudging. I just cannot get it. But it did give me the basics for this rendition using Corel Painter Essentials 4.

[palms1]

Originally Posted by gholmes1936

I gave up on smudging. I just cannot get it. But it did give me the basics for this rendition using Corel Painter Essentials 4.

Oh dear that is a shame, but try something else later ( i felt like giving up on it earlier as well )
but you still ended up with a great image

Palms

[Joeven]

Here's a picture to play with from www.freedigitalphotos.net. I think I'm actually getting worse.

Joe

[palms1]

Originally Posted by Joeven

Here's a picture to play with from www.freedigitalphotos.net. I think I'm actually getting worse.

Joe

you might think that but i think that is a great image tigers are hard to do and you have done the whiskers better than i could ! !

Palms

[Joeven]

Palms I took your smudging advice from earlier and I also reread that beagle smudging tutorial. I tried it on this lion from www.freedigitalphotos.net. I used only the rough bristle brush at 60% and different sizes. I sharpened using USM with a low amount 25% and high radius 50 to help with the contrast and Smart Sharpen at 100 for the amount and a radius of 0.4. I think this one turned out better. Here's the pic to play with.

Joe