Photo-Based Art - - Portraits

bcarll · #1 05-12-2007, 10:54 AM

Hope I can express my question in a manner you can understand.
When doing a portrait in my paint program (gertrudis at the time) I am finding that I am maybe not adding enough texture etc. in the face area for fear of losing detail. The body of my work looks OK and like a painting but sometimes it looks like a photo of a head sitting on a rougher painting. Hope I am making this clear. It always seems to print a little clearer then what it looks like also so the final print ens up looking like I described above.(photo sitting on a painting.) I'm still new at this and will keep trying but just needed some influence and suggestions on this matter. I have included a photo/portrait (before and after)that I have done of my neice from several years ago. Pleased with the results but I still question if I could have gone a little more for the paint look in the face. I printed this out in 8X10 format and but maybe if I went larger it might look more like I want it too. Thanks for all you do here to make this an educational stop as well as a great forum for entertainment too.

bcarll

CathyH · #2 05-13-2007, 06:06 AM

Bcarll
I would agree that you need to add some brush strokes to the face/head. And in my opion I wouldn't add the canvas texture to the painting but I would have it printed on a canvas.
I like the clothes.
Cathy

Swampy · #3 05-13-2007, 08:06 AM

bcarll

Here's a version of your lovely niece that I did using my "Soft Portrait" method. I have a video tutorial on this on my web site. See the link below. Jpeg compression really doesn't do this justice, but try your own to really see.

bcarll · #4 05-13-2007, 11:57 AM

Cathy

Thanks for your comments -- I have never tried having a picture put on canvas so it will be an adventure. I know there is much written here about having that done so I'll investigate.

bcarll

bcarll · #5 05-13-2007, 12:00 PM

Thanks Swampy -- will check your website out and give that technique a try. Thanks for takng the time to do this picture for me and to give me some suggestions.

bcarll

Swampy · #6 05-13-2007, 01:22 PM

bcarll

I just picked up two canvas pieces Saturday. A 40 inch dolphin that I "painted" for a wedding gift for my niece that really turned out nice. You should be able to find someone in your area that can do giclee.

MargaretM · #7 05-14-2007, 09:22 AM

Hi bcarll and what a cute photo. I believe the problem you express is a common one when people start artifying portraits - how to keep the features recognizable and clear while producing an artlike look. The technique of smudging is very useful for this and I know there are some tutorials on this site. I use PHotoshop for smudging and Painter for its blending brushes. THe eyes for me are the hardest part and I've noticed that many painted portraits retain the photographic eyes. Anyhoo, I would definitely start with smudging - it does well on faces. I had a very quick go at the picture.
MargaretM

dmrdm · #8 05-14-2007, 12:29 PM

Swampy---I'm glad you mentioned your website on this post! I'm a beginner and was trilled to see your videos. Plan on viewing all of them! (if one could only play with the computer the majority of day life would be good.....mmmmm...need to go buy a lottery ticket!) Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Swampy · #9 05-14-2007, 01:41 PM

Enjoy, dmrdm! :-)

bcarll · #10 05-14-2007, 08:40 PM

MargaretM --Love what you did to my portrait. How did you achieve the brush strokes to resemble such a real look? Looks just like a canvas. All I ever do is select a texture from PS and apply but it never looks like yours. Great job --- your're good!! Really like the cropping you did -- will try that one myself -----
bcarll

lkroll · #11 05-14-2007, 11:21 PM

Wonderful capture bcarll. Just experimenting with a Pencil Sketch Script-fu for this watercolor on textured paper. The big version can be found here. Attached is a reduced size rendition.

admirer · #12 05-14-2007, 11:38 PM

I am working on a painting method but it may lose too much detail for your taste. It is a combination of noise reductions, blurring, sharpening and contrast adjustments with a blurred lighted surround. I did not spend too much time on this so is a little rough (about 10 min).

MargaretM · #13 05-15-2007, 07:12 AM

Quote:

MargaretM --Love what you did to my portrait. How did you achieve the brush strokes to

Thank you bcarll. I use a combo of PHotoshop and Painter, Brushstrokes are from Painter Acrylic brushes in this picture. I almost always texturize in Painter - huge assortment of textures there, but have found a very light hand works better, so usually reduce the depth to between 20 and 30 and then usually end up using the edit fade. Also, once you have texturized, to get a more natural look, dupe the layer then mask it and then paint over the mask in black with different opacities to hide some texture in the places it would not show in a regular painting - areas where the paint would be thick. This can be done in Photoshop.
Here'a a link to Trimoon's smudging tutorial - http://www.trimoon.com/html/smudging.html
MargaretM

palms1 · #14 05-15-2007, 12:59 PM

Not sure your question has been answered bcarll but i had to have a quick go

Admirer that looks like a interesting paint method

Palms

admirer · #15 05-15-2007, 04:42 PM

Ok i had a little more time to sit down with this picture.
Again just selective contrasting and a blend of filters, this one is a little less heavy handed than the last. I am far too impatient to hand paint, one of many character flaws.