[carseasoncity]

There are two pictures that I'm considering working on first. The baby is the owner of the hands picture that I posted initially. They are completely unedited (straight from camera-raw).

If you want to play with them and see what you come up with feel free.

Brandi

[DannyRaphael]

Brandi:

Thank you for the wonderful pix to work with.

[palms1]

I couldn't resist, but who could?
only a quick smudge but i have some other ideas when i get some time

Palms

[Peter S]

Thanks for the opportunity to work on these great pictures.

Palms thats a great idea clouds, inspired.

After Danny's B&W on the last posting I thought I'd try one myself, though it's not as good.

Peter

[Gilbert]

portrait attempt

[palms1]

Originally Posted by carseasoncity

Geesh! This stinks...way harder than a puppy! Here's my first feeble attempt at a portrait. I included the original, the painting, and the painting with texture. This is gonna take some serious time and effort to get good at.
This attempt leaves me with lots of questions...
How short/long should the strokes be?
Which direction should the strokes go...diagonal, up/down, circular?
How do I make it look more like brush strokes without upping the opacity so much that it makes it look blotchy?
Should I give up now?

Thanks for any input.
Brandi

Dont give up Brandi
I think smudging is one of the hardest techniques to "do"
and it differs so much between different subjects and images, with people being the hardest subject but others may disagree and think animals are ?
My thoughts on your questions are (again they may differ from others)
the length of your strokes really depends on what you are smudging i suppose i tend to use a back and forward motion, longer on say hair than on faces ( it is awkward to explain)
Direction sort of go with the flo is the best way i can describe it you got it right on your dog image not sure if you did on that one but start at the outer edge of fur and work you way in so that you sort of overlay each stroke on the one below
enlarge your image and see if it looks more painterly ? smudging does need to be seen big
hope this helps some, ask more questions if you need to

And i will ask you one some "smudgers" sharpen before smudging do you ? I do some times and not others cant make my mind up on that one yet ! ! !

Palms

[palms1]

and another play, Same thought process nearly Peter i thought it would look good as a black and white but with a little selective colour !

Palms

[Photomaster]

This portrait was done in Photoshop starting with the Impressionist filter followed by smudging and a lot of hand tooling. Finished with a selective application of canvas texture.

[Peter S]

Thats nice PM, I thought I'd give this another go myself.

Peter

[Sweetlight]

Just a quick shot at it before heading out the door.

[DameLinda]

I know, I know....needs work...lol

[lkroll]

Shiney baby.

[cindy fuller]

Hi, Brandi

I'm new to smudge painting as well. It can be hard! I try to paint in the direction of the area. For example, on her cheeks, I did small strokes, but on the dress I did longer strokes in the direction the dress was going, and on her hair, I just "combed" in the direction of the hair growth. Sorry I didn't leave her leg in the painting, but once I got to pulling the dress out, it just didn't look right.


Don't give up!

Cindy

[lkroll]

An illustration this time.

[0lBaldy]

Brandi,
Such a nice picture I sort of hated to mess with the pixels..