New smudger

[aturner]

New to the forum and to smudging. Here is the original and my attempt to smudge. I feel like I missed something, although I can't figure out what. It still seems to be too "photographic" looking. Here are my steps:

1. Smudged using lighten, darken and normal modes at various opacities.
2. Smudged hair using sarsa hair brush.
3. Dodging and burning to help bring out shadows and highlights.

Any advice?

-Andy

[palms]

Hi and welcome Andy

you have done well for a new smudger

advice i can give you is keep practising work out which style of smudging you want to achieve
scott deardoff is more ("photographic looking) while others are a lot heavier ( all in the opacity of the smudge tool) did you sharpen at all before smudging ? and after you had finished smudging ? ( again different people have different work flows for before and after)

all though you used a lovely photo i dont think that it is the best for smudging, a lot of black and white (these tend not to show up as well ) and a lot of small details (hard work) try the image from this post and see how you get on,
but do keep on as i said originally you have done well
and keep posting and asking questions
and if you want some reading and havent seen this post enjoy

Palms

[DannyRaphael]

Hi Andy...

Welcome to RP. Super picture. Very inventive viewpoint!

re: It still seems to be too "photographic" looking.
That can be a challenge of smudging. Ran into that myself in my few attempts at this style of digital art.

The side-by-side, somewhat exaggerated image I've uploaded below is intended to provide a visual example of what distinguishes a photo from a painting (see below). It is NOT intended to suggest "my way is better than your way," OK? Once you get a visual picture of the differences, hopefully you'll be able to apply some of the concepts as you develop your own style of painting.

Typical characteristics of Photos (assumes color, in-focus):
* Colors are true, captured "as they are"
* All colors in scene are captured
* Blacks are blacks; whites are white
* Details are "in focus"
* Smooth, continuous transitions in tones, colors, shadows, etc.
* Smooth surfaces look smooth
* No flaws, jagged edges

Typical characteristics of Paintings (depending on style):
* Colors may be added to accenuate highlights or give the illusion of shadows
* If the artist has decided on a "color scheme," some-to-many colors in the original scene may not be present in the painting
* Blacks and whites may be "suggested" by other colors
* Details may not be in perfect focus; some may be eliminated completely
* Transitions in tones, colors, shadows, etc. may be more abrupt or varied in areas
* Flaws in colors, lines, details suggest "human" application of brush strokes
* Smooth surfaces may not necessarily look smooth

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

That said, I'd say the first two areas to look at would be:
* Adding highlights to shadow areas
* Experiment with "sharpening" to give the smudge strokes more definition

Caution:
Smudge painting is kind of like golf or bowling. It looks like it should be easy when you watch others do it on TV; but based on my own limited experience and on what I've read over the years, getting good takes practice, practice, practice... So hang in there. You're off to a very good start.

Hope this helps.

[Peter S]

Ditto to all the above.
Your off to a good start here.
Yes it does still look photographic, like Danny says look at the lighting effects to add a little more interest, too many small details can bog you down,so you can afford to lose some of them, try boosting the saturation a little to give a it a bit more pop.
Check out the links Palms has posted. Lots of good tips/tools there.

The render lighting effects filter can give a very nice effect if not overdone.


My effort below.

Peter

[Joeven]

I agree with all the advice so far. I'm not much of a smudger but your trying to make a photo look like a painting so you need to add some kind of light sorce like Peter said. You can use something like LucasArt or the Highlight/Shadow filter in PS to give it some contrast. My smudges seem to all turn into cartoons so you might want to ignore my advice.

This is a brushless smudge.

Joe

[Kraellin]

i like that, joe. good one