Creative Portraits: Justin

[DannyRaphael]

Pretty cute baby. Photo by his father, Jim.

[DannyRaphael]

I discovered what I thought was a neat paper (Lightpit) that I used on each of the Impressionist styles I used (see attachment .set file), along with Emboss=1.

The layers were ordered by detail (most detail to least, top to bottom) and layer masks used to selectively apply each layer. 20-20 hindshight: I wish I would have modified the original image a bit more to give more detail to his lips, which lost definition, but... Live and learn.

[Punch]

Technique:

PS7.0.1

Dupe BG
Masked foreground to isolate
Filter>Artistic>Fresco [Brush size 2, detail 8, texture 2]
Smudge to blend colors better
New layer underneath
Filter>render>clouds [colors light warm brown, darker green- from swatches]
Filter>sketch>halftone pattern [size 1, contrast 25, Pattern type- line]
Set opacity to 26% so background is visible

There you go... Kent

[jaykita]

image-duplicate-create sketch layer- use art history tool for color - use history tool to put back some details from original. Add new transparent layer - fill with white - add layer mask-use appropriate brush and black color to put back image onto layer - paint mode soft light - merge all. Add another sketch layer - multiply for black lines. Add texture. Add filter paint daubs.

[dslinger]

love that work Jaykita! looks beautiful.

[Xaran]

Sorry I can't remember exactly what I did to this as I did it some time ago but never got round to posting it

Christine

[jaykita]

Impressionist filter, various layers and blends.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by jaykita

Impressionist filter, various layers and blends.

A very arty interpretation. I especially like this one. If you recall which Impressionst style(s) you used, I'd like to know.
~Danny~

[jaykita]

Originally Posted by DannyRaphael

A very arty interpretation. I especially like this one. If you recall which Impressionst style(s) you used, I'd like to know.
~Danny~

Thank you Danny, for your appreciation. I know particularly well, that you go for the impressionist look. I can see why you (and so many others) like it. Kind of addictive
I'm trying to recall those steps. Didnt really expect anyone to ask for my technique!
O.k. Lets see. To begin with...MOST IMPORTANTLY -- i started by creating a special "brush" for my impr. filter -- with the image itself. So, i duplicated the image, desaturated it, and after adjustments- levels - for more contrast, went to adjustments - threshold. Saved this image in tiff format. (Remember where u put it.) I ONLY USED this CUSTOM BRUSH for all layers. Got the idea from Tutorials section "Impressionist plug-in - Tips, tricks and miracles" by jch71566.
Made about 4 duplicate copies of background image. On each of them, i used different settings, all like i said, with my custom brush which i invoked each time thro the impr filter. Also each time changed settings for color, orientation, size etc. sorry, dont remember too well One style was sumi-e - translucent strokes on white. Another i think dry brush - scrappy sketch (not sure), another chalk.
I remember i upped saturation a lot in one layer to get the color in. Yes, and all layers were of different opacity around 35 - 55%, and i also used layer masks to erase and reveal layer below. Also only 2 blends were used - normal and lighten.
I used a tip from Steve to create another layer by - select all - copy merged - paste. Gives you a merged layer on top of all those other layers. This does away with the actual merging of all layers into one. It helps if you want to duplicate any of the other layers for further use.
Finally, to harmonize, i used a render - clouds layer (with pale purple and yellow colors) , lowered opacity and overlay blend. Merged again. Selected a neutral beige from the image backgr and used a custom PS7 square textured brush to paint over background colors.
All you asked for were the "styles" and i droned on....Wonder if any of this helps.
Regards.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by jaykita

Thank you Danny, for your appreciation. I know particularly well, that you go for the impressionist look. I can see why you (and so many others) like it. Kind of addictive
I'm trying to recall those steps. Didnt really expect anyone to ask for my technique!

O.k. Lets see.

To begin with...MOST IMPORTANTLY -- i started by creating a special "brush" for my impr. filter -- with the image itself. So, i duplicated the image, desaturated it, and after adjustments- levels - for more contrast, went to adjustments - threshold. Saved this image in tiff format. (Remember where u put it.) I ONLY USED this CUSTOM BRUSH for all layers. Got the idea from Tutorials section "Impressionist plug-in - Tips, tricks and miracles" by jch71566.

Made about 4 duplicate copies of background image. On each of them, i used different settings, all like i said, with my custom brush which i invoked each time thro the impr filter. Also each time changed settings for color, orientation, size etc. sorry, dont remember too well
One style was sumi-e - translucent strokes on white. Another i think dry brush - scrappy sketch (not sure), another chalk.

I remember i upped saturation a lot in one layer to get the color in. Yes, and all layers were of different opacity around 35 - 55%, and i also used layer masks to erase and reveal layer below. Also only 2 blends were used - normal and lighten.

I used a tip from Steve to create another layer by - select all - copy merged - paste. Gives you a merged layer on top of all those other layers. This does away with the actual merging of all layers into one. It helps if you want to duplicate any of the other layers for further use.
Finally, to harmonize, i used a render - clouds layer (with pale purple and yellow colors) , lowered opacity and overlay blend. Merged again. Selected a neutral beige from the image backgr and used a custom PS7 square textured brush to paint over background colors.

All you asked for were the "styles" and i droned on....Wonder if any of this helps.

Regards.

Only your 2nd try with Impressionist? Yikes. This is awesome. And addictive? Yeah, you could say that!

Hadn't thought of making a custom brush from the image. That's pretty ingenius. I've barely experimented with custom brushes. Found that if you include a special character like #, $, !, @ as the first letter of the brush name, it (a) causes my brushes to sort to the top of the list and (b) make it easy to distinguish custom brushes from the ones Microsoft provided.

Don't worry about the extra detail. MORE is better.

~Danny~

[Neve]

What a wee charmer! Lovely submissions and thoroughly enjoyed the views and wonderful tips, thank you! I opted to try Paint Alchemy - a sketch setting of my own.

PSP8.01

Grayscale image then increase Col. Depth to 24 Mill.
Levels to lighten image considerably.
Dupe this layer.
2nd Layer - Made a selection of the bg and inverted.
Paint Alchemy Sketch Setting.
Layer Blend Mode - Multiply
Merged both layers.
Inverted selection and filled bg with white.
I copied and pasted the selection as a new layer and applied
a slight shadow. (optional)
Merged both layers.
Added pencil tube in a new layer, deformed and positioned.
Text in new layer
Merged all.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Neve

What a wee charmer! Lovely submissions and thoroughly enjoyed the views and wonderful tips, thank you! I opted to try Paint Alchemy - a sketch setting of my own.

PSP8.01

Grayscale image then increase Col. Depth to 24 Mill.
Levels to lighten image considerably.
Dupe this layer.
2nd Layer - Made a selection of the bg and inverted.
Paint Alchemy Sketch Setting.
Layer Blend Mode - Multiply
Merged both layers.
Inverted selection and filled bg with white.
I copied and pasted the selection as a new layer and applied
a slight shadow. (optional)
Merged both layers.
Added pencil tube in a new layer, deformed and positioned.
Text in new layer
Merged all.

Many gold stars for a supurb interpretation, Neve. The text + pencil are icing on the cake.

I never got the hang of Paint Alchemy. You've given me hope and I just now dusted it off and have begun poking around.

Of the Sketch Style presets, which one did you use?

~Danny~

[Neve]

Hi Danny...many thanks! It's taken me a while to get the hang of Paint Alchemy, albeit very little. This was definitely a happy accident today, I kid you not....! The setting was Little Dutch Boy and I altered the settings...mainly the colours and "angle" especially. I fiddled with the settings until I got a right hand slant.

I lightened this image heaps prior to applying the filter.....as if preparing for a High Key appearance (i.e. white skin) but still with enough shading for the filter to grab a hold of.

Hope that makes sense.... . I landed lucky with the right image today. When I completed it I knew I wanted to 'keep' it. I liked it myself and that's a change...LOL

Cheers