Creative Portraits: Words of Wisdom

[DannyRaphael]

Photo by Martin Lewis courtesy of www.morguefile.com.

~Danny~

(Note: This is a replacement for "Full smoke ahead," which had serious quality problems. Sorry about that.)

[DannyRaphael]

PS + Impressionist + Painter 8 + Photoshop...

Photoshop:
* Duplicated Background 4 times
* Top: Artistic > Dry Brush (2, 8, 1)
* Layer 2: Impressionist > Pencil Sketch > Colored Pencil (default settings)
* Layer 3: Impressionist > Pencil Sketch > Colored Pencil (Size > Min Width, Height, Max Width, Height: 4, 4, 12, 3)
* Layer 4: Impressionist > Pencil Sketch > Colored Pencil (Size > Min Width, Height, Max Width, Height: 4, 4, 12, 4)
* Background (not used)

Hide all layer masks applied to the top three layers.
* Layer 3: Airbrushed white on layer mask to bring in some detail
* Layer 2: Airbrushed white on layer mask to bring in more detail
* Top layer: Airbrushed white on layer mask to bring out eye, glasses, nose and mouth detail

Created a new layer and Alt + Layer > Merge Visible to merge the visible layers. Applied Unsharp Mask (125, 1.5, 0) to this layer. Saved file as "1 Photoshop base".

Duplicated image, flattened duplicate and saved as "2 Photoshop flat"

Started Painter 8
* Opened "2 Photoshop flat"
* Saved as "3 Painter output"
* Selected Blender Brush group
* Selected Grainy Blender 10 brush
* Blended image
* Saved and closed Painter

...back to Photoshop
* Open "3 Painter output"
* Saved as "4 Photoshop finish up"
* Duplicated Background
* Applied Unsharp Mask
* Added Hue/Saturation and Levels adjustment layers and tweaked settings
* Added a new layer
* Select all
* Pressed D to set foreground/BG color swatches to default B/W
* Edit / Stroke 2 pixel frame
* File > Save
* File > Save for Web (for .jpg to upload)

- - - - - - -

Question: "Is it really necessary to have four .psd files and maintain all the layers throughout the process?"

A: "No. That's just my personal style. This way I have ultimate flexibility to 'go back and start over' from just about anywhere in the process in case I really hose something."


Question: "Why the multiple layers of Impressionst Pencil Sketch > Detail Colored?"

A: "Variety / thickness in the strokes. Varying the Size value for each application of Impressionist affects the size and shape of the strokes. In some places (like around the face, eyes, etc.) you want a lot of detail (smaller/sharper strokes). In other areas like his cape/robe, less detail is desired, so larger/less defined strokes work better here. There was nothing scientific in the settings I used for the bottom and middle layers. I just experimented with the values until I liked what I saw in the preview thumbnail."

~Danny~

[LQQKER]

Danny,

Very nicely done.

[qtranva]

Danny, It's amazing how you turned the photo into this realistic oil painting. Thanks for sharing all the steps.

[byRo]

Danny, just superb work.
This way you leave us no choice but to go in the exact opposite direction!

Roland

[Manjumena]

Very well done Danny!
I wonder how you ppl keep on a track on what you're doing!!!
Manju

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Manjumena

Very well done Danny!
I wonder how you ppl keep on a track on what you're doing!!!
Manju

Thank you Roland and Manju for your kind words. Ro, your "opposite direction" turned out great. Very nice job of fading into the background.

re: Keeping track.
For me, mostly by "slowing down" and labeling layers as I go in such a way that I can understand how the layer was created. I've come up with my own "code" that makes sense to me several weeks after the fact.

~Danny~

[Neve]

Excellent result Danny, you put a lot into this one, well done!
Byro - great result, very pleasing to view.

PSP8.01

Used levels to lighten the image.
Duped bottom layer 3 times. Working upwards...
L2 - Buzz
L3 - Selected White Area/Invert. Art Media Effects/Brush Strokes/Brush Emboss - deselect
L3 - Blend Mode/Normal/80%
Dupe L3
L4 - Blend Mode/Soft Light/40%
Merge all visible.
Selected white area again - added noise and slight blur.
Then applied Art Media Effect again.
Darkened outside of image.

Thanks for the photo.

Cheers

[jaykita]

First of all, I dup bckgr layer, filled with white and created a sketchy image using art history brush (rough ink at 50 opac). Then put back some of original image eg. eye and mouth area etc. Next, impr plug-in, unfortunately i dont remember which, then vp gouache, then slashed down some colors while boosting others using image -replace colors and selective colors to achieve this final effect.

[Steve Conway]

Old thread, but posted this for PatriciaKay.

Steve

[patriciakay]

Hi Steve....
What can i say....this is fabulous...you are really quickly getting to grips with this art...I am impressed!

Patricia....

[lkroll]

...I took a left at Impressionist. lol

Used Danny's Pencil set: Soft Detail Brightness to finish the image off after doing a Highkey that was additionally processed by Sharp Control.

[oltenius]

Artweaver attempt.
Dan

[alexmeta]

Expressive photo. Thank you Dan.

Photoshop+Impressionist

[oltenius]

Originally Posted by alexmeta

Expressive photo. Thank you Dan.

Photoshop+Impressionist

alexmeta, Dan or Danny!?
Anyway, yours are terrific!
Dan

[palms]

Nice portrait here is my ahb attempt

Palms

As it is raining here and football is on the tv ( again) here is another ahb attempt with a desaturated version that i quite liked included

[alexmeta]

Originally Posted by oltenius

alexmeta, Dan or Danny!?
Anyway, yours are terrific!
Dan

Dan, I mean Danny, of course.
Thank you.

Photoshop+Impressionist: Photoshop AHB: Photoshop CS filters only.
Alex.

[DannyRaphael]

An interpretation using the Akvis sketch plugin:

http://akvis.com/en/sketch/index.php

[Drach]

Completely done in Artrage2
Since it's 1268x1702 px it was a pain to get it below 100kb.
It seems a bit blurry due to compression so you can find a better quality version here (767kb).

Enjoy

[Peter S]

Not sure just how I got to this. But all done in PS.


Peter

[Kraellin]

peter, cool. i like that one

[palms]

Very nice Peter, now thinking cap on and try to remember please

Palms

[Kraellin]

yup. i'd like to know a little more about that one too, peter.

[Peter S]

Believe it or not, I have been trying to do similar on another pic, and can't reproduce it yet.
I was doing a lot of messing about with this one and binned a lot of stuff.
But I did use noise reduction at its strongest to soften (more than once) I also oversharpened to get the edge detail, I know I added the cutout filter on a copied layer and faded (can't rember the mode) (feel ill now).
Did a lot of bluring close to the edges to take away the shapening halos (does that make sense?)
Definately did levels (to darken) and Hue and Sat a few times.

I know this is not a lot of help, but right now its the best I can do.

Peter

[palms]

Peter how very annoying for you, i think that it has probably happened to us all ( at least once ) The worst of it all is if like me you will suddenly remember something just as you start to go to sleep
I had guessed the cutout filter was involved there, i have not used this filter much but just lately have seen some great work using it .
the other thing that caught my eye was how his robes look like satin great look.
Anyway yes it has been of some help, i will have a mooch around with the cutout filter
Thank you for your best now go and have a sit down and a nice drink what ever your tipple might be ! ! ! !

Palms

[Swampy]

Glad this project has been resurected!

Tried to achieve a minimal water color effect.

Adjusted colors. Duped, desaturated, copied the desat layer, inverted set for color dodge and ran motion blur. Merged the two b/w layers and set to luminacity blend mode. Tweaked curves and added frames.

[MargaretM]

Great effect Swampy. Nicely done!
MargaretM

[Swampy]

Thank you, Margaret. It started with a tip I got on a Photoshop podcast for a new sketch technique, but I added the color with the LUM blend mode. I really like the technique because it doesn't add tons of "jitter" in the halftones, but gives a pretty clean drawing and allows for a lot of adjustment of the amount of "sketch" you want.

[palms]

Very nice Swampy

PAlms

[MiningArt]

Here's my go at this one. I tried make the hand the focal point.