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I got an e-mail the other day from someone new to this hobby/sport asking why there were so few creations made with just the native filters built into Photoshop, e.g., Colored Pencil, Dry Brush, Watercolor, etc.
My reply, in effect was:
* Photoshop was never designed/intended to be an "art" application. It was designed for prepress image processing. Most of the filters in the filters menu came through the acquisition of Aldus a number of years ago. Aldus was marketing a Photoshop plug-in called, "Gallery Effects." These filters were rolled into (I believe) Photoshop 4, supplementing the ones Adobe had provided previously.
* While the intentions were good I personally find most of the built-in filters in Photoshop (as well as most other applications) to be somewhat limiting functionally which limits creativity. That's not to say that they cannot be used at all or in combination with other effects or as a basis to get started with photo-art, but by themselves render effects that anyone can achieve. Many people want to go beyond the basic, hence the variety of techniques, plugins, applications and methods mentioned in the various "how to" summaries.
* Many of the Photoshop filters are frauds. Never, ever will you find a real Dry Brush or Watercolor painting that looks like what's rendered by the corresponding filters.
...so, many people seek to supplement their toolbox with other, well, tools, which brings me to the $64,000 questions:
1. What applications (programs) do you use to render your creations? (It's okay to mention the popular ones. We can use this as a gauge of what people are using. If you use multiple programs, by all means mention them. Give a sense for frequency of use, too.)
2. What about plug-ins, the ones you purchase? (Names and links, please)
3. What about plug-ins, the ones you download off the net. (Names and links, please)
4. Actions or scripts? What are your favorites? (Links, please.)
- - - - - - -
Note: On the links, once someone has posted a link for a program or plugin, there's no need to repeat it, e.g., one is enought on www.Adobe.com, but do mention the individual programs, plug-ins, etc.
- - - - - - -
To get this started, here are among my favorites:
Programs
* Adobe Photoshop, www.Adobe.com. Use it daily and 98% of the time for photo-art.
* Corel Painter, www.Corel.com
Use it seldom at this time, but it has some amazing brush stroke possibilities Photoshop can't touch.
Plugins
* Jasc Virtual Painter (plug-in), www.Jasc.com
(buy it off eBay for $25, not from Jasc directly)
I use a couple of the effects frequently; most are not very useful (IMO). I almost always attempt to "disguise" VP rendered layers because they are so distinctively rendered by VP.
* Microsoft Impressionist, available on the Front Page 98 CD. My current favorite. It's simply amazing. Use it more and more every day.
Photoshop Actions
* Just about anything crafted by Mike Finn:
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~mikefinn/action.html
I use actions to generate a layer or a look; seldom use the output of an action "by itself." More likely to use the output of an action as a layer among many in an image and use layer masks or blend modes to integrate it into the final result.
- - - - - -
Okay... you're turn.
What's in your Photo-art toolbox?
Comments, observations, advice welcome, too.
~Danny~
My reply, in effect was:
* Photoshop was never designed/intended to be an "art" application. It was designed for prepress image processing. Most of the filters in the filters menu came through the acquisition of Aldus a number of years ago. Aldus was marketing a Photoshop plug-in called, "Gallery Effects." These filters were rolled into (I believe) Photoshop 4, supplementing the ones Adobe had provided previously.
* While the intentions were good I personally find most of the built-in filters in Photoshop (as well as most other applications) to be somewhat limiting functionally which limits creativity. That's not to say that they cannot be used at all or in combination with other effects or as a basis to get started with photo-art, but by themselves render effects that anyone can achieve. Many people want to go beyond the basic, hence the variety of techniques, plugins, applications and methods mentioned in the various "how to" summaries.
* Many of the Photoshop filters are frauds. Never, ever will you find a real Dry Brush or Watercolor painting that looks like what's rendered by the corresponding filters.
...so, many people seek to supplement their toolbox with other, well, tools, which brings me to the $64,000 questions:
1. What applications (programs) do you use to render your creations? (It's okay to mention the popular ones. We can use this as a gauge of what people are using. If you use multiple programs, by all means mention them. Give a sense for frequency of use, too.)
2. What about plug-ins, the ones you purchase? (Names and links, please)
3. What about plug-ins, the ones you download off the net. (Names and links, please)
4. Actions or scripts? What are your favorites? (Links, please.)
- - - - - - -
Note: On the links, once someone has posted a link for a program or plugin, there's no need to repeat it, e.g., one is enought on www.Adobe.com, but do mention the individual programs, plug-ins, etc.
- - - - - - -
To get this started, here are among my favorites:
Programs
* Adobe Photoshop, www.Adobe.com. Use it daily and 98% of the time for photo-art.
* Corel Painter, www.Corel.com
Use it seldom at this time, but it has some amazing brush stroke possibilities Photoshop can't touch.
Plugins
* Jasc Virtual Painter (plug-in), www.Jasc.com
(buy it off eBay for $25, not from Jasc directly)
I use a couple of the effects frequently; most are not very useful (IMO). I almost always attempt to "disguise" VP rendered layers because they are so distinctively rendered by VP.
* Microsoft Impressionist, available on the Front Page 98 CD. My current favorite. It's simply amazing. Use it more and more every day.
Photoshop Actions
* Just about anything crafted by Mike Finn:
http://homepages.slingshot.co.nz/~mikefinn/action.html
I use actions to generate a layer or a look; seldom use the output of an action "by itself." More likely to use the output of an action as a layer among many in an image and use layer masks or blend modes to integrate it into the final result.
- - - - - -
Okay... you're turn.
What's in your Photo-art toolbox?
Comments, observations, advice welcome, too.
~Danny~
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