Jaykita's watercolor technigue

[oyster]

In November, senior member Jaykita gave us a very persuasive watercolor method, and included two Impressionist watercolor brushes of his own design. I'm sorry I don't have the message number in my notes, but the post is dated 11-17-2004. J's technique really works very well indeed, but I have a question which he (or anyone) might perhaps answer here. At the very last, J. employs a *vector mask* to get rid of any black in the image, since watercolor paintings show black very rarely. Now I was under the impression that vector masks (which I've never used) are useful for very precise work involving sharp edges and paths. How does a vector mask work to elliminate black in the final rendering of J's watercolor?
Oyster

[Cameraken]

I think the method you are talking about is here

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=76164#poststop

I did not understand it either. But I liked the results

Ken

[DannyRaphael]

Ah, great catch. I missed that thread/post...

Here's a direct link to thet post (saves scrolling):

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showpost.php?p=76164&postcount=40

Although I, too, liked the results, it was closing in on the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. and I never did try the technique myself.

After rereading through the steps, it's not clear to me now what was meant by the vector mask reference. If I get time in the next few days, I'll see if I can decipher the method by recreating the results. If I'm able to do that I will take a cut at clarifying the steps.

Thanks, Oyster, for raising the white flag on this one.

~Danny~

[Cameraken]

DannyRaphael
I don't know if this helps but I have dug out my notes.
These steps should be Jaykita steps with my additions in brackets
The main problem is a missing step between L3 and L4
And also L9 which Oyster has already pointed out.
It sounds like Oyster has solved the first problem but I never got it right

Oyster
Can you help us out here to the last step?


Steps:-

(Works best on 72dpi)

L1 Duplicate the background call it L1 (then run auto levels)
Layer L1 image > adjustment > levels - lighten without increasing contrast (only move middle slider toward left 0,1.6,255)

L2 Dup L1- call it L2 apply impressionist filter Watercolor A (change coverage to 100%)
Then Filter > Noise > Median Radius 1 or 2. (this does not seem enough ? try 5)

L3- Dup L1-call it L3 (drag to top of stack) levels adj 0,1.90,255, ps7 artistic watercolor, 14,0,1.

(blend mode missing here - Trying darken - Opacity100)


L4 Select All > Copy Merged > Paste - call the new layer L4
apply impressionist filter Watercolor A again

L5- Dup L4 call it L5 - virtual painter watercolor . this further enhances effect
Set layer opacity to 36%

L6- Select all, copy merged, paste call it L6

L7- Duplicate L6 (or L1? L1 used)- call it L7, impressionist filter watercolor B.
Set layer opacity to 41%

L8- Select all, copy merged, paste, (call it L8) image > adjust > selective color -white reduce black a bit.

L9- Dup again (call it L9) ps7 artistic watercolor, layermask (add vectormask)to get rid of any black in image if necessary.

[jaykita]

Hello all. Thank you for the interest shown in my image.
I am sorry to say that at the time of creating “portrait bara” I was a greenhorn with photoshop 7, and the impressionist filter. As a matter of fact, still am, for the process of learning never ceases. When I posted my work and Danny approved, I tried to retrace my steps, so I could share with him and you all.
A lot of time has gone since and I am unable to find my psd file. However, I've recreated my image which I am posting again here.
Also I was wrong to use the term “vector mask”. The vector mask didn’t work when I did a re-run of my technique, only hid the image. It is possible that i used a LAYER MASK to lighten some of the black color. I apologise for my mistake. Sorry. Thank you for bringing this to light.

Here are the steps to which I have added (AND ALSO CORRECTED):
Layer L1 (upwards) Original image, image adjustment levels to lighten without increasing contrast (only move middle slider toward left) 0, 1.90, 255.
L2- Dup L1- apply impr filter Watercolor A (brush size 60, coverage 100), Noise-Median 1 or 2.
L3- Dup L1- ps7 watercolor, 14,0,1. Opacity 50.
L4- Select all, copymerged, paste -- ps7 artistic watercolor once more. 14.0.1
L5- Dup L1, virtual painter watercolor rendering 55, coloration 27, focus 100, opacity 50. (this further enhances effect)
L6- Select all, copy merged, paste.
L7- Dup L1, impr filter watercolor B opac 41.
L8- Select all, copy merged, paste, image adj selective color-white reduce black to –29, increase saturation to +25.
L9- Dup L8, ps7 wc filter 14,0,1.
Finally, add texture – sandstone,100, 2, top left.

I hope this will avoid further confusion. Thank you.

[Cameraken]

Thanks Jaykita

Now it makes sense and works perfectly.
You must have Virtual Painter Deluxe for those settings but it does not make a great difference to use Virtual Painter.

Ken

[Legacy~Art]

Jaykita being female not male and called Judy or is it another jaykita?

Yes she is very creative and does superb colour and watercolours.

[bert de wolff]

hi all!

my impressionist doesn't seem to have watercolor A or B, does anyone have the settings perhaps ?

thanks
bert

[bert de wolff]

hi again

further to my last - view time difference thought i'd improvise:

this is my variation on jaykita's (thanks JK!!) workflow, without use of virtual painter and without imp watercolor A + B:

Layer L1 (upwards) Original image, image adjustment levels to lighten without increasing contrast (only move middle slider toward left) 0, 1.90, 255.
L2- Dup L1- apply impr filter Watercolor Soft Water Sketch (brush size 60, coverage 100), Noise-Median 2.
L3- Dup L1- ps7 watercolor, 14,0,1. Opacity 50.
L4- Select all, copymerged, paste, set blending to Lighten
L5- Dup L1, apply impr filter Watercolor Soft Water Sketch (brush size 60, coverage 100), set blending to Multiply
L8- Select all, copy merged, paste, image adj selective color-white reduce black to –29, increase saturation to +25.

Finally, add texture – Trimoon's 101 - scaling 75, relief 2, top left

what do you think?

bert

[bert de wolff]

oh and meanwhile i did find the thread containing the imp watercolor A+B settings
off to rework again
txs
bert

[leuallen]

Here is my try using jaykita's technique.

Followed steps as given with exception that I omitted the steps calling for Virtual Painter.

At the last step calling for Selective Color reduction of white by -29, I also adjusted the other colors to give more intensity and snap. This is technique is borrowed from Trimoon's watercolor tutorial. I also ajusted the saturation a little more because my original was a little flat. This really gave the color in the image some pop.

To adjust the colors using Selective Color, I did this. There are no rules, just your eyeballs and sense of judgement.

Have full image visible. I usually go one step below Fit image to window. You do not want to see detail but rather get an overall impression of how the color change effects the whole picture.

Open Selective Color. I usually use an adjustment layer in case I want to change my mind. After I am satisfied, I merge it with the base image.

Start with red. Move the dialog so that it is not covering the picture. With the black slider, slide it to the left and then to the right without looking at the slider. You may be suprised at how much you move the slider to get a good effect. Your attention should be on the picture. Make big changes to start until you see a sweet point that looks good. Then refine by making smaller adjustments. You might not see any change at all if the picture has no or little red in it. In that case move on to the next color.

When the black looks good for the red then go to the cyan slider for red and repeat the process. This will make the reds more red or less red. The key is to observe the picture and to see if any change there helps. Then move to the magenta and try that. And then the yellow. Now go back to the black and try new adjustments on that because the other sliders may have altered its original effect. Same with other sliders. This tweaking may not be necessary if you like what you see in the first pass. Just play with it until you see the reds you want.

When done with red, move on and repeat the process with the other colors including white, neutral, and black. Some colors you may change quite a bit while others are left unchanged.

This process is like mixing colors on a pallet. You start with your red, add a little black or white to lighten or darken. Adjust the hue by adding your magentas and yellows and you have a new red. Note that Selective Color is only altering the reds in the picture, in this case. The other colors are unaffected.

I made some pretty radical chages for this image which before this step was dull and flat. The yellows, blues and greens were greatly modified/intensified. This is different than Hue/Saturation which should also be done.

Larry

[raniday]

Larry, great photo and painterly results.

[jaykita]

Bert and Larry, both excellent results! Bert, very nice work with the impressionist filter!

My technique was shown using one particular image, but of course all images are different from each other in saturation and tonal quality, and obviously some improvisation may be necessary, for eg. Larry's image adjustments - selective color. (nicely explained too!) Also increasing saturation is very important for watercolors are mostly highly saturated paintings.
You have both done a great job with your respective images. I'm very impressed!!

[raniday]

Oops! Bert, I didn't see your painting up there. That's soooo beautiful.

[DannyRaphael]

oh and meanwhile i did find the thread containing the imp watercolor A+B settings
off to rework again
txs
bert

Bert:

See post #11 in this thread...

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8328