rammy
21st of June 2007 (Thu), 16:38
MODS: This is a tutorial and I would like the pics to stay in case my hosting site moves.
Ok, so we don't have an official "SMUDGE PAINTING" tutorial on POTN done by a member so let's start one:
I think my index finger must weigh a tonne cause everytime I smudged, I kept seeming to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the underlying areas. I reduced the strength of the smudge tool all the way down and it seemed to help. Most of your time, from what I have learnt, is spent around the initial smudging stages. BTW I've adapted what I have learnt on t'internet to my way of doing it.
PLEASE help by adding your own steps, enhancements, tips and techniques to make this better/easier. Also, I hope you learn from my mistakes to make yours better. It would be great if Scarlett Nic and Athena contributed to this thread with their techniques cause I really do like their efforts :-)
NOTE Subtlety is the key! Keep your fingers light and preserve the detail. If you want to make this more smudge and painterly then basically "press harder" with your smudging :-) I have kept this light and very subtle but if you want the overly painted effect then smudge and blur more
The Original - I tried this on another flower shot and it failed completely because you need a pic that has a lot of contrast and also some shadows and highlights that will give your end image the best look. If you need to, dodge and burn some areas if you have a hi-res image or try an extreme curves adjustment. One for shadows and one for highlights then blend them.
182961
Settings - The brush you use with the smudge tool should not be a "solid" or "soft" brush. You want one of those that has holes in it and has a soft edge. I made the mistake of using a soft edged normal brush the first time I tried this and I basically ended up removing the detail resulting in a flat painting. You want to set the size quite low, say about 10 - 20px for a 6MP image with a strength of 10 - 30% You do not want to remove all the detail in your smudge passes, you just want to smooth them out and use 3 techniques at the same time: Smudge the midtones, smudge the highlights and smudge the shadows.
Ok, so we don't have an official "SMUDGE PAINTING" tutorial on POTN done by a member so let's start one:
I think my index finger must weigh a tonne cause everytime I smudged, I kept seeming to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the underlying areas. I reduced the strength of the smudge tool all the way down and it seemed to help. Most of your time, from what I have learnt, is spent around the initial smudging stages. BTW I've adapted what I have learnt on t'internet to my way of doing it.
PLEASE help by adding your own steps, enhancements, tips and techniques to make this better/easier. Also, I hope you learn from my mistakes to make yours better. It would be great if Scarlett Nic and Athena contributed to this thread with their techniques cause I really do like their efforts :-)
NOTE Subtlety is the key! Keep your fingers light and preserve the detail. If you want to make this more smudge and painterly then basically "press harder" with your smudging :-) I have kept this light and very subtle but if you want the overly painted effect then smudge and blur more
The Original - I tried this on another flower shot and it failed completely because you need a pic that has a lot of contrast and also some shadows and highlights that will give your end image the best look. If you need to, dodge and burn some areas if you have a hi-res image or try an extreme curves adjustment. One for shadows and one for highlights then blend them.
182961
Settings - The brush you use with the smudge tool should not be a "solid" or "soft" brush. You want one of those that has holes in it and has a soft edge. I made the mistake of using a soft edged normal brush the first time I tried this and I basically ended up removing the detail resulting in a flat painting. You want to set the size quite low, say about 10 - 20px for a 6MP image with a strength of 10 - 30% You do not want to remove all the detail in your smudge passes, you just want to smooth them out and use 3 techniques at the same time: Smudge the midtones, smudge the highlights and smudge the shadows.