Painting effect?

[posnpretty]

Is it possible to get an effect on a photo that makes it look like a painting? I like the look of the Brush Stroke, except it's too Monet (out of focus). I've tried various settings in Brush Stroke, but it still looks too messy.

I also tried appying a texture effect, such as canvas but it still looks like a photo. I want the photo to look like it was painted. I wish I had an example to show, but I don't.

I'm using PSPX2, and am totally new to PSP. I did search the Help in PSP, the Knowledge Base, and this user forum, but could not find what I wanted.

Thanks,
Cyndi

[allicorn]

Hiya Cyndi,

I agree, the overall effect of the brush thing is pretty great, but you do tend to lose a lot of detail. One idea would be to create a brush effect version of your photo and put it on a layer above your the original untouched image. Set the opacity down a little or a lot, depending on how much brush effect you want to keep.

Then get yourself the eraser tool, set it very small, probably set the opacity quite low too and use it to brush over the edges of detail areas in the scene - anywhere you need a sharp line. So, you end up cutting very fine, soft-edged gaps through the brush effect to show the pure high-detail photograph underneath.

I've gotta say, I bought PSP's stablemate program "Corel Painter X" just recently and it'll do exactly what you want and lots more. There's also "Painter 4 Essentials" which is a slightly cheaper version and still does lots of amazing things, including really excellent paint simulation.

Have a peek at this little tutorial video for Painter Essentials - it's really amazing!

Cheers,
Alli

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums,

It takes a little playing around with the settings in the Brush Strokes settings dialog window. I know you say that it appears to "monet" but a painting should not be crisp and clear, which would make it appear as a photograph.

Next PSP PhotoX2 is mainly an image editing application, where you can apply effects to photos. So the results are not going to be as real as what you would get with say, Corel Painter X.

Try stepping up the contrast and sharpness of your photo before applying the Brush Stroke effect. Then when applying a canvas texture, I find that the Canvas-Fine works better, with added Depth to about 13, and Ambience to about 7.

Example


Edited:

I agree with Allicorn, Painter Essentials, and PainterX can do some amazing things with photographs. If you want to turn your photos into paintings, I would consider one of these...

Example using Painter Essentials 4

[posnpretty]

Allicorn, thanks so much for the suggestions. I've also checked out the two painting programs and you're right I was impressed with the Painter 4 Essentials tutorial. I'll probably download the trial to see if it will work with the photo I am using.

Vidoman, I really like your first example - it has exactly the effect I was seeking. You did this in PSP? I may be having problems because of the quality photo I was using. It may not have enough detail or sharpness to get that look, but I'll try your suggestion.

Thanks again for your quick help! I like this board already!

Cyndi

[Ron P.]

Yep, the first example was done in PSPX2. I only spent about 5 minutes on it, and didn't use my Wacom Tablet, to clean it up, like Allicorn suggested..

[Tim Morrison]

You can use the "Trace" facility with PSP's Art Media tools. This isn't an automated process like Brush Strokes or the automatic modes of Painter and Painter Essentials.
There is a page of links to PSP tutorials at Corel if you click here. In the PSP 9 section, have a look at "Trace Images with Art Media Tools".