Bride and Bridesmaid

[RayGuselli]

from an original by my good friend Fred James...

Hope you like this painting

Best wishes

Ray

[angie1982]

How did you do this? It's stunning!

[RayGuselli]

Many thanks for the kind words....

Really appreciated.

I do this using the smudge tool and brushes in CS2...

the best exponent of smudge is Scott Deardorff....his work is awesome and he is clearly the master....

Scott Deardorff Portraits - From Photograph to Painted Masterpiece

Here is a link to the technique...

Innographx • View topic - Smudge Painting Tips from Alan

My process is nearly always the same and is as follows. (FOR PORTRAIT)

DUPLICATE LAYER
OVERLY SHARPEN THE TOP LAYER SO IT IS JUST TOO SHARP
CREATE A NEW BLANK LAYER ABOVE THAT
TICK THE BOX AT THE TOP, SAMPLE ALL LAYERS
THEN I USE THE SMUDGE TOOL IN PHOTOSHOP TO PAINT THE IMAGE

I START WITH THE HAIR ON THE BLANK LAYER JUST CREATED AND EXPERIMENT WITH BRUSHES (BUT SEE THOSE OFFERED ON THE INNO SITE ABOVE WHICH ARE FREE AND GREAT)
You need to experiment with strength to get nice flowing lines in the hair.

Once I have done that I then create another blank layer above the last.

Now I use a smoother brush about 20-30 strength to do the skin

The another new layer (a new layer for each part of the image in case I make a mistake)

Then I do the mouth

New layer – eyes and eyebrows

New layers for all other parts etc

Then I select the original image and all layers and hit ALT CTRL and E at the same time and it brings a layer to the top of all your smudge

Then I adjust levels etc and add a texture.

It takes a little getting in to but once you have it, it becomes addictive.

If you give it a try and get stuck let me know and I will try and help.

Alternatively, if the above does not help we will work something else out to help.

My very kind regards

Ray

[angie1982]

Thank you for the info, I'm going to practice very hard. This will be a wonderful addition to my skills. I really appreciate your help with this! Hope I can get as good as you.

[warpdriver1]

Simply beautiful.

[Enticed]

Your smudging techniques are awesome Ray and this is a really a good example.. Seriously going to sit and give this a crack.. Reminds of when I used to work with oil pastels

Cheers

Chris.