AnnaTeamer, Eszter Baranyi, provides this guest post showing you how to add a cool, artsy look to your photos.
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In this tutorial, I want to introduce you to PostworkShop 3 software and its freehand painting mode. This is easy-to-use program adds an instant artsy look to your photos. It can be used in plug-in mode in Photoshop, but when used as a standalone program, you can save your project as a layered PSD file and edit it layer to layer in Photoshop.
When you start the program, you will see this screen:
1. Open the photo. Use Load image button and go to the Freehand Painting tab.
2. Settings. Play with the Settings options on this tab to achieve different results. In this tutorial, I willd emonstrate the program in photo cloning mode. As we move the brush on the image, it will pick up the underlying colour from the original image and use it as the colour of the current stroke. See Settings panel:
Paint Presets. Select the Clone Category: There are some presets that I find very helpful. To paint, I usually use three of them: the Large cloner, the Medium cloner, and the Small cloner.
Brush Type. If you select the Scanned option, you will use only one brush to paint (you can see the Bitmap brushes panel with the individual brushes on the 2nd image). With the choice of the Brush Family option you'll paint with more brushes at the same time.
Basic settings. You can change the brush settings (size, opacity, roundness and blending mode) here. If you like to use hot keys instead of the Settings panel, you can use these keys: D to reduce brush size, F to enlarge brush size, A to reduce opacity value, S to increase opacity value.
Color Dynamics. I usually don't change these settings, but if you want to use a Color palette instead of the original colours of your image, select the Use Palette option. You can define the number of colours, and you can use presetted palettes.
Canvas. Here you can define what you want to see on the canvas: the original image, a one-color canvas or a transparent canvas. I always use the transparent option.
Tablet Properties. Here can you define how the pen pressure affects the painted lines. I usually use the Opacity option (the less you push the pen, the lighter the line you draw).
3. Begin painting! I used the following settings:
- Larger cloner paint presets
- Scanned brush type / Watercolor / Spotty watercolor 03-01
- Transparent canvas
- Opacity tablet properties
I've painted on the whole canvas:
4. The Details. I changed the Paint Presets setting from Large cloner to Medium cloner to highlight areas on the picture where I needed more details: the face, the camera and the hands. I painted only on these areas.
5. Tweaking. I wasn't satisfied with the result, and needed to see more details in the eyes, fingers and camera. I changed to Small cloner paint preset and painted these areas with the smaller brush.
6. Corrections. To correct brushstrokes by the eye, I made the brush size smaller (by pressing the D key for brush size 18) and I re-painted the eye.
Please note: Although I've used only one brush during the whole painting process, you can change the brush type whenever you want.
7. Save. If you are happy with your painting, you can save the image. Go to File > Save. I usually save my projects in PSD, JPEG or PNG format. If you save in PSD, you will be presented with options to select. I always select the layer by layer option when working with multi-layer file.
Please note: You should select the "Full size image" option to save the image in the original size!
Finally, here is a before/after image:
I've also created a YouTube video for you to highlight how very quick and easy this process is - it only takes two to three minutes, and the result is really spectacular.
You can see more of Eszter's work in her gallery at Oscraps.
