Turning a photo into a painting
Oct 23, 2020 08:59:41 #
Hi all! I am looking for suggestions on which program is best for taking a photograph and making it look like a watercolor or painting. Any suggestions? It’s just something fun I’d like to try! Thanks!
Oct 23, 2020 09:12:11 #
gvarner
Loc: Central Oregon Coast
I use Waterlogue on my iPad to make watercolor effects. Works great.
Oct 23, 2020 09:13:53 #
Oct 23, 2020 09:17:39 #
JimBunk
Loc: Ontario, Canada & FL
Prism also offers some special effects, not just watercolours, but you might need to pay for the extras to get what you want
Oct 23, 2020 09:37:56 #
Prism's "Golden Hour" gives a watercolor effect, depending on the subject matter as to how well it looks.
Oct 23, 2020 09:46:38 #
Oct 23, 2020 10:41:30 #
If you have Photoshop there are many choices. But it isn't always 'snap' you have a panting. Though sometimes it is.
There is an oil paint filter, and also a filter gallery with many choices for watercolor and and stained glass and pastel and so on with many adjustment sliders. You have to convert to 8 bit.
Also there are hundreds of free brushes downloadable for use with the paintbrush tool, there is the mixer brush tool that emulates the paint loaded on a brush, how often it is cleaned, how 'wet' the color already on the canvas is and how much mixing there is between the canvas and the brush.
Also there is the art history brush which is a little complicated but worthwhile.
Finally there are actions you can find on the internet that do a quick conversion. I don't use the actions but I've seen video demonstrations from time to time.
There is an oil paint filter, and also a filter gallery with many choices for watercolor and and stained glass and pastel and so on with many adjustment sliders. You have to convert to 8 bit.
Also there are hundreds of free brushes downloadable for use with the paintbrush tool, there is the mixer brush tool that emulates the paint loaded on a brush, how often it is cleaned, how 'wet' the color already on the canvas is and how much mixing there is between the canvas and the brush.
Also there is the art history brush which is a little complicated but worthwhile.
Finally there are actions you can find on the internet that do a quick conversion. I don't use the actions but I've seen video demonstrations from time to time.
Oct 23, 2020 10:50:31 #
Thank you. I was just looking at a program where another company does it for you. It is not something I want to take the time to do for just one photo and it looks like "painting" on my own is definitely what you said...Not done in a snap! Thank you!
Oct 23, 2020 10:56:51 #
One of the problems with programs that add painterly effects is that they usually do so globally. Sometimes the effect can be very good, other times not so much. Usually the artist/photographer has little control in how/where/intensity of the effect.
Although it takes more work, there are techniques that can be used within Photoshop that go beyond applying a global filter, and which more closely simulate actually painting. (best done using a digital pen and tablet) I’d suggest getting a copy of Susan Bloom’s book “Digital Painting in Photoshop”.
Although it takes more work, there are techniques that can be used within Photoshop that go beyond applying a global filter, and which more closely simulate actually painting. (best done using a digital pen and tablet) I’d suggest getting a copy of Susan Bloom’s book “Digital Painting in Photoshop”.
Oct 23, 2020 11:16:33 #
That's a beautiful piece of art! I did find a website that works with your photo. It's called MavenArt. I just want to try it out for a specific landscape photo, but honestly do not want to spend time learning how to "paint" because I know it is not something I will do very often! Thank you for your response.
Oct 23, 2020 11:41:43 #
larryepage
Loc: North Texas area
Aims wrote:
Hi all! I am looking for suggestions on which program is best for taking a photograph and making it look like a watercolor or painting. Any suggestions? It’s just something fun I’d like to try! Thanks!
I know that Photomatix Pro (HDR software) had a "painterly mode" that seemed to work fairly well. (I stopped updating at version 4.7, when they told me I had to repurchase to get the next update.) I thought it emulated oil painting fairly well, even though it only did one "style" that I remember. My friends who are actually oil painters think it is "interesting, but pretty awful." I do not recall that it did watercolor, though.
Oct 23, 2020 12:56:46 #
Aims wrote:
Hi all! I am looking for suggestions on which program is best for taking a photograph and making it look like a watercolor or painting. Any suggestions? It’s just something fun I’d like to try! Thanks!
Check out Dynamic Auto Painter - https://www.mediachance.com/dap/. I like it a lot.
Oct 23, 2020 13:44:58 #
I never represent my photographs as paintings but I lie the painterly look. Back in the analog darkroom days, I was a big fan of texture screens.
I have tried several platforms and plugins but my favourite s are some apps I downloaded on my ANDROID tablet.
They are called ARTO. They come in various styles- "oil painting", watercolours. sketches, etc. The advantages are that you can vary the effect rather than ending up with one stock version. There are controls for brush size and stroke, the intensity of the effect, the radius, glazed effect, as well as contrast, brightness and saturation.
The downloads are free. I pay a few additional bucks for the advanced version of the ones I use frequently.
I always wanted to paint, for real, but alas, my talents are limited to painting the walls in my studio, home and bathroom so I have lots of fun with these applications.
The trick is to find and composes a subject that is appropriate and they match a painting styler to match.
If you want to produce a really cool ERSATZ painting- mount the print on canvas or print it on canvas and hit it with a coat of damar varnish or crackle finishing lacquer.
I have tried several platforms and plugins but my favourite s are some apps I downloaded on my ANDROID tablet.
They are called ARTO. They come in various styles- "oil painting", watercolours. sketches, etc. The advantages are that you can vary the effect rather than ending up with one stock version. There are controls for brush size and stroke, the intensity of the effect, the radius, glazed effect, as well as contrast, brightness and saturation.
The downloads are free. I pay a few additional bucks for the advanced version of the ones I use frequently.
I always wanted to paint, for real, but alas, my talents are limited to painting the walls in my studio, home and bathroom so I have lots of fun with these applications.
The trick is to find and composes a subject that is appropriate and they match a painting styler to match.
If you want to produce a really cool ERSATZ painting- mount the print on canvas or print it on canvas and hit it with a coat of damar varnish or crackle finishing lacquer.
Oct 23, 2020 16:54:11 #
Oct 24, 2020 06:15:33 #
Aims wrote:
Hi all! I am looking for suggestions on which program is best for taking a photograph and making it look like a watercolor or painting. Any suggestions? It’s just something fun I’d like to try! Thanks!
I wonder how many artists want to turn their art into photographs.
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