This is what we will be making
This tutorial is for intermediate to advanced PSP users and as such, it will not contain detailed instructions for every phase. In addition, it has been written specifically for a feature (brushstrokes) which is available in PSP 7, but not in any of the prior versions.
We´re going to be turning a photograph into a painting which will look as if it had been painted by one of the French Impressionists, such as Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir or Edouard Manet. To accomplish this you will need Jasc Paint Shop Pro www.jasc.com and a photograph.
Note: In order for this tutorial to work, the photograph you use will need to be within certain dimensions, at least 620 pixels by 450 pixels, but no larger than 800 pixels by 600 pixels. Desktop wallpaper photos are perfect. I got the image I used from Here.
You can resize after you´ve finished the tutorial. As long as the photo you use is large enough, this tut should work on almost any image. BTW, I stumbled onto this technique while doing a very interesting tutorial from State of Entropy on how to turn an image into a watercolor using PSP. In it, several rarely used features of PSP are covered.Let´s begin!
1. Open your photograph in Paint Shop Pro.
2. Go to Effects>Artistic Effect>BrushStrokes and use these settings.
If you would like to be able to use these settings again, before you click on O.K., click on "Save As" and give the preset a name. For obvious reasons, I named mine "nightshadowpaint" :O)
3. Frame your image. Resize and sharpen.
Note 1: If you repeat the Sharpen, it will intensify the "Impressionist" effect.
Note 2: If your image looks somewhat blurry after step #2 (this happens with some images) then Sharpen it at least once before resizing and then Sharpen again. It´s that slightly grainy effect that makes it look like an Impressionist painting.You´re done! Don´t forget to add your signature.
Variation: One of the PSP features I learned about while doing the State of Entropy Watercolor tut was the Median Filter under the Noise settings. So while I was working on this tutorial, I played around with that Filter and discovered I could change the Impressionist look of the painting into something that had more of a modern Oil Painting style by taking the finished painting and going to Effects>Noise>Median Filter and using the default Aperture setting of "3". Here are the before and after results:
Before After Thanks for showing me a new PSP tool Tom!
Have fun coming up with your own variations!
I wouldn´t be able to do these tutorials without the very necessary assistance of my tutorial testers. So for testing this tut, I would like to say "Thanks a bunch Mary Anne! "
*~Nightshadow~*
Mary Anne´s Impressionist Painting
This tutorial is my own creation, any similarity to any other tutorial on the Internet is unintentional. It is copyrighted by me, Nightshadow, on May 13, 2002, and is not to be copied or reproduced in any way under penalty of law. Graphics lists, please e-mail me for permission to post my tutorials, especially because I would love to see the results :O)
NOTE: Any image you make using this tutorial is completely your own property.
