A Little Birdie Told Me So
Just having some fun today creating this little bird. The bird, tree, and background were done in Painter. In Photoshop some Impasto effect was added to the some feathers, the music notes and clouds using a layer style. The free font is called Chiller and the wonderful Musical Note brushes are by Coby 17. It was fun to try out some different brushes in Painter ……Digital Lady Syd
Standing Guard
This Wrinkled Hornbill bird was taken at the Jacksonville Zoo. These birds looked like they were having so much fun flying across their enclosure and trading places on the various tree branches. Looked like a marvelous game from my childhood! This image took a long time to paint. Just followed my normal process of selecting the bird and in this case some branches in Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReMask 5. Underneath he original background was actually kept, but one of my Corel Painter backgrounds was added above and set to Darken blend mode at 82% layer opacity. The background details are actually a large plant that was hanging across the back. The texture changed how they look. Lots of painting layers and Topaz Lens Effects was used to add some golden reflector effect. Nik Viveza 2 was used to adjust the focal point. 2 Lil’ Owls (see sidebar for website link) overlay texture Color Bokeh Grunge Set 3 was used on top and a layer mask was used to bring back the bird. That was it – pretty standard. These birds are so much fun to paint!…..Digital Lady Syd
A Spring Scene
Just having some fun here. Created the original image in Corel Painter – got stuck and came into Photoshop to finish up the image. The basic structure, flowers and plants were created in Painter using various brushes. In Photoshop the DoDo bird Hummingbird were from a scrapbook set called HappyUnBday by Mischief Circus (this is one of my favorite sets) and the Butterflies are from a set called Intermixture Elements & Papers by Algera Designs. A texture called Clouds Over the Pasture from Jai Johnson was added underneath and set to Hard Light blend mode – it gives the beautiful light around the bird. Several layers were added where some texture was added in using plant brushes and texture brushes. Nik Viveza 2 was used twice and Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Lens Effects three times to get this final result. Also some Impasto layers were used on the plants to give a little 3-D effect to the image. This actually took quite a while as I just could not get the feel I liked. I think it is now complete!…..Digital Lady Syd
In the Country
This is an image taken several years ago of the Belarusian countryside. I just watched on the Corel Painter website an older set of videos by John Derry (see Workflow 1, Workflow 2 and Workflow 3 videos) and decided to try his technique. It involves using several layers of auto-painting with different brush sizes and then adding layer masks to target your focus area. I had a little trouble following all the steps at the end, so I went into Photoshop to use my favorite brushes for cleaning up paintings. Overall I liked the final effect but I am not too sure if I liked the auto-paint results. This is definitely one you need to play with the different Painter brushes to get a pleasing effect. …..Digital Lady Syd
Looking Glamorous!
Just practicing a little light face painting – this time giving a bit of a glamour look to the image. Lots of liquify and dodging and burning to get the effect besides blending skin with mixer blenders in Photoshop. The original image had a brownish tone to it, but I changed it with a Color Balance Adjustment Layer to get this blue and pinkish effect. Not a whole lot to this, just some light painting fun…..Digital Lady Syd
The Hidden Boat
Loved this stock photo I found on pixabay.com of this boat hidden in the shade. Decided it would be a good practice painting so that is what I did. Use Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Simplify’s BuzSim preset to start as an underpainting. Still using Lori Jill’s instructions from her Turn Photographs Into Digital Paintings Using Photoshop videos and using the PS Mixer Brush Cloning Paint Setup action. A lot of painting, 3 textures and some brush clean up layers. Just a lot of fun to paint – very relaxing! …..Digital Lady Syd
The Mighty Jaguar
Took this image at the Jacksonville Zoo a couple days ago – the original is totally unremarkable and I did not think it would turn out nice at all. Just thought it would be a good challenge to see what I could do with it. I will actually post some much better pictures of these beautiful cats later. Normally I would give you step-by-step, but this was a pretty heavy workflow so I will just tell you what all it took. The biggest problem was the chain-length fence that went through his body. Since I could not get close enough to the fence to get rid of the distortion, I had to paint it away. The fence was selected and a Curves Adjustment Layer was used to reduce the effect. Then three more Curves Adjustment Layers before I was ready to paint him. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Adjust using French Countryside (my favorite) preset and several slider adjustments to get the color in the cat that I liked. Then I went into Corel Painter and painted a background that matched his colors. Put the background on top of the cat and painted the cat in with a layer mask. Next painted using 7 layers and both mixers and regular brushes (my SJ Pastel 3 painting brush mainly – do a search at my Fun Photoshop Blog for settings). Used Nik Viveza 2 to emphasize his face. Used Blur Gallery to soften the foreground, Liquify Filter to make his eye a little larger, Topaz Lens Effects for some special reflector and graduated filter effects, and Camera Raw Filter to bring out the orange effect just a bit more. Last step, Topaz Restyle using the Tawny Tint. That about did it but it was a pretty big process. I just love painting the big cats!…..Digital Lady Syd
An Old Victorian House
I recently bought a set of videos from Udemy called “Turn Photographs Into Digital Paintings Using Photoshop” by Lori Jill. If you watch their sales, you can get all kinds of videos on photography for a very reasonable amount. The above is my first image created following her instructions – she instructs on how to create Mixer (cloner) brushes to get effects you like. She also uses the Photoshop action called Mixer Brush Cloning Paint Setup. This appears to be very similar to the original Dr. Brown’s Painting Assistant Extension for CS5 and CS6. Anyway, I was very pleased with my first attempt. I also used one of Melissa Gallo’s beautiful textures, Pilgrims Journey, twice to get the vintage feel to the strokes. I still have a few lessons to go, so hopefully I will post a new image soon using this technique……Digital Lady Syd
Digital Lady Syd’s Related Blogs:
Dr. Brown’s Painting Assistant Panel for CS6 and CS5!
Jack Davis Painting Action Really Works!
Happy New Year!
Just one of my favorite birds, the Great Blue Heron, celebrating along with everyone the coming new year. Actually a lot of was done to this image that was taken at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. He was painted in Photoshop with mixers and regular brushes and the background was painted in Corel Painter. Just my basic painting workflow. Separate layers used Confetti and Streamer brushes from Morgan BW on Deviant Art. The last step used Nik Viveza 2 – always the perfect final touch. Happy New Year from Digital Lady Syd…..See ya next year!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas and hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! Enjoy the season!…..Digital Lady Syd
Visiting with a Friend
This Marabou Stork resides at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm in Florida. He and the West African Crowned Crane are there to greet you when you visit the Birds of Africa section. I so enjoy painting the birds that do not have a very distinguished look about them and give them a more beautiful place to enjoy. I get the sense this guy is totally content living in St. Augustine although far away from his normal habitat.
Just followed my regular painting workflow from previous blogs. This time added some grain in Topaz (see sidebar for website link) as it gave it sort of a magical old feel. The hardest part about this image was how sharp he appears – very hard to soften his edges and look natural, especially his feet. Topped off the image using my favorite plug-in of all time – Nik Viveza 2……Digital Lady Syd
Living the Good Life
Just enjoyed painting this lovely pigeon, or if you prefer dove, from an image taken in Hawaii at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Hawaiian Island. Not much new here in the workflow, except that Nik Color Efex Pro was opened and the Detail Extractor, Bi-Color Filters, Sunlight, and Film Efex Nostalgic filters were used to get the color effect I liked. Otherwise several of Fay Sirkis’s Pet Photoshop Brushes were used to get the final result. Just love painting birds!…..Digital Lady Syd
Wading in the Water
These little guys were enjoying the tidal waters at Daytona Beach, Florida. I believe the bigger bird is a Laughing Gull and smaller one a Sanderling from the Sandpiper family. These birds were all over the place and seemed quite tame on the beach. These birds were painted in Photoshop. Added a solid color turquoise layer and in a layer mask painted back area to be seen. Used one of my Corel Painter textures that was a very smooth beige tone. Then used Fay Sirkis’s Photoshop Erodible Tip Pastels to paint the birds and reflections. Used Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Lens Effects Reflector Filter to add some directed light and warm up the scene. The beaks and eyes were sharpened. A little Nik Viveza 2 to finish up so the focus is on the birds and less on the reflections. Very simple process but fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd
Enjoying the View!
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This is an image from a black and white photo that I found on Shorpy‘s, one of my favorite websites of old-time photos. These are tourist cabins in Georgia from March of 1936. I spent a lot of time painting this image – used lots of Fay Sirkis’s mixers from her Four Seasons set and used several regular brushes. One of my textures created in Corel Painter was used for the background. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Lens Effects Toy Camera Filter was applied using the Awesomeness I with the camera shake turned off. Otherwise that was about it. Just lots of fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd
Looking for Dinner
This is an image I created mainly in Corel Painter using John Lowther’s Landscape brushes – still learning how to use them but they are beautiful brushes! I have done a couple different iterations of this image, but I think I like this one the best. My birds are always my favorite subjects so here is another one. I did have to use Photoshop to add the egret (in the set called rEgrets I’ve Had A Few by Midnight Touch that are really nice egret brushes). Once the bird was added, used the Mixer brush to add detail and color to the face and body. Frostbo Grass Set 2 brushes (my favorite Photoshop grass and reed brushes!) were used on individual layers and a Gaussian Blur filter set to a Radius of 3 was used to soften the strokes to fit in with Painter reeds and grasses. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Lens Effects was opened and the Single Tone Filter set to Morning preset was applied to warm it up. Topaz ReStyle was opened and the Zambezi Zest preset was used to bring out some more autumn looks – in ReStyle the Color Style was set to Soft Light Blend Mode and then back in Photoshop the layer was set to 65% opacity. A Solid Color Adjustment Layer was set to medium gray, Color blend mode, and 55% layer opacity -the areas I wanted to appear a little more vivid was painted back in the layer mask. That was it! It took a while to get this the way I wanted it. Just takes some experimentation. Lots of fun!…..Digital Lady Syd
Showing Off My New Hairdo
Just enjoying painting another beautiful bird. They are so much fun to do! This is a West African Crowned Crane taken a while ago at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm and is one of the regular exhibits so he can be seen anytime. He just sort of match this Corel Painter texture I had made, so there he is. In his document Topaz (see website link in sidebar) Clarity, Detail, and ReMask were used to adjust the bird itself. Then the ReMask layer was moved into the texture to place it where I wanted him to be. After that just painted the bird on several different layers using the Mixer Brush. Used two different Exposure Adjustment Layers, one for the eye and one for the beak to bring out some sharpness. Then duplicated the original texture twice and set on top – set one to Color Burn at 46% layer opacity and the other to Soft Light at 32%. Created a stamped layer (CTLR+ALT+SHIFT+E) on top and added the Topaz Lens Effects’ Toy Camera filter set to Awesomeness I preset with changes. Back in Photoshop that was set to 39% layer opacity. The last step was to add Nik Viveza 2 to really drill in on the birds face and head feathers. Hope you enjoyed my little bird painting…..Digital Lady Syd
Red Fish Taking a Break from Universal Studios
Just another image taken at the Universal Studios-Orlando, this time featuring the Red Fish at one of the Seuss Landing rides. Got a little carried here but it was a lot of fun! Basically all I did was extract the fish from the original image and paint in some elements to make him look like he was swimming in the water. Actually there were several paint layers to get the effect and Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Simplify’s Cartoon preset was applied to just the fish. Also, when done painting, a stamped layer was placed on top and Topaz Lens Effects was opened. The Toy Camera Awesomeness II was applied with the Toy Camera Aberrations sliders turned off. Adjusted some of the other sliders a little. That was it! Love how happy this guy looks!…..Digital Lady Syd
Rookery Security Guard
Just another one of the beautiful birds at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery – this time a rather elderly looking Roseate Spoonbill who seems to be keeping a careful watch over everything going on. I love the color in this type of bird. Pretty much my standard workflow – using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReMask to cut out the bird from its original surrounding; then placing a texture underneath; adding a New Layer on top and painting over the bird with a Mixer Brush; stacking more texture on top trying different blend modes; adding an Exposure Adjustment Layer to sharpen up the eye; applying Nik Viveza 2 to get the correct tone in the sky around his head; and finally adding a Curves Adjustment Layer for contrast. I never seem to get tired of painting my bird buddies!…..Digital Lady Syd
Beetle Bailey Taking a Snooze!
Just a loosely painted image of a photo I took at Universal Studios-Orlando a while back. One of the brushes had some great texture effects that can be painted right onto the sky instead of adding a texture and painting it away in a layer mask where you do not want it. There were several painted layers in a group underneath a sketch of the image. I did use one of my smooth Corel Painter textures set to Linear Light blend mode at 61% layer opacity to add a small spotlight on Beetle. That was it – lots of fun to paint!…..Digital Lady Syd
Hey Tiger!
This beautiful image of a Bengal Tiger is a stock image from FreeImages.com. Wish I had taken the image. This image had lots of green leaves behind him. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) DeNoise 5 was used to remove lots of grain and color noise in this image. I used a texture I had created in Corel Painter with oil brushes. It was Free Transformed to make it fit the way I wanted it to look. Topaz Adjust and several mixer brush layers were used to paint the image. Nik Viveza 2 was used on just his face to get the nice sharp effect. That was it. This took probably around 4 hours to complete. Good thing I like to paint!…..Digital Lady Syd
So What Are You Looking At!
This image is of a White Silkie Rooster was photographed at The Old Village of Ayaymku in Belarus some time ago. (See my Center Stage – Introducing the Wild Turkey Tidbits Blog for another unusual bird image from the same place.) Used my regular Photoshop painting workflow. Selected the bird using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReMask 5, then placing Jai Johnson’s Filly in the Field texture underneath the bird. The edges were blended with one of Fay Sirkis’s Pet Mixer Brushes on a New Layer above. (Can download at KelbyOne if you are a member.) This image used a Topaz Lens Effects Neutral Density filter applied (Brightness -0.19, Amount 0.13, Transition 0.11, Angle 180.0, and Effect Position: (1824,2687) ) to even out the bottom and give him a defined area for standing. I also added two Exposure Adjustments Layers, one for the eyes and one for beak area. A Curves Adjustment Layer was used to add a little contrast back into the image. The workflow is pretty consistent but the results are always a surprise. These birds all have such personality!…..Digital Lady Syd
Singing for Her Adoring Fans
I just love painting birds and this Snowy Egret was once again a lot of fun to do. This bird was a bit of challenge as there were tree branches in front of her body and feathers. I was able to clean the image up pretty good with clone stamping and then separated the bird from the background using Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReMask 5. It was not perfect but since I was painting the bird, I could smooth out the feathers and blend them into the background, which I did in Painter. Exposure Adjustment Layers were used for the eye, green around eye, and beak. The texture was duplicated twice and place on top, one set to Multiply blend mode at 23% layer opacity and the other Overlay blend mode at 51% layer opacity. On a stamped layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) on top, Topaz Lens Effect was opened and the Dual Tone filter was used to enhance the reddish fall colors on top and greenish-blue on the bottom. The the Graduated Color filter using the Graduated Green 1 preset as a start to emphasize the green color more in the bottom of the image. That was basically all that was done. Love these birds!…..Digital Lady Syd
Old Comfort Point
Loved the original Pubic Domain postcard image (cc 1900) of Old Comfort Point which is now part of Hampton, Virginia, and shown in the link. There is a huge amount of history connected with this place. To process this image, one of my warm colored smooth Painter textures was placed above the original image and set to Hard Light blend mode. In its Layer Style, the Blend If This Layer white tab was split (ALT+drag) and set to 228/255 and Underlying black tab split to 0/123 which gives a nice texture effect. A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer was placed on top and these Master slider settings were used: Hue -26, Saturation -71, and Lightness -29. A stamped layer was placed top (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) and Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Impression was opened. I created a preset to give a nice painterly result based on the Abstract Settings by Blake Rudis preset (changes made: Type 04, Brush Size 0.65, Stroke Color Variation 0.10, and Stroke Length 0.22). Created two New Layers and painted in some color and clouds in the sky using Kyle’s Real Watercolor Big Wash brush. Created another stamped layer on top and applied Photoshop’s Halftone Pattern Filter (Size 2, Contrast 50 and Pattern Type Dot), which was set to Color Burn blend mode and 14% layer opacity. A New Layer was set to Overlay blend mode and painted with a black brush set to 12% brush opacity to burn in a little to emphasize the tower in foreground. The layer was then reduced to 61% layer opacity. The last steps was just adjusting the color in the image as the yellow and green colors were over-whelming the image. Used Selective Color and Color Balance Adjustment Layers to do the color correction. It did take a lot of steps, but it was really fun to do. Try taking some of these images that are now Pubic Domain and see what you can do with them……Digital Lady Syd
Center Stage – Introducing the Wild Turkey
Just another one of my crazy bird pix. This guy was definitely strutting his stuff around the visitors at The Old Village of Ayaymku in Belarus. His feathers and colors were so perfect that I did not need to paint them. I still did a little clean up on the tips of his feathers. Also did some localized dodging and burning to get the contrast. The background is one created in Corel Painter 2015. Overall very little touch up was needed. Totally loved this bird!…..Digital Lady Syd
