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Digital Lady Syd’s Rule No. 13: Paint Something Everyday

Image of a Snowy Egret up close
Have not done a rule in a long time, but if you are learning to paint, many of the really good digital painters are saying to “paint something everyday.” This will definitely help you improve your painting technique, and if you already have a technique, it will keep your skill level at a high level.

This guy was totally into looking around at the happenings at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery on this very busy day. When mating and building nests, the birds just do not even know you are there – it is truly amazing! For some reason, I just do not get tired of painting these guys! Just using the same Mixer Brushes that work with my style of painting. Still loving Fay Sirkis‘s (the Corel Master who makes fabulous Photoshop brushes also) Precious Oil Diamond Blender brush and a Pete Collins Portrait Smeary Mixer for the background (from KelbyOne Mixer Brush training by Pete). Used an Exposure Adjustment Layer for the eyes (see my How To Do a Quick Eye Sharpening in Photoshop ), a Color Lookup Adjustment Layer Gold Blue Abstract preset and Lighten layer blend mode, add Jai Johnson Brown-Gray canvas texture, and Nik Viveza 2 on stamped layer on top to emphasize his face. Is this guy awesome or what!…..Digital Lady Syd

06/11/2015 | Categories: Digital Lady Syd's Photoshop Rules, Photoshop Painting | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Waiting For Spring

Some Painted Trees

Just doing some practicing in Corel Painter. I do not do this enough, but the experts say that to actually be good you should paint every day. This image used three of the original Corel Masters brushes – Melissa Gallo, Karen Sperling and Marilyn Sholen brushes. If you get any of their brushes, you cannot go wrong. In Photoshop on a New Layer the brush I created in my Fun Photoshop Blog How To Use Photoshop’s Brush Texture Section for Painting Clean-up was used to clean up messy areas. (I really do use the techniques I present. HaHa!) Painted Textures Mist on the Lake texture was placed on top and set to Multiply blend mode. Then because I could, Topaz (see sidebar for website link) ReStyle was opened and a different color palette was selected. Sorry I do not have the settings but I think it involved the Peppermint Green preset. A Curves Adjustment Layer was added on top to add back contrast. Finally a little Nik Viveza 2 magic. That was it…..Digital Lady Syd

06/09/2015 | Categories: Corel Painter, Photoshop Painting | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

I See You! Checking Out a Snowy Egret

Image of a Snowy Egret
Another shot of a beautiful Snowy Egret from the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery. This time it was painted twice – once using Mixer Brushes and once applying Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Impression Cezanne II preset. Photoshop’s Flat Angle Mixer was used to do a lot of the paint clean up……Digital Lady Syd

06/04/2015 | Categories: Photo Art, Photoshop Painting | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

Painting The Lost Continent

Image of The Lost Continent at Universal Studios in Florida
This painted image was taken at Universal Studios of The Lost Continent. It looks like it is a really cool place, which is was, but it was all fake! The building is where The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad Stunt Show is presented. Just thought everyone would like to see something other than birds!

Well, not much was done in Lightroom, just added some contrast. Took image into Corel Painter. Three sources were used to draw color into the image. The new Particle Spring Worm Hole Cloner brush was used to create a very interesting flora effect along with several other brushes. In Photoshop more clean up was done with Photoshop’s Round Blunt Mixer Brush with a texture added. Two copies of Painted Texture’s October Paint texture were added and set to Vivid Light at 19% layer opacity and Color Dodge at 37% layer opacity. Last step, Nik Viveza 2 of course. That was it!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Texturizing at The Lost Continent
Where Am I?

06/02/2015 | Categories: Corel Painter, Where Am I? | Tags: | Leave A Comment »

A Photoshop Still Life

Image of Still Life painted
Enjoyed painting in Photoshop this set up still life I put together. Topaz (see sidebar for website link) photoFXLabs was used to add the Painted Works Texture and on separate layers above, the mixer brushes were used. The final texture was placed on top and was Jai Johnson ‘s watermelon-wall set to Soft Light. In the Layer Styles dialog, the Blend If Underlying Layer black tab was set to 88 to get the glowing effect. Nik Viveza 2 was used to direct the focal point, a Levels Adjustment Layer and Curves Adjustment Layer were used to finish it off. I really enjoyed painting this image…..Digital Lady Syd

05/28/2015 | Categories: Photoshop Painting | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Heron Checking Out the Gathering Crowds

Image of a Tri-Colored Heron
This beautiful bird was standing watch at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Rookery recently. Had to paint him. Been experimenting with the Photoshop Mixer brushes recently. What was more important than painting the bird was toning down the background so a very basic type Mixer brush was used to smooth out all the patterning behind the bird. The bird was also smoothed out a little, but the feather and face detail was painted back slightly so you can see the detail in them. A Levels Adjustment Layer was the last step to add  contrast back into the more flat looking painted version. I love painting the birds from the Rookery!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
How to Use Texture to Remove Distracting Nature Backgrounds

05/26/2015 | Categories: Photoshop Painting | Leave A Comment »

Taking Off From the Rookery Runway

Image of a flying Great Egret
I have photographed similar images to this one of a Great Egret, but I never get tired of it. These birds are just beautiful, and in flight, even grander. This time I used a new technique from one of my favorite texture people and nature photographer. Jai Johnson recently created a video called Peach Blush Texture Demonstration on her techniques for getting her exquisite images. The one caveat is that she uses Topaz (see sidebar for website link) photoFXeffects, which I love, but does not work with CC2014 – therefore you must use CC or CS6 to use the PS interface. She also does not use Photoshop, but does all her work in the stand-alone of this interface. In Jai’s case, it does not matter as she has figured out some incredible ways to get a painterly effect by using basically the photoFX’s mask feature. I had a lot of fun doing this, but it took a while to get this correct effect. The background was one I created in Painter, and the overall grainy effect was created by setting the FX plug-in layer to Dissolve at 64% – it really give the painterly look. I used Nik Viveza 2 and a Curves Adjustment Layer to do final adjustments. Totally love the results I got using her technique. Thank you Jai!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
Digital Lady Syd’s Review of Topaz photoFXlab v1.1

 

05/21/2015 | Categories: Just Being Creative, Photo Art | Tags: , | 1 Comment »

Courting Herons

Image of two courting gray herons
These two beautiful Great Blue Herons were in the middle of a mating ritual in their new nest on top of a palm tree during a recent visit to the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands in Brevard, Florida (also known as the Viera Wetlands). Image was painted with the Mixer Brush – mainly just blending. Since the bird on the left was missing an eye, I had to copy the one from the right over, flip and adjust into the eye socket. Topaz Glow’s Room Glow preset by Blake Rudis (check out Integrating Topaz Glow into Your Workflow for info on this) was applied and set to Multiply blend mode at 48% layer opacity. Nik Viveza 2 was used on the background to even it out just a little. Since the lighting was perfect, there was little else that needed to be done. What beautiful birds!…..Digital Lady Syd

Digital Lady Syd Related Blogs:
How to Get the Soft Glow in Topaz Glow

05/19/2015 | Categories: Photoshop Painting | Tags: , | 1 Comment »

Thinking of Pink Tulips

Abstract Painting of Pink Tulips
This is an abstract I painted from some beautiful tulips that was taken with my phone. It was first painted in Corel Painter using just some very basic strokes. A Karen Sperling texture brush from back when Painter 11 was popular was used. Color were just block in. Then the image was taken into Photoshop and on a New Layer a sketch brush was used to define the form in a few places. A Curves Adjustment Layer was used to add a little contrast. A stamped layer was created and turned into a Smart Object. Nik Viveza 2 was opened and the pink flower in the middle was accentuated to further emphasize the focal point. The last step involved adding a New Layer on top and in white, add a few spatters using Kyle’s Real Watercolor-Spatter Mixed and set to a low layer opacity to add just a little texture in certain places. Very simple to do…..Digital Lady Syd

05/14/2015 | Categories: Corel Painter | Tags: , | Leave A Comment »

Where Are My Eyes?

Image of a tribal character at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm
This image was taken at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm website link. I don’t know anything about it, just that it greets you when entering the attraction. Very little was done to this image. In Lightroom Trey Radcliff’s Dramatically Clean Chipmunk preset was applied. In Photoshop Topaz (see sidebar for website link) Impression’s Turner Storm II preset was applied. A white layer mask was added in PS and a little bit of the lighter areas were painted back in the face to draw some focus to it. On a stamped layer (CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E) that was converted into a Smart Object, Nik Color Efex Pro 4 was opened. The Graduated Neutral Density filter selected (Upper Tonality -25%, Lower Tonality 7%, Blend 27%, Vertical Shift 43%, Rotation to adjust the light 158 degrees, and Highlights 1/4 of the way to right). In the same Smart Object Nik Viveza 2 was applied. A Focal Point was added to the eyes and nose area (Brightness 33%, Contrast 40%, Saturation 38% and Structure 58%). Two Curves Adjustment Layers were added – one a darken curve to separate the head from the busy leaf background, and one to add contrast to the face since an S-shape curve was used. Both layer masks were turned to black (CTRL+I inside the mask) and just localized areas were painted back with a soft white brush at 17% brush opacity. Last step involved adding a New Layer and actually painting in some color where it was needed using a very low opacity brush (12%) and sampling in the image to match areas. That was it. Lots of fun to do!…..Digital Lady Syd

05/12/2015 | Categories: Photoshop Filters | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

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