In this tutorial you will learn how to create an effect oil painting in Photoshop. I will try to explain everything in as much detail as possible, so that even beginners who open the program for the first time can cope.

The image above shows the effect we will create in this tutorial. If you want to get a more advanced result, like the one below in the screenshot, then I suggest you try my action.

For this work we will need a stock photo. The picture from the lesson is paid, but you can download the archive from alternative options or take your photo.

Document preparation

Step 1

First, open the photo with which we will work. Let's move on File - Open(File – Open), find it on your computer required file and click on the Open button. Next, check the document settings:

• The photo must be in RGB mode, 8 bits/channel(bit/channel). To check, go to the menu Image – Mode(Image – Mode).
• To obtain a high-quality result, it is better to take the image size within the range of 2000-3500 pixels in width/height. To check, go to Image – Image Size(Image – Image Size).
• The photo should be the background layer. If this is not the case, move on Layer – New – Background from Layer(Layer – New – Background from layer).

Step 2

If in the previous step you changed the document size, then in the panel Window - History(Window – History) at the bottom, click on the button in the form of a camera to create a new photo. Then click on the empty cell to the left of the created photo to define a new source for the history brush.

Step 1

Now let's start creating the effect itself. Add a new layer Layer – New – Layer(Layer – New – Layer) and call it “Large details”.

Step 2

Activate Art History Brush Tool(Y) (Archival art brush). On the top panel we install Area(Diameter) by 500 pixels, Tolerance(Tolerance) – by 0 pixels and Style(Style) – on Tight Long(Compressed long). Then right-click on the working canvas, in the menu that opens, select a soft brush, set Size(Size) by 20 pixels and paint over the entire image.

Please note that the detail of the result depends on the size of the brush. The smaller it is, the more details will be drawn.

Step 3

Create a new layer Layer – New – Layer(Layer – New – Layer) and call it “Middle Details”.

Step 4

Activate Art History Brush Tool Size(Size) by 10 pixels and paint over the entire image.

Step 5

Add a black mask

Step 6

Now on the toolbar click on the color square and in the window Color Picker(Color selection) select black color (#000000). Activate Brush Tool

Make sure that the layer mask is selected in the Layers panel. If you made an extra stroke, you can restore the desired area by switching to a white brush color. Black hides, white restores.

Also, as you work, adjust the diameter of the brush to more thoroughly work out small details. To quickly change the size, use the [ and ] keys.

Step 7

Create a new layer Layer – New – Layer(Layer – New – Layer) and call it “Small details”.

Step 8

Activate Art History Brush Tool(Y) (Archival art brush). We leave all the settings that were in step 2, just change Size(Size) by 5 pixels and paint over the entire image.

Step 9

Add a black mask Layer – Layer Mask – Hide All(Layer – Layer Mask – Hide All) to hide all the contents of the layer.

Step 10

Now select black color (#000000), activate Brush Tool(B) (Brush), select a soft brush and brush over the areas where you want to preserve more detail.

Create an embossing effect

Step 1

Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to create a separate copy of all visible layers. Then Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate the resulting layer.

Step 2

Let's move on Filter – Stylize – Emboss(Filter – Stylize – Emboss). Install Angle(Angle) 135 degrees, Height(Height) – by 3 pixels and Amount(Effect) – by 200%.

Step 3

At the top of the layers panel, switch the blending mode of this layer to Hard Light(Hard light).

Congratulations, this is what the final result looks like:

The image above shows the effect we created in this tutorial. If you want to get a more advanced result, like the one below in the screenshot, then I suggest you try my action.

Using the action, you can create a realistic oil painting effect in Photoshop in just a couple of mouse clicks. You just need to open the image in the program and run the action. He will do all the rest of the work for you! The result is a layered finish that's easy to customize to suit your taste.

The action also includes 10 color variations and 5 textures for overlaying on photos. IN special video you can see detailed instructions for using the action.

Today we will talk about artistic filters in Photoshop. With the help of these filters, it is possible to stylize it as a painting (oil, pastel, pencil), imitate surfaces and structures. With these filters, you can create works of art from your photos.

A filter is a tool for changing an image. This can be blurring, sharpening, stylization, enhancing relief, changing the color scheme and much more.

You can find all filters in the “Filter” tab, which is located at the top. When you click on this tab, a menu appears in front of us.

Watercolor (Watercolor). The effect of a drawing made in watercolor.

Simulates drawing with watercolors. But not very good. By using a couple of tricks you can achieve wonderful results. Do two copies of photographs from using Ctrl+ J, then select the Watercolor filter.

We see the settings

• Brush Size.
• Brush Detail. Determines how accurately details will be saved.
• Texture. Determines the severity of paper texture.

Adjust the settings to taste. On the left we see the texture, on the right we see the result.

Marine watercolor/luceluceluce

Change the blending mode of the first layer toScreen(Lighting or Screen), and the second onMultiply(Multiplication). Add masks to both layers. Keep pressed Alt key to create a black mask. Using a white brush and a watercolor brush, versions of which you can find on the Internet, paint over the masks. This way you will simulate typical color transitions. Photoshop spent preliminary work and prepared a sketch. Using brushes and texture you can get the effect you want.

Colored Pencil. Simulates a drawing with a colored pencil.

The Colored Pencil filter uses the current background color as the color of the paper on which the drawing will be created. That is, even before applying the filter, you need to make a small decision. The colors of the photo will turn into the colors of the pencils. The color of the paper will be visible between the pencil strokes.

• Pencil Width. Adjusts the thickness of strokes.
• Stroke Width. Simulates strong or weak pressure on a pencil.
• Paper Brightness.

A brightness value of 16 will give you a paper color that roughly matches the background color. When you move the slider to the right of the value 16, the color will be lighter, and to the left - darker.

Since small details are rarely worked out well, it is better to work with large photographs. It is difficult to get a good result with a one-time use of a filter. Therefore, I recommend making several copies of the image, applying on different copies different settings and using layer masks to draw those areas that best suit this part of the photo. The texture of the paper makes the image look more realistic. In this case the texture is in a layer above all other layers and I used the layer blend modeMultiply(Multiplication) with little transparency.

sexy woman/stryjek

Smudge Stick. The effect of a smooth, soft image.

The filter softens the image by adding diagonal strokes, with the light areas becoming brighter and losing detail. This filter uses the colors of the photo to simulate feathering. In this case, you can set the stroke length, which naturally affects details and sharpness/blur. You can change the brightness of different areas of the image and the brightness intensity.

• Highlight Area.
• Intensity.

Since the content of the image does not change, it is possible to create a “photo-realistic” picture. To do this, make two copies of the original and go to the filter. On the bottom layer set stroke length, brightness zone and intensity at 0. On the top layer - stroke length - 10, brightness zone - 10 and intensity - 3. Change the blending mode of this layer to Overlay (Overlay) and set the Opacity to 50%.

This way you will ensure that the strokes are not too uniform. Of course, it is important to choose the right motive here. Fantastic collages are more suitable here than, for example, a portrait.

The Temple/Zuboff

Cutout (Applique). Turns a photo into an applique made of colored paper.

The filter combines similar colors and imitates an applique of glued pieces of paper. The number of levels determines the number of colors in the collage. Simplifying the edge - how exactly and evenly the pieces of paper were cut. Edge precision only responds when the abstraction level is not set to 0. The lower the scale value Edge Simplicity and more scale value Edge Fidelity, the less distortion. Image brightness does not change

• No of Levels determines the number of color levels
• Edge Simplicity.
• Edge Fidelity.

That is, using this filter you can achieve an illustration effect. Even a simple outline is enough to determine the content of an image. Here too it is very important to choose the right image. Here it also makes sense to use different modes mixing layers, for example, Overlay.

Green forest with fog / andreiuc88

Fresco (Fresco) . Fresco painting:

This filter simulates applying paint to still fresh plaster, at least in theory. The choice of motive is very important here too.

• Brush Size.
• Texture. Adjusts the sharpness of edges.

To make the photo look like a fresco, I applied a filter with settings p brush size - 1, brush details - 10, texture - 1, applied a texture with the appearance of plaster and usingImage - Adjustments - Hue/SaturationReduced the saturation of the image. Then I changed the layers blend mode toMultiply(Multiplication).

Saint Mary Magdalene / zatletic

Dry Brush. Imitation of a dry brush drawing.

The result of applying this filter is a drawing that is very reminiscent of the dry brush technique (drawing big amount paints with a small amount of water).

• Brush Size.
• Brush Detail. Determines how many parts to save.
• Texture. Adjusts the severity of the paper texture.

Here you can apply a filter with settings brush size - 1, brush details - 10, texture - 2. The photo is already starting to look like a painting. Make a copy of the layer and apply the filter again with the settings brush size - 10, brush details - 10, texture - 1 and change the layer opacity to 50%. The texture of the paper can improve the effect.

Mediterrane Impression / pk200258

Rough Pastels (Pastel). Pastel drawing effect.

Using this filter gives the effect of a pastel drawing. At the top of the dialog box, you can set the stroke length and level of detail. In the lower part, the properties of the material on which the pattern is applied, the size of the texture, relief and direction of light are determined.

• Stroke Length.
• Stroke Detail. Determines how strong the strokes will be.
• Texture. Allows you to select a texture: brick, burlap, canvas, sandstone.
• Scaling.
• Relief.

The Invert checkbox inverts the terrain.

The settings depend on the motive. After setting the filter, you should use a mask to remove (or partially remove) the effect of the filter on some parts of the image.

meditation/pepe

Film Grain. Applies grain to the image, simulating shooting on a film camera:

It gives quite an interesting effect in contrasting photographs. Grain scale(Grain) controls the grain size,Highlight Area (Lighting) - the percentage of lightened areas, and Intensity (Intensity) - exposure (illumination).

• Grain. The amount of grain in the image.
• Highlight Area. Increases the brightness of the final image.
• Intensity. Adjusts brightness and sets the intensity of bright areas.

Make two copies of the photo and apply a filter with the settings to the top layer grain - 8, brightness zone - 14, intensity - 2. Change the blending mode of the top layer toMultiply(Multiplication), and the layer below it onScreen. This will give you a high-contrast shot with grain.

Fine art image / konradbak

Plastic Wrap. It gives the impression that the photograph was placed inside a plastic bag or film.

• Highlight strength. Determines how strong the polyethylene glare will be.
• Detail. Contour detail level.
• Smoothness. Smooth highlights.

Fashion Couple Dramatic / Gabi Moisa

Underpainting (Drawing under the surface). Creates a pattern effect under different surfaces.

• Stroke Length.
• Texture Coverage
• Texture.
• Scaling.
• Relief.
• Light. Allows you to select which side the terrain will be illuminated from.

In this case I took the canvas texture scale 50% And relief height - 5. Light - bottom right, stroke length 0 to get the outline. Here's the result:

Grand Cru Rotwein / Wilm Ihlenfeld

Palette knife. Imitation of an image made with a tool such as a wide knife.

Allows you to imitate the technique of oil painting performed with a special tool such as a wide knife (spatula or palette knife). The image takes on a distinctly rough form.

• Stroke Size. Adjusts the stroke size along the edges of the path.
• Stroke Detail.
• Softness. Smoothes the photo.

Unfortunately the filter only affects small areas of color. Color transitions are not affected. This can be fixed by selecting a suitable texture and applying it with a blending modeMultiply(Multiplication). Then merge the layers (original and texture) and make two copies. Apply a filter with settings to the top layer stroke size - 50, stroke detail - 3, softness - 0. Set the layer opacity to 80% and change the blending mode of the top layer toScreen(lightening).

dutch mills 3/dzain

Neon Glow. Creates a neon glow along the contours of the object in the photo.

Turns the image into a monochrome negative and adds a light stroke, or "glow", along the outline of objects.

• Glow Size
• Glow Brightness

Using the size you can control whether the photo will be shown as an original or a negative. Brightness determines how much the background affects the photo. In this filter you can choose the color of the neon glow.

Feuerwehrschlauch / 77SimonGruber

Paint Daubs. Creates the appearance of an oil painting.

Gives the photo the appearance of an oil painting.

• Brush Size. A parameter already familiar to us.
• Sharpness.

Here you can set the brush type (Brush Type).

A filter with settings is applied here brush size - 25 and sharpness - 20. Brush type - wide and medium hard. A texture with a blending mode is applied on topMultiply(Multiplication) and transparency 25%. Then a copy of the layer was made and the blending mode was selectedSoftlight
(Soft light) and transparency 50%

rotes Italien / Grischa Georgiew

Sponge (Sponge). The effect of an image applied with a sponge.

• Brush Size.
• Definition.
• Smoothness.

Here is a version of a photo using a filter with settings brush size - 0, clarity - 6 and anti-aliasing - 1 and a second copy of the layer with the settings brush size - 5, clarity -10 and anti-aliasing - 15. Transparency - 50%. A texture is applied on top.

Lüneburger Heide / Thorsten Schier

Poster Edges. Enhances the contours of the photo.

• Edge thickness.
• Edge intensity.
• Poserization.

Finds the contours of the photo and outlines them with black lines. The result will look like a poster. In this case, a filter with settings is applied edge thickness - 10, edge intensity - 5 and posterization - 6. Sometimes it’s worth blurring a photo before applying a filter.

Superhero businessman / Nomad_Soul

We will talk about other filters and their applications in the next article.

Step 1: Convert the Background Layer to a Smart Object
There are two ways to apply any filter to a layer, including an oil paint filter. The first of these is a regular, static filter, which means that by applying a filter we will make permanent, irreversible changes to the pixels of the layer.

Another way is to apply the filter as a smart filter, which will save the filter settings and make it completely editable later (this method is called Non-Destructive and it is always better, because the filter settings can be changed and even temporarily disabled or deleted ).

So, open the original photo in Photoshop, open (if not open) the layers panel, our photo is now the background layer, right-click on the background layer and select the line “Convert to Smart Object”. As a result, we have a smart object from the background layer, the icon located in the lower right corner of the layer thumbnail tells us about this:

The background layer has been converted to a smart object.

Step 2: Selecting the Oil Paint... filter
It starts in the usual way. through the main menu tab Filter --> Stylize --> Oil Paint (Filter --> Stylize --> Oil Paint).

Note. For some reason, in my Photoshop build, the filter is not translated; the name and interface are left in English.

This will open the filter dialog box. In Photoshop CS6, the dialog box took up the entire screen, but now in the CC version, the window is much smaller and fits nicely into the rest of the interface. There is a window at the very top preview, and below it are various options for controlling the oil paint effect, we will now look at all of them:

Oil Paint... filter dialog box

Preview Window

The filter provides the ability to view its action in real time directly in the document, but this is not always convenient, for example, if the source image is large and does not fit at 100% scale on the monitor.

Luckily, the preview window at the top of the filter dialog gives us an easy way to view and analyze areas of the image at 100% scale. Of course, the preview will only fit a small part of the image, but you can easily move to the desired areas by simply clicking on that place in the document. which you want to watch.

When you hover your mouse over the image, you will see that the cursor has changed to a small square that represents the border of the preview window. Just click on the place you want to see you want to explore. Here I clicked on the area between the yellow and pink flower buds:

Preview in the filter window at 100% scale.

Directly below the preview window is an indicator of the current zoom level; by default it is set to 100%. To change the display scale, use the plus and minus icons.

Finally, the Preview option to the right of the window enables/disables previews within the document itself. whether or not to see that we are previewing the effect of an oil painting within the image itself. You can also turn on/off preview in a document using the P key.

Brush options

The filter options in the dialog box are divided into two main parts. The first contains brush settings options: Stylization, Cleanliness, Scale and Bristle Detail. We use these settings to adjust various aspects of the strokes.

Below the brush options are the lighting options, which control the direction of the light source as well as the overall contrast of the effect.

We'll start by looking at brush options. But before we continue, make sure that the Lighting option is enabled (checked in the checkbox). The reason is that without lighting effects we will not be able to see our oil paint strokes. Also, with the lighting option turned on, increase the Shine value, which adjusts the contrast of the brush strokes so that you can clearly see the brush strokes in the image. The value doesn't need to be too large; 2.0 is fine. However, this is only needed now, so that it is easier to learn how the brush parameters work. We'll look at the lighting settings in more detail later, but for now let's get back to the brush options.

Stylization
The first brush parameter is Stylization. It sets the style of brush strokes, ranging from rough brush strokes on the lowest setting to very smooth strokes on the highest setting. This is what the document will look like if you drag the Styling slider to the left, to its lowest value (0.1). As you can see, the minimum value of "Stylize" makes the strokes rounded, roughly outlined, giving the painting a detailed look:

Filter "Oil paint with the minimum value of the Stylization parameter"

As the Stylize value increases, the strokes become smoother and longer. And if you move the slider all the way to the right to a maximum value of 10, the document will look like this:

Effect using the maximum Stylize value.

For my image I will choose something in the middle, I think a value of 4 will do. The value, of course, depends on the original image.

This is what my drawing looks like with a value of 4:

An effect with a Stylize value of 4

Cleanliness
The second brush setting is “Cleanliness”. She's in control length brush strokes, ranging from short and choppy strokes at low settings to long, stringy strokes at high settings. Short strokes give the painting more texture and detail, while long strokes give it a less detailed, more smoothed look.

This is what the document looks like when you drag the "Clean" slider to the left.

The effect obtained with the Purity slider set to 0.

And this is the view of the document at the maximum “Purity” value:

Painting with "Purity" set to 10.

I think long, blurry strokes would work better for this image, but at the highest Clarity setting they are too long. I'd like to bring back a little more detail, so I'll lower the setting to 7. Another value may work better for your image.

Scale
So we learned that the Stylization setting controls the smoothness of the strokes, while Cleanliness controls their length. The third setting, Scale, controls the size (or thickness) of the brush itself. Use low scale values ​​for thin, narrow brushes, or higher scale values ​​for larger, thicker brushes.

I lower the "Scale" value down to its minimum value (0.1). At the lowest level, the strokes look as if they were drawn with a very fine brush. Note also that since thin brushes tend to use less paint, we don't see much of the paint's relief on the canvas:

Effect at the lowest "Scale" value.

Now let's see what happens if we drag the slider to the opposite end, increasing the scale to the maximum value (10). The strokes became much thicker, as if using a larger brush. And, since we used a larger brush, the relief of the strokes on the canvas is more pronounced compared to the thin brush we used earlier:

Effect at maximum "Scale" value.

Bristle Detail
The fourth brush setting controls the grooves left by the brush bristles. At lower settings, the grooves are subtle and soft, becoming deeper and more pronounced as the setting increases.
I'll lower the Stubble Details value to its minimum value (zero). To see the effect better, I zoomed in on the image fragment to 200%:

Result with Bristle Detail set to zero.

Let's increase the parameter to the maximum value of 10. The grooves become much stronger and more obvious:

Effect with Bristle Detail set to 10.

Of course, the maximum and minimum values ​​of the above settings are used extremely rarely in practice. I use the following settings for my image:

• Stylization - 4
• Cleanliness - 7
• Scale - 7
• Bristle Detail - 5

This is what my picture looks like with the filter options listed above:

Intermediate result.

Lighting options

Below the brush parameters there is a section with lighting settings. Even though there are only two of them (Angle and Glitter), they play a vital role in shaping the effect of converting a photo into an oil painting. Before we start setting the lighting parameters, we first need to make sure that the checkbox to the left of the word “Lighting” is checked.

Angle
This setting controls the direction of light falling on the painting, which affects the direction of shadows and highlights created by the oil paint strokes. To change the direction, click and place the mouse cursor inside the circle, hold the cursor and move it to rotate the disk. In addition, you can manually enter the numbers specifying the angle into the input field. For example, an angle value of 90° corresponds to a vertical direction from above, a value of 180° means the light is coming from the left.

In my case, it feels like the image itself has a light source coming from the top left corner, so I'll set the value to around 135°:

Clicking the left mouse button and moving the cursor inside the circle.

For comparison, here's what this painting originally looked like before changing the lighting angle back, with the light coming from the bottom right corner. Pay attention to shadows and highlights:

Oil painting effect with light coming from the bottom right corner.

And here's what it looks like after turning towards the top left corner. Below, the white and yellow flowers have lost their relief detail following the lighting change, while others, like the yellow flower near the center, now show up in more detail:

The same picture after moving the light source to the upper left corner.

Shine
Finally, the Shine option controls the brightness of the light source, which affects the intensity of shadows and highlights (paint strokes, not the actual image). Setting Gloss to its lowest value, zero, essentially turns the light source off, giving the effect an almost flat appearance (or rather, no effect).
Increasing the value to the maximum, ten, creates too strong, unnatural shadows and highlights. In most cases, a fairly low value works best, something around 0.5 - 4. Here I've set the "Shininess" value to 2:

Average "Shine" value.

Disabling lighting options

Now that we've covered the lighting options and their importance to the overall appearance of the brushstrokes, why don't we turn off the lighting? Simply put, turn it off to see the strokes! Why don't you want to see the strokes? Well, with visible brush strokes we get the relief effect created by the shadows and highlights from the relief of the paint on the canvas. Turning off the lights smoothes out the image, giving us a very clean, soft and smooth result.
To turn off the lighting, simply uncheck the option of the same name (in the English interface - Lighting). This will not completely disable the effect created by the oil paint filter, but will give the following result:

Filter operation when the lighting option is turned off.

And finally, when you have configured everything, click OK to apply the filter action and close the dialog box.

Turning a photograph into a painting is one of the most popular topics in lessons on working with graphic editors. Modern 2D applications are so advanced that they give the opportunity to try themselves as a real artist even for those who have never been able to draw well. Sliders, checkboxes and other settings work no worse than a paint palette and canvas.

One of the confirmations of the high interest of users in the topic of drawing is the appearance in the arsenal latest version Photoshop filter Oil Paint, with which you can turn an image into a painting in a matter of seconds. And in the presence of modern graphics adapter— monitor changes made in real time in the preview window. However, like any other tool, the Oil Paint filter is imperfect. In particular, it does not make it possible to separately control the size and nature of strokes in different parts Images. Therefore, other methods for obtaining a picture from a photograph remain relevant. In this review we will look at both Oil Paint and three other ways to achieve this effect.

⇡ Using the Oil Paint filter

Oil Paint is one of the new Photoshop CS6 filters that uses the Mercury Graphics Engine (MGE). The latter uses OpenGL and OpenCL technologies and makes it possible to significantly speed up obtaining results by shifting part of the work to the GPU. However, unlike some of the other new CS6 filters, Oil Paint also works with older video cards, but in this case only processor resources are used for calculations.

For convenience, the command to call the Oil Paint filter is placed directly in the Filter menu.

The filter contains six sliders: four of them are related to brush parameters, and two are related to lighting settings. The Stylization and Bristle Detail sliders are designed to add contrast to simulated brush strokes. They create light boundaries between each curve or swirl and thereby make the effect more pronounced. The difference between these two settings is that the first adds an additional chaotic effect to the design created by the brush strokes, while the second affects mainly the contrast.

The Cleanliness slider allows you to change the detail of each brush stroke. High values ​​of this parameter correspond to painting with a new soft brush, and with low values ​​you can get the effect of painting with an already dirty brush with sticky bristles - there will be more “grain” in the image.

Using the Scale parameter, you can essentially change the size of the brush.

As for lighting-related settings, Angular Direction determines the angle at which the simulated light reaches the surface of the canvas, which in turn affects the contrast between strokes. When lighting changes, strokes may appear bright or, conversely, dark. The Shine parameter sets the overall intensity of the effect.

⇡ Turning a photo into a painting using filters

This method of creating a painting from a photograph is interesting because it allows you to get a completely acceptable result without using a virtual brush. The secret lies in the consistent application of filters, of which there are a great many in Photoshop.

Please note that filter settings will differ for images with different resolutions, so you may need to adjust them. We show the settings for 1024x768 resolution.

So, after loading the original image into Photoshop, use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + U to open the Hue/Saturation window. Increase the saturation of the image to forty-five.

Open the filter gallery by selecting it from the Filter menu. Go to the Glass filter. Since we want to get the image as if it were placed on a canvas, set its settings to a texture type resembling canvas (Canvas). Other parameters should be selected depending on the image resolution. Reduce distortion by setting the Distortion setting to a lower value and choosing a low Smoothness setting.

Click the New effect layer button at the bottom of the Filter Gallery window to add an additional layer to apply the filter to.

Assign the filter to Angled Strokes. It simulates brush strokes applied at a certain angle. Set the Stroke Length to 3 and the Sharpness parameter, which determines how sharp the image will be, to one.

Add another effect layer using the same New effect layer button. Set the filter to Paint Daubs. The key setting parameter here is the brush type. In this case, you need to select the Simple type, and then reduce the brush size to four and lower the Sharpness value so that the strokes are less clear.

Create the last layer of the effect. Assign the filter to Texturizer. It adds a canvas texture to the image. In its settings, select the appropriate texture type - Canvas. Then select the texture scale (Scaling parameter) and its relief (Relief parameter).

The main work is completed. To apply filters to the image, click the OK button. All that remains is to make the strokes clearer. Create a copy of the layer using the CTRL+J command. Select the layer desaturation command Image → Adjustments → Desaturate (“Image” → “Correction” → “Desaturate”).

Now apply the Filter → Stylize → Emboss filter to the top layer. In its settings, reduce the value Height parameter(“Height”) to one, and the value of the Amount (“Effect”) parameter, on the contrary, increase to 500.

For the current layer, change the blending type to Overlay. Ready!

⇡ “Painted” oil painting

Here's another interesting way to turn any photo into an oil painting. It's more labor-intensive than using the new Oil Paint filter, but it gives you more creative options.

Open the image.

Create a new layer and select the Fill tool and fill it with white. Select the Art History Brush tool. In the History palette, check Set the Source for History Brush.

In the tool settings, select the oil brush 63 Oil Pastel and in the Area field, set its distribution area to thirty.

Right-click on the image and reduce the brush size and paint the layer. The smaller the size, the smaller the stroke size will be and the more detailed the painting will be.

Apply Filter → Sharpen → Unsharp Mask to make the strokes more expressive. Increase the Amount value. Finally, apply the Texturizer filter to create the illusion of a canvas. In Photoshop CS6, this filter is not in the Filter menu by default, and is accessed through the Filter Gallery. Select "Texture" - "Canvas" from the list and, based on the preview window, select the values ​​for the Scaling and Relief parameters.

Now the image looks like an oil painting.

⇡ Almost real painting in Photoshop

Most methods of simulating painting in Photoshop are based on applying a specific sequence of filters. These methods have one serious drawback - they often lack the individuality of the artist. In this lesson we will talk about one method of simulating painting, which will allow you to create a unique, one-of-a-kind painting based on any photograph.

The secret to the originality of images obtained using this method, consists in the fact that the user himself applies strokes in an arbitrary manner. But in order to paint a picture in this way, it is not at all necessary to have the talent of an artist.

So, open the image that will serve as the basis for the painting. Increase the canvas size a little. To do this, execute the command Image → Canvas Size (“Image” → “Canvas Size”).

Execute the command Edit → Define pattern. Create a new layer and fill it with white using the Fill tool. Make it slightly transparent by lowering the Opacity to 80% so that the original image shows through the top layer.

Create a new layer and use the Pattern Stamp tool. From the list of patterns in the toolbar, select the pattern you saved earlier using the Define pattern command. Check the Aligned checkbox to position the strokes correctly and the Impressionist (Effect) checkbox to give them an impressionistic style.

Select one of the brushes in the Pattern Stamp tool settings. Customize its profile using the settings in the Brush palette. It is desirable that the profile should look like a stroke of a real brush - a trace of lint should be visible in it and the texture of the canvas should be visible. Start painting directly on the image, using short, small strokes. They can be applied in a completely arbitrary manner, trying to ensure that the profile of the brush is visible on each stroke.

In the process of drawing a picture, the size of the brush can and even should be changed. In areas of the image where detail is low, such as the sky or sea, you can use larger brushes. In areas where there are a lot of small details, it is better to reduce the size of the brush used so that the elements of the painting are better defined on the canvas.

The process of creating a painting takes quite a long time, since you have to pay attention to every recognizable detail in the image. However, it is this “handmade work” that makes the picture realistic. The position of the strokes cannot be described by any algorithm; this is solely the work of the artist. When there are no bright spots left in the image, you can save the result.

⇡ Conclusion

This article discussed several ways to obtain a picture from a photograph in Adobe Photoshop, but there are many other programs that can achieve a similar effect. There are many free ones among them, for example FotoSketcher. This program offers more than twenty painting styles, from watercolor paints and pencil drawing to creating a cartoon image. Each style has several settings with which you can influence appearance finished "painting".

Despite the fact that you can quickly achieve a number of interesting artistic effects using FotoSketcher, programs of this kind still lack the freedom to realize creative ideas. Many operations are done according to a template, and therefore the result, to a greater or lesser extent, repeats the previously obtained pictures. So Photoshop was, is and remains the main tool for an artist working with digital painting.