Hello everyone this is Chris from Spoon Graphics
back with another tutorial for Adobe Photoshop.
Today I'm going to show you a clever combination of Photoshop filters that converts an image
into a realistic looking watercolour painting effect.
A range of built-in filters will produce the foundations of the effect, then the addition
of a paper texture and some finishing touches with a watercolour Photoshop brush pack adds
an extra level of realism to produce a convincing final result.
Open your chosen image in Adobe Photoshop, I'm using this photo of Venice from Unsplash.com
Begin by converting the layer to a Smart Object, this will allow the filters to be applied
non-destructively, so you can change or edit the settings if necessary.
Stick around until the end and I'll show you how the Smart Object also allows you to completely
change the image the effect is applied to, without having to apply the effects again.
The first filter we're going to use is under the Filter Gallery menu.
Under the Artistic category, choose Dry Brush.
Configure the settings to 10, 10 and 1 for the three options.
Hit OK on this filter to apply the effect, then add a second Filter Gallery effect.
Make sure you don't click the Filter Gallery option at the top of the menu, this would
re-apply the last effect, unless you were to hold the ALT key.
Instead, choose the regular menu option.
This time choose Cutout and hit OK on the default settings of 5, 4, 1.
This is one filter you might choose to edit the settings by clicking it in the Smart Filters
list.
Double-click the little icon next to the top Filter Gallery entry in the layer's Smart
Filters list.
This allows you to configure the blending options for this particular effect.
Choose Pin Light as the blending mode to allow those abstract shapes to interact with the
image and Dry Brush filter.
Next, go to Filter > Blur > Smart Blur.
Enter options of 5px Size and 100 Threshold.
Set the Quality to High.
Change the blending mode setting of this Smart Blur effect to Screen and reduce the opacity
to 50% by double-clicking that little icon next to the smart filter.
Add a Filter > Stylize > Find Edges effect next.
This filter outlines the artwork, which can be set to the Multiply blending mode to create
sketch lines, as if the artwork has been hand-drawn in pencil before painted with watercolour
paints.
You can alter the opacity of this effect if necessary to alter the prominence of these
sketch lines.
Download a paper texture to help simulate a real painting.
Follow the link in the description to this free public domain file.
Open the image in Photoshop and go to Select All, followed by Edit Copy.
Close the file, then paste the texture onto its own layer.
Use the CMD+T shortcut, or CTRL+T on Windows for Transform, then rotate and scale the texture
to fit the canvas.
You might want to add a quick Sharpen filter to help bring out the details of the paper
texture.
Set this layer's blending mode to Multiply using the normal blend mode dropdown at the
top of the Layers panel.
As one last finishing touch, download a set of Watercolour Photoshop brushes.
I'm using a premium pack of Watercolor Bloom brushes which you can find in the description.
At $15 it provides 150 high resolution watercolour effects that have been made from real watercolour
paints.
Add a layer mask to the Smart Object while holding the ALT key to fill the mask with
black, effectively erasing everything.
With the brush tool active, select one of the watercolour brushes.
Open the brush options and turn on Shape Dynamics, then set the Angle Jitter to max.
This will randomly rotate the brush after each stamp, which helps to avoid any repetition.
Use the square bracket keys as shortcuts to alter the brush size, then begin stamping
from the centre of the canvas to restore the artwork.
After a few clicks, set up a new brush to continue restoring the artwork, but with less
repetition.
Retain a border around the edge to allow the artwork to fade out with watery texturing.
There's one added benefit of converting the image into a Smart Object before the effects
are applied.
You can double-click the Smart Object's layer thumbnail to edit its contents.
Here you can paste in a completely different image, save and close the PSB to return to
the main document, and find the same watercolour effect has been automatically applied to the
new picture.