Photoshop Portrait Painting Tutorials

Adobe Photoshop is a popular graphic manipulation software widely used by commercial and advertising artists to render just the right look for their projects. However, Photoshop has other talents, among them the ability to make a photographic portrait appear to have been painted. By using a couple of Photoshop's popular filter effects, you can change your portrait into a watercolor painting or an oil painting. You can even make it look as though it were painted on canvas.

Make a duplicate layer.Open your portrait image in Photoshop, and make a duplicate by dragging the background layer, located in the Layers Palette, down to the "New Layer" thumbnail at the bottom of the palette. The new copy will appear above the original in the Layers Palette, and you can adjust the duplicate layer without damaging the original portrait.

Give your portrait a watercolor effect.Choose "Watercolor" from the Artistic Menu, and a new window will open, showing you a low-resolution copy of your original portrait and featuring a dialogue box on the upper right side of the window that allows you to choose the level of Brush Detail, Shadow Intensity and Texture. Watch your portrait as you move these sliders. When you find a combination you like, select "OK" to apply that painting filter to your portrait. Your portrait will then resemble a watercolor painting.

Poster edges render a painted look.Opt for a creative look when adding portrait-painting effects to your photograph. Under "Artistic" in the Filter Menu, you will find "Poster Edges." Again, a dialogue box will allow you to select details that give your portrait the look you want.

Achieve an oil-painted effect.Give your portrait an oil-painting look by selecting "Paint Daubs" from the Artistic Menu under "Filters." Adjust the sliders until you like the brushstroke size and the softness of the painting. This allows you to choose your own painting style for each portrait.

Add realism with a canvas background.Add a canvas background to make your Photoshop painting technique resemble the real thing. After you choose and apply a filter effect, select "Texture" from the Filters Menu and choose "Texturizer" to open a new dialogue box. From here, you can choose the type of surface for your portrait, and you can choose a relief size.