Photoshop Creative Issue

PLUG-IN

D

igital painting is one of those skills that

fall into the category of being easy to

learn, but hard to master. It takes

patience, time and lots of practise to become

a great digital artist, not to mention a lot of

experimenting to ind your style. But that

doesn’t mean it’s not fun to play around with

digital art and create basic paintings in

Photoshop from nothing.

AKVIS OilPaint is available either as a

standalone app or as an add-on to Photoshop,

and can help you evolve as a digital artist and

develop your own style. It can turn any photo

into digital artwork using presets and sliders,

making it easy to achieve an effect that would

otherwise take a lot of time and effort.

While this may suggest OilPaint doesn’t

give much control over your work, this isn’t

the case at all. The sliders are precise and can

control everything from detail to brush size.

OilPaint is fantastically in-depth and you can

create something unique every time: while it

can be used to create a inished image, you

can also add more effects in Photoshop.

OilPaint makes a great addition to

Photoshop, because it slots right into your

worklow, has a plethora of options for

tweaking work, and is extremely versatile. It’s

useful for Photoshop beginners looking to

learn more about digital paintings, but it can

be used by more advanced artists seeking to

save time with their work; digital painting

might be easy to learn, but OilPaint can take

your skills to the next level.

Price £54 (approx) $69 US Web http://akvis.com/

AKVIS OilPaint

Turn any image into a digital painting of beautiful strokes using this simple plug-in

A useful plug-in for all levels of

digital artists, OilPaint has quick,

accurate and unique efects to

help you transform any image

8 into a digital work of art.

The verdict

AKVIS OIlPAInt REVIEWS

PRESETS
Choose a preset
digital art option
from the drop-down
list, and either leave
it at that, or tweak
the sliders further to
perfect the efect.

PREVIEW

AREA

See your image

take shape in

the preview area

of the program,

and use the Ater

tab to see the

completed efect.

SLIDERS

Use the sliders to alter everything

about your image, from the

simplicity of the composition to how

random the strokes are.

The specs

Company

AKVIS

Additional specs

Windows XP and above

Mac 10.7 and above

Photoshop CS3 and above

Photoshop Elements 6 and above

Standout feature

Abstract Art tab

While most digital art plug-ins create paintings

based on the photo you’re converting, OilPaint

is diferent. the Abstract Art tab can distort

your image, add new colours and take the

image in a whole new direction.

Impasto

01

This effect excels

in creating thick,

painterly strokes with a

clear brush pattern,

perfect for leaving as a

inished digital painting.

Dramatic Colors

02

The Dramatic

Colors preset is

good for saturating your

image a little and making

each of the hues really

pop in your painting.

Magnific +

Frame & Canvas

03

This preset does

three things; it

adds a canvas, a frame

and completes the look

with subtle brush strokes.

Fresco

04

This is simplistic,

bold and gives

you a great starting point

to go further and add your

own custom brush strokes

to the image.

Wild Strokes

05

The Wild Strokes

option is big, bold

and painterly. It is great

when used on photos of

skies and water because it

gives a rippled feel.

Five great presets Some of the ways to get creative with OilPaint