DIGITAL PAINTING
QUICK TIP
Importing brushes into Photoshop is quick and
easy. Simply double-click on the brush to import
it or import manually by clicking the drop down
menu on the Brush Presets Panel
(Window>Brush Presets) and selecting Load
Brushes. You can also save your own pre-made
brushes by going to Edit>Preset Manager.04
RECOLOUR THE FLOWERS
Continue to layer your flowers and
petals. Do not fill the intended areas completely
with stock, as it will be filled with simpler
brushed petals in future steps. Mask off or erase
any areas of the flowers that are not completely
clean, and group the flower layers together
(Layer>New>Group). Merge the group together.
Next, desaturate your merged group
(Image>Adjustments>Desaturate), then recolour
it to an aesthetically pleasing matching red
colour (Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation).05
MASK FOR THE BACKGROUND
Next, time to clean up and mask your
female stock photo. To get a crisp, accurate
mask, use the Pen tool (P). For smaller, more
detailed areas, use a small Hard Round brush (B)
in combination with a tablet. The goal is to show
the earlier paper texture base underneath, so
mask off any open space areas that aren’t
explicitly the subject matter or the flowers. Make
sure to keep the mask enabled as it will also be
needed for future steps.06
CREATE THE LINE ART
Now it is time to find the edges of our
image. Duplicate the woman layer and the
flower layers separately. Next for each layer go
to, Filter>Stylize>Find Edges, which will turn
the layers into coloured lines with a white
background. Desaturate these layers as well,
and use Levels to clean up excess lines
(Image>Adjustments>Levels). To get cleaner
lines, bring the White, Grey and Black sliders
together in the Levels panel. You can also
clean up lines by using the Brush tool.07
SET UP TO COLOUR IN
Once your new linework is cleaned up,
set the layer settings of both layers to Multiply.
You should be able to see the flowers and
woman underneath. Next, duplicate the woman
layer again underneath the original, and fill it
(Edit>Fill) with a neutral colour matching the
background. This will be the base when masking
inside the main layers. The next several steps will
be focused on detailing the woman. Create a new
group for the woman layer only and attach a
blank white mask onto this group.08
MASK OUT HIGHLIGHTS
This step requires masking with the
Brush tool, preferably with a tablet. On FileSilo
there is a simple watercolour-style brush called
Spongy Brush. Import this brush into
Photoshop. It can be easily adjusted for different
areas by changing the Spacing and Shape. On
the woman group mask, mask out the lighter,
highlighted areas, showing the neutral colour
underneath. Use variety in the size and shape of
the brush for more creative masking.
Afterwards, use Color balance
(Image>Adjustments>Color balance) to add a
reddish tint to the image.