Paint a Portrait in Photoshop
It can be a photo of you, a friend, a parent or guardian, or a celebrity. The only caveat is that the photo needs to have sufficient details in the face. If the face is pixelated or blurry, you will be creating a challenge for your self. |
The white layer will serve analogously like tracing paper. You should be able to see a fair amount of the details from your photograph through the white layer. |
This will be a guide for your painting. It can be as detailed as you feel necessary. One suggestion I will make is that you focus on the details of the eyes. |
This will provide you with a neutral background, which is important for helping you achieve dynamic shadows and highlights in your painting. |
By doing this you can compare your painting with the original photograph. You can use the original photograph pick colors for your painting, and compare the details from the original to your painting. |
It is important that you work with Photoshop in full screen mode. Your work space is already going to be limited, you do not want to limit your work space more than necessary. |
Because the opacity of your brush is at 10%, the color you are painting with will not be as intense as the color you selected in Step 10. Because of this, you will need to go over the darkest areas of your painting multiple times in order to achieve the same darkness of the photograph. |
Tip: work from dark to light. |
Because the opacity of your brush is at 10%, the color you are painting with will not be as intense as the color you selected in Step 12. Because of this, you will need to go over the lightest areas of your painting multiple times in order to achieve the same lightness of the photograph. |
Tip: work from light to dark. |
If you feel as if you have made a mistake -- perhaps you feel like you over blended something -- you can always pick a color from your photograph and use it to fix your mistake. |
You do not want to blend the hair in the same way that you blended the skin. In fact, you will want to preserve contrast lines that occur in the direction that the hair in the photograph is flowing. Because of this, you will want to be sure that you paint in the direction that the hair is flowing. |
During this process, you will sometimes need to paint using long strokes, and sometimes you will need to paint using short strokes. Really pay attention to the photograph of the subject you are painting. |
Suggestion: start by adding details to the eyes. Zoom in around the eyes of both the photograph and your painting. Try to make the eyes in your painting look as much like the eyes in the photograph as possible. Pay attention to the placement of the pupil and iris, the different colors in the iris and sclera (the "white" part), and the highlights. |
Use as many different layers for the details as you need, and experiment with the types of brushes that you use. If you don't like something you have done, you can always undo (press Ctrl + z on your keyboard). |
This background can be whatever you want it to be. The only limit is your imagination. |