Blonde

The Art Set app gives this image its hand-drawn look. Metabrush adds texture.

I started with this photo from the Sktchy app. Sktchy photos are small, so I upsized her twice in BigPhoto.

In iColorama, I used Adjust/Tonelab preset 4 for tonal separation. You can see that the image is rough and grainy. But the processing steps I will use will almost completely rewrite the pixels, so the main thing is to have a big enough canvas for a good quality image. Call this Image A.

I applied Effect/Scrape and then Style/Simplify, using one of the lower (larger number) presets, at medium opacity. We won't use this yet but will save it for later for blending with. Call this Image B.

I opened Image A in the Art Set app and painted over it.

In iColorama, using Effect/Blend, I blended Image B onto the Art Set image. I tried several blending modes and slider settings.

I used Adjust/Levels to increase contrast.

I used Tone/Sepia in Darken mode to reduce the color palette.

I used Adjust/Levels at low opacity to increase contrast. I used Adjust/Tonelab preset 4 at low opacity for tonal separation. I used Tone/Enhance at low opacity to slightly modify the color. I used Adjust/High preset 1 at low opacity to emphasize the highlights.

I used Effect/Raise preset 3 at low opacity to emphasize the lines and texture. I like this version, but I want to experiment with some added texture.

Going back to the pre-raise version, I opened the image in the Metabrush app and painted in Brushes/Paint using various Doodle brushes. In Brush Settings I set spacing to the maximum setting, as well as maximum position variance and rotation variance, and no structure or shadow.

This is the brush image that I used. It's an image I created previously in iColorama and Metabrush, but any high-contrast black and white image would probably give similar results.

Now I opened the image in iColorama. Using Effect/Blend, I blended the image with the pre-raise version, in Normal blending mode, at medium opacity. Then I used Effect/Sharpen preset 2 at low opacity for a bit of sharpening.

I used Adjust/Exposure to lighten the image.

I used Form/Warp to enlarge the head, widen the eyes, and fill the canvas.

I used Form/Crop to crop.

Now I will make a second version. I opened Image B in the IC Painter app. IC Painter is an easy to use auto-painting app. I used the Splat 19/19 brush and set opacity to low to medium.

These are my settings in IC Painter.

In iColorma, I blended the IC Painter image onto the previous image, using Effect/Blend.

I used Adjust/Levels to brighten the image and add contrast.

I used Form/Crop to crop.