Dreaming
I painted over a photo to remove photographic detail and add a hand-painted touch. But it was rather flat and boring. I processed it in iColorama to add depth and texture, by blending with several other images. The end result is a nostalgic piece with a wistful feel.
I started with this photo from the Sktchy app. Because Sktchy photos are very small, I upsized it twice in BigPhoto. I like the simplicity of it and her straightforward serious expression. I also love her tousled hair, and the strong definition of her features due to the side lighting. These elements will make it easier to paint her.
I opened the photo in Paintstorm Studio. I reduced the opacity of the photo layer so that I could use it as a guide to the painting I will do on new layers. On a new layer, I used the Draw Blend Opacity brush to paint color all over the canvas, including shadows. I used the Soft Blending tool to smooth out my paint strokes. Then on another new layer I used the Simple Ink pen to draw her eyes. On another new layer I used the Brush Hairy 2 brush to paint in her hair. Then I adjusted all the layer opacities and saved her to my camera roll. She still looks fairly amateurish and unfinished, but I hope to correct that using iColorama.
I opened the image in iColorama, and I used Adjust/EQ2 to add contrast, sharpness and depth to the image. I used one of the presets in Style/Water for a bit of smoothing (in retrospect I wish I had zeroed out the texture), and I used Texture/Leak at low opacity to add some interesting color from a light source.
Still in iColorama, I used Effect/Blend to blend several images over the woman in Overlay blend mode. Below are the images I blended with.
I used this texture from Pixabay, which is a source of copyright-free images.
I used this photo of mine.
I used this photo from the Rijksmuseum website, which provides high-resolution images free to use and modify for any purpose, in their Rijksstudio.
I added a border in Preset/Border, and I enhanced highlights using Effect/Light at low opacity.
I opened the image in Metabrush and made this image, using Wet/Texture 2 mode and a stripey brush for texture.
In iColorama, I used Effect/Blend to blend the Metabrush image over the woman, in Soft Light mode, using the Gray slider under Set, and opacity at 50%. If you want more texture from the Metabrush image, blend with more opacity than I did. Blending with the Metabrush image brought in the warmth of the colors.
Finally, I used Adjust/Levels and an inverted brush mask to add contrast to her mouth.
