Tall Hair
To make this painting, I used primarily the vector tool in SketchClub to paint the face from a photo. Then I used iColorama and Metabrush to add dramatic color and texture.
I started with this photo from Pixabay, a source of copyright-free images.
I opened the photo in SketchClub. I started using the Vector tool to create shapes as I describe in this tutorial. In Vector settings, I set the Simplify slider to 7. This means that SketchClub will smooth out my shapes a bit more. I used the Shrub brush under the Brush tool to create eyebrows. I used a larger brush size for the part of the eyebrows closer to the center of the face, and a smaller brush size for the part of the eyebrows closer to the edge of the face.
I continued creating shapes using the Vector tool, layering the shapes under one another as I describe in this tutorial. I used the Dots brush under the Procedural tool to create eyelashes. I used a larger brush size for upper lashes, and a smaller brush size for the lower lashes. I painted the lashes on a layer below some of the eye shapes, so that I could draw them without worrying about over-running those elements of the eyes.
I continued using the Vector tool to create shapes. I try not to get too carried away making too many small shapes with only subtle differences in color, but some details are important. Here I used many small shapes for details for the eyes, nose, ears and mouth, as well as the wrinkles on the forehead.
On a layer above the yellow, white and gray vector shapes I made for the hair, I used the Bristles brush under the Procedural tool, painting with different shades of yellow, white and gray, to make the hair.
I used the Particles brush under the Procedural tool to draw loose strands of hair sticking out from the sides. I modified the settings for the particles brush so the strokes would not be as smooth.
I used the Deco 2 brush under the Brush tool to paint some texture onto the necklace.
In Vector settings, I turned the Gradient switch on. Then in the bottom-most layer in the layer stack, I used the color picker to select a color from the image, and I used the Vector tool to create two large shapes on either side of the head, as background. Because the Gradient switch is on, I got a nice gradient background. Because I put these gradient shapes on the bottom-most layer, I can make them larger than the space I want to cover, without having to worry about obscuring the figure. And without doing any masking or erasing.
I turned off visibility for the photo layer. I exported the image to my camera roll.
I opened the image in iColorama. I used Adjust/EQ at low opacity to enhance the tonal separation.
I used Effect/Blend with a brush mask to blend a texture onto the blouse. The texture is one that I made previously in MetaBrush, using the method I describe here.
I used a preset under Preset/Color9 to enhance the color and simplify the color palette.
I used Effect/Raise at low opacity to emphasize the textures.
I opened the image in MetaBrush. On a duplicate layer, I used the Brushes/Tex tools and the Brushes/Color tools to paint this. I used the default brush settings.
On another duplicate layer, I used a small brush size with the Brushes/Color tools to make scribbles. I used the Wets/Lines tool at medium opacity to soften some areas.
On another duplicate layer, I continued painting with the Wets tools to smooth the image.
I continued painting with the Wets tools and Brushes/Art tools. I adjusted the layer opacities. I saved the image to my camera roll.
I opened the image in iColorama. I used Effect/Blend to blend the MetaBrush image onto the SketchClub/iColorama image. I tried many blending modes and experimented with all the slider settings, including the Lightness slider and both ends of the Gray slider under Set. Here I used one of the negative blending modes (difference, negation, exclusion). I find that the negative blending modes can be quite effective if the Lightness slider is all the way, or most of the way, to the left, the opacity and feature sliders are somewhere in the middle, and one or both ends of the gray slider are used.
I enhanced the color using Adjust/EQ at low opacity as well as a preset under Preset/Colors9. I used Effect/Raise to emphasize the textures.
I used Adjust/Exposure and an inverted brush mask to lighten the whites of the eyes as well as the highlight on the lower lip.
I used Form/Crop to crop from the top and bottom.
I used Form/Deforms Preset 5 and Form/Warp to change the size and shape of the head.
As a final touch, I used the Elasticam app to change the shape of the chin and mouth.
