Tulips
Using SketchClub and iColorama, and inspired by a snapshot of mine, I was able to create this image of two tulips with strong color, a mysterious mood, and a feeling of and dynamic motion.
I started with this photo of mine.
I imported the photo into SketchClub. I reduced the opacity of the photo layer so I could still see it as I painted, but it would not be so dark that I couldn’t see what I was I was painting. I kept this layer as the top layer throughout the rest of the painting process, turning visibility on and off to check my work as I went along. In the end, we will turn off visibility for this photo layer, so that nothing of the photo remains in the final image. On a new layer below the photo layer, I started by painting these shapes using the Vector tool. These represent the darker areas of the tulip petals.
On successive new layers below the layer we just painted on, I used the Vector tool to paint shapes denoting the midtone areas of the tulip petals.
On new layers below the layers we just painted on, I used the Vector tool to paint shapes denoting the highlight and shadow areas of the tulip petals.
On a new layer below the tulip petal layers, I used the Vector tool to paint shapes denoting the darker leaves of the tulip plants.
On a new layer below the layer we just painted on, I used the Vector tool to paint shapes denoting the midtone leaves of the tulip plants.
On a new layer below the layer we just painted on, I used the Vector tool to paint shapes denoting the lighter leaves of the tulip plants. Notice that I have painted in leaves that were not in the photograph.
On a new layer below the layer we just painted on, I used the Vector tool to paint shapes denoting the stems of the tulip plants.
On a new layer above the all tulip layers, I used the pen tool to create accent lines on the petals, stems and leaves.
On a new layer at the bottom of the layer stack, I used the paint bucket tool to fill the layer with a light blue color.
On a new layer at the top of the layer stack, I used a large soft brush at low to medium opacity to paint pale yellow and white glow onto the image. I checked all the layers for optimum layer order to make sure all desired components are visible. I checked each layer for stray marks or undesired overlaps and used the eraser tool to erase unwanted bits. It’s always a good idea to check layer opacities and blending modes, maybe trying a few changes, although I decided not to make any here. I saved the image to my camera roll.
I opened the image in iColorama. I used two presets in Adjust/Tonelab at low opacity, and I used Adjust/levels, all to increase contrast and deepen color. I used Effect/Glow at low opacity to enhance the glowing effect, but I used a brush mask for the bottom half of the image, as it would have been too dark.
I used Effect/Raise preset 1 at partial opacity to emphasize the lines.
I used one of the presets in Effect/Blur to create this blurry image.
I blended the two images in Darken mode, using Effect/Blend. I tried all the slider settings, including those under Set. You can also try blending with the images reversed, trying again with the bottom one on top instead. I find I sometimes get a nice effect blending an image with a blurred version of itself, using the Darken blending mode.
Now I used Effect/Blend to blend the image with an earlier version, this time in Subtract mode. Again, I tried all the sliders, including the Lightness and Gray sliders under Set.
I used Style/Tensor Preset 1 to create this slightly softened image.
I used Style/Tensor preset 6 to blend the tensored version of the image with its un-tensored version. I love the somewhat glassy and dynamic effect this gives. You can try using either image as the main or secondary image. Experiment with the slider settings.
To get rid of some artifacts on the large leaf in the lower right, I blended the image with an earlier version, trying all the blending modes for the best result, using an inverted brush mask. After removing the mask, I used Brush/Clone with a very small brush to repair an artifact on the top left tulip petal. Then I used Effect/Sharpen Preset 4 to sharpen a bit.
