Empty Head

Here I make an "empty head" image, one of my favorite themes, using primarily Metabrush, taking advantage of its layers to create "see through" image elements.

I started with this image that I made previously. As shorthand, I will refer to this image as "the portrait" in this tutorial. I opened the image in Metabrush.

I made this gradient in iColorama previously. I used it here for a background. I did that in Metabrush by touching the "landscape" icon (the one that looks like a little rectangle with a mountain in it) and selecting this image from my camera roll. So now I have two layers in Metabrush: the portrait on the bottom layer, and this gradient on the layer above the portrait layer.

To make the grid for the face, I selected Brushes/Plane. I reset brush settings to the defaults. Then I reduced the size dynamics setting to its middle value, so that the size of the brush stroke doesn't change as I brush. In the stroke image preview in the brush settings panel, the stroke should be roughly the same width all along its length. I selected the DryTwo 1 brush, and I used a very small brush size (this is especially necessary when you've set the size dynamics the way we did), and 100% stroke opacity. On a new layer, I painted the grid lines of the face. To guide me as I painted, I turned off visibility for the background layer, and I set the layer opacity of the portrait layer to 50% or less, so I could see where I wanted to paint but could also easily see what I was painting. I was careful to keep my brush strokes over her face and extending the full width and height of the face. Then I reduced the brush size even further and painted over her eyes, nostrils and lips. When I'm done painting the grid, I turned visibility for the background layer back on. So now we have three layers: the portrait on the bottom layer, the background gradient layer above the portrait layer, and this grid-face on the layer above that. Note that with the background layer in place, the portrait layer is not visible because it is beneath a 100% opaque layer that is completely filled.

Now to make the hair. First I am going to make the source image for the hair, because I want different hair color, quality and position from the hair in the portrait. (Don't worry right now if you don't know what I mean by source image, it will become apparent later.) I added a new layer, and I turned off visibility for the face-grid layer. In Brushes/Paint, I used a Gradient 7 brush. In Brush Settings, I used a small spacing, small positional and rotational variances, size dynamics at somewhat less than the default so that the thickness of the stroke doesn't grow so fast with the speed of the stroke, and structure set to about its middle value, all others left at the defaults. But experiment with the spacing and structure settings and also with the different Gradient brushes. See my Metabrush brushes tutorial and Metabrush brush settings tutorial for more examples. On the new layer, I painted long curved strokes at 100% opacity to produce the ringlets. I saved to my camera roll. (Why is there a yellow background for this image of the ringlets? Because at one point I had a solid yellow layer as the background layer. Then when I was almost finished creating the image, I decided I didn't like the solid background and replaced it with the gradient background. This is one advantage of having your separate image elements on different layers.)

I used this photo of mine, previously processed in iColorama, as brush source for Brush/Paint for the previous step. To set the brush source for Brush/Paint, touch the round "flower" icon on the top left side of the screen and select an image from your camera roll.

I opened the hair image in iColorama. I enhanced the color using Tone/Enhance. I used Adjust/Levels to increase contrast. I used Style/Coherence at medium opacity to smooth it.

Back to Metabrush. Now to paint the hair! I want to use the hair image we just made as source image for the hair we will paint. First I turn off visibility for the ringlets layer and drag it to the bottom of the stack; we won't be needing it anymore. (You could just delete that layer, but it's nice to keep it in this project in case you come back to it someday to rework it. If you reach the upper limit for the number of layers Metabrush can handle, that would be a good time to delete this and any other unused layers.)

I turned on visibility for the face-grid layer. Now I created a new layer above the face-grid layer. I selected Brushes/ART2. In brush settings, I reset to the defaults. Now, as source image for the hair we are about to paint, I want to choose the ringlets image we just made. To set the source image, touch the icon at the top right of the screen that looks like a bulls-eye, and a new screen comes up. In that screen, touch the Photo icon, choose an image from your camera roll (in this case, the ringlets image), and hit Apply. Now when you paint, your brush will take its color and form from this image.

Now I painted with long sweeping strokes to make the hair. I used a medium-sized DryTwo 1 brush at 100% stroke opacity.

On a new layer above the hair layer we just painted, I used one of the Wets modes to paint her neck and some of her blouse, as well as the lower portion of her face. I tried several of the Wets modes, painting with one right on top of another. To guide me as I painted, turned off the visibility of the background layer, and I set the layer opacity of the portrait layer to 50% or less. I set brush settings to their defaults and I selected the DryTwo 1 brush. I painted with a medium brush size at 100% stroke opacity. When I am done painting, I turn visibility for the background layer back on. I saved to my camera roll.

My layers in Metabrush. (What you can't see, because you would have to scroll down the layer stack to see them, are several additional layers with different versions of the face grid the hair, and the background. It often takes me several attempts before I get an image element to where I'm satisfied with it. Because we are working on layers, it is simple to swap in a new version of a layer to replace an image element.)

I had tried different solid colors for the background before selecting the gradient image I finally used, but I still wasn't happy with the background, and the overall image looked incomplete. I wanted less of that background to be in the final image. So I opened the image in iColorama. In Brush/Paint, I selected a hard triangular Basic brush, and I painted with white paint around the edges of the canvas, to make an interesting border. Then I applied Effect/Raise preset 1 at low size, for definition.