digital painting using Alien Skin Snap Art 2
Didja miss me? I’ve missed our little get-togethers.
Yesterday I drove to L.A. about 2 hours (one way) from my house when traffic is busy. I went down to attend a seminar on painting in Photoshop taught by Faye Sirkis through Kelby training.
I came home full of enthusiasm. Faye demonstrated her special brushes, which we were given as part of the seminar. She showed us how to get our photos ready for painting. You all know that stuff already…fix the contrast, the saturation, crop etc.
She did have an interesting take on cropping. I felt that it was different from what I was taught in photography class. She didn’t so much think “Golden Mean” or rule of thirds, etc. She concentrated more on directing the eye through the picture from front to back. She felt that dark patches of bushes or anything similar in the front of the photo would block the eye’s path through the photo. When she cropped one photo in particular, my eye did notice a spot that Faye considered important and I hadn’t noticed it before. So, my idea, now, is that maybe I should make several crops of an image and decide which allows the viewer’s eye to travel through with ease.
She suggested looking at the work of master painters such as impressionists, Rembrandt, Degas and my favorite Edward Hopper. When you have your photo ready for painting, you’ll know, after you’ve studied the works of famous artists, which is the best painting style for you photo.
Faye has brushes to help transform your painting to a work of art. It looks easy. I’ll let you know later. I’m not an artist so if I can do it, anyone can.
If you can attend one of her workshops, I recommend it. If not and you can afford it, you can buy one of her DVD’s. In some ways, that is better as you will get the special brushes and you can replay it until it sticks in your head.
A caveat: you’ll need Photoshop CS5 to take advantage of Faye’s techniques.
Meantime: Here is a photo I like. I’ll show it to you as a photo and as a painting done using Alien Skin Snap Art 2. (They are updating this software, BTW. This is the older version.)
Photograph of Thai woman wearing Lampshade straw hat