A watercolor wash style painting created from one of my old photographs, using a combination of Photoshop filters, custom brushes and proprietary alpha channel masks that I developed and acquired over the years.
Creating Elegant Watercolor Style Illustration From Photography Using Filters, Brushes & Masks
By J.D. Nelms
Back in my early career as a newspaper artist, I often created illustrations by hand in pen & ink, pastels and color dyes which act much like brilliant water colors. As an in-house artist for a daily publication, I was encouraged to experiment in several styles and mediums. That changed with the introduction of Adobe Photoshop nearly three decades ago. Like many illustrators in the early 1990's, I quickly switched to Photoshop and ditched all my traditional art supplies.
I've used Photoshop ever since, primarily for the creation of detailed photorealistic images. But recently, I've been looking for a way to market my hobby photography and illustrations to markets that have grown tired of photography and hard edged computer generated artwork. I wanted adapt a softer more romantic style of great watercolor and gouache illustrators who inspired me in my youth, such as Bernie Fuchs and David Groves. Every Photoshop artist today should study the works of these giants of American illustration. Other giants include the late great Bob Peak and the legendary Drew Struzan who is still creating today.
Two great American artists with similar styles. The two images on the left are color washes by Bernie Fuchs 1932–2009.
On the right are the 'muddy color' style of David Groves, 1940-2012.
The above paintings are great examples of a wash style of water color, oil and gouache paintings that were popular in print media of the past. Illustrators of the twentieth century were inspired by the European impressionism of the 19th century. Artists like Fuchs and Groves often drew from photographs, but limited the detail to the main subject, while the background parts of the composition were kept loose and out of focus. The backgrounds of the compositions, served as framing elements, using color and light.
Adobe Photoshop has good filters for creating oil and watercolor styles but the results often look very artificial when used only by themselves. To recreate this loose washed color style will take a combination of filters, specialty brushes and alpha channel masks. I refer to this process as deconstructive watercolor, since unlike the true watercolor painting which begins with a simple drawing and building up layers of pigment, we are instead destructively editing a photo with filters and masks, then building up new layers of color and lines onto it.
Nine Semi-Easy Steps to Deconstructive Watercolor in Photoshop
The original image was good but there was a broken stalk on the left of the flower, so I added a flower from a different shot of the same flower from a slightly different angle.
Step One: A Little Retouching
I liked my original image a lot, but since this is an illustration, I decided to fix a flaw in the composition. In this case, it was a broken flower stalk on the left of the main flower. I could have easily cloned out the broken stem, but adding another flower would make the image more interesting.
Step Two: Duplicate The Original Layer and Label It, Apply Filter
Label your layers in Photoshop! It make life much easier if you know what you're looking at. I make a duplicate layer of the original art and label it Orig. I make the background white, which is important for later. Next I duplicate the original and run the Paint Daubs filter with the slider set to 7. I label that layer, Paint Daubs.
Paint Daubs, typically set at 7, then run Watercolor filter on the same layer.
Step Three: Duplicate The Original Layer... Again. Apply Different Filters
Next, I duplicate the original layer again and set it on top of the Paint Daubs layer. I run two different filters, first the Dry Brush with slider set to 7 again. Next I run the Watercolor filter, again set to 7. I name that layer Dry Brush & Watercolor. The reason for doing this is that no one filter does everything well. I'll use both those layers at different levels of opacity. Notice how the image is beginning to look like rough brush strokes.
Every Photoshop artist should keep a folder full of special high resolution backgrounds and textures. In this case, black ink washes on water color paper as well as ink spots. I use these as alpha channel masks in my art. Sorry for the watermarks, but these are proprietary. They are easy and fun to make however.
Step Four: Keep a Library of Texture Files For Multiple Uses. Load Them as Alpha Channels
I load up my alpha channels with ink wash textures that I'll need to give my layers a watercolor look. I keep several reference folders on my computer containing texture elements like sand and brick as well as folders containing different skies, trees, water, etc. Eighteen years ago, at my old studio, we were tasked to create a watercolor style piece of art in Photoshop for an advertising client. We made several different ink washes on watercolor paper and scanned them on my computer. I don't remember the client or the art, but I kept all those scans and still use them today. Sorry for the watermarks, but these are mine.
With only two layers in place, the mask textures already give the image the illusion of a watercolor. A good mask does much of the work for you, but there is still a ways to go.
Step Five: Load Texture Masks Onto Layers
My top layer, Dry Brush 7 & watercolor, is set to 100% normal opacity, but the mask blocks much of it and a watercolor texture shows through. The Paint Daubs layer below it is set to 53% normal and uses a different mask texture, creating the illusion of layers of pigment wash.
This triangular-trapezoid brush works better than almost any brush I've ever used in Photoshop illustration.
Step Six: The Best Brush You'll Ever Use
One of the most useful tools I will give away is the triangular-trapezoid brush created by my artist friend Paul Castillo, who serves an art director WayForward Technologies. We worked together in the same studio in back in the mid 2000s doing advertising storyboards. Feel free to copy this image to make your own. By setting the brush dynamics in the settings to jitter the angle and size of the brush, applying scattering, transfer and wet edges. The wet edges selection really help the watercolor feel.
The first place to use this brush is on the layer masks on both layers. Notice how I add more white to the mask in the gabled roof area on the barn. I set the brush size to between 40 and 60 pixels at a low opacity which gradually builds up lighter tones.
Creating color washes using the same brush, helps opaque some of of the photographic detail, making it more illustrative.
Step Seven: Using the Same Brush for Flat Color Washes and a Color Pencil
Using the same brush, I create a layer of large to small flat color brush strokes varying in opacity. The real beauty of the brush is that it works as both a water color wash brush as well as a color pencil when set to a 4-6 pixel size at 100% opacity. I mask out the flowers. If you can see in my layer setup, I duplicate this layer but mask out the upper two thirds to create more color opacity at the bottom of the image.
To create a loose color wash over the flower, I load one of my splotch shaped alpha channels onto a new layer, and fill it with a golden yellow that I sampled from the mid-range of the flower. For the smaller flower, I duplicate the same layer, rotate it and reduce it in size and opacity.
Duplicating the original again, I use the glowing edges filter to create thin line work for the flower. Using my brush, I create color pencil lines for the barn and grass.
Step Eight: Creating Color Pencil Lines to Accent Details
Duplicating the original photo layer again, Photoshop's Glowing edges filter actually worked well creating line art for the flower. I loaded that layer into an alpha channel and converted the line to solid white. On a new layer labeled dark line, I used a large opaque version of our same brush to fill in color outline around the flower. For the thin color pencil lines of the barn and large foreground blades of grass, I again used the brush set to a 4-7 pixel diameter at 100% opacity to create realistic color pencil lines on a separate layer. Both layers are visible in the image above.
Final touches add vibrant color and subtle textures that complete the illusion of a hand painted illustration.
Step Nine: The Final Touches
What began as a photo now looks more like an actual water color painting. Color splotches made from alpha channel textures as well as spray spatter brushes add vibrancy that are not in a photo. The last thing I add is my signature logo in the bottom right.
These techniques are not absolute by any means. I find that I must alter them for every piece I work on. Sometimes I won't use the Paint Daubs filter at all. Sometimes I lower the opacity on filtered layers to give more emphasis on the flat color washes and other times I do the opposite. As I tell my students, Photoshop gives you infinite options on achieving the same goal, which is to create an exciting image. I've been doing this for thirty years, but I still learn new things everyday.
Other Examples Using These Techniques
