Watercolor Portrait – Miss Koppejan

Instructions:

[show]

Smart Object

Copy the full-size picture below into a new PS document (800×955 px).

Rename it “photo”.

Unlock and delete the Background layer. Then go to more layer options… Convert to Smart Object.

You should see this icon in the layer thumbnail.

Make sure your photo layer is active…

Then go to Filter > Filter Gallery.

Under Artistic, choose Dry Brush: (10, 10, 1)

You will see the smart filter in the layer.

Go to Filter Gallery again, under Artistic, choose Watercolor (14, 0 , 1)

You will see the smart filter in the layer.

Double-click on the smart object icon to open the linked file.

Go to the PSB tab and paste a new photo in. Make sure the photo is good quality, at least 800px width.

CTRL+T to position/resize – make sure it’s fully covering the original photo.

Click on Done and save the file (CTRL+S). Then go back to the original tab/document…

You should see the photo layer updated and the result…

Click on the photo below to open the full-size image, then right-click and “Copy Image”.

CTRL+T to resize it to the edges of the canvas. Click Done.

Rename it “paper’ and move it to the bottom of the layers. It won’t be showing yet…

Add a layer mask to the photo layer.

Fill the mask with black (CTRL+Backspace).

Select the Brush tool. Then go to the top-right panel and go to the Brushes tab. Then expand the Watercolor Painting folder.

Make sure your colors are the default (‘D‘) and switch so white is the foreground (‘X‘).

Go into the Wide folder and select a brush. Click on the canvas 1x. Make sure the brush does not go off the canvas area. If it does, CTRL+Z and try again.
Go into the Tall folder and select a brush. Resize/rotate, then click on the canvas.

Resize: use the square brackets [ and ] to make the brush fit within the canvas area
Rotate: use the arrow keys to rotate the brush

Select a few brushes from the Edges folder. Click near the edges, but try not to get any straight lines.
Change the brushes and select 1-2 of the Grunge > Spray brushes…

Select the Crop tool.

Drag out the handles so there’s a bit of space around it like this. Then click Done.

Select the paper layer and CTRL+T to resize it, making it cover the entire canvas.

Click on Done. You should be finished. Here’s with both photos…

If you see the straight edges from the photo, then you need to:

Switch your color to black and paint on the layer mask with with a variety of smaller brushes on the edges of the photo to get a softer/nicer edge.
Then switch color back to white (‘X‘) and paint in some nice jagged edges (so long as the edge of the photo isn’t showing).

Reset the Brush tool to the default…