How To Turn a Digital Photo Print into a Beautiful Painting (using water!)

Step 3 Making Photo Prints Look Like Paintings

Using mostly the "Smudge" technique from the previous step, we can loosen, diffuse, and slightly mix adjacent colors on entire images.

Applying more water and being careful to stay in color boundaries (or carefully crossing them), then allowing to dry can give make the photo look like a watercolor painting. I find that it's best to work with a photo that has bright colors, is high-contrast and high-brightness, and is not too busy or "dense" for this effect to be good.

Shown is a lucky cat figurine which has been made to look like a watercolor painting. Also included is the flower from the intro, shown halfway done.

Have fun and don't be afraid to try something new! Fiddle about, and discover your own techniques and share them in the comments, or better yet, make your own Instructable to showcase it!

Comments

[verybluesky]

Very nice technique. One time (long time ago) I saw this lady at a crafts fair and she had a similar technique. She would take a polaroid picture and with a nail would smudge all the chemicals before they developed. The result was a little painting. The only drawback is that she would have to take a nice picture first and do it right there and then. With you technique, the images are endless, and if you mess up, just print another one!

[xxarpian]

Wicked cool! From a certified just-don't-touch-I'll-fix-it-in- Photoshop whiner! KUDOS!

[morCadillac]

Very illustrative, inspiring and with nicely described clear steps! For someone totally not able to draw, paint or do any such things, this technique could be useful. I'll definitely try it! Thank for giving me hope (that I can also "paint" :P) !! Loves, Eda