The Poor Man's Painting: How To

[Camilla and Darwin]

I have recently wanted paintings done of Darwin to hang up in my house. I was thinking 4 12"12" canvas prints that I could hang in a square in my bathroom. Unfortunately, I was looking at over 200 dollars for a custom painting. I suppose that makes sense, when I consider how much time would be put into them. That is really not reasonable for me to spend on artwork though!

Inspired by someone here on DK, I decided to try and make my own. I can't remember who it was, but someone turned a photo into a painting using Photoshop, and it looked great. It took me a while to figure out how to do it... and the results are pretty cute. I thought I would do a little tutorial in case anyone else wants to try it. Warning, this post is photo heavy. Layers can be confusing so I tried to be very thorough. :-)

1: Open your image in Photoshop.

2: Select the lasso tool, and draw around your subject.

3: After your subject is selected, Go to Layer - New - Layer

4: You've just created a new layer. Now click Edit - Copy merged, then Edit - Paste. This should paste your subject onto the new layer you have created.

5: now, right click on the layer titled "background", and hit "duplicate layer" That will give you this:

6: Now for the fun part! With the "Background Copy" layer selected, go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur. I like to set mine to a radius of 45.

7: now that your blur is set, I select the the layer that has the subject on it (Darwin is the subject) and use the eraser tool around the edges, to clean it up a little.You can also use the blur tool to soften the edges.

8: If you want to change the color or look of your background, select the background layer, and adjust it to the way you want it. I adjust the hue and saturation, then like to use the smudge tool to create a more painting like look.

after adjusting the color and smudging the background:

9: Almost Done, I promise! Now you can merge your layers.

10: now that your layers are all merged into one, go to Filter, Filter Gallery. In the filter gallery, select "Palette knife". You can also mess around with other finishes, if you want. Palette knife works best for the painting look I find. If your image is huge, you can select "fit in view" to see it easier.

Hit okay and your done! I like to go and use the smudge tool afterwards to tweak things here and there. The finished product:

[Kyoko]

Wow! Great job!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I love it! I had my daughter do this for our dogs too. .

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I have no idea what any of this tutorial means, and I don't have Photoshop anyway. But I love your painting of Darwin! And you used my favorite color for the background, too!

[BG and Gavin]

That is terrific Camilla!

[Carol and Banjo]

You can buy "canvas" paper at Staples. I can't wait to try this! I painted years ago and I've been thinking recently that I should pick up the brush again....I would love to paint his funny little face. But this is the way to go!!! Thanks again for taking the time to show all of us!!!!

[Leslie and Halas]

Wow! Your painting turned out great. Thanks for posting all of the instructions. I love the painted look, so I'm definitely going to try this.

[Christina and Cooper plus Benny]

Costco will actually print on canvas! My sister had one of her wedding pics done on canvas from there, and it turned out awesome!!!! You can order online and have it shipped right to you!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Yes, you could save it on a flash drive. I am planning on taking mine to Kinkos or something, they will print it on canvas for a reasonable price. I think that would be the highest quality. If you are going to frame them, you could probably just have them printed on a quality photo paper...

[Christine & Shelby]

This is really cool - I might have to give it a try... I see 4, with different backgrounds, hung in a square formation!! Thank you!!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Thank you so much for doing this! I love what you've done, and I can't wait to try it.