Simple Painterly Effects

Photoshop is a fantastically well featured program which can take years to master. This does not mean, however, that superb photographic effects are beyond the grasp of novice users. This tutorial describes a very simple technique for creating images with oil-painted effects using nothing more than a photograph and the basic Photoshop tools. The end result is as impressive as it is simple!

Step 1: Open up a stock image in Photoshop of any size and/or format. The best results for this tutorial usually involve images with a high resolution and lots of bright colors. Once you have done this, select Layer > Duplicate Layer from the main menu to create a duplicate layer on top of your base photograph.

Step 2: Using your mouse, select the top/duplicated layer in the layers palette and set the blending mode to Overlay.

Step 3: With the top layer still active, load up the cutout filter via Filter > Artistic > Cutout, and enter in the settings on the left. When finished, press OK.

Step 4: Select the bottom/background layer using the layers palette, and run Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur with a radius of 4.2 pixels. You can vary this value to taste if needed. Press OK when you are finished.

Results: And its really that simple! You should now be graced with an image that looks as if it has been painted using traditional techniques. Of course, this technique is no substitute for the skills of a trained artist, but for under one minutes work, the effect is still pretty darned good!