An Interesting Watercolour Effect

I was inspired by this super watercolour effect created for Photoshop.

I really liked this easy and attractive effect :)

Materials

An image of your choice

Some Watercolour brushes ...of a good size. { if you can't find any for PSP there are plenty of free ones available for Photoshop which you can convert...try Deviant art 

Photoshop brushes can be imported into later versions of PSP ..otherwise use a 3rd party application to create .png files from your PS brushes such as ABRviewer. These can then be saved as brushes.

 I started with an image downloaded from Morgue File [free images] 

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/87668

Copy your image noting its size and close original .

Create a new canvas somewhat larger than your image.

Paste your image as a new layer.

Flood fill your background [raster1] 

I created the background by simply using a lighter colour of my image but you can easily use a more interesting canvas.

A good source of background textures is Shadowhouse http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Textures

Now for the brush work :)

Select your image layer and apply a mask "hide All} Layer>New Mask layer>hide all.

Lower the opacity of your mask a little so you can just see your image.

If you place your cursor on the mask you will see that it is black..i.e. blocking the whole of your image.

Now select a watercolour brush from your collection and using a white colour foreground material #ffffff make sure your brush is no larger than your image apply to the focal area.

If your brush is a bit light, you may have to apply it a couple more times in the same area, without shifting it.

Select another brush [or more] and rotating it as you wish apply it to the edges and bring your mask opacity up to 100%.

Now to add some splashes of colour [yes I'm messy with water colours :) ]

Go to raster 1 and add a new raster layer.

Change your foreground material to a bright or interesting colour or gradient and using a brush from your collection, apply to this layer.

[I chose colours from my image]

Add a couple more layers with different coloured brush work on each. These will all be below your Group raster layer.

As you can see I've also adjusted the opacity of these layers but you could also change the blend mode if you wished.

Make any final adjustments to your background [I lightened mine a bit] before merging layers and applying a subtle texture to your image.

Effects> texture effects> texture. I chose a canvas type texture.

Add a frame if you wish ..and of course your signature :)

Tips

Collect a variety of suitable brushes ..as large as you can depending on the version of PSP that you have.

Don't be afraid to boost the saturation of your original image or recolour to suit your project.

Experiment with different background canvases and final textures.

Another example.

Judy
www.judyattoc.com