Pastel smudge

[Mitchell]

I've been trying to learn a smudge technique that simulates pastels. Here is my second effort.

Any comments or suggestions?

http://clearwaterphotography.smugmug.com/photos/273642312_QvK6t-XL.jpg

[Travis]

Good job! The only thing that I see that may be improved is the smoothing of the darker shades on the sides of the nose. I like what you did with the base of the shirt.

[Mitchell]

Good job! The only thing that I see that may be improved is the smoothing of the darker shades on the sides of the nose. I like what you did with the base of the shirt.

Thanks, Travis. I appreciate your input.

These can be a lot of fun. I find a fresh eye is often helpful after you've been staring at the same image for several hours.

[Travis]

Thanks, Travis. I appreciate your input.

These can be a lot of fun. I find a fresh eye is often helpful after you've been staring at the same image for several hours.

Are you using Sarsa's/Linda's smudge brushes or another set? The work that you did on the hair is especially awesome.

[Mitchell]

Are you using Sarsa's/Linda's smudge brushes or another set? The work that you did on the hair is especially awesome.

I use Brad Buttry's brushes. They were included in his excellent DVD tutorial. The hair brush is very nice and similar to Sara's brush.

I've had much better luck with the pastel look as opposed to the oil.

[Mitchell]

Just had this printed 12x12 with smugmug's kodak lustre paper. This came out beautifully. Much nicer than I can see on the monitor.

[Travis]

Awesome to hear. I bet it would also look spectacular on canvas!

[Mitchell]

Awesome to hear. I bet it would also look spectacular on canvas!

Travis, I added a sandstone texture to this shot before I printed it on lustre paper. The texture makes the image look like it is on high grade pastel art paper.

[wholenewlight]

Really nice! This is impressive.

Question: Did you use a Wacom (or other brand) tablet?? I went to Buttery's site and he says yes but not completely necessary.

[Mitchell]

Really nice! This is impressive.

Question: Did you use a Wacom (or other brand) tablet?? I went to Buttery's site and he says yes but not completely necessary.

John,
I did this with just a mouse. Buttry admits he uses a Wacom tablet for all of his, but you can do it with a mouse.

I'm looking into purchasing a wacom Intuos3 6x8 tablet for these. I think if you want to do smudge paintings regularly, the tablet would be quite helpful. I'm particularly curious about the pressure sensitive option with many of the brushes. Should be fun!

[Travis]

John,
I did this with just a mouse. Buttry admits he uses a Wacom tablet for all of his, but you can do it with a mouse.

I'm looking into purchasing a wacom Intuos3 6x8 tablet for these. I think if you want to do smudge paintings regularly, the tablet would be quite helpful. I'm particularly curious about the pressure sensitive option with many of the brushes. Should be fun!

I've been using a bottom line Wacom Graphire 4x6 tablet ($100 at Best Buy). It took a couple of days to get used to but now I can't live w/o it. The difference is amazing between using it and a mouse, especially for images like this one. Next inline will be an upgrade to the Intuos. I just need to get a D300, some new glass, couple more strobes, etc. first...... :D

[Icebear]

Really nice Mitch. I seem to remember some earlier posts a few months ago. I recall being a bit snarky and asking why you'd abuse such cute kids with such a technique. Guess that was the oils. Anyway, I've never tried any of these techniques (I'm just not very artistic) but this one is great.

[Mitchell]

Really nice Mitch. I seem to remember some earlier posts a few months ago. I recall being a bit snarky and asking why you'd abuse such cute kids with such a technique. Guess that was the oils. Anyway, I've never tried any of these techniques (I'm just not very artistic) but this one is great.

Yes, I remember distinctly your snarky remark about gilding the lily!:wink

I must confess that I've gotten better at these. Thanks for looking!

[Gary Miller]

Hi Mitch. Very nice work. I am following your progress with great interest.

Are you using PSP or Photoshop to do your smudge painting?

Keep up the good work.

- Gary

[pathfinder]

George, I think this looks very nice.

The one thing I notice, is that the iris of the eyes seem smudged as well with the corneal light reflexes.

Do you notice this also?

I think I might prefer to keep the eyes and light reflexes more pristine myself. Maybe if I saw this full size in person I might think differently. I know images of mine at a small scale do not always get much regard that I think in large scale look very satisfactory.

[bbuttry]

I think you did a great job with the virtual painting! Personally, I like a more painterly look and feel. I did a quick rendition and came up with this:

[photorelive]

great work , looks very nice , the face might need some more working on it , but the final still great ..

[Mitchell]

Wow, someone revived this old thread and I just noticed that Brad Buttry (the master) added a comment and worked on my smudge. I had no idea!