Artistic Filters (Exclusive Tutorial)

Photoshop has a large number of filters for working with bitmapped images. A filter is a program that processes info about the color and position of each pixel and changes these according to the given algorithms. The essence of each algorithm is not vital to a user. The general awareness of the changes if enough. Most newbies simply take a picture and learn by trying out different filters on it. In this series, I will try to describe and explain the workings of each one.

Artistic filters

I will provide descriptions of the filters and their settings and an example of an effect created by this or that filter. However, I'd recommend you to experiment with the filters' properties, as sometimes even the slightest change can trigger a major shift in the result. In the Filter>Artistic menu you'll find a set of filters, which imitates real brushes, pencils, oils etc. Starting from Photoshop CS (version 8.0), filters have graphic representations to facilitate finding the right one, so right away you'll see the approximate functions of a filter.

1. Colored Pencil

This filter imitates drawing with a color pencil on paper of a current background color. The homogeneous areas are hatched with diagonal strokes. The areas with a high color contrast are sharply outlined.

Well, you may open the image and select Filter>Artistic>Colored Pencil. You'll see the following settings:

Pencil Width - controls the thickness of a virtual pencil. This setting can fall within the range of 1 to 24. The smaller it is, the thinner the hatches and the more detailed the image are (I used 4).
Stroke Pressure - imitates the pressure upon a pencil while drawing. The bigger the pressure, the better the initial colors are preserved (I used 8).
Paper Brightness - reflects the brightness of the paper background color. The paper is black with 0 brightness and maximally bright with 50% (I used 25).

Here's what I got:

2. Cutout

This filter turns the image into something like a glued over color paper cutout by reducing the number of colors and simplifying the contours.

Move to Filter>Artistic>Cutout. You'll find the following settings there:

Number of Levels - the number of colors left in the palette (I used 5).
Edge Simplicity - increasing this setting makes the image cruder, completely distorting it at the higher ranges (I used 2).
Edge Fidelity - by increasing this setting you make the borders more blurred (I used 1).

This is my result:

3. Dry Brush

This filter imitates water colors or oil paining.

Select Filter>Artistic>Dry Brush. You will see the following settings:

Brush size - the bigger the brush, the wider and more transparent the strokes. This is achieved by blurring the image considerably. With smaller values of the brush stroke, the image looks like an oil, with bigger values - like a watercolor (I used 1).
Brush Detail - the bigger this parameter, the more precise the details will be. If the brush size is increased, this setting should be increased as well (I used 3).
Texture - this setting adds "noise", which creates an impression of a rough canvas or paper (I used 1).

Here's what I got:

4. Film Grain

This filter adds grainy pattern to the shady and medium tones of the image. The lighter areas are made even lighter, richer, and more glossy. This filter can be used to reduce the sharp lines in gradient transitions. Having selected Filter>Artistic>Film Grain, you'll see the following settings:

Grain - this setting controls the size of grains in the image (I used 4).
Highlight Area - increasing this setting makes a large part of the image lighter (I used 3).
Intensity - this parameter controls the brightness of the lighter areas (I used 1).

Here's what I got:

5. Fresco

This filter imitates drawing with large round strokes. It circles the same tone areas with dark colors, at the same time increasing the richness and the contrast of the image.

Choose Filter>Artistic>Fresco and you'll see the following settings:

Brush size - the larger the brush, the broader and more transparent the strokes. This is achieved by making the image more blurry. With smaller brushes, the image looks like an oil canvas, with bigger ones, it resembles a watercolor ( I used 4).
Brush Detail - the larger this parameter, the more precise the details will be. If the brush size is increased, this setting should be increased as well (I used 5).
Texture - this setting adds texture, which creates an impression of a rough canvas or paper (I used 2).

This is what I got:

6. Neon Glow

This filter reduces the intensity of colors in an image and paints it in background and main colors, so the necessary colors should be set before opening a dialog window. After that, using the third color selected at the setting of the filter, add the glow in the darkest spots of the image.

Move to Filter>Artistic>Neon Glow and you'll find the following settings:

Glow Size - this setting varies from -24 to + 24. If the principal color is dark and the background color is light, the image becomes negative in the negative scale of this parameter. Reducing the value of this setting intensifies the glow (I used 14).
Glow Brightness - controls just that - the brightness of the glow (I used 13).
Glow Color - sets the color to be use for illuminating the darker areas (I used #0000FF).

Here's what I got:

7. Paint Daubs

The filter imitates oil strokes by making the image more blurry, reducing the number of colors in its pallet and subsequently increasing of sharpness.

Select Filter>Artistic>Pant Daubs to see the following settings:

Brush Size - changes the brush size (I used 3).
Sharpness - determines the sharpness of the strokes (I used 5).
Brush Type - determines the type of the strokes, i.e. uses brushes of various types. The following brushes are included in the set: Simple, Light Rough, Dark Rough, Wide Sharp, Wide Blurry, Sparkle (I used Simple).

Here's my result:

8. Palette Knife

This filter imitates drawing with a palette knife. The paint is smudged in wide strokes wiping off some details.

Select Filter>Artistic>Palette Knife and you'll see the following settings:

Stroke Size - controls the size of the strokes (I used 3).
Stroke Detail - the larger this setting, the more precisely the details will be seen. If you increase the brush size, you should remember to increase this setting as well (I used 2).
Softness - lets you smooth the sharp borders between the strokes (I used 2).

Here's what I got:

9. Plastic Wrap

The filter creates an effect of the objects being wrapped in plastic film. The effect is based upon creating a sort of illumination along the contour lines

Select Filter>Artistic>Plastic Wrap and you'll see the following settings:

Highlight Strength - the brightness of the illumination. Controls the brightness of individual highlights (I used 11).
Detail - the larger the detail, the more crumbled the film seems and the worse the image underneath is seen (I used 7).
Smoothness - the smaller the value of this setting, the larger and sharper the individual highlights. Of course, the larger the value, the more the highlights are blurred (I used 4).

This is what I got:

10. Poster Edges

This filter reduces the number of colors in the pallet (pasteurizes the image), finds the edges of the image (the highest contrast spots) and outlines them with black lines.

Select Filter>Artistic>Poster Edges. You'll see the following settings:

Edge Thickness - sets the thickness of the edge lines (I used 5).
Edge Intensity -controls the level of darkness of these lines (I used 1).
Posterization - the lower the level or posterization, the fewer details remain in the pallet.

Here's what I got:

11. Rough Pastels

The filter imitates drawing with a dry pastel on the rough, textured material. The pastel impression is created due to adding luminous strokes with a chosen direction.

Select Filter>Artistic>Rough Pastels to find these settings:

Stroke Length - determines the length of the fluorescent strokes (I used 10).
Stroke Detail - changes the size of the luminous strokes. The larger the strokes, the less of the image is seen under them (I used 2).
Texture - select the texture from the opening list, the texture being the material for the image: Brick, Burlap, Canvas, Sandstone. You can also browse your own texture (I used Canvas).
Scaling - changes the scale of the texture in relation to the image (I used 100%).
Relief - increases the contrast of the texture, is used for getting a more relief texture (I used 12).
Light - controls the lighting: lets you change Light direction (I used Right).
Invert - inverts the texture turning the raised spots into sunken ones and vice versa (I used checked).

And here's my result:

12. Smudge Stick

This filter softens and blurs the image with diagonal stokes that smudge the dark tones. The lighter areas of the image also become brighter and more outlined.

Select Filter>Artistic>Smudge Stick and you'll see the following settings:

Stroke Length - determines the length of the blurred stroke (I used 4).
Highlight Area - controls the size of the luminous areas (I used 1).
Intensity - increases the contrast of the image by changing the intensity of lightening (I used 3).

Here's what I got:

13. Sponge

This filter imitates sponging the paint on a surface. The effect is created with the help of the contrasting color texture.

Select Filter>Artistic>Sponge and you'll see the following settings:

Brush Size - changes the sponge color (I used 2).
Definition - controls the level of contrast of the sponge (I used 5).
Smoothness - determines the softness of the sponge (I used 9).

And this is what I got:

14. Underpainting

This filter imitates drawing with oils on a relief surface. Select Filter>Artistic>Underpainting and you'll see these settings:

Brush Size - controls the width of the strokes (I used 2).
Texture Coverage - determines the level to which the image shows through the texture (I used 11).
Texture - allows you to select the texture, in other words material, that serves as the basis for the image. The following textures are available: Brick, Burlap, Canvas, Sandstone. You can also browse your own texture (I used Burlap).
Scaling - changes the scale of the texture in relation to the image (I used 75%).
Relief - increased the contrast of the texture to get a more raised, relief texture (I selected 4).
Light - controls the lighting: allows to change Light Direction (I used Top left).
Invert - inverts the texture turning the raised spots hollow ones and vice versa (I used checked).

Here's what I got:

15. Watercolor

The filter imitates drawing with watercolors by simplifying the detail of the image and increasing the color intensity at the edges.

Select Filter>Artistic>Underpainting and you'll see the following settings:

Brush Detail - controls the level of simplifying the details (I used 10).
Shadow Intensity - controls the process of darkening of the image (I used 1).
Texture - determines the sharpness of the texture (I used 1).

Here's my ultimate result:

So, now you are familiar with the Artistic filters. Using them one at a time, you will missing a huge part of their potential. Combining them with each other and experimenting with blending modes can bring fantastic results. Go on playing with them to create new visual wonders!