Pseudo Watercolor Image

 

1. Open your selected image in Photoshop.
2. File>Save As and rename the file “pseudowatercolor.psd”. You’ll need to save your final image as a .jpeg to upload it to Flickr
3. Duplicate your image layer in your layer window.

Drag the image layer to this icon.   To unlock the layer double click the name of the layer in the layer window and rename.

                                                                    

4. Turn one layer( Line Work layer) black and white (Image>Adjustments>Desaturate).
5. Add some contrast (Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast).
6. Still on your black and white layer, go to Filters>Stylize>Find Edges.
7. You may also tweak your color layer if you wish (Image>Adjustments>Color Balance).

 

 

 

 

 

This is just the image layer after steps 4-7. I messed with the color balance to get a warmer color

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Change the layer mode for the color layer to “Color”

The goal is to still have an image of recognizable objects that imitates the look of a watercolor that utilizes line and wash or pen and ink techniques. Here is an example of a traditional pen and ink watercolor painting.

9.     Try the other layer modes; such as “Overlay”

10.  How about Multiply ( I also tweaked the brightness and contrast for this one)

Another traditional example

Original Image used for these directions