I was always sincerely jealous of white envy to people who were able to use the pencil and brush to express the world around them, their feelings and emotions on paper. But what to do if you are not endowed with such abilities, and you want to create your little masterpiece.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to make a photo out of a photo using the blend modes and filters from the standard Photoshop set.
I’ll make a reservation right away that by itself one filter will not give you the desired result, here it is important to combine them skillfully with each other. Also, when using filters, it matters what photo with what resolution you will use. The lower the resolution, the filter settings should have a small numeric value. You will have to select the settings for the filters yourself. The original photo you will have your own.
So, let’s begin.
Step 1. Open the photo in Photoshop. Create a new layer and fill it with a soft beige color.
Step 2. Create a duplicate background layer (photo layer), move it to the very top. You can do this manually on the layers palette, or use the command Layer – Arrange – Bring to Front (Layer – Mounting – Shift Forward).
Step 3. Using this layer and filter Edge Selection we will make some kind of sketch for our future drawing. Therefore, for convenience, rename the duplicate in the “Sketch”. Apply to this layer Filter –Stylize – Find Edges (Filter – Styling – Selection of edges). Change the blending mode to Soft Light (Soft light).
Step 4. Make a duplicate of the background layer and move it to the very top. To do this, you can use the command Layer – Arrange – Bring Forward (Layer – Montage – Move to foreground). Rename this layer to “Splash and Brush.” Now apply the following filters to this layer. Spatter (Splash) and Dry Brush (Dry brush). Settings can be used as the default, and their own. So go to Filter – Brush Strokes – Spatter (Filter – Strokes – Splashes).
Without closing the window with the filter, click on the button below the settings New effect layer (New effects layer).
Your filter will be duplicated and we will replace this duplicate filter with another one. Artistic – Dry brush (Imitation – Dry brush). If you are satisfied with the result, click on OK.
The blend mode is changed to Hard Light (Hard light).
Step 5. Already not bad, but I want to achieve greater clarity on the face. We return to the background layer and make a duplicate of the layer, which is again transferred to the foreground (to the very top in the layers palette). Duplicate call “Cross Strokes”. Apply to this layer Filter – Brush Srtokes – Crosshatch (Filter – Strokes – Cross Strokes). Beyond that, I added a layer mask to this layer and, using an eraser, masked part of the image, leaving only the face visible. Blend mode is changed to Pin Light (Spot light). Levelopacity reduced to about 50%.
Step 6. I thought that the contours of the portrait are not clear enough. To fix this, and at the same time slightly lighten the portrait, I created a duplicate of the “Sketch” layer and moved the duplicate to the foreground. Opacity level I lowered to 60%.
Step 7. Now let’s make the image light and airy. To do this, soften the color transitions in the portrait. A filter will do. Blur on the surface. But first, perform the following action. Ctrl +A Shift +ctrl +C, Ctrl +V, with which we get the combined layer. And now apply to this layer Filter – Blur – Surface blur (Filter – Blur – Blur on the surface). Blend mode for this layer Darker color (Darker).
To add the effect that the portrait is made on paper, I added a layer style for this layer. Overlay Pattern (overlapping pattern).
This is where the main work with filters is completed. Now you can do some elaboration of details. For example, using Selective color correction (Image – Adjustment – Selective Color (Image – Adjustment – Selective color correction)) you can darken hair and eyes.
Using a fill on a new layer and a mask layer (to mask out unwanted areas), add a pink tint to the skin. And when using tools Blackout 
(Burn) and Lightening
(Dodge) can add folds to the dress.
This is what can be obtained with the help of boring, at first glance, filters.
Do not be afraid to experiment and everything will be received by YOU.
Author: Evgenia Goncharova.
