"Pathway Home"

This tutorial is best viewed at 1024x768.
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At this time I am not allowing my tutorials to be translated.

All images are the sole property of © Designs By Astro
Do not copy, place on CD, make into Scripts or send
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All rights reserved.

The image/images you make using this tutorial
is your property to do with as you wish.

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Email Me

NO VECTORS used in this tutorial! *L*

This tutorial is written using PSP X, it uses the Art Media tools but can be done in version
9 and up. It could also be done in older version using just the paintbrush. I do assume you
have experience working with layers and the painting tools in PSP. No outside filters
are used. Some of the screenshots have been reduced to save on load time.

1. Open a 200 X 200 transparent canvas.

2. Use the Paintbrush set to these settings to make a color swatch to use for your painting...

Colors to make swatch...
#262316
#51442c
#3c2c17
#6d461b
#ad7a26
#d7af33
#f5edca

3. Open a 500 X 500 transparent canvas.
Set your foreground color to the darkest color, should be the first color. 
Flood fill the layer with the color.

4. Add a New Raster Layer. Set your foreground to the fourth color and your background to
the fifth color.

5. Activate your Art Media Tool, set to Oil Brush (Normal brush) with these settings....

6. With an upward motion paint the top portion of your canvas something like this...

7. Switch your colors and paint in a little of that color...

8. Change your color to the 6th and 7th colors and paint some of them in like so....

9, Activate your Smudge tool with these settings...

10. Use the smudge tool to smudge your colors together something like this....
Note... you will be asked if you want to convert the art media layer to raster, click yes.

11. In the Layers Palette lower the opacity of this layer to around 75.
Nice beautiful sky with just a little work, eh??

12. Set your foreground color to the 2nd color. Art Media Oil Brush to these
settings.... (Start with the Soft Thick brush)

13. Just at where your sky ends, lay out where your road will began....
Note.. this doesn't have to be perfect, it is just a starting point to let us visualize
where the road starts

14. Draw two more lines to lay out the center of your road....

15. Look at the screenshot below and draw out lines as I have to lay out the horizon
and a little of the tree area....

Convert the Art Media layer to raster.

16. Add a New Raster Layer. Set your foreground color to the 4th color.

17. Activate your Paint Brush with these settings....

18. With a circular motion paint in some tree leaves, shrub brush and glassy area....
Note that I closed my sky layer on the screenshot below so that you could see better.

19. Change your color to the 1st color and add some highlights to the tree area.

20. Use the 6th color to layout the road area.

21. Smudge tool set to these settings...

Smudge this layer and lightly smudge the line layer (the art media layer with your tree, horizon
and road lines).

22. At this point you should have something like this...

23. Switching between the colors on your palette and the smudge and paintbrush to
continue to add shades of color. Use the darkest color to add little sticks and branches
to your grass area and trees and to more define your road.
You should end up with something like this....

Now you can add color and smudge on this until the cows come home but make it easy,
don't get all nuts on adding color and smudging, just let it be! *L*

That's it, sign, mat and frame your painting!

OOOooooo I just played around with the High Pass Sharpen filter set to these
settings....

and look what happened.........

I kind of like it better.

Something else, I played with the Hue Map also and this is what I came up with using
these settings....

Play around and see what you can come up with.

I hope you've enjoyed and learned from this tutorial.

Joyce Brandt was my tester for this tutorial. Thanks Joyce!
Here is her result along with a screenshot of the settings she used for the Hue Map....

Until next time... God Bless!
Connie