Dare To Use Your Filters! Today: Colored Pencil

Let’s try out some filters! At the top of the list (literally: it’s at the top of the filter list on the menu!) is COLORED PENCIL.

What can you do with this filter? First, let me show you the photograph I’m working from:

Cute dog, eh? This is our Mini-Pincher rescue Radar being held by my daughter.

I copied this ultra adorable double-portrait three times in PSE. Using the format button up on the top left corner, I set up three windows so the comparison would be easy. With each photo I duplicated the bottom (unfiltered layer) so that I could play with the duplicated top layer with no fear. It’s fun to be fearless when you play with your photos! (just make sure you copied and closed your original–that would not be so fun to lose)

There are three controls for Colored Pencil: Pencil Width, Stroke Pressure and Paper Brightness.

Pencil Width does pretty much what it says-it widens the marks PSE makes from your image. It’s like the choice between working with a newly sharpened pencil, or a big blunt pencil.  Stroke Pressure brightens or clarifies the lines so you can see more of the underlying image that it’s working off from.  Paper Brightness moves the paper from bright white to black to all shades of gray in between.  I thought the black background was kinda cool because with the right image and combination of line and pressure, you could create a pretty good black velvet look!

You can leave your image the way it is. OR you could also use a blending mode on it! Woo Hoo!

Same exact images only here, I’ve played with the blending   modes on each one. The one on the left makes for a more subtler “cartoon” look, with edges slightly darkened. The middle image definitely has more of that comic book vibe going. The third image…well, Difference gave the effect I like the most, but if I were to fine tune it, I’d carefully erase with a soft brush all the schmutz on her face, neck, arm and hand. I might also lighten up Radar’s face a tiny bit around the eyes. He’s got such melty-brown eyes. I wouldn’t want to hide them!

The key is to play around with the filters and not be afraid to see what you can do with them.  The colored pencil filter is pretty all on its lonesome. This is what you can do with just two layers on your image in PSE. Adding more? Near infinite possibilities!

Next in line? Any suggestions? Let’s go through all the filters and see what they can do!