| This technique requires close attention to the History palette. In preparing
your filter source choices, it may seem a little odd since I will ask you to apply
a filter, take a snapshot, and then Undo your filter three different times,
but stay with me. The results are worth it.
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Apply a filter to a photo in Photoshop. You can use your own image or download the flowers.jpg photo I'm using here, shown at right. I chose Filter > Artistic >
Paint Daubs. In the History palette menu, select New Snapshot and name it
the filter you applied. Choose Edit > Undo.
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Now apply a different filter to your original image and repeat the
process. This time I chose Filter > Brush Strokes > Sprayed Strokes. Create
another New Snapshot in the History Palette, name it the filter used, and
Undo the filter.
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One last time—I chose Filter > Artistic > Poster Edges, created
a New Snapshot, named it, and chose Undo.
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Now it is time to paint! Select the History Brush tool from the Toolbox.
To start with a blank canvas, add a layer above your original in the Layers
palette, then choose Edit > Fill and select White from the pull-down menu.
Choose a filtered state you want to start with by activating the icon to the
left of the snapshot name in the History palette. If you actually click on the
name of a History state, it will return your document to the snapshot state.
(If you do this accidentally, simply click on the last state in the History list to
return to the painting.)
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With my Paint Daubs snapshot activated in the History palette, I painted
on the new layer. I chose a wide soft brush and lowered the Opacity to 15%.
This allowed me to gradually build my painting.
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Activate another History state and add more brushstrokes. I switched
to the Sprayed Strokes snapshot, choosing a smaller brush.
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Switch the snapshot state again and add more brushstrokes. With an
even smaller brush, I painted using the Poster Edges snapshot. You can then
switch between all the filtered states or back to your original as a source
for your brush. Keep a low Opacity for a subtle build-up of different effects.
To complete my painting, I set my Background Color to white and used the
Eraser tool with a lowered Opacity and a soft brush to lighten parts of the
image. Then I painted back a few details from my original photo with my
History brush state on the original image.
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The final image is shown at left (click to enlarge).
Remember, Photoshop does not save History snapshots after you close
your file (even if you save it). To keep the snapshots for future use, save each
one as a separate file by selecting New Document from the History palette
menu. When you begin a new work session, open your filter snapshot documents
along with your painting in progress. Simply drag the initial state from
the History palette of your saved snapshot document into the open file
of your painting. This will restore it as a snapshot in the History palette.
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