Skip to main content

Van Gogh style flowers


I got to take an artist date to the National Gallery of Art recently, and as usual, I spent more time in the impressionists and post-impressionists wing than anywhere else.  It got me to thinking about the graphic swirly style that Van Gogh developed, and I decided to see if I could figure out a way to approximate it with my beloved Photoshop. 

Start with an image that has been photographed against a solid colored background. 


1. Duplicate image and select the background on the copy using the magic wand.
2. Create a new blank layer and click on layer mask.
3. Unlink the thumbnail and the mask.
4. Fill background with a solid color.
5. Select flower in layer 1 and use Cntrl j to make new layer.  Move to top of layer stack.
6. Select background.  Paint with thin squiggles of ligher color.



7. Apply filter > distort > twirl over and over to background, overlapping.
8. Apply filter > artistic > poster edges.



9. Select flower layer.  Apply poster edges and stroke with black. 


Copyright 2010 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Technorati Tags:,,,,,,

Comments

I spent more than an hour inspecting a Van Gogh recently at the Cincy Art Museum. I am endlessly fascinated by his work, and all the more when you can actually see it a few inches in front of you. This turned out very, very well... great job!
Genevieve said…
Wow! That really came out great!
Cyndi L said…
Thanks! Nobody is going to mistake it for the real thing, but my idea was to just try to get a rough approximation of the style :-)
Limarea said…
Oo, this is nice, love it! :)
Cyndi L said…
Thank you, Limar! I think the technique has some potential :-)
Very cool, Cyndi. That swirly Van Gogh look really draws the eye.