Artistic Filtering

The following examples use the same method as has already been described. (Draw your black outline on its own layer. Ctrl-click that layer, then select the background copy layer. Press Ctrl-J to make a Colored Image Outline layer.)
     Remember, you always need to make sure the background copy layer is selected in the Layers palette before applying a filter.
     First, below, you will see the original, unfiltered image. As mentioned at the start of this tutorial, these are not my photos. They are samples from Corel Studio.
     Directly below the original image, you can see the black outline I used. I included a lot of the detailing in her dress. I also outlined the edge of the hair (the bangs on her forehead). It looks better if you do this even though there is not really a clear defining line there in the image.
     Please note the two lines that I drew on the bridge of her nose. Many times, such lines will help define a face. However, in this case, they proved to be a mistake as you’ll see in the examples that follow.

original, unfiltered image

black outlines drawn on separate layer

The first example shown below isn’t even filtered. If you simply want to add some highlights to a portrait without filtering it, you can experiment with changing the blend mode of the Color Image Outline layer while leaving the background image unfiltered. In this example, I changed the Color Image Outline’s layer blend mode to Soft Light. As you can see, this pumps up the image details that you’ve cut to this layer.
     The next example, shown at the bottom of this page, used the Angled Strokes filter (Filter > Brush Strokes > Angled Strokes). The Colored Image Outline’s layer blend mode was changed to Hard Light following the filtering. Notice the orange splotch on her nose. Remember the two lines I pointed out on the bridge of her nose in the black outline? Oops. I’ll show you how to fix this kind of mistake, next.

no filter, Soft Light blend mode

Angled Strokes with Hard Light