Jim Leggitt / Drawing Shortcuts

Digital Watercolors from Travel Photography

If you love to travel and take digital photographs, here is a wonderful method of transforming your photographs into works of hand crafted digital art! The process is quite simple and involves printing your pictures, hand drawing over the prints and then applying a watercolor filter to scans of your artwork. 

This project was created just for fun and was intended to show my blogging friends how “travel art” can be made. I found the four images on the internet from other photographers who captured these beautiful scenes from Havana, Cuba.

Step 1 - Base Photographs. I found these great photographs on the internet and assembled them in a group using Adobe Photoshop. The overall composite image was sized 300dpi at 11”x11”.

(enlarged view)

Step 2 - Lighten the Photo Composite. In Photoshop, I made the image 75% transparent in order to take away much of the color and contrast. This step was necessary in order to add back color using markers and colored pencils.

Step 3 - Print and Hand Coloring. I printed the image on 12”x19” matte finish bond paper using an Epson Stylus Photo 2000P ink jet printer. I then added color to the print with Chartpak AD markers and Prismacolor pencils. I enhanced the artwork by loosely tracing over the elements with a graphite pencil.

(final hand colored image)

Step 4 - Watercolor Filter. I scanned the artwork at 300dpi and applied a watercolor filter in Adobe Photoshop. I adjusted the contrast levels to deepen the dark tones and lighten the white pencil highlights. The final watercolor filter gave the colored marker a beautiful painted effect and completely disguised the original photograph!

Next vacation trip you take, return to your studio and try making some digital watercolors from some of your favorite photographs - it is quick, easy and the results are amazing!

 

Look for other interesting articles on my blog, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and read my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition. 

 

 

 

The 2010 Blog Collection , a 116-page catalog of my best blog posts from 2010 is now available on Blurb!  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1963744

 

Memorials and Memories of Washington DC

I recently attended The American Institute of Architects National Convention in Washington, DC and took an extra day to tour many of the famous buildings and memorials that are worth visiting if you ever have the opportunity to visit our nation's capital. I rented a bicycle and rode throughout the National Mall and took a number of photographs that are highlighted below. Captions are grouped with the photos.

Woodrow Wilson Building, United States Capital, bronze sculpture in front of the Ronald Regan Building, Thomas Jefferson Memorial columns, Franklin D. Rooseelt Memorial water feature, Martin Luther King Jr.(MLK) Memorial

Washington Monument and Tidal Bsin, MLK Jr Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial

 

Vietnam War Memorial, National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Cafe facade, United States Capital sculptures, United States Capital Building

US Capital Building, Supreme Court Building

Old Post Office Building, China Town, public art, Convention Center, Thomas Jefferson Memorial

MLK Jr Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Abraham Lincoln Memorial, civil war sculpture

 


Wrought iron bench at US Capital, Newseum, historic building, Department of Commmerce

SketchIng Over Photographs for Fun!

With new digital cameras and high resolution smart phones, it is now very easy to take photographs and share images with others by uploading them or emailing pictures to each other. Here is a fun variation from the standard digital photograph that incorporates sketching directly onto a photographic print and adding an artistic “hand-crafted” touch to the scene!

Start by printing your photograph on matte finish paper. I took a series of fifteen digital photographs of our studioINSITE staff and ganged them together in Adobe Photoshop, then plotted the composite image in color on a large sheet of paper using a HP 5000 color plotter. I lightened the image with the intent of adding back color using colored markers and colored pencils.

Original photographs assembled together in Photoshop.

I first enhanced the face colors with a few very light colored markers, then began sketching over each face with brightly colored Prismacolor pencils. I exaggerated linework and really had fun “animating” the faces, adding character and humor to each individual.

Final pencil sketches over phtographs. 

Before and after portrait of George, our office mascot!

Look for other interesting articles on my blog, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and read my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition. 

 

 

 

The 2010 Blog Collection , a 116-page catalog of my best blog posts from 2010 is now available on Blurb!  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1963744