In Part One of this series, I mentioned that one of the reasons you might want to replace the background in a portrait is to create a fantasy painting. Today I’m going to show you how I did just that, to create the image above of two angels in the forest. You’ll see the images I had at the start to work with, and my thought process as I assembled, and then painted, the image. Let’s get started.

The original photograph is really the most important piece. You need a good base to build upon, and here we have a great portrait of the two sisters. The expressions and the posing are good. The client was looking for a portrait of the girls as angels, so I know I’m going to be adding wings. Since they are wearing white dresses, I will not need to create costumes for them. Using the Quick Mask tool in Photoshop, I create a selection to remove the subjects and the rock they are on, from the background.

The background for this image is a photograph taken the same day in a different location, supplied by the client. Usually, I have to come up with a background, in which case I’ll look for a good stock photo, or create a background in Vue Infinite.

This background will need to be modified a bit, to cover up the sharp rocks and litter in the bottom right corner. I’d like to use some dark, smooth water to replace this area, to give the girls some nice water to dip their toes into.

Luckily, the client took other shots the same day at the same location, so it’s relatively easy to find some smooth, dark water to cut and paste over the background. I’ll use a soft eraser to help this patch match the surrounding area.

The rock the girls are on seems a bit rough to me, so I decide to cover it over with moss. This is done by painting, in Photoshop (though it can be done in Painter) with a few nice moss greens and a soft, textured brush. I paint in some ripples by the brunette’s foot, to make it look like she’s dipping her toes. This is what we have at this point:

Stop, Look, and Think

At this point, I step back and look at the image before proceeding. I would like to make this a fantasy image, and light beams would probably help. But the background is too well-lit, so I decide to selectively darken the upper left, above the falls, and the water to the girls’ right (our left). Also, I’d like to add a nice, big, gnarly old tree to the rock, on our right side. For this, I use Vue Infinite to create the tree. It’s easy to add appropriate lighting in Vue, and is a lot easier than searching for hours for a stock photo that matches what I have in mind. Here’s the tree layer:

Here’s the image with background areas darkened and the tree in place. We’re ready to add the light beams.

You can read how to add lightbeams in this tutorial. Since these are angels, I figured a wild animal would feel quite comfortable sharing the rock with them, so I found a stock photo of a chipmunk having a snack. For wings, I found a stock photo of a dove’s wing. By copying it and flipping it horizontally, I had a pair of wings. The wings were placed on a layer below the girls.

Bring the image into Painter

Now the image is ready for a few special touches that only Painter can do. I use the image hose to “spray” some white and purple daisies on the rock. Then I use the Fairy Dust variant to add some pixie stars to the water, looking like they’re trailing off the foot dangling in the water. Now the image is ready to paint. Look for other tutorials on the site for Painter techniques. I’d love to hear your comments or questions.

Related Posts

1. Replacing the Background in Your Portraits – Part One
2. Tutorial: Painting Fairy Portraits with Corel Painter
3. Tutorial: Create Colorful Backgrounds for Your Portraits
4. Tutorial: From Photo to Painting using Painter’s Quick Clone
5. Create Digital Backgrounds for Your Photos with Vue
6. Tutorial: Combining Filter Effects for Dramatic Portraits
7. Tutorial: Paint a Portrait in the Style of Bouguereau with Corel Painter

Stumble it!