This is Northern Flower, a shop in the Northern Quarter of Manchester. I did this digital painting as part of my Tour of the Northern Quarter series back in February, when the store had no signage. Since then, a rather cool Gaudi-style mosaic has appeared, so I’ve done an update because it’s such a great sign. Below you can see my source picture, which is a bit grumpy and grey…
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Your digital painting really does look like water painting. I like it!
Thank you, Nyparrot! It’s amazing what you can do to a boring photograph – glad you liked it 😀
It’s also done very tastefully!
Love the painting–you really have to find the right photo to make this work, and even then you have to manipulate it until the colors and contrasts are right, it’s not just applying the filter! I’ll admit I actually had to look up “Gaudi-style mosaic” which I found is so familiar but I don’t think we use that term here in the states. Thanks for a lesson!
Hi Bernadette! Glad you like – and it’s true, the original picture has to have some potential otherwise it’s like trying to polish mud. I used so many filters combined that I can’t remember how I did it, which is a shame because I was really pleased with the effect. I’ll have to experiment.
We have a mosaic guy in the Northern Quarter who does a lot of store signs and street art, and he uses recycled broken tiles, much like Gaudi. I think he’s a bit of a genius!
Thanks for the image of the mosaic! What a work of art in itself!
I just spent about 20 minutes trying to make one work as a “cutout”, to my disappointment.
He’s cool, isn’t he? ‘Cutout’ isn’t my favourite filter, but I used it here with other filters in different opacities to soften the effect. Actual ‘Watercolour’ isn’t a great filter either…
Lately my favorite has been “diffuse glow”…
Yes! If you fiddle with the settings it can look like a really expensive lens and a high-end lighting technician. I used it here…
Really beautiful! It’s nice to see the original picture and be able to compare them. It shows how much work it must have been to get the watercolor. It’s perfect.
Oh I like beautiful – thank you! Photoshop filters are a pain in the ass so you have to wrangle them if you want any kind of result. I’m glad you like it 😀
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Very very nice! z