Friday, February 21

CoffeeShop Fine Art Tutorial: Create Custom Watercolor Prints



Today I wanted to show you how I create custom beautiful watercolor prints using the $5 Waterlogue app and Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements). You can download the free 8x10 watercolor print I made for this tutorial towards the bottom of this post.

I love watercolor but I am not a great watercolor artist. I really don't like the watercolor filter that comes with Photoshop either. I don't usually buy apps, but I LOVE Waterlogue. This is not a paid endorsement, I just wanted to show you how I use it to create watercolor prints for my own house and designs. I didn't even buy the $30 Waterlogue computer program, I am perfectly happy with the cheap app. 


I love vintage and all of the design elements I used in this print are from the Graphics Fairy Premium site. Click on the Roses & Bees image below to see the pack where I downloaded the flowers. 


This is not a paid endorsement either. I am a contributor over there (I write editing and photo tutorials), but I don't get paid anything extra if you join.But if you love vintage designs as much as I do, please go check them out. The site is a huge resource of gorgeous designs you can use in your own work and the women who own and run the site are THE BEST!!!

So on to my watercolor tutorial.

CoffeeShop Fine Art Watercolor Tutorial:



I started with the lovely lady image and added all of the flowers from the Roses & Bee pack.

Then I saved this and sent it to my phone via text and ran it through the Waterlogue app.

I used the Natural setting, Jumbo size, no border, and Auto Lightness. Then I saved the file.


This is so pretty, but I would like to add some black illustration to the image for more definition. So I ran the Streamlined setting and saved the file.


I then texted both images to my computer (to save time) and opened them up in Photoshop. You can also use PSE.


Drag and drop the Streamlined version on top of the Natural version. You can also Place it so that it lines up exactly. They should both be the same size prints.

Put the top Streamlined layer in Darken blending mode at 100% opacity. I love this combo!


Add a Hue Saturation layer and dial down the Saturation to -30 or so. 


Add a soft buttery ivory Color Fill layer on top.


Keep this layer in Normal blending mode and reduce the opacity to 25%.

This really softens the print, I love the effect.


Flatten the design and add this free watercolor paper and make it fit the entire image. Then drag it under the print.


Put the print in Multiply blending mode.


Add a Levels adjustment layer and adjust the contrast to taste. I found the print to be too low contrast so I added some shadows and brought up the highlights and slightly adjusted the midtones.


To add a soft border, use the marquee tool to draw a border around the edges. I used a Feather setting of 5 to soften it.


Then add a layer mask and the edges should be clean!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. It is amazing what a $5 app can do, especially if you combine it with Photoshop or PSE.

You can download the 8x10 print I made for this tutorial here.

Do you want to download thousands of professional CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop actions (including exclusive ones not found anywhere for free), textures/overlays, scrapbooking papers, clip art/design elements, photo storyboards and frames, and Lightroom presets from this site in one convenient zipped file AND help support this one-woman blog?

Just click here for my CoffeeShop Mega Download Pack!

1 comment:

  1. Looks like a neat app. I've picked up some watercolour actions that I need to find some time playing with. Love the watercolour look and it always stays popular. Thanks for sharing the information Rita! Enjoy your weekend. ~Lisa

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a message, I love reading them! All comments are personally moderated by me and I will post and answer them them as soon as possible.
Rita