Painted Rose

by DWhiteStar

Now add a new layer and call it rose.

Set your paintbrush back to:

Shape-round
size 1
Hardness 100
Opacity 100
Step 25
Density 100

Starting with the farthest petal on the right you want to lay the colors down in a manner following the original rose:

I have enlarged the image so you could better see the detail as well as made all other layers invisible so that you culd see just the rose.  What you end up with looks alot like a topagraphical map! LOL!

Next thing we want to do is rearrange our layers to the following:

 

 We have moved the outline layer to the top so that if you need to quickly refer to where each petal is, you can quickly make it visible for reference.

Make all layers invisible with your rose layer as the only visible one, also make sure that this is your active layer by clicking on it.

Now let's start painting!!

On your tool bar click on your retouch Tool  and set it to the following

Work one petal at a time and smudge the colors into eachother but make sure to work in the natural direction of the petal itself.  I usually work from the outside in of each petal.

HINT: This can get a little time consuming and "picky"
so I like to set my workspace up as follows

As you can see, I have my image zoomed out quite a bit, this lets you see each and every smudge stroke so that you can easily follow the shape of the petals.  Aso, make sure to save often!

Another hint:  Sometimes it is easy to work with your outline layer visible but your rose layer active for the first little while, this really helps you in locating the different petals

Here is a nice closup of how the colors start to smudge together.  Just take your time and have fun with it...just like in nature there are no 2 flowers the same and in your image there is really never a wrong move, just what looks good to you! :)

Yep, Another Hint!! :Make sure to refer to your "real" flower alot, zoom it up and look at the detail of how the different colors blend together and how  the different petals move.

Like I said, for each petal start painting from the outside to the inside but after the first intial smudges you can change direction, move in curves, move in circles....what ever feels righ to you and seems to go with the movement of your petals.  The only thing is to try and stay away from smudging your outside edges too much, we can clean them up later

As you paint, you will start to see your rose magically come to life infront of you!

Once you are happy with your blending

It is on to the finishing steps!!