Creating a Painting Effect

This tip describes how to turn your art into a painting. Well not a REAL painting, but it does make a nice water color effect for use in illustrations that you want to look more "handmade". It utilizes two Xtras that come with FreeHand, Smudge and Roughen.

Version: 7 and above

Submitted by: Rick Moore
Content written by Ian Kelleigh

For this example, I want to make this art look more like a painting. I'll be making a drop shadow from the letter T and adding some texture to the yellow block in the background. First, I clone the T and hide this clone on a new layer. Then I convert the original T to paths.

Now I need to make the T more of a shadow color. So I take the base color (yellow) and add some black (about 30%). Apply this new color to the T. Also, since drop shadows aren't really as thick as the original shape, I used the Inset Path Operation to make it a bit thinner overall like the example above.

Now I double-click on the Smudge tool in the Xtra Tools palette. Here I drag in the background color to the Fill area in the Smudge-To Colors dialog and leave the Stroke blank. Then click OK.

Select the composite path to be Smudged, then choose the Smudge tool. While holding the option (Mac) / Alt (Win) key, click and drag on the selected object and you'll start to see the edges expand. By holding down option/Alt, this constrains the object and expands it instead of pulling it. When you have an expanded area you like, just let go of the Mouse button and you'll see your smoothed edges like the example above at right.

Now I double-click on the Roughen tool in the Xtra Tools palette. Here I choose an amount I wish to roughen the shape. The more you set it too, the rougher the results. I highly caution you to use anything over 10 for this particular method, as you are applying this to a group of objects rather than one or two. Pick Smooth for the Edge type, then click OK.

I then select the path to be Roughened, then choose the Roughen tool. I then click and drag on the selected object and you'll start to see the edges expand. When I have a rough edge I like, I just let go of the Mouse button and I see the new painted effect like the example above at right.

Next, I offset the new object down and over to the right a bit. Then I reveal the hidden T I saved earlier. Looks great!

I didn't stop there. I created odd blobby shapes (shown as dotted lines above at left) and applied the same steps above to make color washes for the sides. Then I just pasted them inside the square like above at right. For another great effect using the Smudge tool, check out the Creating a Glow Effect in the Tips Archive.