Adobe Fresco - Turn a Photo into Painting

Adobe Fresco is an amazing new creative app offering natural media painting and drawing techniques. Follow along and learn how to turn a photograph into a digital mixed media artwork combining watercolour and oil painting techniques. Use time codes below to jump to specific features and check out the Milanote board for resources and exercise files!

Download photo used in tutorial:

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CONTENTS:
0:00 Intro
1:15 Place photo on canvas
2:00 Make selection of woman
2:30 Cut and paste onto the new layer
3:40 Add a mask to the new layer and refine edge
5:00 Turn background into a watercolor with the live brush set to 0 opacity
10:20 Paint back some details on a new layer (trees and mountain peaks)
12:30 Create painterly edge for background with a layer mask and a pixel brush
14:20 Turn woman into an oil painting using live brushes
18:15 Add reflection to separate layer using watercolour
19:41 Paint island on a separate layer
22:36 Paint cloud on a separate layer with Cloud pixel brush and set it to Screen mode
24:44 Add drip effect at the bottom

[kenthe]

I think the video skipped the step where you need to turn the image into a pixel layer (I was stuck for a little while with a live brush that wouldn't brush lol).
To turn on the pixel layer, select the image layer and tap on the three dots to the right of the layers. Near the bottom of the list, choose Convert to pixel layer. You should now be able to paint using the transparent live brush picking up the color from the photo. Hope this helps anyone else who was stuck.

[lauman]

Me: How many designing softwares do you want to make?
Adobe: Yes.

[mon.gabrielle]

“We’re not cheating all the way” i love it 😂

[CosmoBlox]

Apple in 2060 with drawing be like… wow the digital watercolors are cold and wet and when i draw i dont need paperlike there is a built in apple pencil in my hands wow my apple pencil charges 1 second wow

[hVFKZuQPeCcu]

There are a lot of Adobe haters out there (for good reason). I think the $9.99 a month price tag for Adobe Fresco is ludicrous. However you showed here, it can be harnessed to do some great things already. Thank you very much for this. I have an Adobe subscription plan, the only reason I would try out Fresco. Love the live and vector brushes but as a whole it is not a well developed program yet. My wish is Adobe comes down to earth and provides this for a reasonable fee like Procreate. Or Procreate adds live brushes via Procreate 6. But your video is great to think of using Fresco creatively as we now have it. Those live brushes are killer.

[jamiehansenart]

Thank you so much for making a fresco tutorial! I love this program and I learned so much from watching you work!

[kaylenedawnbuteaufitnessbu]

Fresco must have changed something, because I took a photo and copied your technique and it never came out with just water. I would pick 0% opacity on white and nothing blended like your demo. I’m bummed.

[anishasamuelkahlkot]

I use adobe fresco for all of my illustrations and so far it’s been a great experience.I haven’t upgraded yet but the number of preset brushes are pretty great.What came of as a surprise isthat I have been using the same techniques as on real canvas sheet and the results are similar. Not disappointed at all😍😍

[PaintingErr_]

The function is excellent.
But I don't think this is painting.
It's more of a technical tracer.

[mikeyoung]

The photos link doesn't work anymore. Anyone know where I can find it?

[glennfitzpatrick]

I followed this tutorial but the step when you Flatten Mask does not allow me to bring the colour inside the outline I have created. Can you advise?

[sandrampillay]

Thank you for this excellent tutorial. I have gained a lot by viewing it.

[wingyanho]

I can't remove the white background under the "flatten mask part" (9:05).

[Jacqui-lq]

yeah..idk. I can't see my person, double tapping does nothing, the layer is all red, it just didn't follow.

[constantinosschinas]

appeciate your content. but this was an extremely mediocre, digital looking paint conversion. tools seemed fancy did not help you at all. better use Rebelle 2, or just plain ol PS.

[abhishekrawal]

Wt the hell, i couldn't paint after sharpning edges, it just not working, i didn't miss anystep

[mcallbee]

Can you please do a short video teaching how to make squares, boxes, circles, rings, triangles, hexagons, etc??? Thank You

[paulsterling]

Way too much, to quickly. You lost me in the layers. I need a simpler step by step

[blaewas]

Those are some happy little trees on that mountain.

[TheWorldsIntern]

Had to watch a YouTube video just to find that icon to add an image haha