Abstract Watercolor in Adobe Photoshop

This is my interpretation of a tutorial I came across on the Internet. Using Adobe Photoshop, you can create this abstract watercolor effect with any photo using layers, masks and splatter brushes. You can find parchment paper texture from Bashcorpo and download free splatter brushes from Brusheezy.

Open Photoshop and create a new document. I’m using 1920×1200.

Copy and paste your photo onto the canvas. Even though the photo I’m using here has small resolution, it won’t matter since I will be using filters that will remove any sort of pixelation.

Use transform and scale it to fit our canvas by going to Edit → Transform → Scale. Hold down the Shift-Key to keep the original aspect ratio of the photo.

Go to Image → Adjustments → Brightness/Contrast to add more brightness and contrast.

Turn the photo into grayscale by going to Image → Adjustments → Desaturate, then duplicate the layer. Name the original layer “Watercolor” and the duplicate layer “Threshold”

Apply Watercolor filter to the “Watercolor” layer by going to Filter → Artistic → Watercolor. Use 12 for Brush Detail, 1 for Shadow Intensity, and 2 for Texture.

Select the “Threshold” layer and go to Image → Adjustments → Threshold. Move the threshold level to anywhere between 160 and 180.

Set the blending mode of the “Threshold” layer to Multiply. Merge the “Threshold” layer to the “Watercolor” layer by going to Layer → Merge Down. Rename this merged layer to “Photo”

Now it’s time for some painting! Create a new layer called “Brush” and select some splatter brushes and start painting over your photo.

When you’re done painting, select and copy the “Photo” layer. Go to the “Brush” layer and add a Layer Mask. Alt+Click on the layer mask and you will see the canvas is now white.

Paste the image copied from the “Photo” layer.

Go to Image → Adjustments → Invert. This will hide the blacks in the layer mask to reveal the whites of the photo.

Click out of the layer mask and delete or hide the “Photo” layer. We can see our image is now in abstract watercolor!

Add a nice parchment paper texture and place it on top of the other layers. Set the blending mode to Linear Burn.

Finally, add some more watercolor splashes and a fancy text and you have your abstract watercolor design. Have fun!

For more information about the Abstract Watercolor Effect, check out Tutorial Magazine.

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