Alien Skin’s software is aimed at graphics professionals. However, consumers who are serious about working with photographs will find many of their products worthwhile. Their Image Doctor 2, for example, is pretty much a must have. Its toolbox allows users to easily retouch imperfections and unwanted elements out of photographs. Blow Up (for preserving image quality when enlarging) is another helpful tool.
Snap Art is not quite as necessary, but it is one that lets you modify photos for a variety of purposes. Professionals use it to do photo illustrations, advertisements, and the like. Consumers might use it to create greeting cards, cover pages, content for digital picture frames, or as graphics for presentations and documents. It allows you to stylize a photo that lends impact to your work.
Snap Art installs as a plug-in to Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and other photo editors. The first version of the software was very similar to the tools that come with Photoshop, albeit with more presets and options to allow users to get to a desired effect more easily. In version 2, Alien Skin redid the program so that its output would be added to a Photoshop file as a separate layer. This allowed user to then use the Photoshop layering tools to dial down the artistic effect if desired.
Now in version 3, Snap Art adds masking and layering within the tool itself. This change makes it absurdly simple for amateurs to turn photos into simulated paintings and illustrations. Alien Skin as a set of excellent video tutorial videos on its website to help you along.
Having just noted Steve Jobs’s resignation as Apple CEO, let’s use his official portrait:
It’s a nice photo, really pretty usable as it is. Apple’s PR department gave it the file name “jobs_hero,” and that’s its one problem: the photo is a little iconic. One might prefer something a little less formal.
Enter Snap Art. The two photos below are the same portrait run through the software:
Following the tutorial’s instruction, I used a double-masking approach. One mask for Jobs’s face, the other for just his eyes. This allows you to sharpen the detail in places where it is needed, such as the eyes, while softening other parts of the photo such as his beard and the signature black turtleneck. Heightening the detail in the eyes is particularly important here because that penetrating stare is essential to the portrait.
For the first one, I used the “pastel portrait” tool. It softens the image and to me makes Jobs look a little more thoughtful and a little less intense. However, reduced to a size that fits this blog, the changes are not as obvious as one might like.
So for the second, I went with a “pencil sketch” look, which is more abstract and stylized as well as being black-and-white. With the pencil effect, the Jobs stare would have been totally lost if it weren’t for the ability to mask the eyes. With the mask, Jobs continues to project his laser-like focus.
Professional effects that can be executed by someone who is most definitely not a graphics professional. It makes Snap Art 3 a leading product in its niche.
