This cameo is done entirely in PhotoImpact...no need for a lot of outside filters or plug-ins.

First decide on a photo you want to use to make your cameo. Photos with a profile are best, since most cameos are in profile, but use your own judgement..any photo, or clipart, etc., of a face will do.

I used this photo of my favorite Waterhouse painting Soul of the Rose, and cut out just the head and neck area.

If you are not familiar with using the Lasso tool to cut out an image, Stephanie has the definitive tutorial for this here

Once you have the image you want to use, drag it to it's own 400x400 canvas and go to Effects,Artistic, Monochrome.

Use the Transform tool, Keep Aspect Ratio (the button with the lock) on. Resize your image as large as you can within the canvas. Merge all, and save this to your hard drive as 'brush.jpg'.

Now the real fun begins. Open a new 500x500 canvas and fill with a color you want for the background of the cameo. I used a rose color, RGB 165,115,108.

Click on the Paintbrush; change the color to a nice ivory shade. I'm using RGB 253,244,213. Change the setting to this:

Open the brush panel; click on the Textures tab; click on the folder icon and browse to your saved brush image.

Make sure you have the Paint as Object mode on.

Begin by making strokes across the canvas and watch the face take shape.

Don't worry if you notice the beginning of another image on the side; we will erase these later. You might want to make an extra stroke or two around the outer edges for a little more definition. A lot of this depends on the image you use. Your image should look something like this:

When you are satisfied with your image,click off the Paint in Object mode, erase any stray pixels and center the image on the canvas.

Right-click the image, duplicate it, and drag the duplicated image to it's own canvas. We will use this one later.

Go back to the main image and merge all.

Go to Effect, Material Effect, Emboss. When the screen opens, choose Options.

When this box opens, change the background color to the color of your canvas by right-clicking on the gray swatch and using Color on Screen. Change the Depth to 5. Click on the different Light Source buttons until you find the one that looks best on your image.

Click OK and your image should look something like this:

Personally, I'm not real happy with how this looks, so I used the Blur tool to smooth out the rough spots on the face and neck, then used the Burn and Dodge tools, set at about 20 to highlight the hair.

Now drag the duplicated image back to the original and center over the embossed image.

R/C and choose Properties. When the dialog box opens, use these settings:

When you are completely satisfied with how your cameo looks, R/C and merge all.

Using the selection tool, Ellispe, cut out the image and drag to it's own canvas.

Now you have the basic cameo, so decorate it any way you like.

Any questions or problems, email me.

Paradigm PI Graphics