How to Make Watercolor Effects in Photoshop Quickly With Actions

Tips & Tricks

How to Make Watercolor Effects in Photoshop Quickly With Actions

Tuts+Photography

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create an amazing watercolor effect Photoshop action. I will explain everything in so much detail that everyone can create it, even those who have just opened Photoshop for the first time.

The effect shown above is the one I will show you how to create in this tutorial. If you would like to create the even more advanced watercolor effects shown below, using just a single click and in only a few minutes, then check out my TechnicalArt 2 Photoshop Action.

Action final results watercolor effect Photoshop action

Looking for more watercolor resources? Check out our recommended actions, brushes and more:

Photoshop Actions

18 Cool Photoshop Watercolor Effects & Filters With Texture

Melody Nieves

What You'll Need

To recreate the design above, you will need the following resources:

Stock Image

1. Let's Get Started

First, open the photo that you want to work with. To open your photo, go to File > Open, choose your photo, and click Open. Now, before we get started, just check a couple of things:

Your photo should be in RGB Color mode, 8 Bits/Channel. To check this, go to Image > Mode.
For best results, your photo size should be 2000–4000 px wide/high. To check this, go to Image > Image Size.
Your photo should be the Background layer. If it is not, go to Layer > New > Background from Layer.

2. How to Create the Brushes

Step 1

In this section, we are going to create the five watercolor brushes we'll need. You can either download the textures from the attachment and follow the process, or you can go to Ivan's tutorial to learn how to create your own watercolor textures, or you can download my TechnicalArt 2 Photoshop Action and get over 60 high-quality and resolution watercolor brushes (in this case you can skip this whole section).

Step 2

If you've followed the first option and downloaded the textures, then open the first texture scan in Photoshop. Go to Edit > Define Brush to define this texture as a brush, and name it Temp_Brush_1.

Step 3

Open the second texture scan, go to Edit > Define Brush to define this texture as a brush, and name it Temp_Brush_2.

Step 4

Now open the third texture scan, go to Edit > Define Brush to define this texture as a brush, and name it Temp_Brush_3.

Step 5

Now open the fourth texture scan, go to Edit > Define Brush to define this texture as a brush, and name it Temp_Brush_4.

Step 6

Now open the last texture scan, go to Edit > Define Brush to define this texture as a brush, and name it Temp_Brush_5.

Step 7

Now that we have defined our brushes, we need to adjust their settings and then define them again as new brushes. Press B on your keyboard, Right-click anywhere inside the canvas, select the Temp_Brush_1 brush, and hit Enter. Then go to Window > Brush and, in the Brush window, use the settings below:

Step 8

To define this brush with new settings as a new brush, click on the top right icon in the bottom right corner of the Brush panel, and name it Watercolor_Brush_1.

Step 9

Now press B on your keyboard, Right-click anywhere inside the canvas, select the Temp_Brush 2 brush, and hit Enter. Then go to Window > Brush and in the Brush window use the settings below:

Step 10

To define this brush with new settings as a new brush, click on the top right icon in the bottom right corner of the Brush panel, and name it Watercolor_Brush_2.

Step 11

Now press B on your keyboard, Right-click anywhere inside the canvas, select the Temp_Brush_3 brush, and hit Enter. Then go to Window > Brush and in the Brush window use the settings below:

Step 12

To define this brush with new settings as a new brush, click on the top right icon in the bottom right corner of the Brush panel, and name it Watercolor_Brush_3.

Step 13

Now press B on your keyboard, Right-click anywhere inside the canvas, select the Temp_Brush_4 brush, and hit Enter. Then go to Window > Brush and in the Brush window use the settings below:

Step 14

To define this brush with new settings as a new brush, click on the top right icon in the bottom right corner of the Brush panel, and name it Watercolor_Brush_4.

Step 15

Now press B on your keyboard, Right-click anywhere inside the canvas, select the Temp_Brush_5 brush, and hit Enter. Then go to Window > Brush and in the Brush window use the settings below:

Step 16

To define this brush with new settings as a new brush, click on the top right icon in the bottom right corner of the Brush panel, and name it Watercolor_Brush_5.