Photoshop - Great Colored Pencil Effect

Want to create a great colored pencil effect?
Photoshop has a lot of very fine filters that are hours of pure entertainment.
However, sometimes they just don't do what you want no matter what adjustments you can make with them.

I wanted a colored pencil effect.
Take a look at my example.
The first photograph is just a nice picture of a field of sunflowers that I want to apply the colored pencil look to.
When I experimented with Photoshop's colored filter (Filter>Artistic>Colored Pencil) I didn't get the results I wanted as shown in the 2nd photo.
It looks OK but it isn't what I wanted.
I could spend a couple of hours fiddling with various filters and effects and never get the look I want.

That's where an Action comes in handy. Actions are a series of Photoshop steps played in sequence with the click of a button. Actions are found under the "Window" menu in Photoshop.
There are thousands of free Actions out on the web. Some are good some well....not so good.

A search for free Photoshop Actions can give you thousands to select from.
Or, here is a link to a colored pencil action you might like.

Need to know how to find and load an Action into Photoshop and, how to Actions work?

Check my previous blog on using Actions.
Enjoy!