I’ll take you through the necessary steps to get you on your way to creating artworks of your own. The aim of this tutorial though, is not to teach you how to rip off the style, but to show you how to create illustrations without needing to outdraw Da Vinvi. The hope is that you’ll follow and use these techniques to work within your own style!

Final Image Preview

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Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS2
• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 1-2 hours

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Assets

Here are the assets you’ll need for this tutorial:

• Dinosaur
• Fish
• Red Car
• Paper Texture

Step 1

Create a new canvas. For all the settings outlined in the tutorial to be accurate you should create a canvas at 300dpi and at roughly the same size.

Step 2

Open the Dinosaur image and drag it into your working document. Use the Free Transform Tool to resize (holding the Shift key will constrain the aspect ratio) the Dinosaur image to about 150% of its original size. Then go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Then desaturate the image by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.

Step 3

Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool and roughly draw around the Dinosaurs head. Copy the head and then press delete with the selection still active so it removes the head from the Dinosaur layer. Paste the head and use the Free Transform Tool to rotate the head -22 degrees and resize to 135%. Use the Eraser Tool to remove any areas where the background overlaps the Dinosaur layer.

Select both layers in the Layers Palette and merge them (Layer > Merge Layers). Rename the layer “DINOSAUR.” At this point it’s worth mentioning that I deleted most of the background on “DINOSAUR” using the Polygonal Lasso Tool, but you don’t have to do a particularly good job.

Step 4

Drop the “DINOSAUR” layer Opacity down to 50%. Then select the Pen Tool and set it to Shape Layers in the Options bar (Window > Options will bring it up if it’s not already visible). Select any color at this stage and start to draw a smooth shape around the head. Once you’ve plotted your first couple of points, go to the Layers Palette and drop the Fill value to 0% so that you can see the underlying layer.

Some of the Anchor Points require splitting, which enables moving the Point Handles independently of each other. To do this, draw the point and then hold the Alt key whilst clicking the point with the Pen Tool and drawing out from it.
Once you’ve closed the Path, put the Fill back up to 100% and rename the layer “DINO_HEAD.”

Step 5

Use the Pen Tool (set to Shape Layers) to draw in the rest of the limbs minus the tail. Simplify the shapes of things and be creative while doing this. I elongated the fingers for example.

Step 6

Draw in a big fat body, The overall shape of the Dinosaur should be cartoon-like. Change the Layer order in the Layers palette as shown. You should be renaming Layers as you go along, this is good practice and will cut down the wasted minutes trawling through umpteen unnamed Layers looking for something specific.

Step 7

Change the color of the Shape Layers to #7e9221 by double-clicking the color thumbnail next to the corresponding Shape Layer. Draw in the tail, it’s best to draw in a basic tail shape, then add the spikes to the same Shape Layer. Do this by selecting your Shape Layer and clicking Add To Shape Area in the Options Bar.

Step 8

Move “DINOSAUR” to the top of Layers Palette, change it’s Layer Blend mode to Multiply and it’s Opacity to 100% if it’s not already. Run a Smart Sharpen filter (Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen)as in screen grab and then adjust the Levels (Image > Adjustments > Levels).

Unlink the “DINOSAUR” Layer Mask by clicking the chain-link icon in between the Layer thumbnail and the Layer Mask thumbnail, then select the image thumbnail to edit and or transform. I used the Free Transform Tool to resize and rotate the Dinosaur image to fit it better within its Mask. I then used the Brush Tool loaded with black to fill in any parts of the texture I wasn’t happy with. The Red arrows on the 3rd screen grab indicates where those points were,

Step 9

Open the Fish image and desaturate it. Use the same Smart Sharpen settings as in Step 8 to sharpen and use the same Levels as well. Copy and paste (I used the Elliptical Marquee Tool) the Fish’s eye into the working document. Use the Free Transform Tool to resize the eye to fit the face.

Step 10

Make a selection from the eye by Command-clicking its Layer Thumbnail, then delete the selection from “DINO_HEAD” texture mask by selecting the Mask and pressing delete. Turn the “EYE” Blend mode to Multiply. Create a selection from the “EYE” layer, create a new layer and fill it with yellow. You may need to adjust the levels of the “EYE” to match with the dino texture. Rename “DINOSAUR” to “TEXTURE_HEAD.”

Step 11

Go back to the edited fish image (the original that you sharpened and tweaked the levels, etc.) and use the Magic Wand Tool to select the white background, inverse the selection (Select > Inverse) and copy and paste it into the working document. Put it into the layer hierarchy as shown.

Set the Blend mode to Multiply. Use the Free Transform Tool to rotate it -112.3 degrees, then (without applying the transform) go to Edit > Transform Warp and manipulate the grid to fit the body shape. Rename this “TEXTURE_BODY,” create a selection from “BODY” by Command-clicking its Layer Thumbnail, and use the selection to create a Layer Mask for “TEXTURE_BODY.”

Again, unlink the Mask, resize, rotate and/or warp if you need to, or use the Brush Tool to draw any missing bits in. It should now look like the last image below.

Step 12

Duplicate “TEXTURE_HEAD” and delete the Mask. Then use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to systematically select, cut and paste each limb. You can be fairly rough with this. Rename the new layers accordingly.

Starting with “TEXTURE_RLEG” turn all new layers to Multiply and position them both over their relative Shape Layers on the canvas and in the Layers Palette. Create Layer masks for each as you did for the head and body, then use the Warp Grid to manipulate so they fill the space. You’ll need to Smart Sharpen the “TEXTURE” layers as the Warp Grid softens the pixels. You may also need to draw in some bits using the Brush Tool.

Step 13

Copy “TEXTURE_BODY” and delete its Layer Mask. Rotate, resize, and Warp as before, then paint in any details with the Brush. This obviously works best with a Graphics Tablet. Rename this layer “TEXTURE_TAIL.”

Step 14

Select color #f4f2ad as your Foreground color and use the Pen Tool set to Shape Layers to draw in some teeth. Group all the teeth layers and call the group “TEETH.” Drawing in the “TEETH” has thrown up some minor changes I want to make to the mouth. Select the “TEXTURE_HEAD” layer (not it’s Mask) and use the Brush Tool to draw a black (#1f1f1f) line around the teeth so they don’t border any green.

Step 15

Open the Red Car image and cut it out by drawing a path around it or using the Magic Wand Tool. Copy and paste it into the working document. Desaturate the car and then adjust the Levels as shown below. Run a Smart Sharpen filter (with the same settings as in Step and then use the Free Transform Tool to rotate and resize it to fit in the Dinosaurs hand.

Create a selection from the car by Command-clicking its layer thumbnail, then create a new layer directly below it and fill with #d23e3e. Set the “RED_CAR” layer to Multiply. Create another layer between the “RED” and the “RED_CAR” layers and use the Brush Tool to draw in some lighter parts with the color #d9d9d9.

Finally, select all three car layers and go to Layer > Group Layers. Call the Group “CAR” and give it a final tweak with the Free Transform Tool. To get the car to fit in with the Dinosaur you’ll need to do some creative reshuffling of the Layers in the Layers palette. Check out the final screen grab to see how the top of your Layers Palette should look.

Step 16

The following step might be pretty tricky to follow. Remember these selection shortcuts and you should do alright though. To make a selection from any layer containing pixels you simply Command-click the layer thumbnail. In order to create a selection from one of your Shape Layers you must Command-click the Path thumbnail next to the color thumbnail.

You don’t need to have this layer selected to create a selection from it. In order to create multiple selections you must hold SHIFT + Command-click. This will add to the current selection, to then subtract you must hold Alt + Command-click. Look at the image below to see what happens when I make a selection from “BODY” and then subtract the “RIGHT_ARM,” “DINO_HEAD,” “RIGHT_LEG,” and “CAR.”

Step 17

Create a new layer called “SHADOWS” and set it to Multiply. Set the foreground color to #4d5622 and select the Brush Tool. Set the Brush options to 100% Opacity, 25% Flow, 0% Hardness and between 25-200 pixels depending on which area you’re working on.

Now paint onto “SHADOWS” with the selection loaded. Think about the areas which would realistically have shadows if it were a genuine 3-dimensional beastie. We’ll do the left-hand-side limbs next so create a selection from “LEFT_ARM” and “LEFT_LEG.” Then subtract “BODY” and draw on “SHADOWS” as before. Once you’ve done this, take each body part in turn. It shouldn’t take that long once you’ve figured out which selections to add and subtract from.

Step 18

Create another layer directly above the “TEETH” layers this time. Call it “TEETH_SHADOWS.” Select the color #4a4936 as your foreground color and do the shadows in the same way, but creating selections from the teeth. Turn the “TEETH_SHADOWS” Layer Blend Mode to Multiply.

Step 19

Select color #c82323 as your foreground color. Then select the Pen Tool and set it to Shape Layers. Draw in a basic, cartoony flame-shape. You’ll need to split the points as you draw the outward curves to a point. Once you’ve drawn the main shape, click Add To Shape Area within the Options bar and draw in the secondary flames.

Once the red flames are done, select color #d67722 and click Create New Shape Layer (next to Add o Shape Area) and draw an inner flame. The flames look a little clean so create a layer directly above the “FLAME” layers and use your favorite grunge brushes to dirty it up a bit. I headed over to Misprintedtype.com and downloaded some of his brushes. The Dino is now finished. Phew!

Step 20

Fill the Background layer with color #f0e0c4. Then create a new layer and call it “SKY.” Select the Brush Tool and from the Option bar, load Photoshop’s standard Wet Media brushes. Scroll down to “Watercolor Fat Tip” (third from the bottom) and resize it to 675 pixels. Set the Opacity to 70% and the Flow to 30%. Set the color to #52baaf, as your foreground color, and start to paint in the background, if you have a Graphics Tablet then now’s the time to use it.

Select a darker color, #317a72 should do it, and draw over the uppermost parts of the sky. Don’t just drag the Brush around though, try short drags to keep building up the transparent paint. You want an uneven effect.

Finally, use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to select the top part of the canvas making a diagonal line straight across the lower middle. Revert back to color #52baaf and draw in some bottom bits. You might want to blend the top section a bit as well by using the lighter color to paint over where the darker color meets the lighter color.

Step 21

Create a new layer and call it “FLOOR.” Invert the selection (Select > Inverse) and then fill it with color #8b9c95. Select the Brush you had been using and the color #626f6a to draw in a gradient.

Step 22

Open up the Paper Texture from Bittbox (”paper_2.jpg” is good). Desaturate it, apply a Smart Sharpen and then boost the levels as shown. Copy and paste the paper into your working document and position it at the top of the Layers Palette. Use the Free Transform Tool to resize it as shown.

Step 23

Load up the Channels palette and Command-click on the RGB channel thumbnail to make a selection from it. Click back on the Layer palette and select “SKY.” Then create a Layer Mask from the selection. Hold the Alt key and drag the Layer Mask over to the “FLOOR.” This will duplicate the Layer Mask. Finally, select the “PAPER” layer and rotate it 90 degrees. Set the Layer Blending Mode to Color Burn and reduce the Layer Opacity to around 50-60%.

Conclusion

We’re done with this tutorial. There is more you could add to this image though following similar techniques. Adding a group of fleeing people would fit the theme well. Have fun creating your own illustrations and developing your unique style.

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Final Image Preview

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Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS3
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Estimated Completion Time: 45 minutes

Preparation

This is an advanced piece, I mean there are no hard to do techniques, but this kind of work requires a lot of good taste, some color experience and casting shadows knowledge. So I do not recommend this tutorial for beginners. I’ll skip basic pointers and go straight to the main point. Basically, I want you to get the idea of how to create an illustration like this and follow your own way with these effects.

Before we start, I wanted to show you how the concept changed during the whole session:

1. This first image below is the main concept, that I planned. It’s the first idea that came to my head: an energy ball with lots of shine lines around it.
2. While searching images I accidently found an image of a man in a very cool position, so I thought this must be used here. So I put him there and wanted to make an illusion that this man is creating all the energy.
3. The first plans were done and I started to work on this project. During the process this concept somehow lacked dynamics, so I decided to rotate the whole piece.
4. Finally, when I had no idea how this energy ball could look like, and this took me some time before I came up with the final idea, I rejected the ball and went into energy touch only for this man.

So you see each project changes when you work on it, so before you get into this tutorial remember to work flexible, not everything needs to look the same way as you planned. Take your time and use your imagination.

Step 1

Before we start, you need to know that the shining effects work best on a black background. The darker the background is, the more visible and contrasted shine you will achieve. So I started with a black background of the canvas around 900px by 1100px (this should work for you fine).

Step 2

Now is the first hard part, searching for the right image. I know many people are unhappy with buying pictures, but well, the truth is: if you want good quality, you need to pay for it. I’ve nothing against free stock photos, if you have the time to search for a good image among mixed quality free pictures it’s OK.

Anyway, if you have the right image, then extract the person (or object) from the image of your choice. The biggest problem of all cut-outs is always the hair. But, as you can see in the image below, I had a short haired man. In this case I simply used the Pen Tool to deal with short hair. And because we have a black background in our main project document, we can easily blend this black hair with the background. To do this I used the Burn Tool with Range set to Midtones and burned the hair edges a little.

Step 3

Now, in the Layers Palette I added two adjustment layers: Levels and Gradient Map to make a better blending between this person and the black background. I used a gradient from black to white and set the Gradient Map layer’s Blending Mode to Soft Light, then lowered the Opacity just a touch.

Step 4

OK, next we’ll create ground. I used a Gradient Tool and on a new layer created a radial gradient from white to transparent (as you see in the first picture below). Then this big white dot needed some perspective, so here I hit Command + T to Distort (second image below).

The dot was blurred using Gaussian Blur at around 40 pixel Radius. Then I duplicated this blurred dot, stretched it a little bit (Command + T) and made two more copies to enhance the ground effect. If necessary, the opacities of these ground layers can be lowered just a touch. It means that this surface shouldn’t be too bright, as this will kinda destroy the concept of having the whole background black.

Step 5

Now, as you can see in the first image below, I started adding shadows under the shoes. It’s not suppose to be great and totally pimped shadow. I just needed to make an accent that this man is standing on something. This always works pretty well, as you start to see how your illustration is shaping up, even thought the shade will change, it’s good to have it sketched.

To do the shadow I used a black brush with Flow set to 2% and Hardness to 0%, then I slowly started creating it click by click (don’t hold the left mouse button while doing this, as you may make a very ugly kind of shadow that way). Individual brush clicks did the job just fine.

Now let’s focus on the second image below. Something didn’t work for me in this piece, so I decided to add the first dynamic touch to this illustration, so I selected all the layers and used Command + T to rotate them at a small angle (for now it looked kinda like a slip).

Step 6

I zoomed out and positioned this man and ground to the right. I kinda wanted to avoid the center focus of illustration. Sometimes it’s good to move the main object/person to the side, looks more dynamic and original to me.

OK, then I decided that this position works perfectly for this piece and started touching up shadows. Looking at this man it’s visible that few sources of light hit him (for example his left hand shows that light reaches it from left and right). So in this case I decided to give this man a soft shadow, only underneath him by using the same technique as previously.

I only want you to pay attention to his shoes which are the closest objects to the ground. Shoes stick to the surface, this means they need more shadow around them. The farther the objects are from the ground, the more they start to disappear (and the shadow starts to soften, then slowly vanish).

Step 7

As I was watching my illustration now, I felt like there are some spots that are too bright, so I used the Burn Tool to enhance the shade effect of the shoes. I also did some blending with the hand, as It seemed too bright on the left side.

Step 8

Finally this man is ready. Now this illustration needs to look more like one piece. So I did some overall color adjusting. I added a Curves adjustment layer and then a Gradient Map with a Violet to Orange gradient (picked from standard presets). Then I lowered the Opacity of the Gradient Map to around 25-30% and changed its Blending Mode to Soft Light. Both adjustment layers were set up to give this illustration a yellowish touch (as I experimented and liked it).

Step 9

Now it looks like this man really belongs to this place, and that’s the thing we want. Next, I started all the light tricks.

Here is something abstract that I prepared for this piece. So I opened these lights and dragged them into the project while changing its Blending Mode to Linear Dodge. It was put above all layers just not to get colorized by two previous adjustment layers.

Now look at the process. As I already had these abstract lights, I took the Burn Tool (Midtones) and burned parts of this piece that I wanted to get rid of (2nd image below). Then many less of these lines lasted, so I used a hard Eraser Tool to erase the rest of the disturbing lines, which I didn’t want to see here (3rd image below). Finally I added Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and adjusted this color exactly for these three main lines (blue, green and yellow). I worked to achieve cool, bright coloring for these lines.

This can be done for each line separately, but before that they need to be cut out into new layers.

Step 10

As I said, if you don’t have some color experience, this tutorial will be difficult for you to follow. Now is the further part when I repeated the same process as in the previous step. I created, erased, separated new lines and added various colors.

Step 11

I was still into adding color light lines, and I want to show you another example of flexible work. During this process I had many ideas of how to connect and set these lines.

First I thought maybe a good idea would be to cross them and make them in different positions (1st image below). This didn’t work out and I decided to make all the lines almost parallel (2nd image below). So I made it, and for some variation I added one green line that kinda crossed the space, but it gave some depth to the illustration so I left it be.

Step 12

Now I added some more brightness in places indicated below using soft white brush. The new layer was created below the lines layers, as these lines are half transparent (cause of the linear dodge mode), so everything put below these lines is visible.

Step 13

I played around with these lines and achieved some cool results (first image below). All done the same way as I showed previously.

Next I felt like this piece needs some more details going all around it and filling in some blanks. You can find some similar brushes to the ones I used for this. Experiment with various brushes in this step.

I picked one my grungy splatter brushes. Then found a nice dark color (coming from the color that I used in light lines – in my case it happened to be blue) and made a brush mark (second image below). Then I brought up the selection of this brush mark and contracted it by 2 pixels by going to Select > Modify > Contract (third image below). Next I hit Delete to get rid of the center brush part (forth image below). Then I positioned it near a light blue line.

Step 14

Now as I had this brush mark placed correctly, I used a soft eraser and erased disturbing parts. Then switching between the Burn Tool (Midtones) and Dodge Tool (Highlights) I pimped out selected dark spots of this brush mark.

When using the Burn Tool you actually darken the spot. When using the Dodge Tool, you brighten it up. So I was very careful in this step, a small overdo can destroy the idea.

So this process is just to show you how it works, the brush mark in the first three images below are just an example. In the forth image below you can see the brushes that I used originally.

Step 15

By the way we’re still with these brushes, pay attention to the little pieces above the man’s head (first image below) and the ones near his leg (second image below). Yes, they were made the same way as previously. To do this you can even use some splatter brushes and follow the same process.

Also pay attention to the second image below. I indicated a spot that points to shadow. This shadow made an illusion that these little pieces are in the air. So if you get more small pieces around the ground, you can cast some shadows underneath them (but on the ground) and this will give your effects more depth.

Step 16

Next to to add some sparkle to this illustration I decided to use a picture of sky and cut the sun out of it. Then I desaturated this piece (second image below) and set its Blending Mode to Linear Dodge and I erased all the unnecessary parts around this sun (with the Eraser Tool). I also brought up the Levels (Command + L) and enhanced the contrast. Then I used Burn Tool (Midtones) to enhance the light effect and darken the rays (fourth image below). Finally, I colored this sun using Hue/Saturation and Color Balance, I made it green and then gave it a touch of yellow.

Step 17

The sun was resized down to a very small size, and at this size it completely stops being recognizable as a shining sun. Now it’s just a shining spot. I duplicated it many times and placed it in various spots. By the way, I changed the color when it was necessary to make these lights fit. To change colors I followed similar steps as before (basically Hue/Saturation and when the tone was not fully satisfying I pimped it with Color Balance).

Step 18

Moving forward I thought I’d use these nice clouds of this sky to make some dust. So I opened the image and desaturated it. Then (as previously) I used Levels (Command + L) to make the clouds stand out. Next, I used a soft Eraser and got rid of unwanted parts (fifth image below). Finally, I grabbed Burn Tool (Midtones) and made some touch-ups to these clouds. I kinda separated them and brought them up more.

Step 19

I named these clouds "Dust" and changed the layer’s Blending Mode to Linear Dodge. Then rotated them and placed them towards the lines direction (as you can see in the image below).

I made a small comparison below, the whole illustration got a little bit smoother when I added this dust.

Step 20

So the illustration was almost finished, but the light lines were still not blended enough with the model. I hit Command + A to select the whole canvas, and then Command + Shift + C (copy merged) and Command + V (paste). This way I made a duplicate of the whole image and put it on top of all the layers.

Then while having this image selected, I went to Filter > Liquify and as you can see in the first image below, I did some stretching using the Forward Warp Tool (in Liquify filter). In the second image below you can see how smooth and nice these lines were blended.

Step 21

As the final touch I wanted to give this piece a little more realism, so I casted light reflections on this man’s clothes and skin. Each arrow below has the color of the nearest line. For example, the first orange arrow point of the shirt spot which should be affected by the orange light line. So I gave an orange color to this spot, and so on with the others.

To do that I made a new layer with the Blending Mode set to Color (Soft Light in some cases works fine also), then I used a very soft brush with proper color, and Voilà!

Conclusion

In the end you can give it a nice overall sharpen using highpass filter, this will bring even more quality to your work. So I hope you liked this piece, thanks for reading. The main purpose of this tutorial was to show you a good direction in how to use these effects. So be creative and try to discover your way of using them.

You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

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Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.

Tutorial details:

• Programs: Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Modo
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Estimated Completion Time: 5-7 h

Step 1 – Preparing the canvas

Before we begin there are a few things worth mentioning. All the photos in this tutorial belong to the author, Pirosca Marcel. They were not gathered from stock sites around the net. The main character was shot in my photo studio.

First off I opened the original image resulted from the shooting with the main purpose being isolating the character and the shadows on the floor. First thing I noticed was that his face was not expressive enough for what I had in mind.

Before we begin cutting out the character I needed to replace his head with one from another picture where he looked more optimistic. I always shoot a lot of pictures every session, so when situations like this arise I have plenty of other images to choose from. The most important thing is that the light sources must be in the same place so it integrates seamlessly and believably. The light needs to come from the same directions. I have found the image below to be a good match for what I needed.

Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool create a selection around his head. The background contains only a flat color, so the selection should be very easy to make. I selected his head just as in the image below, then copy/pasted it into the original image, on a new layer.

I scaled and rotated it so that it matched the old head.

As you can see some integration is needed to be done for the head to blend perfectly. First off, cut out the background head so we can work on our new one. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to select and delete it. We should now have something similar to what we see below.

Notice that the most important region to work on is his neck. In order to obtain a nice transition from one to the other we need a transparency mask on the new head, then with a relatively soft (50%) Eraser Brush start deleting some of the harsh edges on the neck until you reach a good result. This part is open to a lot of trial and error, so using a mask will help us recover some of the parts we may have accidentally deleted. Finally, you should obtain something similar to the next image.

As we can see we need to work on some of the details. We need to fix the shirt and neck lighting in order for him to be believable. For the neck I used a combination of Dodge/Sponge tool as illustrated below.

In order to fix the shirt I copy/pasted a part of his shirt and then I blended it (using curves and transparency mask).

We are now ready to isolate our guy and the shadows on the floor. As he is a hard edged surface against a flat background it should be fairly easy to select him using the Polygonal Lasso Tool. I personally prefer this tool over the paths approach to selection because I don’t have to adjust any control points and tangents, even though it means a lot more clicks. Copy/paste him into a new layer.

Next thing we want is having the shadow on a different layer. As you can see the background of the photo studio was kind of dirty, so in order to remove the stains I applied some Surface Blur. I found that this type of blur is best for this operation as it removes noise while preserving some detail.

Once we got to this stage we can select the shadow using Color Range and the following settings.

Of course there will be some unwanted regions in the selection. Hit OK, and after the selection was made enter Quick Mask mode. Proceed to erase the unnecessary parts, as depicted in the image below.

Now in order to have the exact shadow we need to subtract the contour of our guy from the remaining selection. While in Quick Mask mode Control-click the thumbnail of the main character layer in the layers palette. This will load the selection for that layer. Press Delete to erase the quick mask inside the selection.

Exit Quick Mask mode and we have the selection of the shadow. Just copy/paste it onto a new layer.

We now have the character and his shadow isolated and on separate layers. We are ready to begin the final image.

Step 2 – Composition

This was a HUGE piece of work, size related. In order to achieve the final image we need to create an image 3613 by 5000 pixels. To get an idea of what I actually wanted, first I took the main character and moved it around the canvas; finally deciding to place him on the lower half of the image following the flow of his body. Being on a separate layer meant I could add all sorts of details behind him. The first thing that needed to be done was to further differentiate him from the gray background.

Use a white, soft brush with 20% Opacity to create a glow behind the guy.

Next it’s time to determine how the lines in the image would flow. For this I used my tablet with the size controlled by the pen pressure and Opacity set to about 30%. I proceeded in drawing the lines on which our man was surfing by holding Shift (so that the brush draws a straight line) and pressing harder on the tablet (for the line to be thicker) at his feet and then pressing less as the lines faded away.

This gave the lines the feeling of perspective and also helped me to give a sense of depth. I have to add that this is a process prone to a lot of trial and error, so it might take a while until you are satisfied with the results.

Now it gets interesting. In order to be able to replicate all of the planes fading away and also maintain proper perspective I used the Vanishing Point Filter to eyeball the plane our man is surfing on. There is an entire discussion here, because you can’t define that plane exactly how it is in reality since you have no reference. After several attempts I settled for the one below, thinking it works. To do this go to Filter > Vanishing Point.

The deal with Vanishing Point is that these planes can be extended at 90 degrees or arbitrarily. Using this method I further constructed additional planes to help me keep track of perspective, while trying to match my sketch lines as close as I could.

With this setup in position I was now able to add elements that will be flowing along these planes. But first I had a point to settle.

Somewhere along the line I experimented with color variations since the gray seemed a little dull. I love color and decided to use its power to give it a little punch.

Step 3 – Color Scheme

In order to obtain the proper colors for this piece I used three adjustment layers and placed them on top of the image. Two of them affecting only the skin (using masks), and a third one to set the general mood. For the skin, a Levels and a Color Balance to add subtle color enhancement.

And then a Color Balance affecting the whole image to give an overall greenish mood. The settings are shown below.

We are now ready to add in the details.

Step 4 – Digital Volume

Open Illustrator and by copy/pasting and then scaling vertical rectangles you can obtain something similar to the first digital volume in the image below. Make a copy and move it below.

By adding horizontal rectangles and subtracting them, it’s easy to obtain the second one. Just create one rectangle, move it vertically (by holding down the Alt key to create a copy) and press Command + D repeatedly to multiply it.

Copy the second volume graphic and go to Photoshop.

Now paste it into the Vanishing Point filter. For some reason Photoshop doesn’t allow directly pasting paths from Illustrator there. So we must paste it on a new layer as pixels first. Rotate it and scale it vertically just as in the image below in order to have as much resolution as we can.

Then Command-click the layer thumbnail in the layers palette. This will bring up the selection of that layer. Press Command + C to copy it into the cache, then delete the layer. We can now move to the Vanishing Point filter.

Go to Filter > Vanishing Point and paste. You should have something like that shown below.

Now if you drag that selection onto the floor plane, Photoshop will automatically calculate the right perspective for you.

Do it again to extend the volume further back.

Go to blending options and add the styles shown below.

You should now have something looking like this.

In order to to have some of the squares transparent, like in the final image, create a Transparency Mask for this layer, and then use a 50% gray (#7a7a7a) to paint over the squares that you want transparent. This can be a tedious process and it is up to you to decide which ones you leave opaque and which not. I will illustrate.

Now to give it a little punch, duplicate that layer, set its Opacity to 68%, and apply the following Curves (Command + M) to its transparency mask and you get this. The gray in the mask should have turned to black so this layer affects only the opaque squares.

It should look something like this.

We have reached a delicate part which takes a lot of tweaking to get right, but the main idea is to use a copy of the volume, move it into place and then use the Warp Tool to simulate the curvature. The tricky part is that some of the lines may get curved the wrong way and I had to personally correct them. Fairly time consuming I must say, but no other idea to create that corner came to mind.

Using the same technique as before, create a transparency mask and block out some transparent squares using a 50% gray.

Again, use the Vanishing Point Filter, Warp and a Transparency Mask to create the next section. It will take some work, but I already illustrated the necessary techniques.

We proceed to add the rest of the sections until they vanish.

Back to Illustrator. Using the Pen Tool to create a path along the sketch lines. Then round the corners. The easiest way for rounding vertices is to use a script called Round Any Corner found in this archive. Read more here.

Fill the final path with white, remove the stroke, and copy/paste it into Photoshop underneath the “volume” layer.

In order to enhance the look I decided to add another volume, this time white, underneath the one we created. Use the Vanishing Point filter once again, copy the first volume created in Illustrator, and extend it into perspective, as shown below.

As we can see, the trail is overlapping the white volume, so we need a mask to hide part of it. Leave only the top-left section visible.

We just need to add the shadow underneath our guy and we’re done with this section. We isolated it earlier in another document so just copy/paste in a new layer and align it. Set it to Color Burn with 50% Opacity. Now he looks like he’s actually there.

Step 5 – Background and Foreground Images

There are multiple ways to create the flying images, but I found that the quickest and easiest was the 3D approach. Basically, I took the planes generated by Vanishing Point and tried to recreate them in 3D. Considering that they were flying on a vertical plane on the surfer’s sides meant I had to create only one plane. I could extend everything else from there. Hang on, you’ll see what I mean.

The application of choice was Modo, but this can be done just as easily in others too. Again, I did this in 3D because it was much faster, I could move the planes into perspective much easier, which means more experimenting hence better results. Arguably I could have done this with Vanishing Point too, but it would have been time consuming.

Besides on my computer, Photoshop kept crashing if I worked more than 30 seconds with Vanishing Point, which happened about 100 times when doing work on the music volume. After that, I knew 3D was the only choice. Besides you’ll learn a new technique.

First and foremost we need to prepare a backplate for the 3D environment with the plane we need to match. I used the following image. Save it as a separate JPG.

In Modo create a new scene.

Go to Item > Create Backdrop. This creates a plane which we can add the image above as reference.

On the right you will see the following menu. From the Items list choose the backdrop item you just created, then in Properties, go to Image > Load Image.

Choose the “backplate” we saved earlier.

As you can see, the backdrop rotates as we rotate the view. We don’t want that, we want it to remain still and only move the geometry. In order to do that go to Projection Type > Camera. This will make the “backdrop” invisible for the current perspective view, but it will act as a background for the camera.

Press Command + Space. This will bring up a pop-up menu where you can choose what your viewport will display. Select Camera of course.

Now if we rotate the viewport the background image will remain still. To make sure the rendering will have the same dimensions as our piece, on the right side go to Shader Tree > Render and set the width/height of the scene to 3613/5000.

We are ready now to match some geometry.

Make sure that Trackball Rotation is active in your camera Advanced OpenGL menu. This will ensure that the camera will be able to rotate on all axis not only on XZ.

Now the tricky part. By rotating the camera slowly try to match our 3D plane with the one in the reference. Also scale the plane and make it longer.

One thing is obvious, the camera perspective is not dramatic enough to match the two planes. When I say dramatic I mean that the parallel lines do not converge fast enough. So we need to increase it.

The perspective of a camera depends on how wide the entering cone of light is. The wider the cone, the greater the perspective. The narrower the cone, the lower. That’s why wide camera lenses tend to distort images and emphasize perspective. That cone angle is directly controlled by the focal length. Fortunately Modo’s camera model is very similar to the real world one, so we can edit that parameter.

I have found by trial and error that 10mm focal length is close to what we need.

Of course the objects are now smaller, because the wide angle covers more space. No worries there. We just have to close in with the camera, and rotate it. Suddenly, the plane fits much better.

Not the perfect match but with a little bit of tweaking the camera we are there.

This can be a tedious process because the first time you create the plane, you have to rotate the camera and change the focal length at the same time to get a good match. Which can be tricky and time consuming. But once you have the focal length determined, everything else is a piece of cake. Below are the camera settings to get the exact match.

Once we have that plane into place, we can duplicate, scale and move it to create different copies. You can move them parallel to each other to give the feeling of depth.

Observe the wide angle of the camera and the final geometry.

Press F9 to render the Camera view. It shouldn’t take long because it is a simple scene. This is what you get. Switch to Alpha Output and save a JPEG.

Back to Photoshop. Let’s see what we got so far.

Open the Alpha Image we saved from Modo in Photoshop. Copy it, then switch to our surfer, in the Channels tab create a new one and paste the alpha inside.

Now if you Command-click the channel thumbnail you get a selection.

Create a new layer and fill it with orange (#ff8f00).

Cut and paste the images that are supposed to be behind him on a new layer and move it underneath the “digital surfer” layer in the Layers Palette. This way they will seem to be behind him in space.

There are too many of them flying right now, they overcrowd the scene so proceed to erase some of them in order to maintain balance. Most are from the lower-left corner.

Now we will round off the corners of the images, so they look a little less pointy. To do that load the layer selection by Command-clicking on its thumbnail in the Layers Palette. We will first round off the small rectangles, as they need a smaller radius, and then progressively do the others. Subtract parts of the selection to obtain the one below.

Go to Select > Modify > Smooth and set the radius to 10 pixels. Then press Command + Shift + I to inverse the selection and delete. There you go. You now have rounded corners.

We need to apply the same technique to the larger images. This time with a radius of 20 pixels since they are closer to the camera. Do this for the next selection.

You will get this result.

And now the final step of this process is to round the corners of the foreground images. Repeat the above steps with using the radius in the image.

Proceed to apply the following style to the image layers. We need to give it a little depth.

The difference is very subtle around the edges but its still there.

Now we will assign different opacities to various images depending on how far they are from the camera. I need you to copy and paste the following onto a new layer and assign it 25% Opacity.

Copy and paste into a new layer the following selection and assign it a 65% Opacity.

Copy and paste the following selection into a new layer and assign it a 44% Opacity.

Copy and paste the following selection into a new layer and assign it a 75% Opacity.

After all these steps you should be looking at something like this.

The next thing to add are some highlights over the flying rectangles. Select all of them, then with a 20% Opacity, soft brush, paint some highlights on them. Take a look at the second picture below to get an idea.

The only thing left to do now is add some textures on top of them. I will demonstrate the technique used for one of the images, then by repeating it a lot all the other rectangles can be filled too. We’ll use one of my photos to do this. You can find the rest of the images used images here: xn3ctz.deviantart.com/gallery/. This is my portfolio of stock photography. Feel free to use them.

Anyway, copy and paste this image into a new layer in Photoshop.

Using the Transform tool Command-drag the corners to fit one of the rectangles we want to texture.

Then set the layer to Overlay blending mode and use a mask to round off the corners. The opacity can depend on the distance to the camera, meaning that the images in the background can be a little transparent to give the feeling of depth.

After you do this with all the other images you should end up with something pretty nice. Anyway, it is time consuming so I’ll jump straight to the end result.

Step 6 – Translucent Interface

I started by creating these fairly simple shapes in Illustrator. They will act as textures for the interface pieces.

Copy the bottom left shape into Photoshop and place it into position.

Set it to Multiply with 35% Opacity and apply the following layer styles.

Use the same settings and the Illustrator paths we first created to add the next shapes.

Add some texture using the other shapes. They should be white set to Soft Light blending mode at 100% Opacity. Place them using the Transform Tool (Command + T) and fit them to the interface pieces.

And now FINALLY the last step. Create a new layer, load the interface selection, and with a 20% Opacity, soft, white brush paint some highlights just as we did with the rectangles.

THAT’S IT! Just zoom-out turn on the visibility of all layers and enjoy!

Conclusion

With this tutorial we have explored various ways to create the feeling of depth and space while maintaining perspective. All starting from a simple photo, adding layers and layers of details all working together in a seamless piece.

I hope you liked it and learned some new techniques from this tutorial. See you online. Cheers!

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Final Image Preview

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Introduction

This tutorial is simple to follow and will give you some great techniques and results. We’ll be using simple techniques to create elaborate 3D shapes to decorate our image with. There will also be some simple coloring techniques as well as some patterns used.

To start yourself off you will need to find 2 essential stock photographs to use in this illustration. The first thing you will need to find is a good background, for these types of illustrations a paper texture, or a concrete one should work well.

You want something simple that will not overpower what you will have going on over it. We were given permission from Bashcorpo to use one of his amazing stocks located here on the DeviantArt page. So feel free to look through the portfolio and grab one of the many amazing background textures.

The final step in preparation is to get the main stock images you will be using. Bram and I both chose this stock from SXC. The reason we chose this stock is because you have enough of the body visible in the picture, the face
isn’t covered and it will make for an overall attractive picture once everything is added over it. So make your pick, try to find a stock that fits the criteria, something high resolution so it doesn’t distort when you enlarge it, and something you find attractive in the eyes. After you have all of that, drag it into Photoshop so we can begin.

Step 1

Now let’s open up Photoshop, we always work with an A3 300 dpi size because you never know if a magazine wants high-res files and of course you want to print your own work out, and for all of that 300 dpi is perfect. Now before you start with the artwork you should make some groups to put your layers in.

Group 1 will be named “Background,” Group 2 will be the “Model” and you can add groups like “Color” as you go along. I also use groups called “PLAY,” here where I play with patterns and add little details to make it look better. Below you can see how the groups look before even starting the illustration.

Step 2

After you make the groups you should always start with the background first, because it is hard work with a plain white background. I use paper textures a lot, you can find a stock like this by searching on SXC or DeviantArt. If your paper texture was not originally white like ours, then you can go ahead and desaturate it or use hue/saturation and then saturate it to about -80, so there is still this slight orange tint on it.

Experiment with it as much as you can until you find something that is suitable for you, Command + U will bring up the Hue/Saturation screen, and Command + Shift + U will just desaturate the whole layer. After that you can also brighten the background a little bit by playing with the Lightness bar on Hue/Saturation.

After that I added the stock we picked onto the background and used the Pen Tool to cut away the background. If you are using a model with a lot of hair, then do not worry, just avoid cutting it out for now and I will show you how to solve that problem later. As you can see it was too tedious to cut out our model’s hair as well so we left it alone for now. So far the piece is looking like the image below.

Step 3

Now I adjust the colors of my model because she is looking a bit too dark. First I try to make her brighter by using brightness/contrast – Brightness +18 in my case. Every stock is different so you have to feel it out yourself and decide when you think it’s bright enough.

The next technique that we use a lot is again adjusting her with Hue/Saturation and Saturate by -20. Why, because your background is also saturated. Another good thing to do is to add little
details throughout creating the whole piece. One thing I added is a quick drawn path with the lasso Tool over the background and under the model. It’s a small thing, but it will bring the piece
together at the end.

Step 4

Now we will address the issue with the hair. There are two different methods to dealing with this problem and both of them are a lot more
efficient than going in with the pen tool and sitting there cutting around every strand of hair.

Method 1 is for the users who have the pleasure of using a tablet, if you do then first download these amazing brushes created by the extraordinary painter Daniel Luvisi. In this pack you will find a hair brush, the settings are already in place so all you have to do is make a new layer above your model and call it “Hair.”

After that zoom in a fair amount and get to the point of the stock where you have the background still left. From there get the Eye Dropper tool and take samples of the color the hair is in that area. Once you have done that just keep stroking away with the great hair brush. You should get into an easy rhythm of Eye Dropper then Brush Tool, after a while and a few layers you should have some very realistic hair. Be creative, also use different colors and try to mimic the original hair color. If you have any of the original background sticking out you can just erase it.

Method 2 is very similar but for those users who do not have a tablet to use. This will take a bit longer though. First off make a new layer entitled “Hair” over the model and grab the Eye Dropper tool. Take a sample of the hair’s main color and then grab your Pen tool. Find a 3px hard brush and select it then with the Pen tool map out some simple strands of hair all around. After that right-click over it and select Stroke, with Pen Pressure selected. Repeat the process with a few different colors and brush sizes and you should be good.

Now it’s starts getting colorful. Our hair is brushed and we can finally start playing around with colors and patterns. First you take your basic soft round brush tool, now you choose some fresh and vibrant colors like Pink, Blue and yellow, all your choice. Then brush around the model, remember to experiment. I always try to add the brushing over focal points like the neck of the girl, arms, around the eye a little bit and her hips of course.

Use as many layers as you want with your brushes and add them to the Group “Front Color” group. The image below is how the work looks like on a black background, just so you can see the type of brushes used as well as colors.

Step 5

Now we will change the blend options for the color layers to Screen or Lighten, this part you have to check out yourself to see what looks the best in your opinion. Now we have a little color in our artwork, so far it is looking good. You can also see how the hair looks after it was painted, still very realistic and there was no need to spend a lot of time cutting it out.

Step 6

Now we will be adding one more stock to give some texture to the illustration as well as to color up her gray top. First we search for a golden object that is large enough where we can cut out a part of it to fill up a decent portion of her gray top.

We found this photograph taken of a golden belt. Now take the Lasso Tool and put the feather setting on, this is very important. Now take a random selection with it that would fit over her top. We will position this part on the top-right corner of her shirt.

Step 7

Now we place it in the top-right corner of her shirt and select the whole selection again, then add a new layer and brush with some soft brushes like last time. You can set them to either Screen or Lighten, whichever looks best to you. Below is what we had after this step was completed.

Step 8

Now we will begin making some abstract 3D shapes using the Polygonal Tool with the Feather setting on again. You should start a new group called
Abstract Objects and leave it over your background and under your model stock.

Take a random selection with your Polygonal Tool and fill it with a funky color. In this case Pink was used. This whole illustration is going to be vibrant and happy so pick colors that represent that.

Step 9

Now we want to add shadows so it becomes a 3D abstract object. You are going to want to make triangular and rectangular selections with your Polygonal Tool. Make sure they follow the same edges as your original shape. After you have a selection down, slightly use the Soft Round Brush with the colors Black and White to cast shadows and highlights on your shape. You can even lower the Opacity of your brush so the shadows and highlights are softer.

Here is where you can be original, look at what we have and use that as a basis to make your own wacky 3D shapes, play around with where the shadows go and highlights so your object gets that 3D look to it. This will take your illustration to a whole other level by taking bland 2D shapes and making them pop more and come to life. All it takes is a few
careful selections and a couple of brushes.

Step 10

After adding all the shadows and highlights this is what we have as a final product, first try to replicate what we got and once you have gotten the hang of it try to create your own versions of them.

Step 11

Now take your 3D shape and duplicate it once. After you have done that just hide that one for now. Go back to your original and if needed press Command + T to either rotate it or enlarge/minimize its size.

Once you have it in place go back to that hidden layer and unhide it. Now change its color by using Color Balance, or by just messing with the Hue in Hue/Saturation. After you have a second shape just resize it and rotate it. If it needs to be rotated, then place it somewhere behind the model.

Duplicate the duplicated 3D layer that you just changed the color of. Now proceed to distort it, so go to Distort-Twirl, and here you have to play with the settings. You can go with an angle of -50 to -250 or 50 to 250. So once you have decided on what you want proceed to Twirl it, and then set it somewhere on the canvas. Below is what we have so far at this point.

Step 12

Ok we’re on the right track now. We have made our first abstract 3D object, now let’s make a second one. This one will be slightly more complicated then our last because we will be placing it over the model so we want everyone to see all the detail in it. This one will be a bit longer in shape and it will flow according to her body and go around her belly.

Below I drew out a simple shape just to show the flow of the object, note this isn’t the the shape we will be using. This is just something to show you how it will flow throughout her body. Whatever your stock looks like try to make a shape that has the same type of flow to it, going over the body and then tucking back under it.

Step 13

Now if you do not remember how to make the 3D objects scroll back up and read the instructions again from Step 9 and Step 10. The whole process is very easy. You just have to practice a lot. It also doesn’t hurt to be creative and think outside the norm. With all that you will master the technique in no time. Below is the shape we created, it flows almost as we want it to. In the next step we will make an adjustment to fix one of the edges.

Step 14

Now our current shape is a bit rough looking with all the sharp edges, so to fix that and make it more rounded we will use the Twirl technique again. So first thing to do is select a part of the shape with the Elliptical Marquee Tool and use a feather of 20, then while you have the selection go to Distort > Twirl set an angle of -150. Depending on your desired flow you can mess around with the settings. Just don’t let it get too out of control.

Step 15

Do it again for the opposite side of our object with an angle of 40. Now we should have an 3D object that looks like the image below.

Step 16

Now we can perfectly put it around our model. If it is too long or too short go ahead and use Transform, to fix it. To add to the realism of it, go ahead and use a soft brush with the color black to go over the edges to cast shadows from the models body. This is what we have so far.

Step 17

To fill in a little bit more space go ahead and experiment with some more 3D shapes. Here we made a small red colored 3D shape and put it over the model. You don’t want all your shapes to have the same basic format so try to change it up. As you can see below this one is layered. Even though its different, the exact same simple techniques were used.

Step 18

Make an octagonal selection by using the Polygon Tool and then by choosing 8 sides. Make it a medium sized shape and then just leave it there. The color does not matter at this point. Also hide it as well for now.

Step 19

Now make a new layer over the hidden octagon shape, then do Image > Apply Image. Once you have done that right-click on that layer and click Create Clipping Mask. Unhide the Octagon and then go back to the Applied Image. Use the Move tool to move it around until you get a nice piece of clothing fully inside the octagon shape. After that merge the two layers by pressing Command + E. Once you have done that you can use the Lasso tool to select pieces of the octagon and darken them as well as lighten them with Hue/Saturation.

Step 20

Add some colors with the soft round brush, for example we added the color green onto it. You can then leave it alone or set to Screen/Lighten. Whatever looks best. Then use your Polygonal tool to select shapes inside the octagon and then darken or highlight them with a simple round brush. You are pretty much doing the same technique as the 3D objects, but this time its on a textured surface so its a bit harder. The final result is below.

Step 21

Ok now back to our model. We are going to add our first pattern. I opened up a new document and took the Pen tool, then I just filled the whole thing out with a simple Zebra print. If you are not able to freehand an animal print go ahead and find a stock of a print and use the Pen tool to trace it.

Once I had the print I placed it onto our illustration and then put it over our models neck. I then used the Pen tool again to trace the zebra print so it fits directly over her neck and doesn’t go anywhere else.

At this point you can set it to Screen. This will then just leave the black print. If this does not satisfy you then you can always grab the Pen tool again and trace out her neck and make a selection. Once the selection is made go to the original model layer and lower the saturation on her skin. This will give the exact effect of zebra skin. But the decision is all yours to make. This is what it will look like.

Step 22

To finish off this piece we will start adding details! First thing to do is make here face drip. This is very easy to do. Go and make a dripping selection with the Pen tool that goes around the bottom of the models face. You can then fill it with any color, in this case we chose white. You can even lower the opacity as well. After that erase the side of the shape with a soft brush to give it kind of a fade. You should have something similar to the image below now.

Step 23

To make this even better, we will use our awesome Lasso tool and select our model layer. Now the next step an important part so make sure you do it until it looks perfect. What you should do is use the Lasso tool with a feather of 0 and draw a weird circular shape around the side of her face. It could be the whole side or it could just be a small portion. You decide on that.

Step 24

Now when we have this selection, Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Then while it is still selected Brighten or Darken it with Brightness/Contrast, so it stands out more. Do this on her arms too and anywhere else you see fit. Below is my result.

Step 25

There is still to much negative space in this piece. So here are some tricks to fill up that dead space with something more appealing. You can put some body parts around her, like an eye flowing around, or a nose. I took the lips, nose, and right eye. I cut them out from the duplicated model layer and place them around the piece. Mess around with the positions until you find where it fits best. I also brightened up a few of them. This is the outcome so far.

Step 26

Now you can play with some fun concepts. I took a screenshot of some Photoshop icons and placed the zoom tool behind the model and around the floating eye. Note you do not have to do exactly this, but try to think of ways to fill the space with creative things.

Step 27

Now we add the final small details to polish our illustration. First off when you have a very light piece like we do now it is always good to add a little bit of darkness to it so your eyes don’t get caught up in the light. So we will make a new layer and with the Pen tool and create a small dark shape to put anywhere in the piece. We put it in the corner.

After doing that we move on to some more details, you can add accessories on your model. Using the Pen tool you can trace out an armband to put on your model. You may also use some subtle brushes to decorate the back. And finally if you feel the need to, you can make your own small pattern using very simple shapes like triangles, and circles to further decorate your illustration. Just remember not to make it too busy.

Final Result

Have fun decorating your own model to create a stylish, colorful illustration using patterns and shapes.

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Final Image Preview

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Step 1 – Setting Up the Document

Let’s start by creating a new document (1200px by 960px at 300 pixels/inch). Later on we will be creating the orb in the center of the image so create new guides at the vertical and horizontal center.

The background color is not important, we will be adding our background to a new layer. Our background will come from an actual photograph of a concrete texture (found here from Mayang’s Free Textures). The image is a lot bigger than our canvas but that is OK. Right-click and copy it from your browser. Paste the image into your canvas.

In order to resize the image use Command + T to free-transform the image, then Command + 0 to re-zoom our work area to show the entire transform border. Click on the bottom-right drag handle and hold Shift to resize the concrete texture until it is just slightly larger than our canvas. Double-click the Zoom Tool to zoom into 100%.

Step 2 – Touching Up the Raw Background

As a touch-up to the raw background, select the Clone Stamp Tool, choose a 200 pixel brush with 0% Hardness. Click Alt and notice the cursor changes to a cross hair, this is the sample point for selection with the Stamp Tool.

We want to get rid of the non-concrete texture (for example, areas with sharp angles). So while holding Alt down, click on an area with a clean concrete texture. Releasing the Alt key will return us to the stamp brush. Paint over the unwanted textures. Repeat this touch-up until you are satisfied with the resulting texture. The touch-up areas are highlighted in yellow below.

Step 3 – Reconsidering the Background

Sometimes I will just sit and stare at the screen for awhile, not touching the mouse, but just looking at what is on the screen. I decided that I wasn’t entirely pleased with the background. This being the case, I will blend one more texture in with the existing texture for more depth and contrast. The second texture comes from here.

Copy the texture and paste it on top of the existing texture, then resize it using the same method as in Step 1. Set the new texture’s blending mode to Multiply. As a final adjustment, lets slightly blur our new texture. With the layer selected in the layers panel, go to Filter > Noise > Median, and use 3px. We may need to adjust it later, but for now we will leave it as is.

Step 4 – Background Color and Lighting

Let’s deal with coloring our background and making final adjustments to it. First desaturate the backgrounds by applying a hue/saturation adjustment layer on top of all layers. At the bottom of the layers panel click on the contrast circle (if you hover over the buttons for a few seconds a tool tip will pop-up telling you what the button does).

Take the saturation down to 0%. Since we used an adjustment layer, we can always change the saturation in the future (to do this just double-click the hue icon in the adjustment layer).

To color the background add a new Solid Color Fill Layer by clicking the contrast circle at the bottom of the layers panel. Choose Solid Color from the menu that pops up. The color I chose is #5d5941, but since we used a fill layer we can easily adjust this color in the future by double-clicking the color thumbnail for this new layer. Set the color adjustment layer’s blending mode to Soft Light.

Our source of lighting will be from the upper-left, so it’s about time we start creating shadows and highlights that will give the perception of a light coming from that direction. Create a new layer on top of the greenish fill layer. Fill that layer with solid white. Press D and then Command + Backspace to quickly set white as the background color.

My favorite way to create easy lighting on a background is to use the Gradient Tool in conjunction with layer blending modes. Using the Gradient Tool, reproduce the gradients in the figure below. Set the blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 65% (second figure below).

Step 5 – Starting the Orb

Create a new layer and name it “orb bg.” Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and hold Shift + Alt then click in the middle of the document where the guides intersect each other. This will constrain the selection and create an exact circle that emanates from the middle towards the edges. Usually the starting point is the upper-left of the circle. This method makes it so we can click the center. Once you’ve made a circular selection with a diameter of almost 700px, fill the selection with white.

At this point we need some sort of idea of what the orb should look like. Do an internet search for "marble sphere." I wanted the sphere to have an ancient, stone appearance so I’ll use an image with a lot of cracking and texture contrast. I like this image, so I will use it as a starting point, but I will probably add more contrast and texture.

Our first marble texture comes from here. Copy it, paste it, and resize it to just bigger than our white sphere using the same technique as in Step 1.

Make a selection of the sphere by holding Command and clicking the layer thumbnail for our white orb. We want our marble pattern to be the exact shape and size of the sphere.

Now with the selection ants still marching, hit Command + Shift + I, which will invert the selection. Now we can delete all the marble texture outside of the sphere by clicking on the marble texture in the layers panel and hitting Backspace.

Step 6 – Contouring the Marble Texture

Right now the marble texture looks incredibly unbelievable. It doesn’t follow the shape of a real sphere. Looking back at the reference sphere we can see how the real marble is warped and flows in a circular motion around the sphere, our texture is linear and has no contouring.

To add some quick contouring let’s use the Spherize distortion filter. First Command-click the marble layer thumbnail to select the marble’s shape. Now in the menu go to Filter > Distort > Spherize. In the window that pops up, set the Amount to 100%, you can reduce the preview to 25% to get a better idea of how the effect will look.

Click OK and now the marble has a more believable contour. But I still want it to be slightly more contoured. Repeat the spherize filter, but this time use a 50% amount.

Set the marble texture layer’s blending mode to Multiply and reduce the Opacity to 70%.

Step 7 – Coloring the Sphere

Our sphere is white, and that just doesn’t have the pop that I am looking for because we may want to change the sphere’s color later. Let’s add a Color Overlay Layer Style. Double-click the “orb bg” layer and the Layer Style window will pop open. On the left check the box next to color overlay, it’s red by default, just Double-click the red thumbnail and enter in this color: #5db8cf. You should see the sphere change to a teal color. Now we have a good marble sphere as our base, but it is still a bit boring. We need some more inspiration. The sphere needs some gloss!

Step 8 – Adding Gloss to Our Orb

There are tons of tutorials on creating glossy spheres, but what we are after is a somewhat realistic shine and shadows on our orb. Most tutorials are fine for creative website buttons or a slightly impressive glass ball that wouldn’t really fit into any artistic context.

What we need to do is do an internet search for glossy spheres to find real images of highly reflective marbles or spheres that have a shine that is resultant from a real light source. The first thing I noticed when examining a real image was how many subtle highlights and shadows a glossy sphere has.

I used this image as a reference, which comes from The Dimensions of Color. I will not try and copy the reflections, but I will use them as a spring board. I’ll outline some of my approach here, but I encourage you to put your own interpretation on the lighting effects on the sphere.

There may be a temptation here to use the gradient tool for lighting effects, I’m going to stick with the pen tool, burn tool, gradient masks, and maybe some elliptical marquee tool as well.

Step 8a – Shadows

Create a new layer called “shadow 1,” with our new shadow layer selected in the layers panel. Command-click the “orb bg” layer to get a circle selection. I don’t want the shadow to go right to the edge so I will contract the selection. Go to Select > Modify > Contract and enter 20 pixels.

We want a crescent shaped selection so grab the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Move the cursor to the upper-left and hold down the Alt key (notice the cursor has a little ‘-’ on it now, it will now subtract from the selection). This may take a couple of tries, but look below to see the shape I was happy with.

I don’t want a crisp shadow so we need to blur it. With our “shadow” layer selected Command-click the “sphere” layer again to get a circular selection. This will limit the blur to the edges of our orb. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and use 25px or whatever suits your taste. Once you have blurred the image, drop the layer’s Opacity down to 70%.

Now I want to smooth out the shadow so select the Burn Tool. I set the exposure to 100% and then chose to burn the highlights. Make these edits on the “marble texture” layer. You can see the results below.

I still don’t like the shadow so I let’s make one last edit to this region. Change the blending mode of the “shadow 1″ layer to Soft Light, but notice how the shadow is lessened. Press Command + J to duplicate the “shadow 1″ layer. Let’s go ahead and make one more copy of our “shadow 1″ layer. Hold Command + J to duplicate again.

Note: As my layers panel starts to pile up, I like to organize them into folders. An easy way to do this is to first select all the layers you want in the group (Hold Command and click each layer in the panel). If you then press Command + G it will create a group that will put all the selected files into that group. Double-click the group’s name and then rename it.

Step 8b – Mid-Shadows

Referencing our source image again, notice how the sphere has darker shadows that are between the highlights and the darkest shadows. I think it is these intermediate shadows that give the gloss it’s real character. Create a new group for our mid-shadows. At the bottom of the layers panel there is a small file icon, click that and then rename the group to “mid shadows.”

Now this next part assumes you have some grasp on the pen/shape tools. I won’t explain how to use them, but I will show the shapes I created. Select the Ellipse Tool. There is one setting I will point out. With the pen tool or any shape tool selected you have a choice of creating Shape Layer, Paths, or Fill Pixels. I am going to choose the Paths setting (it’s located under the main program menu). With this setting our tool will create a new layer in the Paths tab of our Layers Panel.

Now that we have a path created we can use it to create a selection. Click on the Paths tab in the layers panel, then Command-click the path layer. We now have a selection that we call use to fill in a new layer.

Create a new layer in our “mid shadows” group, name that layer “midshadow 1.” Fill the selection with #24231b (you can double-click the background color thumbnail in the tool panel, then use Command + Backspace. Command + D will deselect the selection. Set the blending mode of this layer to Overlay and drop the Opacity to 50%. I don’t like the positioning of this layer so I am going to move it down and to the right.

Let’s lessen the sharp edges by adding a Layer Mask so we can hide parts of the layer in a non-destructive way. To add a layer mask, click on the third thumbnail at the bottom of the layer’s panel.

Click the layer mask thumbnail, then select the Gradient Tool. We want a black fading gradient. Use the image below as a guide for creating the gradients. I applied the gradients in two steps, but combined them into one image.

Next choose the brush, size 200px and 0% Hardness. Select black as the foreground color and paint where the faded red paint marks are shown below. I clicked the paint brush about 7-8 times in each position. It may be hard to see the change so hide and show the layer to see the change.

Now we will create the second mid-shadow. Create a new layer and name it “midshadow 2.” Create a new shape with the Pen Tool. Use the same process as we did with the first midshadow: create a path, make a selection, fill the “midshadow 2″ layer, then create a Layer Mask.

I used this color to fill the layer: #28271. Change the layer blending mode to Soft Light and the Opacity to 50%. On the layer mask I chose the 200px brush with 0% Hardness, then faded both sides of the 2nd midshadow. Be creative with the layer mask, as shown below.

Step 8c – Highlights

Now onto the highlights. When we create highlights we will also be defining the edges of our midshadows (you will see what I mean shortly). Create a new group, call it “highlights” and create a new layer inside this group called “highlight source.”

If you look back at our reference image you’ll notice that the highlights have different degrees of sharpness and different distances of highlighting. When we create these new highlight layers their different opacities will interact and the interactions will create their own unique highlights.

Start with the most noticeable highlight, the light source reflection. This can take on many shapes depending on the shape of the light source. In other words we can just completely make this up. I will be using the pen tool for this step and following the same procedure as I did with the midshadows (with one or two different steps that I will point out). You can reproduce this shape or create your own, it won’t make a big difference.

Whatever shape you choose though, make sure it follows the contour of the sphere or it will look fake. Also make sure the reflections adhere to the position of our light source coming from the upper left.

With our new path make a selection and choose the “highlight source” layer, fill the selection with white (#ffffff).

With that layer still selected, change the Opacity to 80% and blur it slightly by going to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use a setting of 0.5px.

Create a second layer in the “highlights” group and name it "large highlight.” You might as well create a Layer Mask on this layer as well. This is going to be our over-all highlight. Make a circular selection and move it to the upper-left of our orb. We want the selection to be a smaller diameter than the actual sphere. Fill this selection in our “large highlight” layer with white. Change the blending mode to Soft Light and the Opacity to 90%.

Choose the brush but this time choose a size of 500 pixels with 0% Hardness. You can see below where I painted on the layer mask (I just used a red brush to show the location – use pure black for your artwork though). I clicked the brush around 16 times.

Create a new layer and name it “oval highlight.” Apply a layer mask to it. I will be creating this shape with the Ellipse Tool. Just recreate the shape in the images below. Since the path is not at the correct angle, we need to rotate it until it is aligned with the other highlights as shown.

Make a selection from the path and fill it with white in our new layer. Change the blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 20%. Go ahead and mask the upper-left edges of this “oval highlight” layer by painting into the layer mask with black. You can choose whatever brush size you want for this.

Our third highlight layer will be similar to the first highlight layer only it will just be a curve. You could accomplish this in multiple ways, but I’ll do it using the Elliptical Marquee Tool.

First create a new layer called “second shine.” We wont need a layer mask. Make a circular selection, then make a crescent selection. To do this, hold the Alt key down to subtract a smaller circle from our current selection. Click the bottom-right of the canvas and drag towards the upper-left. In our new layer, fill this crescent selection with white.

The new highlight is too sharp, so lets blur it by going to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. I used a pixel setting of about 2.5. Also, drop the Opacity of the layer to 50%.

Now for our last highlight. Create a new layer in our “highlights” folder and call it “abstract highlight.” Give it a layer mask.

Our reference image has fairly uniform and predictable highlights and shadows. But if you browse enough images of glossy spheres on the internet you will notice some spheres have some weird reflections and highlights. Sometimes these come from imperfections of the sphere, other times it could be an add object that is out of the shot, but that is still reflected on the surface of the sphere. This reflection/highlight could be from anything, but it adds a nice asymmetrical feel to the highlights.

Once again I will use the pen tool for this highlight. Below is the shape I will be using to make my selection. Remember that the shape should follow the contour of the sphere as closely as possible, otherwise we lose the realistic feel of the highlight.

Use the shape to make a selection, then in our new “abstract highlight” layer fill the selection with white. Change the blending mode to Overlay and drop the Opacity to 35%. Now paint into the layer mask to blend this highlight in. With a 200px brush at 0% hardness I painted in the areas marked in red.

The result is shown below.

Step 9 – Analyzing the Composition

It’s time to sit back and just look at the piece and be honest about what I don’t like. I rarely ever work on something where each step is the right choice and the final result is a clearly defined linear set of steps. Below is a list of things I don’t like so far. Let’s fix them before moving on.

1. The marble texture seems a little washed out. The teal doesn’t seam crisp and there isn’t enough contrast to the texture.
2. The highlights seems a little cartoonish and separate from the sphere they should be a part of.
3. The sphere itself needs some separation from the background. Something other than the color contrast.

These three things should be enough to enhance the overall look before we move onto the key and its parts.

Step 10 – Enhancing the Marble Texture

Lets go back to our marble layer in our layers panel. Click the layer in the layer panel so that it is the active layer. Duplicate the marble texture by pressing Command + J. Our new marble texture layer has a blending mode of Multiply, which yields an unwanted effect. Change the blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 40%.

We need to put a layer mask on this new layer and hide the upper-left part of the layer. Highlights on the sphere should wash out the texture they are above so we need to simulate the washing out. Since our bottom marble texture layer is already somewhat washed out, when we hide the top marble layer the bottom one will show through.

Choose a black foreground layer. In the layer mask on our second marble use the gradient tool to fade the top-left of the layer.

Step 11 – Enhancing the Highlights

Now that we have changed the marble texture the highlights don’t look nearly as bad, but we may need to adjust the opacity and/or blending modes. In our “highlights” folder click on the “large highlight,” change its blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 70%.

Select the “second shine” highlight layer and change the Opacity to 71%.

Our “oval highlight” layer is almost invisible so select that layer and change its Opacity to 37%.

Select the “abstract shine” layer and change its Opacity to 50%.

Step 12 – Separating Our Sphere from the Background

Let’s venture back to our initial “orb bg” layer. Double-click the “orb bg” layer in the layer panel to bring up the Layer Style window. Start by adding a Drop Shadow.

Use the settings:

• Blend Mode: Multiply (color: black #000000)
• Opacity: 99%
• Angle: 135 degrees (use global lighting)
• Distance: 53px
• Spread: 2%
• Size: 87px

For the last part of emphasizing the orb, I imagined creating some sort of ripple in the background or a crater. It’s like the orb put off some sort of power that distorted the ground it was hovering over.

Create a new layer behind the “orb bg” layer and call it “crater.” Next, Command-click the “orb bg” layer to make a circular selection. We want the selection to be about 50px – 75px larger than the orb. In the menu go to Select > Modify > Expand and choose a setting of 55px. Select a background color of white, then press Command + Backspace to fill our new layer with white.

A sharp edged crater would look ridiculous so let’s blur the edges. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and choose a setting of 25px.

Now we need to make a doughnut shape on our “crater” layer, so Command-click the layer thumbnail to make a selection. To contract the selection go to Select > Modify > Contract and choose a setting of 20px. Before we delete the contracted selection we need to feather the selection edge. Go to Select > Refine Edge.

Use the settings:

• Radius: 1px
• Contrast: 0
• Smooth: 3
• Feather: 3px
• Contrast: 0%

After clicking OK, hit Backspace to delete the selection. We need to divide this new fuzzy doughnut in half so we can create a highlight and shadow. Choose the Polygon Lasso Tool and select the bottom section of the “crater” layer.

We need this selection in a new layer so hit Command + X to cut the selection, then Command + V to paste it. We need it to be black because it is a shadow. Hit Shift + I to invert the color from white to black. Rename this new layer to “crater 2.” Apply layer masks to both “Crater” and “Crater 2,” then set their blending modes to Soft Light. Fade the edges of both layers by using the gradient tool on the layer masks as I did in the image below.

Step 13 – Creating a Split in the Orb

We need to create the split in the orb that emanates from the key hole we will be creating later.

Above the “highlights” folder create a new folder and name it “key hole.” Create a new layer inside this layer and name it “split.” Use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to create a selection and fill it with black.

Make sure this new layer is selected, if not Command-click the layer “split.” We need to contract the selection, so once again go to Select > Modify > Contract and use a setting of 5px. Once you click OK, press Backspace to delete.

Create a layer mask on the layer “split.” I want to delete the right half of the shape and then fade the top and bottom of the split. The areas I have masked off are highlighted in red.

Note: If you ever want your layer mask highlighted, click on the mask thumbnail and press the Backslash key it will toggle the layer mask highlighting.

I want to put a little glow on the edges of the split so double-click the split layer. When the Layer Style window first opens we need to make a selection in the Advanced Blending section. Select the Layer Mask Hides Effects option. This will allow the layer mask to also hide any Layer Styles we apply.

Now apply an Outer Glow style and use the settings below:

• Blend Mode: Overlay
• Opacity: 81%
• Noise: 0
• Color: White (#ffffff)
• Technique: Softer
• Spread: 2%
• Size: 10px

Step 14 – Creating the Key Hole

I want to create the key hole using the pen tool. Create a new layer in our “key hole” group and call the layer “key hole.” We will use the same process of creating a shape, then making a selection with the shape and filling the selection in our new layer.

Move the key hole on top of the split. The key hole’s shape is wrong and doesn’t follow the contour of the orb so we need to warp transform the key hole. With the “key hole” layer selected go to Edit > Transform > Warp. My warp adjustments are shown below.

I want to add some highlights to the keyhole to give it a little bit of dimension. Double-click the “key hole” layer to bring up the Layer Style window. Select the Drop Shadow option and use the settings below (make sure you have the Use Global Lighting” option turned off, it’s next to the angle slider). Use these settings:

• Blend Mode: Overlay
• Opacity: 100%
• Angle: -90 degrees (uncheck “Use Global Light”)
• Distance: 5px
• Spread: 6%
• Size: 10px

Step 15 – Adding the Basic Key Shape

I decided to make the key from scratch rather than use a stock photo. This way we are in control of the way it looks. I still did an image search online for “old key” to get some reference images. I did all the work by hand, but I constantly looked at the real thing to compare. My main reference photo was this one from the site worldofstock.com.

First use the Pen Tool to set down a basic key shape, then add details to it and give it a realistic shape.

…and some refinement to the shape

Now create a new layer in our “key hole” group and call it “key base.” Create a selection using our path (remember to use the process from Step 8b). Fill the selection with the color: #5b4a16.

Old keys were made out of metals like iron and they had imperfections and a lot more variants in texture than today’s keys, so we need a good texture to use for our key. I used this one.

Paste the texture into a new layer on top of the “key base” layer. If you hold down the Alt key as you hover on the lines between the two layers, then the cursor changes. If you click the layer on top of the cursor, then it becomes bound to the shape of the layer below.

Change the metal texture’s layer blending mode to Soft Light, and we are ready to start working on giving the key some dimension and lighting realism.

Step 16 – Giving the Key Dimension

Two main cues to dimension come from lighting effects and distortion of features based on shape. My first techniques for adding depth were the Drop Shadow and Bevel/Emboss effects, which for just clicking a box and tweaking some numbers can be alright… at first. For this key though I think I want to use a combination of the dodge and burn tool, the liquify filter, and the normal brush tool (to add some high contrast depth).

I’ll start first by adding the distortions so we have a better idea of where our lighting will appear. Make a selection of each area we want to distort. This will restrict our edits to localized areas and prevent us from affecting past and future edit sites.

Step 16a – First Selection/Distortion

Using the Elliptical Marquee Tool, make a selection of the first bulge in the key. I wanted flat sides, so I then selected the Rectangular Marquee Tool and held down the Alt key to subtract from the selection. The selection is slightly off so I needed to rotate it counter-clockwise by going to Select > Transform Selection, rotate it, then press Enter.

With our selection made, go to Filter > Liquify. Use the settings I have below, but make sure you have Show Backdrop selected in the bottom right so you can see the context of what you’re editing. I also made the magnification 400% to better see what I was editing. I just painted in the middle of the selection until I was happy (maybe 4 or 5 clicks).

Step 16b – Second Selection/Distortion

Using the same techniques as in Step 16a, I will edit our second Bulge on the key.

Step 16c – Third Selection/Distortion

Once again use the same technique on the last area of distortion. On this area I don’t think the key is as thick so our distortion doesn’t have to be as drastic.

Step 17 – Creating the Shadows on the Key

This step requires more accuracy because we will be using the Burn Tool directly on our texture layer. This is usually referred to as destructive editing because we are making edits directly to the layer, and we will be at the mercy of the number of History Steps if we need to undo our edits. In other words, we could edit to the point where we could no longer undo some of the edits.

This step would probably be easier with some sort of computer tablet. I’ll make do with a mouse though. Select the Burn Tool. We will probably need to do this in 2 or 3 sub-steps using different brush sizes. I will start out with a brush size of 17 pixels, 0% Hardness, with the Range set to Midtones and the Exposure set to 30%. I usually like a lower exposure because it allows me to burn the areas at a slower rate so I can be more gradual with my darkening of the layer.

Since the burn tool is additive, meaning it will make an area increasingly dark as the brush moves over the same spot, I will start with the lightest shadow first, then add in darker areas after.

Step 17a – Adding the Lightest Shadows

The hardest part of the lighting on the key will be anticipating where the lighting will affect the key. Our reference image has a lighting source that comes from multiple angles – direct lighting in addition to reflective lighting sources. Our lighting is a direct source from the upper-left, so we are dealing with a novel light source and we’ll have to edit accordingly.

Try to anticipate areas where the light will hit first – usually edges, then use the opposite side of the key to add the shadows. Remember though, that the orb itself is reflecting light which would probably cause all the edges of the key to have some degrees of highlights, so our shadows will be primarily on the inside parts of the key.

Use the image below to see where I started adding our lightest shadows. Shown below are the areas I edited along with the motion I used when painting with the Burn Tool.

Step 17b – Adding our Mid-level Shadows

Our next section of shadows will overlap a lot of our previous shadow edits, so just keep in mind that these edits will also darken our existing shadow edits.

Use the same settings for the Burn Tool, but change the brush size to 9 pixels. Once again, notice the areas that I edited and the direction of the brush strokes.

Step 17c – Our Darkest Shadows

For our last step of the shadows, we’ll add the darkest parts of our shadows. They will also be the thinnest and have the highest contrast so we will be using a brush size of 4 pixels and change the Range to Shadows for stronger darkening.

Below are the areas I edited for this last shadow step. Don’t be afraid to use different levels of magnification because this step requires a higher level of detail. For me it’s easier to edit smaller areas when I am magnified in on the key at 300% or more.

Step 17d – One Last Layer of Shadow

OK, I lied. We need one last step for the darkest and sharpest shadows. Choose the normal brush with a 2 pixel diameter and 0% Hardness. Use black as the foreground color.

I will only be using this step to add to some of the sharper horizontal sections on the key. Create a new layer in the top of our “highlights” folder and call it “darkest shadows.” Paint in vertical motions. After you have done this, you can smooth out the top edges of this layer by whatever means you like best. I just deleted some of the top of the lines, and then used the Smudge Tool to fade it out a little.

Step 18 – Highlights and the Key is Done

Our highlights are going to follow a similar thought process and technique as the shadow steps, only we will use the dodge tool. If you are ever unsure of what a tool is or how it works, just do an internet search for that tool, or refer to Photoshop’s help. Many times I will do this in the middle of a tutorial so that I can better understand how a tool works or why I am using it.

Step 18a – Making Our Weak Highlights Strong

As I have said before, sometimes I will just stare at a design or leave it then come back. Usually this will counter my initial joy at what I have created and allow me to be more honest with what needs fixing. In this case, it needs more highlights. The key could stay like this, but it has a worn-out and dull look. I think adding some even more drastic highlights will give the key some luster.

Create a new layer and use a combination of brush strokes and blending modes. The Dodge Tool is going to lose its effectiveness if we use it anymore. Below is an image with just the white painted onto the key. After you paint the white, use the Smudge Tool to smooth and taper the edges of the new highlights. Create a new layer at the top of our “highlights” group and call it “highlights,” then Command-click our “key base” layer so that we only paint inside our key shape.

Set the “highlights” layer to a blending mode of “Overlay.” Press “Command + J” to duplicate our highlights layer. Then change the copied layer to a blending mode of Color Dodge and an Opacity of 18%.

Step 19 – Grouping the Key and Fading its Shaft

Our key ends at this abrupt jagged edge. To fix this we need to select these layers: “highlights copy,” “highlights,” “darkest shadow,” “metal texture,” and “key base.” Make sure all these layers are selected at the same time, then press Command + G to put them all into a group. Name the group “key.”

Add a layer mask to the group. This way we can mask all the layers inside the group at the same time using one mask. Then using a black gradient on the mask, fade the part of the key that is just above the key hole.

Step 20 – Key Shadow

The last step in making the key realistic is adding a shadow. A lot of tutorials will show shadows as being simple reflections that have been faded. Apple made this sort of shadow/reflection popular, but it only works if our light source is directly above the object and our object is sitting on a perfectly flat base. Our key is part of an orb, so the shadow will have to bend around the curvature of the orb, which will distort its shape.

Create a new layer on top of our “key” group and call it “key shadow.” Inside our “key” group, Command-click our “key base” layer so that we have a selection in the shape of our key. Now in our new “key shadow” layer, fill the selection with black. Deselect the layer using Command + D and then go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal.

Now we need to press Command + T to transform and rotate our key. The shadow will be pointed down towards the bottom-right corner since our light is from the upper-left. We also need to squash the key a little, so drag the transform handle to the top of the key and bring it in a little.

Now distort the key to the contour of the orb by going to Edit > Transform > Warp. Try to mimic the transformation shown below.

Change the blending mode of this layer to Soft Light, and then change the opacity to 80%. We need to fade the far edge of the shadow, so add a layer mask and use a black gradient to fade the edge. Finally, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and use a setting of 1.8 pixels to slightly blur the shadow’s edges.

Step 21 – Final Adjustment to the Background Shadow

Once again I took a few minutes to sit back and examine the piece as a whole. I feel that the background needs a slightly darker shadow in the bottom-right.

In our layer panel go to the “bg lighting” layer and click on it. It should be the sixth layer. Create a new layer above that and call it “bg lighting 2.” Change the foreground color to #10100c, and choose the gradient tool. Use the direction and length of the gradient tool that I show below.

Finally, change the blending mode to Soft Light and the Opacity to 70%.

Conclusion

Below is our final image. I hope you learned some useful techniques. With any tutorial remember that the value isn’t in the usefulness of the final image, but in the learning of new techniques, tools, and approaches to creating art. Thanks for your time!

Remember that your third layer was used to change the saturation of the background, and you can always go back to it and double-click the saturation thumbnail to increase saturation. In the image below, I increased the Saturation to 68%.

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Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Step 1

Thumbnails! This is where I try to find the pose that I’ll get a kick out of doing. Open a new file (8 inches by 10 inches 400 dpi) and just start sketching with a standard Brush (B) set at 50% Opacity and with black as the default color. Even though I am doing this all digitally, there are still times when I like to sketch on paper using anything from a ballpoint pen, to pencils or markers. They are after all just thumbnails and don’t require any sort of care.

The most important thing you’re looking for in a thumbnail is composition and in this case, a great pose. In other words, just keep it loose and don’t worry about details. A good tip is when doing thumbnails think of the silhouette. If you color in the thumbnail solid black, does it still have a strong visual? Can you tell what’s going on? These are important questions and if the answer is yes. Then you’ve found your thumbnail to proceed on to the next step.

Step 2

So now, I’ve found a thumbnail I want to work with. I then start a new Layer set and call it "Sketch." I also move the thumbnails into their own Layer set called "Thumbs."

For each new version of the image, I always start a new Layer so that I can always make changes. This Layer is called "Ver_01." I then enlarge the thumbnail to the size I think will work. From here, I start to flesh out the character more and get the general pose and proportions down. This is still done quite loose, I know you’re chomping at the bit to get doing detail, but this is the time where you will see if this pose will work. I’m happy with this one and so I’ll keep going.

Step 3

My next step is to start tightening up the proportions. For each new version of the image, I always start a new layer so that I can always make changes. This layer is called "Ver_02."

So I figured out what I want to do with the hair, I then start tackling the hands and gun. I thought at first two guns with silencers might be cool, but decided against it. I also wanted to try and draw the hands in a different position than what I normally would do.

Remember, always have fun with your drawing, but try and push yourself to try different things. In the long run, you’ll better yourself and become a stronger artist. I’ve decided at this point, that there won’t be any sort of detailed background…going strictly pin-up on this one.

So now I’ve got the preliminary drawing done. The next step is to get the details in, so it’s ready for inking.

Step 4

OK, now I focus on getting everything where I want it so I can start inking. I again make a new layer called "Ver_03." I made some final adjustments to the proportions and details like the belt, gun and her eyes. I’ve also changed things here and there like the hands and the hair.

Even though this is the final sketch before inking, you don’t have to tighten it up too much since your doing it yourself. Whereas, if you were giving this to another person to ink, you would need to make clean crisp lines and indicate what you’re thinking for inks.

Step 5

Now make a new layer called "Linework." The way I ink my drawings is by using the Pen Tool (P). Up until a few years ago, I refused to use the Pen Tool. That’s because I didn’t know how to use it correctly. Now that I know how, I can’t even imagine how I survived with out it.

Select the Pen Tool and make sure the Paths box is selected and not Shape Layers. One thing to make sure is that you have a layer selected. It can be a source of frustration if you have a layer set selected and not the actual layer as it will not stroke. I’ve created an action to stroke the path and delete it afterwards, it just makes things easier. You can control the size and pressure of the stroke using your brush options.

Below is the final inked version of the image. I’ve made some changes in the inking stage. As all artists know, you’re never quite happy with an image and are always looking to improve it. I removed some details in the hands and added some in the hair and gun. I’ve also cropped her legs off and made some proportional changes. Once you get the hang of the Pen Tool (P), you’ll find it easy to make changes in the inking stage. Now we’re ready to move on to color, finally!

Step 6

OK, so this is probably the easiest step of them all. In this step, all I do is figure out the colors I want to use and fill them in. I name this layer "Base" for organization purposes. This layer will be the bottom layer when it comes to the character. The only other layers that will appear beneath this one are the background layers. I also at this point make my background layer a middle gray. This just helps see the colors better against a neutral background.

Step 7

It’s always best when painting, whether it’s digitally or traditional, to work from dark to light. So in this step, I start laying down the darks on a separate layer named "Darks." Separate layers allow for changes to be made if needed. Generally, I never nail the intensity of the shadows on the first try. Later on, after I’ve painted in the lights, I often find I need to adjust the darks using the Hue/Saturation tool (Command + U).

When painting, I use a combination of Gradient (G) and Brush (B) tools (as shown above) to achieve the desired outcome. I will lay down a gradient to get a nice shadow base and then tweak it with the brush. I also will play with the opacity and hardness of the brush to get a soft look if needed.

Shown below is the final darks, for now. As I said before, I most likely will be adjusting them with the Hue/Saturation tool (Command + U) at a later stage.

Step 8

I’m happy with the darks and now have moved on to the lights. Again, I create a new Layer and name it "Lights" and place it above the "Darks" layer in the layer tab. I then begin to lay down the lights over the character. I use the same technique as I did for the darks. I like the highlights to pop, so I generally will make them brighter than they should be, especially with the hair.

Step 9

Now that I’m happy with the darks and lights, I like to create a reflective light layer. This is for some bounce light that might be reflecting on your subject from the background or light source. So like before, I create another new layer and name it "Reflect." I’ve already decided that I want to use a hot pink color, since it will work well with the colors of her clothes. So I use a standard Brush (B) with a slight softness to it and hit the spots where I want the light to show.

Step 10

I’m almost finished, the only thing left to do are some minor details and add a background. When I finish an image, I like to get rid of the harsh black outline and do a colored line version.

So what I do is Command-click on the “Line” layer to select the line work. I create a new Layer and name it "colored line." I then hide the original line work and start hand painting the new colored line work in. I like to do it manually as it still makes me feel like I’m traditionally painting. I like the look the colored line gives, it’s soft and it doesn’t flatten your image as much as a solid black line does.

Step 11

Alright, I’m at the final step. I now add a background element to my image to finish her off. I get rid of the gray background and replace it with a solid color.

I’ve also decided that a nice circular shape around her will work nice and make her pop. In the circle, I use a nice soft gradient to accentuate certain areas a bit more. This is the time where I will resize the image and also adjust the lights and darks if needed.

The final touch is a nice outline around the entire character to really make her stand out. I don’t always do this, but it seems to suit this image nicely. In order to do this, I create a duplicate of my file and flatten the base and line work layers (Command + E.) I then select the shape (Command-click) and go to Select > Modify > Expand. The number of pixels you enter is a judgement call, I use 2 pixels. On a new temp Layer, I fill it in (Alt + Enter). Once I’m happy with the thickness and color, I then (Shift-click) and drag the outline back to the original file and voila – nice solid outline!

Conclusion

Well, that’s it! I try to keep my workflow simple and not to rely on a lot of fancy tricks. The tools I used in this tutorial were the Pen Tool, standard brush and a lot of undos!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and have learned somethings you might not have thought about to designing a pin-up!

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Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Arranging the Stock Images

The photo manipulation in the tutorial was created using the following stock images:

• Melancholia Model, by mizzd-stock
• Fantasy Forest by casperium
• Autumn Leaves by Drezdany-stocks
• Falling Leaves by JLStock included in Plus download
  
• Vines by loveit
• Ravens by unholy-stock

Step 1

The first step is to create a new PSD. Go to File > New. I choose to work in CMYK color mode.

Step 2

The next step is to create a background. Drag the Autumn Leaves background picture into the new file. Duplicate the layer and arrange it like in the first picture. Add a layer mask and erase the edges like in the picture below so it will look natural. Duplicate the layer again, add a new layer mask, and erase the edges as shown.

Step 3

Add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer and arrange the levels to: -57, -56, +26, as shown.

Step 4

Now add an Adjustment Layer of Curves and choose 38 for the output and 27 for the input.

Step 5

Drag the Fantasy Forest picture into the file. Now add a layer mask and erase on the edges using a basic, black brush as shown.

Step 6

Go to the Autumn Leaves picture layer. Choose the Lasso Tool and insert a part of the leaves. Press Command + J . Arrange the new layer as shown.

Step 7

The next step is to cut-out the Melancholia Model. Open the picture with the model. Select the Pen Tool and cut out the model. When you closed the path right-click and Make Selection (Radius of 0 ) and then press Command + J.

Step 8

Drag the model into the main document and arrange it as shown.

Step 9

The next step is to remodel her dress, since it appears to be too short for this background. Grab the Pen Tool and cut-out a copy of the end of the dress.

Step 10

Arrange the copy as shown.

Step 11

Create a new Adjustment Layer of Curves and choose 32 output and 20 input.

Step 12

Fill the layer mask with a black color (Alt + backspace). Choose a basic brush, then with white color the shadow of the model as shown.

Step 13

Open the creepers from the Vines file. Drag them into the PSD file, and arrange them as shown.

Step 14

Now let’s paint the hair. Create a new layer and pick the color you want to be the darkest and paint the shape of the hair. Next, create a new layer and with a lighter color paint some hair. Do this operation a few times on different layers and with lighter and lighter colors until you have the right result.

Don’t do them on the same layer because if you don’t like the result you have to erase all the hair. Once you have the right result, merge all the hair layers (press the Command button, select the layers, and then press Command + E). Next select the Burn Tool and put some shadows on the hair and select the Dodge Tool for the lights. Follow the images below for guidance.

Step 15

Go to the model’s layer and select the Burn Tool. Apply some shadows on the model’s dress.

Step 16

Go to the Adjustment Layers, create a Color Balance layer, and use these settings: 0, -19, -27. Fill the layers mask with black and with white color paint the creepers.

Step 17

Next let’s paint the model’s face. Create a new layer. Select a light color of the model’s face with the Eyedropper Tool and with a basic brush (4 or 5 for Opacity) paint her face. Create a new layer and paint her eyes. Do the same for the mouth. Don’t paint them on the same layer.

Once you have a satisfying result, merge the layers (press Command, select the layers you want to merge and then press Command + E). Use the Burn Tool for the shadows of the face and the Dodge Tool for the light.

Step 18

Drag and drop the Ravens as shown.

Step 19

Create a new layer to paint the ravens’ wings and jewels, as shown below. Do the same with all the crows. For this, use a basic round brush with smooth edges.

Step 20

In this step, create a new layer and draw some shadows with a basic brush on the model’s hand. This is a minor detail, but it’s important because it makes it look natural.

Step 21

Create an Adjustment Layer of Photo filter with a Density of 25%.

Step 22

Create a Color balance layer with Levels: -18, +17, -19. Fill the layer mask with black. Paint with a basic, white brush on the model’s figure.

Step 23

Create a Color Balance Adjustment Layer with Levels: +28, -13, and -27.

Step 24

Drag and drop some cut-out leaves into the file. You can use the “leaves.png” file included in the Plus download or an image of your own choosing.

Step 25

Command-click the layer with the leaves to select them. Create a Color Balance Adjustment Layer with Levels: +67, -22, and +19. Fill the layer mask with black. Paint the leaves with a basic, white-colored brush.

Step 26

Create an Curves Adjustment Layers with Output 17 and Input 11. Fill the layer mask with black. Paint on some shadows with a basic, white-colored brush, as in the picture.

Step 27

Use a new photo filter. Crete a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer with a Density of 25 %.

Step 28

Create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer. Set the Opacity to 15 %.

Conclusion

Sit back and look at your emotional photo manipulation. The final image is below.

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Final Image Preview

Take a look at the line work we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month.

Step 1

We’ll start by desaturating the rough drawing. Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. The reason to desaturate the image, is so that no colors interfere with the following steps.

Step 2

Play around with the levels until the image has little to no midtones. Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Leave the outline fully intact.

Step 3

Next we’ll be selecting the outline. Make sure that the foreground color is the darkest color in the outline. Go to Select > Color Range to select the outline. Adjust the settings to match the image below. This will affect everything that is the foreground color. Make sure to hide all the layers except the layer the outline is on.

Step 4

We will now take the selection and make it it’s own layer, press (Command + J.) At this point, it’s good to delete the layer that has the original line drawing on it, and replace it with a white background.

Step 5

Now double-click the “Outline” Layer and go to Color Overlay. Adjust the settings to match the image below, you may choose whichever color you like though.

At this point, you’re ready to color in your outline in whichever way you prefer to. However, if you choose to read on I will show you
how to do an effect that makes your outline look like a vector outline.

Step 6

The first step in making the outline look more smooth and vector like, is to select the outline layer. To do this Command-click on the layer thumbnail beside the layer’s name. The hand curser will have a dotted box on top of it.

Step 7

Choose the Paths tab located beside the Layers tab. Click on the icon to the left of the New Layer icon. If you hold your curser over the icon, it should read Make work path from selection. After creating a path go back to the layers tab and make a new layer.

Final Line work

Click on the Pen Tool, then Right-click anywhere on the canvas. Choose Fill Path. Adjust the Settings to match the image below. Click OK, then Right-click anywhere on the canvas and choose Delete Path.

Things To Know

We’ll delete the previous outline layer to show the end result. You can see we cleaned up the drawing, and are left with black line work on a white background to color in, we’ve also preserved the sketchy feel of the line quality.

The image you are using to do this effect with should be drawn, painted, inked, etc… on a contrasted background to what you are using to draw with.

Clean lines equals a more clean, smooth end result. If the image is too small the vector effect will simplify lines to the point where you will lose detail. If the image is too large the vector effect will not smooth out imperfections.

Now Color Away!

You are free to color the outline as you please A tablet was used to create the color image below. You could also consider taking the results of this line work into Illustrator and Live Tracing. The techniques shown here are a great way to add some varied line to your vector work as well. These quick tips are open for experimentation. So, have fun with it!

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Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Step 1

With the main image opened, use the Clone Stamp tool to remove any unwanted entities, like the elderly couple walking. Try and clone areas around the couple so it doesn’t look odd and mix your usage of soft, and heavy round brushes to define those edges.

Step 2

Next you will want to cut around the edges of the roof tops so we can add in our stormy sky. Use the Polygon Lasso Tool for this. Don’t worry about accuracy, as we’ll be blending everything later, just make sure that the sky is cut out. Once selected, unlock the “background.” Now double-click the layer, then rename it to “backdrop” and hit Enter. Delete the sky.

Step 3

Open the Stormy Sky image and place it underneath your “backdrop” layer. Then press Command + T to Free Transform), hold Command while you drag the bottom corners inwards to add some perspective to the sky, don’t forget to resize if necessary. Apply the transformation when you are happy.

Step 4

It doesn’t look very nice does it? That’s because we’re not done yet. Open and place the wave image in the center of the image. Now use the eraser, and a soft brush on it. Get in close and erase the bits you don’t want. Don’t worry if your messy, as the tidying comes later.

Then go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and use the settings shown below.

Then go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and use these settings.

Rename the layer to “Wave,” and your image should now look like the one shown below.

Step 5

Now comes the complicated bit. What you’ll need to do is add all the water files to you’re image and one by one, free transform them to flow with the perspective of the water then erase the hard edges.

You might also need to duplicate some files in order to fill up areas. Always remember to play about with the textures using the distortion method in free transform and a soft eraser. The more you do, the better it will look. You can see the phases of building up the flooding water in this image.

Step 6

Now we have our water sorted, merge all the “water” layers into one single layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and use the following settings.

Your water should now be nice and blue and match the “wave” layer from earlier. Now merge the “wave” layer with the “water” one.

Step 7

Remember the tidy up I mentioned a while back? Well its time now. Turn off the “water” layer so you are left with just the backdrop and the sky.

With the Burn Tool selected at highlights and at 50% exposure, and a soft brush set, start burning the rooftops and the sky around the rooftops so they appear darker.

Open the derelict1 image and place it at the right side of the street in the distance. Use a soft eraser to remove those sharp edges. Merge it with the “backdrop” layer.

Step 8

Let’s tidy up some more. Turn on the “water” layer sand and start tidying around the edges using a soft eraser. Then select the Smudge Tool and a 20px charcoal brush using the settings below.

Start smudging the edges of the “water” layer creating very small splashes and more defined edges to realistically create the effect of water hitting a surface. This might require patience and a steady hand, but time will pay off. It might also be wise to duplicate the layer before smudging as you don’t want to use all your undo’s.

Step 9

Next, select the backdrop layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and use these settings.

And your piece should now be coming together. Its still a little off, but there is a lot more to do, so lets move on!

Step 10

Time for the splashes. Now this is the hardest step of the tutorial, and requires a lot of patience, but persevere and you will find that patience is in fact a virtue (I know, silly right?).

Open up the splash1 and splash2 images and carefully cut out the splashes themselves one by one. Place them onto the canvas. Now use the Warp Transformation (Edit > Transform > Warp) to get the arches you need to create effective splashes, and erase any unwanted areas.

You’ll need to do this for the two cars and for where the water hits the wall down the buildings of the street.

You might also benefit from smudging the edges of the splashes to give them more movement, as well as adding some white brushing to a new layer and smudging it. Now merge all your “splash” layers.

Step 11

Getting there right? Now you need to do some tweaking to the colors of the image. This can mean anything from water, to the sky or the buildings. In my example, I think the water is a little too blue, so I’m going to desaturate it a little.

Basically use this step for any odd bits and bobs to tweak your image to make it look more streamlined. Be creative, and more importantly, make it look tidy. I lowered the saturation of the water a little, and added some red to the buildings.

Step 12

Now we’ll work on the fog. Its sounds daunting but its actually fairly simple to do. Select a blue color from your water using the Eyedropper Tool. Now select the Gradient Tool and use the following settings.

You will need to create a new layer underneath you’re “water” layer and create the gradient so it blocks out any backdrop behind the water.

Duplicate the layer (Command + J) and place it on top of your water layer, at about 30% opacity. Set this layer to Multiply.

Step 13

This next step is to add rain. There are lots of tutorials on the web that show how to create rain. Here is one that goes into great detail, which you could check out. We’ll keep it relatively simple in this tutorial though. First, create a new layer and fill it with black. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and use these settings.

Then Filter > Blur > Motion Blur> and use these settings.

Then Image > Adjustments > Levels and use the following settings.

Set the Layer to Screen and use a soft eraser to erase the bottom and top of the Layer, then go to Edit > Transform > Free Transform the “rain” Layer so it covers the whole screen.

Step 14

It looks a little bit empty in the middle of the water doesn’t it?

Open up the car image and place it somewhere in the distance, underneath the “fog” layer. Resize the images and erase the edges carefully and use the splash1 image to give some life to the car.

Step 15

Now is the fun part. You’ll need to create a few gradient maps first. Click the Adjustment layer button located at the bottom of your layers window and select the Gradient Map option. Then Click the little arrow in the top-right of the box and select Pastels as shown.

Use the following settings. Finally, set the layer to Multiply at 100%.

Conclusion

Now its just a case of adding depth and a few other adjustments. Select the Blur Tool at 20% strength, then start blurring the “backdrop” layer in the distance and on the rooftops.

Create a new layer and go to Image > Apply Image and then go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen, which gives the image a more detailed and stylized feel. Now you’re done!

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Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.

Step 1

First of all, I want to make clear that the image with the face that I’m using here, is an personal image of my self, Face Image. I would recommend you to get this image for this tutorial, for you to follow me step by step, also you can use any other image you like. It will be easier for you to choose an image that has a Black Background, in order to use this effect in a similar way.

In this tutorial, Im also using a brush set, that I found really useful. You can find it on Deviantart or from obsidiandawn.com. I also used a stock image of Fireworks that helped me to get the effect of an explosion. Before you get the Brush Set and the Fireworks image, please do not forget to credit the Artists.

Step 2

After you downloaded all the needed material, it’s time for us to start. Open the Face Image, press Alt + Double-click on the layer so you can Unlock it. Rename the layer "Face." Now you have to create a New Layer by pressing Command + Shift + N, below this one and fill it with Solid Black, rename the layer "Background."

Step 3

Go to Brush Tool (B), select one of the brushes from the set you downloaded before. I recommend you select one that has more letters. In this case, I used number 22. Before you apply the brush, be sure you create a new layer using Command + Shit + N, then select the new layer so the brush will apply on it. Also for the brush size, the Master Diameter has to be set for the maximum, which in this case is 2500 px. Later after you got the idea, you can play more with the brush sizes.

Step 4

Now it’s time to work a bit more, select the "Layer 1", hold Control Key, Command-click on the layer "Layer 1," you will see that all the letters of the brush are selected.

Select the Layer called "Face," be sure the letters are still selected, and copy the selected pixels from the layer, then paste. You will see an automatic layer is created below "Layer 1" and layer "Face." I call that layer “Cameleon” because it has the same colors as the Image. You have to Delete "Layer 1," or you won’t see any difference. If you hide the layer "Face," you will see that the letters become the same as the Face Image.

Step 5

In Step 3 and Step 4, I explain how the letters from the brush are colored as the image of the face. You now need to repeat those steps as many times as needed until the face becomes clear. In this case, I repeated the steps eight times, and I got the image below as the result.

Don’t forget to group all the layers (Layer > New > Group). Rename the group "Letters" and then select all the layers, drag them and drop them into the Group.

Step 6

To make more clear that the letters are overlapping each other, you need to apply shadow on them. Select one of the layers that is inside the Group "Letters." Double-click on it and choose Blending Options, then set the Drop Shadow with a Blend Mode of Multiply, Opacity 90%, Angle 30, Distance 8px, and Size 5px.

By applying this on one layer, you can copy this effect by Right-clicking on that layer and choose Copy Layer Style. Select all the layers that are inside the group, then Right-click again in one of them and choose Paste Layer Style. You will see that all the layers get this shadow.

Step 7

Everything now is done. This was the whole trick. Now it needs only the retro colors and the explosion effect to finish the design.

Create two layers (Command + Shift + N), call them "Blue" and "Orange." Fill the "Blue" layer with (#080d4c) and fill the "Orange" layer with (#ffc600).

The Opacity of the "Blue" layer has to be 50 %, and the Blend Mode, Lighten. The Opacity of the "Orange" layer has to be 6%, and the Blend Mode, Lighter Color. Be sure that the "Blue" layer is on top.

Step 8

Now we’ll make the lights. Select the Brush Tool (B), choose a normal brush Circle with a Master Diameter of 150 px. Choose two colors (#00fffc) and (#00ff4e) for the lines.

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N), and start to draw with the brush from the upper-left corner to the right-lower corner, as I did in the image below.

Step 9

Select the layer with the lines you drew. Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Be sure the Angle is -45 degrees, and the distance is 998 px.

Step 10

This time go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. The Radius has to be 124px. After you’ve applied the Blur, go on the Blending Mode of the layer and change it from Normal to Lighten, also reduce the Opacity to 50%.

Step 11

Create a New Layer. Choose the Brush Tool that we used before to draw the lines, and draw something similar to the image below with this color: #ff0066.

Step 12

Now go Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Be sure you have selected the rough layer, the one with Pink Light. And be sure the Radius is in Max 250.0 px. Go to the Blend Mode of the same layer and change the Mode to Screen.

Step 13

Now open the image with the Fireworks that you downloaded in the beginning. Go to Hue/Saturations (Command + U), and change the Hue to -98. You see that the color of the image changed into a Pink. Press Command + A to select all the pixels of the image, Copy the Image, and then go to our project and Paste it there. As you see, a new layer is created. Rotate the image as shown in the second image below.

Step 14

Change the Blend Mode of the image to Linear Dodge.

Step 15

Create a new layer (Command + Shift + N). fill it with Solid Black, go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare, and set the Brightness to 89%. Also, choose 35 mm prime, and try to move the light in the same place as shown below.

Step 16

Go to the blend mode of this layer, and from Normal Mode change it to Screen. Also, by moving and rotating the image, you can get something similar to that shown below.

Conclusion

Now save this project, and after you get the finished image you can play with the Brightness and the Contrast until you are satisfied with the result.

I Hope you learned something new and had fun. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

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