Create Spectacular Concept Art in Photoshop
Mar 20th in Effects by Jonny McGurn
What we're going to be creating
The outcome to this tutorial depends heavily on what you want to create and what's going on in your head. I collected two stock images that I thought would work together before I began from sxc.hu. Here are the links to the stock images I used: Landscape, Cityscape. You can use the same stock images I have, but I would also recommend you to experiment as that's half the fun!
Step 1
Lets get started. To begin open your canvas (I used size 1200×900px) and drag in the landscape stock. From here, pull out the Burn Tool (O) and use it to darken some areas to create some shadow on the hills below the position where the buildings will be.
Step 2
Next, drag in the cityscape stock, resize it, and position it (I lowered its Opacity to 30% in order to position it) so the buildings nest on top of the hill. You can position it where you like. Next you need to get rid of all of the parts of the stock we don't need so you have to do the tedious job of rendering around the buildings.
Step 3
Next, duplicate the rendered stock layer and flip them around a bit and position them so that they fill the rest of the hilltops.
Step 4
Now, create a new layer and apply the image: Image > Apply Image. On this new layer, take out the Burn Tool again and darken the areas where the buildings meet the hilltops to create a smoother transition and in the sky area surrounding the buildings.
Step 5
For the next step, you will need some star/planet brushes. I got mine from DeviantArt. On a new layer, select a few brushes that you like, and in two or three places add the brushing to the sky.
Step 6
Next, we are going to create a new layer and apply the image again (Image > Apply Image). Now we are going to add some lighting to this layer, so go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and select 2 0'Clock Spotlight. Play about with the angling settings until you get something that you like.
Step 7
Make another new layer and apply the image yet again. We are going to play around with the coloring now so go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance. Select the Midtones radio button and in the three Color Levels boxes, enter these values: +46 +11 +13. Now select the Highlights radio button and enter these values: +26 +16 -7. Again, you can play around with these settings if you want a different look.
Step 8
Next, we are going to add two gradient maps. To do this click on the half black, half white circle on the bottom of the layers palette and from the menu select Gradient Map. In the dialogue box, select the Purple > Orange gradient which should be a default one and click ok. Set this layer to soft light and lower the Opacity to 50%. Do the same again but this time select a Black > White gradient map. Set this to Darken and lower the Opacity to 20%.
Step 9
Create another new layer and apply the image again. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, drag the slider to around 1.0 and hit Enter. I then set this layer to soft light at 20%.
Step 10
Next, we're going to play around with the depth of the image using curves. To do this, click on the half black, half white circle on the bottom of the layers palette and from the menu click on Curves. From the Preset list, select Custom. Now play around with the curves for each RGB color in the Channels list. This will have a big impact the overall look of your finished piece, so feel free to experiment.
Step 11
Next, we will sharpen the image, so go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen. Lower the Opacity of this layer to 30%.
Step 12
To add a bit more depth to the image, we will add another curves layer. Set the Preset back to None and play about with the curves until you get something you like.
Conclusion
Hopefully you will find something in the tutorial useful. Remember...the only limit is your imagination, so don't hold back.
Here's the final piece
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Colin March 20th
nice! i love these scenery editing/making things! i hope it helps me one day
( )Travis March 20th
That is absolutely incredible. Great job Jonny.
( )chandan March 20th
Awesome
( )Sean Hodge March 20th
Fantastic result. Thx.
( )Ibrahack March 20th
excellent piece of art! nice ! thanks for this!
( )Anush-logo design March 20th
very nice art work
i love the final output
( )Constantin Potorac March 20th
OMG…
This is amazing. Thank you for sharing.
( )markus March 20th
Nice tutorial
( )but to me the final result is too sharp…
Terry March 20th
niceeee
( )Xavier March 20th
Wow! What a huge effect! I MUST try it.
( )Thank for sharing!
Nono March 20th
Nice but your buildings seem to have a balance problem.
Nono.
( )Andrei Constantin March 20th
i like the colours
( )arnaud March 20th
Very good tutorial, the colors are magnificent. I was looking for these effects in a long time.
Thank you for the quality.
In addition to very simple to perform, but he should have thought
( )Zair Abbas March 20th
awesome!
( )Naveed March 20th
nice tricks and steps for putting em all togther and then giving em balanced colors
( )Ragnaripea March 20th
Damn,
this thing is awesome. Really amazing… thanks for the brilliant tut, really appreciate it.
( )Shane March 20th
What an amazing result! The sky reall yis the limit with Photoshop, and you’ve shown that it’s not too hard to create an amazing scene!
Many thanks.
( )Wolfgang March 20th
Hi,
( )there are cool tricks in this tutorial, but:
Please check the perspective of the Buildings
Markus March 20th
Excellent!
Many details, adjustments bla bla. 
( )Alberto March 20th
nice tutorial, thank you. “but your buildings seem to have a balance problem”
LOL this is actually true, and they’re maybe too repetitive, but nevermind, the ending result is great and the technique useful.
( )Thank you!
giackop March 20th
this is sooooooo good!!! terrific!!
( )bweb March 20th
Nice
( )Daniel March 20th
Outstanding piece of artwork ! very nice tutorial. thanks a lot !
( )Scorpyo2K March 20th
My first coment
Simply fantastic. Great result, simple walkthrough.
( )Maicon March 20th
yeah, this is really beautiful!
( )b00m March 20th
WOW. The effects and details are incredible.
( )Cain March 20th
Possibly too many planets, but overall magical effect. Reminds me of a movie poster.
BTW Collis, I just noticed you guys don’t have a “Contact Us” page. Is there any way that we can contact you guys without blog comments?
( )web design cheltenham March 20th
Brilliant concept I have learnt a few new techniaques that I will be putting into practice. BRAVO
( )Tsincaat March 20th
Very neat, I had a lot of fun with this. Thanks!
( )Jonny March 20th
Thanks for the comments guys, glad it was off some use
( )Steve Forbes March 20th
Awesome dude, really clever how you done that.
Quite lucky that the city scape is the same angle of perspective as the rural image. lol
Keep up the good work
( )Zach March 21st
AWESOME! truly awesome.
( )Dragolux March 21st
Nice job with this tutorial. The result look great!
( )Eduardomatica March 21st
ESSSSPECTACULAR!
look great
( )Marco March 21st
“The only limit is your imagination”
Haha, that’s what I’ve been using in the header of my website for almost a year now
!
Once again, this tutorial is awesome, keep it up guys
.
( )Shmook March 21st
Hmmmmm, i’m not sure…
( )Jared T March 21st
I’m sorry but I prefered this when it was left at step 2. Outcome wasn’t that great but I’m sure some people would find the introduction to the methods employed helpful…
( )moh March 21st
Really great work thanks a lot!
( )Luis Catalán March 21st
Excelente Tutorial, nunca dejan de maravillarme.
Me gustan mucho los detalles de los trabajos que hacen.
Saludos desde Chile
( )Erika March 21st
I love how imaginative it is. Really nice work.
( )goldenthunder March 21st
this is a great tutorial dude – i love the city transitioning into the land – i always have trouble with this and these steps help a bunch! great overall look too! thanks!!!
( )Julia March 21st
Fantastic! thanks so much for this, I can really use it
( )Anselmo March 21st
Wow, so nice and not that difficult
( )Lamin Barrow March 21st
Super cool.
( )TeleVision SPY March 21st
wow the end result is quite nice, it’s more 50s concept art then anything. Colonies on the moon.
( )Laura March 21st
Amazing! Fab!
( )das_1980 March 21st
This one looks great, cant wait to try it out!
( )scmtngirl March 21st
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I want to be able to put together artwork that depicts some crazy dreams that I’ve had lately. I suck at drawing and have really wanted to use digital art to bring what’s in my head to (digital) paper. Sweet! Totally stoked on this.
( )Andrew D March 21st
Wow, superb tutorial, the lighting, values and overall aesthetics are phenomenal. Great work.
( )Andrew J March 21st
Awesome! Not many people use curves these days it seems.
( )lukxiufung March 21st
waaa.. this is damn nice! my mouth cant close ….
( )2pac March 21st
not really perfect…
( )Ryan March 21st
You obviously don’t use photoshop for a living. Every destructive action you use makes me cringe, and your abuse of the burn tool makes me want to cry. You should do your darkening on another layer with a multiply blend effect, and you should use adjustment layers instead of just applying the things willy nilly. If you build with non-destructive layers, you have a lot more flexibility when you are done to tweak things to look better. This is VERY important if you actually want to ever send crap off to press – because often times your proofs will come back and you will notice things that you have to change.
( )Dave June 12th
He most probably does. What your trying to do is tell everyone that your techniques are better. And they might be…
Instead of shitting on a tutorial that most of us found interesting why don’t you submit a better one. You get paid and you will recieve increased traffic to any site you might want to link to. As well as educating us who use techniques that you cannot stand.
Thanks for the great tut, I gave it go, it was good fun.
( )Thomas March 21st
It’s very pretty, and an interesting tutorial.
( )Mark Abucayon March 21st
wow that was awesome- great job man.
( )Dave March 21st
I think its very cheesy and overdone. Furthermore, your perspective on most buildings do not match. Finally, the lighting seems to be coming from multiple directions. However, it is cool that you shared the process so others can learn.
( )zigmat March 21st
Why You On Vista? Apple ROX!
( )Rohil Sinha March 21st
Lovely ! Although a few buildings do have contradictory lightning, but it was such a nice learning experience !
( )Swany March 21st
Great tutorial! Finished mine tonight, here
Swany
( )Zany March 21st
WOW, that is cool !
You should make these wallpaper-sized tutorials more often … i find them very usefull
( )someone March 21st
This method severely limits the kind of concept art you can produce, requiring you to chance upon the right source material. So long as readers realize that this is not how concept artists create visionary art without limitations, then it will help them to understand at least a bit how source material can feed your inspiration. As this stands, it promotes blatantly crutching yourself on the work of others only to project an outward image that you are a concept artist, when in fact it is a misrepresentation. True concept art comes from passion, dedication, and practice. Lots of practice. This is not to say that concept art doesn’t feed from the world around it, but it is generally a regurgitation at least, rather than copy-and-pasting.
Go to http://www.goodbrush.com and see how many images you can find that are carelessly plopped together in photoshop with stock photos. None.
Well, enough criticism. Good tutorial other than being slightly misdirected. Keep it up.
( )photoshopper March 21st
Nice and not that complicated to do. Although, the repetition of buildings first struck me.
( )Derek Prospero March 21st
Man, Vista is just hideous.
( )candi March 21st
It seems to busy….remember, less is more…
Also there are easier way’s to go about this and get results that are 10 times better…
Ryan is right, if you go to print this the res is going to be completely different on the print than it will on your computer, and you’ll have a print that is basically worthless.
( )zack March 22nd
The problem here is that this should only be the first step of any sort of concept art. This seems like a lazy way of putting together an image when you can seem to paint it in photoshop from scratch. Most concept artists would do this on a extremely low RES scale so that they could have room to experiment. Not to mention since brown and bloom seem to make everything amazing this person of course should be praised… Yeah sure.
( )Chris March 22nd
Id just like to say to those of you disrecpecting the artist that he/her actually found time to help you guys with something and you are being ***holes about it.
If your not happy with the way it was put together then why the hell are you even looking at it, and if you are so good yourself why not try contributing something yourselves that might be of some use than your trashy little comments. You obviously have respect issues and im not sure theres any tutorial on this site that can help with that? possibly try a councellor?
Very nice effects and tutorial. Great job Jonny.
( )Rhody March 22nd
Extremely nice work, I shall try this tutorial
( )Ben Griffiths March 22nd
Excellent – great final look, and well written article, thanks
( )Frederico March 22nd
What’s the concept? Concept art should have a CONCEPT behind it. A bunch of buildings with some planets behind them is not a concept.
Also, you should at least take the time to correct the perspective on the buildings. It looks like there was a recent earthquake or something.
( )... March 22nd
i’d advise making your own planets and stars instead of relying on brushes…
( )Shakle March 22nd
A good tutorial. my only issues with are the buildings are too repetitive and as everyone else pointed out – they don’t seem to be upright. Even though I know its a fantasy piece – it really is over doing it with regards to the planets/moons/stars! If there were a fewer number – it would be better.
( )Dyâ„¢ March 22nd
wow..
( )i like this one..
hope i can do greater hehe
thanks for the tuts
gene March 23rd
i thought i was going to be shown how to make the planets and clouds ( sky in general). i was disappointed it was just a bunch of brushes. its looks great though.
( )Paulo Sales March 23rd
oh my god, the sky is full of stars…-2001 space odissey
( )love the colors you use in this conceptual piece…
really impressive…congrats.
Thirdmaster March 24th
Done with mine:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3087/2354466855_40fa6bef97_o.jpg
( )god056 March 24th
Hmm… satisfactory output… and I was beaten to my comments.
( )Meta March 26th
I totally agree with Chris, for those criticising every little step how about a demonstration of your own photoshop skills? Yes maybe it is just a first step in putting together concept art but that’s just it, this will be a first step for many people and for someone who is not very confident with photoshop this can help them to create something brilliant that they can be proud of.
( )The tutorial is brilliantly written and every time I read negative comments I cannot help and think about all the rubbish tutorials I have encountered. At least this is extremely helpful and has a stunning result. Absolutely love it Jonny, and eagerly await the tutorials of those talented individuals who think they can do better.
internet & web design blog March 27th
I love this effect, real preofessional
( )Gustavo Caetano March 27th
Mine
( )http://www.cacofonia.com.br/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/cidade-grande.jpg
f0ox March 27th
http://alltutorials.ru/ – уроки фотошоп, уроки photoshop cs3, уроки по фотошопу
( )Digital Revolutions March 28th
Love it! Great stuff, I will have to give this a try soon…
( )Bendikt Myklebust March 30th
i have to agree with most of the people in here.. This is poorly done.. For god sake use the MASK tool. And The “brushing” Done with burn tool, is poorly done actually.. i can cleary se black Blurry dots.. the transition should be smoother.. And people who yell at those who actually gives this guy Critic should actually be glad someone does. Think of it this way, if there was no critic then would he make better Tutorials to come ?
( )matthew April 4th
umm. im a real noob at this but how cud we combine both of the photos?
( )Dreya April 4th
I loved this myself. I actually scrapped the tutorial halfway and went into my own direction but it got me inspired and allowed me to create something beautiful i wouldn’t have created if I wouldn’t have come to this tutorial.
Don’t take all the critism to heart but keep suggestions in mind for future endeavors. I look forward to more tutorials from you
( )himanshu April 4th
Hey Bro
AWesome Stuff
Hats Off
Outragious
and Thanxxxxxxx For Providing and sharing the tutorials
Thanxxxxxxxxxxxx
( )for sharing the conpect hope i could making one like this…………………..
mi15mi April 7th
awesome!!! thanks for sharing this!~~
( )sj April 7th
wonderful effect…. easy and very useful!!!!
THANKYOU SO MUCH!!!!
( )Aleksandra Laine April 19th
Wow great job ! I love the final work, keep it up. Great site guys
( )Jack April 20th
Amazing (Y) Nice work !
( )Bobby brown May 6th
Awesome tutorial buddy, Im amazed by the result. Ive done it myself and to add a nicer sky, for the layer when you use “Apply Image” use the Linear Burn layer type and lower the opacity to arround 80, it adds a nice sky to space transition. Good work Johnny
( )redwinging May 6th
very cool site
( )Joel May 14th
easy job but beatiful
( )TH May 14th
Excellent tutorial!
( )Noavila June 5th
Really cool and simple, great job.
( )Jeffrey July 2nd
I really liked this tut. I managed to make one and I’m very pleased with the outcome that came out.
( )http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/3474/spacecitycopyik0.jpg
Stocks: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/498432
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/714847
Kovilen July 12th
Great tutorial!!
( )spcebaby July 17th
great tut- here’s my result!
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k97/spcebaby83/Manipulations/cityscape-1-2.png
( )yeuchangmatkinh July 22nd
I like it. Thank you!
( )MD July 23rd
Sweet!
( )kannan July 29th
very nice
( )Jessica July 30th
This is so beautiful.. Makes me wanna be in more debt and dish out the $ to buy a graphic editor just for kicks!
( )waleed.a August 10th
nice
( )Joefrey Mahusay August 11th
I really like this one nice photo combination and the outcome is awesome!
( )Kalyan gali August 31st
Good job.Result is awesome.
( )MuffinMan9o9 September 7th
“Next, duplicate the rendered stock layer and flip them around a bit and position them so that they fill the rest of the hilltops”
How do you flip it around like you did? [I'm a bit of a noob, I admit it]
Great tutorial though, the outcome is absolutely spectacular.
( )ZaneGun08 September 9th
Flip is also like edit<transform<flip horizontal
Buy an image editing program haha, or download, or use gimp if your christian
isn’t concept art but a good tutorial on how to make a collage
( )Drew Douglass September 15th
Great tutorial, thanks a lot!
( )vidya September 16th
beautiful
( )Josh September 19th
Awesome!! Thanks a million!
( )http://i458.photobucket.com/albums/qq307/redlute/Photoshop/redwall.jpg <- Mine
Ivette September 25th
Thank you so much for sharing this. Beautiful image and interesting concept ;P. Hope not are a problem if I mention this tut here: http://margotyvy.deviantart.com/art/City-Universe-98862411
Ivy
( )zOOM October 3rd
Iam sorry to say but the dodge and burn you have used have ruined ur piece of work
( )r4ge October 7th
great tut! keep up the great work!
( )Oba October 7th
Such an awesome tutorial. One day I will give it a go!
( )ThePhotoshopper October 11th
looking good. check out mine at
( )http://thephotoshopper.blogspot.com
Kristal L. Rosebrook October 24th
Great intro
( )Joshua Gluon October 26th
What is up with all the jerks? Constructive criticism is one thing, but bashing is another. Know-it-alls with no humility really irk me, especially since most of them are like 17-year olds with a graphic design class in high school. Like it or not this is a straightforward, neat, effective tutorial. Art is in the eye of the beholder. It’s one of the few truly fluid things. Stop acting all high and mighty with your technical rules and attitude. You’re not as awesome as you think.
Good tutorial! Thanks!
( )Mooey October 30th
I found this very inspiring, thank you. It’s always nice to see how people create things and to be able to take the information in and learn from it. Keep up the creative work. Ignore those who are quick to knock you.
( )Achmad Syarif December 5th
A bit of problem in the perspective, but overall this looks fantastic.
( )What a great tutorial!
Keep ‘em coming!
Guest December 10th
I like someones advice and all the other guys on his side. They teaching you how to be grown up artist hehehe I don’t mind and I’m not judging johnny too
( )giga November 9th
Thanks for the information. It will be useful for many.
( )Esteban December 15th
Thanks for the tut! Here’s my outcome:
http://chemicalrubber.deviantart.com/art/Lost-City-106191685
( )CuteWebMaster January 6th
Incredible. Couldnt believe if looking from the original picture. Great tuts!
( )Al March 9th
That was pretty amazing. Is there anything else you can do.
( )CgBaran Tuts April 15th
Just perfect tutorial
( )Martin Neuschl May 9th
Thanks. Amazing tutorial.
( )Youssef May 16th
Nice tutorial but if you look close your buildings have different lighting on each one of them, try to adjust that
( )Brown June 6th
Great tutorial but I can’t seem to add planets without having them look like square images. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.
( )Laurixa June 15th
wonderful…
just… wonderful!!
( )VikDes June 24th
Thank’s!!!
And for the inspiration also 
( )cem July 27th
that’s great
( )Jesus July 31st
Es genial. Me encanta.
( )Jesus.
Spain
Hoyos (Cáceres)
seed August 13th
nice tutorial johnny!
( )jmarreros September 15th
thanks Jonny it was very interesting tut
( )syna February 6th
its good but want more tutorials on my email id can plz send it
( )