This time we'll create a classic car concept. You learn some useful techniques for combining images into interesting designs. We'll add Motion Blurs and Radial Blurs to create a speed sensation, and other tricks as well. Keep in mind, your designs are as much your creative thinking, as they are the techniques you use to make them.
Final Image Preview
Before we get started, let's take a look at the image we'll be creating. Click the screenshot below to view the full-size image. As always, the layered Photoshop file is available via our PSDTUTS Plus membership.
Step 1
An image speaks more than a thousand words. For this tutorial, I designed a strong graphic concept to show the power, energy, and nobility of the classic car. I needed to focus especially on the engine to show the raw strength of the car.
To create the composite, I needed another object as powerful and noble as the car. After thinking a while, I decided on a horse. There's a reason to measure the engine energy in Horse power, so I'll have the horse jumps out of the engine.
To create this particular design you'll need a images of a car and a horse. They both should be shot from the same perspective. Once you find your images, create a new document 1600px by 1200px. Then fill the background with a dark green (#1D310C).
Step 2
Paste the car into a new layer named "Car." Then delete all the white background using the Lasso Tool or Magic Eraser tool. As you can see, the picture had two metallic wires in the front. Delete them using a small Clone Tool and a lot of patience. Alt + Click to select the cloning source, and then paint carefully over the wire.
Step 3
Paste the "Horse" into a new layer. As my image is a little bit noisy I'll fix the horse using Filter > Noise > Dust and Scratches with a Radius of 1px. Then you can extract the horse shape. Use the Lasso tool, but leave the horsehair and tail, as we'll work on those in the next step.
Step 4
Now we'll extract the horsehair. Duplicate the "Horse" layer and change the Input Levels to get only a silhouette. Also change the Hue / Saturation setting for Saturation to -100 and set the lightness below -50.
Select all the gray area on the "Horse copy" layer (you can include the gray behind the horsehair and the tail). Then go to Select > Modify > Expand and use 2px. Then select the "Horse" layer and delete the selection. Delete the "Horse copy" layer if you want as well.
A nice tip from Nik Ainley tells us to add a temporary Stroke effect to our "Horese" layer; this way we'll see if we miss some areas during the extraction process.
Step 5
Resize both layers "Car" and "Horse", and place them as in the picture below. Then select the "Horse" layer, and using the Warp tools, distort it's back side just a little.
Step 6
Hide the "Horse" layer for awhile. Then using the Lasso Tool, make a selection as in the image below. Try to follow the chassis' shape. Then select the "Horse" layer, and make it visible again. Then delete the selection from the "Horse" layer.
Step 7
Burn the right side of both layers "Car" and "Horse". Then try to follow the guides below. Also, Burn the car's wheels. This is not a definitive step, you can Burn or Dodge some areas of both layers depending on your judgement.
Step 8
Now we'll apply a useful effect to improve especially pixelated images. We'll apply it to the "Horse" layer first. Go ahead and duplicate it. Then click Filters > Convert for Smart Filters. This way you can redo the layer effects as many times as needed.
Add a Gaussian Blur Radius of 5px to the "Horse copy." Then change the Blending Mode to Color Dodge and the Opacity to 80%.
Step 9
Repeat the previous step: Duplicate, Smart Filter, and Gaussian Blur, but this time with a copy of the "Car" layer. Change the Blending Mode to Lighten and the Opacity to 50%.
Step 10
Using the Ellipse Tool, draw a circle below the car (#35B115). Then convert it for Smart Filters, and apply a Gaussian Blur with a Radius 150px. Finally set the layer's Opacity to 50%.
Step 11
Now we'll add some sun burst shapes to our design. I downloaded these Custom Shapes from Deviantart to use for this.
Draw one huge shape. Make sure the shape's center is on the middle of the document's left side, as in the picture below. Then fill the shape with this color (#040C01).
Step 12
As you can see, the horse's hooves are too white. You can combine the Burn Tool and a soft Brush to make them darker.
Step 13
Put all the "Horse" and "Car" layers including the copies into a new folder named "Car." Duplicate the folder and press Command + E to merge the group. Add a light green Outer Glow to the "Car copy" layer. Use the values as shown in the image below.
Step 14
Using the Rounded Rectangle Tool, draw a rounded corner shape behind the car. Then Free Transform the shape to match the perspective. Convert it for Smart Filters and apply a Gaussian Blur of 10px. Then apply a Radial Blur with an Amount 100, Method Zoom, and Quality Best. Set the center of the Zoom at the middle left to the square, (see the bottom of the following image).
Step 15
Now Rasterize the "Car copy" layer including the effects; Do this by creating a new blank layer above the "Car copy" layer. Then select both, and press Command + E to merge them. Rename the resulting layer to "glow."
Change the Blending Mode to Linear Dodge and Opacity to 75%. Apply a Radial Blur using the same values of previous step to "glow" layer, just press Command + F to re-apply the last filter; do this twice. Then put the "glow" layer below the "Car" group in the layer's palette.
Step 16
Select the Eraser tool, and using a big soft brush delete some areas of the "glow" layer. Then delete the car's shadow area and try to create a straight line on top.
Step 17
Duplicate "Horse" layer and put the copy below the original. Apply a Motion Blur by going to Filters > Blur > Motion Blur. Set the Distance to 70px. Then using a soft Eraser, delete the right zones of the motion blur.
Step 18
Using the Rectangle tool, draw a rectangle dividing the background by half. Then name it "Ground". Set this color (#090F01) as the foreground. Select the "BG" layer and change the foreground color to this (#162A05). Finally change the "Sun stripes" foreground to this color (#040C01).
Step 19
Use a soft Eraser to delete the horse's back leg. Also, use the Blur Tool to blur the horse's back.
Step 20
Now we'll add a little bit of smoke to our engine. First draw some random lines using a 50px Brush with the Hardness set to 0% into a new layer called "Smoke." Select a 50-52px Smudge Tool, and distort the lines randomly. Finally add a Gradient Overlay using the values shown at the bottom of the images below.
Step 21
Next we'll add some text to our design. For this I'm using a font called Raceway. Also, to create a shiny metal look apply a Gradient Stroke, Gradient Overlay, Bevel and Emboss, and a Drop Shadow. Use the values shown in the images below to apply the effects.
Conclusion
These techniques are useful for creating graphic concepts. Your result could be as simple as this one, or made more interesting by adding more images, textures, vector graphics, and whatnot. Your imagination is the limit!
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Mynes July 15th
First, And Nice TUTORIAL XD
( )kflex July 15th
not too shabby actually.
( )Mark July 15th
Nice final effect. Keep it up
( )w1sh July 15th
Nice tut. Long, yet fulfilling.
……………wow.
( )MONSTER July 15th
Love the car! Great tut!
( )Carl July 15th
Now this is not a critique of the techniques (which I think are nice), but seriously, A HORSE JUMPING FROM AN ENGINE? I get it, horsepower, but my goodness what a terrible visual analogy.
( )MuchMoore July 15th
Really disappointing! Not the same quality as what we’ve seen so far!
Very unprofessional to me!
Sorry for the critic but it seems obvious to me that this is not a “I can do this” but more a “I’m trying to”
Just my opinion though!
( )Wouter July 16th
Very clean and nice
( )Wags July 16th
agreed ^
on a more formal note I think the design is kinda blah for what it’s trying to accomplish with speed. The font is appropriate but feels static. I think by placing more emphasis on the horse and its movement would help the design a bit more. Maybe adding more horses to really convey speed?
( )NGP July 16th
Very nice tutorial Alvaro! I like the speed effects, and the merging of the 2 serperate pictures into 1. One suggestion I could make is in step #7, instead of deleting the selection I would recommend that you mask it out instead. Its a lot easier to go back if required. Little tidbit I learned from experience! Thanks again for the tutorial.
NGP
( )BogDinamita July 16th
Carl? i totally agree witcha
( )Danny July 16th
Nice job ! I like it
( )pica July 16th
yeah, cool tutorial and great tips
( )… but really, wtf?! i hav to agree with carl… why?
The Mafalian July 16th
That Will Awesome In Lighted Background,
( )What Ever, Thank You Very Much For The Tutorial
Keep Posting, Guys You’re The Best
Guada July 16th
muy lindo lastima que el verde ese no es lo ideal, pero muy bueno para aprender las técnicas.
( )Rjton July 16th
muy buen tuto…. no hay porque criticarlo…..es algo abstracto q salga un caballo de un auto ¬¬
saludos..
( )Dan July 16th
Wow, this is the first time I must say that I am not impressed at all. The final effect, the subject, the steps, just not there for me
( )Nate July 16th
Cool effect.
( )Josh July 16th
Pretty cool tutorial. I think a better picture of the horse would have sold it better. Instead of getting a horse in the middle of a trot, why not use a picture of a horse jumping over something? I really like the text effect you used… I’ve already saved it as a layer style.
( )Taylor July 16th
It was best for me up until step 18. The smoke effect and additional blending on the horse after that kind of ruined it for me. I would have given both a lot of retouching or scrapped it back to the point of step 18. I thought the method of extracting the horse was a bit unorthodox. Works pretty well with this tutorial. Fairly nice tutorial overall. I also agree with Carl.
( )epic winnar July 16th
How did a piece of crap like this make its way onto PSDTuts?
Seriously, when I saw the thumbnail on the front page I thought this was a joke.
Higher standards, plz.
( )cpg July 16th
plus kitch tu meurs… beurk…
( )MD July 16th
Amazing!
( )kailoon July 16th
not the best.
( )Christian Mejia July 16th
Maybe I’m just bias because I’m a hot rod guy, but the end result was cheesy. Thanks for the tut though, I’m sure i’ll find some use for the process.
( )Jeff July 16th
I’ll give it a shot. Every new skill helps.
( )emme July 16th
nice tutorial
thanks!
( )RUGRLN July 16th
Though a nice effect and nice tut, the idea of a horse coming out of an American Muscle car depicting horsepower sounds a little odd or stupid…
( )Sorry to say..but nonetheless a nice effect which could be adapted for other more practical uses.
Martin July 16th
Like the Effect and the Techniques. But same as the others I dont like the Idea of one Horse coming out of this car. Also it would be great to give more “SpeedEffect” on the car. Maybe the effect of spinning wheels or dust/flame out of pipes or kind of blur on the car because of speed, trunk closed… anyway – Tutorial is good to learn a few things.
Greetz
( )w00p July 16th
Lol 1 horsepower! Might as well be a ‘79 Honda Civic Hatchback
( )terry July 16th
the 79 hatchback had a 110 hp…
i loved the warp/transform tool on the horse… why that’s funny i have no idea..
maybe if the car looked like it was moving it would help.
at least fundamentals are sound and we get to see what he was thinking during the design process…
i would love to see more tuts like nic’s from a few weeks ago. you know, more about the ideas and the necessary steps, while leaving the rest open for exploration…
but warping a horse? only in photoshop, and only on PSDtuts!!!
that may be what makes me become a plus member!!!!
( )kamel July 16th
not really so good, i feel like he made this just something to get his money!
( )this is how i feel about this tutorial.
swingerbone July 16th
I dunno why, but PSDtuts has been down the whole day for me… as it was earlier this week. Server issues? What gives?
( )AndrewD July 16th
Nice, I like this
( )Joefrey Mahusay July 16th
I like the final result. Thanks
( )Tom Ross July 16th
Very nice tut. Well explained and good outcome. Coincidence but I just posted a car tut myself, and it was a green car.
( )Mark Abucayon July 16th
Very nice, though its simple I will try this one later on. thank you for sharing this one.
( )Braden Keith July 16th
Rjton said this:
Very good tut… no critiques for today… it’s something abstract of a horse leaving a car.
Greetings
Of course he said it in spanish. But I translated just because I don’t have much more to comment. I feel it had some good effects, but why is the trunk still open? lol
( )Dj Delos Santos July 16th
I don’t know if it’s just me, but lately the tutorials are not mind blowing like before. Alot doesn’t have that artistic value to it anymore. I know that some people may say that “it’s not the outcome, it’s the technique”. Which I think btw is bullcrap, coz alot of novice photoshoppers who follows these tuts will probably copy 80% of the outcome of these tuts. For me, even if the techniques are very simple, as long as the outcome/idea is awesome – alot will surely dig that. What we need now is a “WOW” and a “How in the world did he think of that idea? Awesome!” kindof tutorials. That’s how PSDtuts got it’s reputation, that is how I think it should be.
( )Robert July 16th
I know a way to perfectly mask the wires on the car and the hair on the horse, and I want to make a tutorial, but I don’t know how to make an hmtl to upload it.:(
( )Andrei Constantin July 16th
Nice effect and nice outcome as well
( )yamaniac July 16th
simply wow!
( )HJ July 16th
Same, I’m not too impressed, something I wouldn’t expect to see on PSDTUTS.
( )But, I must say, it is a good start.
The Floating Frog July 16th
Haven’t learnt anything new here I’m afraid, though I am a fan of the horsepower analogy, right up my street.
( )antipix July 16th
lol cpg…c’est clair ^^
psdtuts seems to have some trouble those days… hosting ? bandwidth ? hacking ?
( )Ndrey July 16th
just…. awesome
( )borromini July 17th
don’t like it at all
( )mario323 July 17th
Horses jumping out of engines is rarely cool. This is one of those times.
( )RK July 17th
Well actually i agree with many of the people out there, and i also personally feel its the outcome that matters, because u can take many steps to achieve the same effect, some maybe hard, some may not be. i am not saying we shouldnt have such tuts here, as every small tip helps. Perhaps some one will use this techiques for other purposes… but its definately a psdTuts kinda tut…
( )RK July 17th
i mean definately not lol
( )Ray T July 18th
Really cool.
( )matt July 18th
Would be mch better without the horse.
( )matt July 18th
and btw, at least this mustang should be a wild one, therefor not wearing this stuff around his head…that is in addition a conceptional mistake..
( )Car Rental Spain July 18th
I want know some more details about it.I think this will help me a lot to proceed me. I am waiting for your response. Thank you very much.
( )Daniel Olmos July 18th
it’s a really great tut alvaro, nice and clean. // u’r from bolivia? please join me if u wont at facebook group “desiñadores gráficos de bolivia”.
( )Davy July 19th
I always saw psdtuts as an amazing tutorial website with great and original tutorials with mind-blowing results. But lately it’s getting really crappy.. I’m sorry to say so but the standards of quality tutorials are dropping at the same rate that the visitor count is increasing..
( )Maicon July 19th
I’m with the guys that liked and learned with this tut.
( )LaserStewe July 21st
That’s just awful. There’s som pretty good tips in there I guess, but the outcome is really really bad.
( )Kyle July 21st
I’ve never commented on a tutorial here before, but I just had to respond to this one. I’ve loved some of the tutorials on this site in the past, so far they have been really professional for the most part.
This one, however, is awful. This is a high school level chop job. Please avoid posting tuts like this in the future. I’d rather have less frequent, higher quality updates, than frequent updates of crap.
( )BoGEm July 28th
I like this.
( )bender July 29th
God the level has been going down here ever since the new guy took over. This is now no different from the million other tutorial sites. High volume of low quality crap. And still some idiots comment “tahnks youse guise so muchos. I likea this verry naice!!1! High five!”
( )bahman July 31st
very nice tutorial , i like this .
( )Tom Leo August 9th
What is the name (make, model, year) of the car in the picture? Is it a mustang…
( )graffix August 9th
Ehh not liking this one much at all. Not pro looking at all. Kinda seems way too noobish. Sorry for the negatives, but its the truth.
( )B August 13th
Just one observation, you never removed the antenna from the trunk
( )TwoFace. August 17th
cool cool!
( )Ming August 21st
great totur..
( )thanq
Dawn October 17th
very bad cut out of the horse…. terrible.
( )HAbs January 1st
great tut !
( )a minor suggestion though, the horse might have looked a bit better with a motion blur later behind it
jsgm March 30th
hey i like the effects involved in the process but do not like the final result i think a horse jumping from a motor vehicle sounds and looks to extravagant if u wanted to give the message there is a whole lot of possibilities that you could have gone with but i like the technique and love the green and black background.
this is just my opinion
( )rishi July 21st
ya it’s nice…………. and cool effects
( )