Create an Artistic Portrait From a Photograph – Screencast
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Create an Artistic Portrait From a Photograph – Screencast

on Nov 1st 2010 with 42 comments
Tutorial Details
  • Program: Adobe Photoshop CS5
  • Difficulty: Beginner
  • Estimated Completion Time: 30 Minutes

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Download Source Files

In this tutorial by Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor, Martin Perhiniak we will turn a photograph into an artistic portrait. We are going to use lots of advanced techniques like Pen tool for selections and masking, Mixer Brush tool for softening skin, and creating two pixel masks for the same layer to make a non-destructive reflection effect. This tutorial uses some of the amazing new features of Photoshop CS5 and it covers every single step from start to finish. Let’s get started!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

 
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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Martin is a Hungarian graphic designer, digital artist and an Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor (Design Master). He is currently teaching and working in London but usually travels around the UK and share his love for Adobe products and graphic design. You can follow him on his blog or on Twitter.  

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  • http://www.twenstudio.com/ TWEN STUDIO

    Hey Martin Nice to see you here !

    i think if you used blip.tv to uplaod videos you can make one part ?

    anyway Great Videos and i like it

    i hope to see more of you’re tutorials with PSD Tuts !

  • Steven

    This was great. I had been killing myself trying to figure out a better way to do hair. Would love to see this with someone that has dredlocks or more coarse hair. Completely forgot about creating your own brushes! I would like to see more complex retouching in the future. Thank you!

  • http://digiartes.com Juan

    Awesome, I loved the mixer brush tool. I’m still in CS4… Maybe that could be a good reason to upgrade.

  • http://www.vvsol.com Lisa-Vivid Visual Solutions

    This is a great tutorial. Thank you for taking the time. I learned some great techniques and ways to not destroy my layers. I appreciate you taking the time and I will look for your new tutorials. I like that mixing brush. It makes CS5 seem like a great investment.

  • sam

    Very amateur-looking result. Sorry.

    • lvn

      i agree.

    • Jeremy

      Then show us how YOU would do it.

    • http://www.rianflynn.com Wil

      Seriously, they’ll accept just about any tutorial submission on Tuts+. No offence to Martin for sharing and taking his time on this, but this is not the way to achieve professional results.

    • http://www.rianflynn.com Wil Wells

      Agreed, I would not recommend using this process if you want a happy client.

      • Randy

        Let’s see what you got.

  • http://www.peax-webdesign.com Graphiste

    Awesome result… we cannot guess it was not a studio portrait :)

  • http://www.jagzlabs.com Jagz

    Is it just me that finds the result rather un-natural :( .. but good techniques discussed.

    • rallough

      Agreed

  • http://www.xcubelabs.com iPhone App Development

    Thanks. That was very easy to implement.

  • http://www.cssplayer.com maxi

    very nice tutorial for me

  • anand

    It is a good technique to develop the shadow and highlights in the image. Good sir.

  • http://smillamagazine.com/ benedetta.s

    Nice example! Thanks!

  • Steve

    A very professional tutorial, very well explained.

    Thank you

  • http://www.tutoriallounge.com Tutorial Lounge

    excellent work.

  • http://www.mankis.hr mankis

    Good tutorials. Great techniques to learn, but I’m not too impressed by result.

  • http://www.artjunks.com Artjunks

    Cool techniques…
    just like already said im not sure about the result- especially the mirror effect !?

    • Randy

      It’s simply a reflection on a table. What exactly is wrong with that?

  • Gus

    Thanks , great tutorial , simple really awsome.

    Thank You
    Thank You

  • http://tonyv125@deviantart.com TonyV125

    The tips related to new CS5 features, such as holding down ctrl & alt on PC or cmd & opt on Mac in order to resize the brush or change its softness were great time savers. THANKS

  • http://www.yesimadesigner.com Martin Perhiniak

    Thanks a lot for your comments! I really appreciate it and I’m glad you found it useful! Keep on creating amazing art!

  • Michael Carr

    I am stuck trying to figure out how and where he got the floral background for this. I want to create this but I am stuck and its frustrating because he does not explain how/where he got it from.

    • http://www.yesimadesigner.com Martin Perhiniak
      Author

      Hi Michael,

      I’m sorry for the flower background but I couldn’t share that image because it is an illustration from a stock photo library. You can find very high quality, similar free stock images on this link:
      http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1265645

      Just use one of these and invert the colours of the layer and then put it in Screen blend mode.

      I hope it helps to finish it!
      Martin

      • Emmanuel

        Well done Mr. Martin, I really appreciate what you’re doing and how you’ve helped a lot of people including me. Keep up the good work. Is there a way to contact you and discuss personally?

  • eborde phillip

    nice tutz… wahha.. more power!,,, from philippines

  • Mykaldj

    That was a GREAT TUTORIAL….. like to see more,from Maricopa,Az.

  • randy

    Thanks Martin.
    Really appreciate you mentioning all the keyboard shortcuts for everything you do.

  • marco

    thanks for the tutorial!. you rock man!.. amazing, I learned new things about masking! cool!.. keep up the good work!.

  • Jamie

    I really liked the tutorial. It discussd and explored some useful techniques. Nice Photo. Thanks!

  • youssef

    Very nice i liked the simple technique u used in shadows

  • http://photoshoppemula.com/ Poli

    Hey great tutorial, taught me a lot of features i’ve never experimented with.

  • Ryan

    That was a great tutoral! One of the best.

  • http://photoartdesigns.com Tamra Millikan

    Great tutorial! Love the special skin effects!

  • Randy

    Fantastic tutorial. I hadn’t even considered using the mixer brush. I’ve spent so much time using D&B where the 50% gray layer would have been much more effective. Also great idea to use the hair brush to fix the edges rather than trying to mask them.

    This is one of the best tutorials I have seen using CS5!

  • Lisa

    Lots of good time saving tips here for me Thanks so much Martin you Rock!!

  • Samse

    Nice tutorials!…I have a question…My PHOTOSHOP cs5, Extended, don´t have the Tool Preset “Soft Skin”, can you help me?….

  • http://www.clippingpathzone.com Sila Mahmud

    Great job on this! You made something that is usually pretty confusing very simple and easy to understand. I LOVE your tutorial.

  • sepehr

    great job!