Step 7 – Shading

We will now apply shading to each separate section of our image by using several levels layers attached to each individual layer. So select the first part of machinery and create a new levels layer for it.

Make it a clipping mask

Adjust the levels as shown here, and set the layer mode to multiply which I find works best for shading in a scene like this one.

We will apply the shading effect of the levels only in selected areas so go ahead and use the fill tool to fill the mask with black.

This makes all the darkening influence of the levels layer to be masked off.

So we will be using a soft brush, no need for a determined size since its changed several times depending on where you are masking in the shadow as indicated here.

Yet for detailing the shadows I can tell you I used a small 12px brush, yet the same soft tip.

So this is the back section of machinery with shading applied and we will be making a separate shading levels layer for each layer.

Let’s now go to the next layer; which already has a levels shading layer yet we will use a new levels layer.

So go ahead and create a new levels layer clipped to the machinery and adjust the levels as shown, plus set it to multiply.

And again we mask everything off by filling the layer mask with black.

And yes again all shading is masked off.

We will now continue using our soft brush starting at this size here yet varying the size as needed.

OK so let’s start shading this part as indicated here.

And as I said change the brush size when you need.

And refine the shading also shifting between black and white, to add or remove the shading.

You can see here the finished shading in the section.

OK let’s go ahead to the next layer and repeat the same steps; create a levels layer and adjust its settings as indicated here.

Back to our soft brush, this time starting at 55px since we have quite a few thin sections on this layer.

Fill the layer mask with black so the darkening its all masked off.

And again apply the shading where needed, also changing the brush size.

Let’s now go to the first section of the face and make a levels layer for it too, and adjust the settings as shown here. There are some variation on intensity and opacity since the content of this layer is quite different than the previous metal parts.

This time we will not fill the mask with black; we will do the opposite and mask off the shadow with our brush.

Let’s start with a soft brush of about 147px

And brushing with black let’s the original brightness go through creating shading were we don’t brush; actually very simple, paint with black you mask off the layers influence, paint with white, and you mask in the layer.

The process remains, you change your brush size where needed, this time make it larger at about 226px

To make a wide soft highlight zone where its shown here.

Re size your brush as many times as you need, mask in and mask off as many times as you need to get the shading shown below.

Continue shading all three sections of the face in exactly the same way; one levels layer for each and the same adjustments for each. Then just go in with your brush to let highlights in.

The same applies to the other side of the face, actually easier because of its position.

Create the same levels layer and repeat the same process until you have nice results.

Now we will go to the supporting eye piece layer and also give it a levels layer with these settings.

In this case, the same soft brush at about 164px yet with a bit of reduced opacity.

We will apply the same as the face sections, painting the mask with black to let the original light go through as indicated here.

Next we will work on the copper tubes behind the face area; yet the procedure its the same, make the levels layer as indicated here.

Let’s use a small brush this time.

And start working the mask as shown here to mask off the shadow.

And continue with each tiny section giving each the same attention as the bigger images. That is it we have shaded all of our character successfully and with non destructive levels layers that we can come back and adjust if necessary.

Step 8 – BLULE Lights

Now we will add some cool blue detail lights on our image. Go ahead and create a new layer on top to start.

Then go ahead and select the gradient tool.

Choose this gradient I have prepared for you

Make sure you have linear gradient selected.

Drag a gradient over this section as shown.

If needed access the rotate command

Then just rotate until it is aligned with the piece below.

Create a layer mask for it and fill the mask with black.

Pick up this soft brush at about 68px

And painting in the mask with white, just let in the blue of the gradient as shown here.

Change the layer mode to overlay

Now make another layer for the next section exactly in the same way.

And apply the blue effect on the other transparent part as shown here.

OK so now we have a subtle glow on these two parts.

There is one of these glass parts behind the eye that we also need to apply some subtle glow so go ahead and make another glow layer for it and brush in the sections shown here.

OK next up we will add some circular glow to the naked eye piece.

Let’s create a new layer for this.

Go back to the gradient tool and make sure you change it to a circular gradient.

Drag the gradient as shown here

Then create a layer mask

Select your brush tool with black selected

Choose this tip and adjust the settings as shown here.

Let’s first off mask the center as shown here.

And then mask off the outside of it.

Next up let’s create yet another new layer.

And we will do a similar effect over the other eye, so grab the gradient tool again and drag as shown here.

Then create a layer mask for it.

And with the same brush and in the same way, mask off the central part.

And then work on masking off the eye lids section

Adjust the size of the brush a bit.

And continue masking below the eye until you get this result.

Now I noticed that I wanted the glow a bit more to the outside of the eye so there is nothing to do but re scale the layer a bit as shown here.

And of course we need to re-work the mask.

Then just to finalize let’s add a bit of reflection on the eye lids, so go ahead and create a new layer and set it to overlay.

Use the same brush just make it quite a bit smaller.

Select the same bright blue as the gradient and paint in some subtle highlights as shown here. And we have finalized this section of the tutorial, however since there is much brushing involved in this step it is also highly recommended to check out the video for this step.

Step 9 – Clothing

OK so we have the clothing section of the image without sections of the shoulders, plus we will arrange some strips of ragged clothing on top the machinery area. Let’s start by selecting this layer here.

Let’s now select this brush here.

And we will paint in the mask of the layer to bring back what we can of the original clothing.

So paint in as shown here.

But since we can complete the clothing just by doing this, let’s make a new layer where we will paint the rest.

We can sample color from the image which ends up giving us this dark almost black blue.

And just paint in with the same brush the pieces missing indicated here.

Once you have it let’s sample from the image clothing some slightly lighter gray.

Select the soft brush once again and make the brush size at about 85px

Paint in a bit of gray variation as shown with this lighter gray.

And paint the same in the other end of this painted layer; if you are spilling out of the painted areas just lock the pixels on the layer.

Once we have finalized it let’s go back to the image layer

And paint the same subtle highlights to pair it up with the painted pieces.

Let’s now see how the shadow will drop from these strips of clothing so let’s make a layer style with drop shadow enabled with these settings.

To get the same shadow on the painted layer, just copy and paste the same layer style into it.

Looks good, so now let’s detail on the painted layer a bit more of these ragged strips. Let’s start by sampling some dark color of the clothing.

For this we will use this other brush and use it at a size of about 33px

Paint in a bit more as shown here.

OK now we will make the shading by hand so let’s get rid of the layer style in both layer.

So now we have these two layers without style so we have to make a layer for the shading.

So now we will make a new levels layer below these two to create the darkness for the shading with the settings indicated below.

Let’s select this brush here to work on the mask.

We will make it the same way as we have previously done first filling in the mask with black and then brushing with white just where we need the shading. And that is it we have finalized all of our shading.

Step 10 – Final adjustment layers

We will now make all the adjustment layers needed to finalize our image but first I will reposition all of our work a bit more centered, so select all of the layers.

And now just move all of it a bit more centered as indicated here.

OK we will start with a black and white layer all the way on top.

Adjust the settings as shown here, plus set the layer mode to overlay and reduce the opacity a bit.

OK now we will also modify the mask for this layer as well; and for this we will use this brush tip here.

Now we will mask off the influence of this layer from the sections shown here so we don’t diminish our blue glow work.

Then we will make our brush bigger at about 432px

And brush off in the sections shown here.

Let’s now continue with a hue/saturation layer.

Adjust just the saturation as indicated here.

And again go back to the soft brush at about 58px

And mask off in the sections shown here again to protect the blue glow from this layer influence.

Finally make a photo filter layer

Select color from the settings and adjust the density all the way up. The select the blue color shown below for the color.

And we will repeat the old process of filling in the layer mask with black and paint in only where we want this layer influence.

So as said grab your soft brush at about 90px

And let’s paint in with white to let the blue cast of this layer in some areas.

Now brush in the indicated areas shown here.

And finally let’s make yet another final levels layer, adjust its settings as shown here and fill in the mask with black.

Go back to the soft brush, this time at about 37px.

And brush in some shading as indicated here.

OK now let’s make a duplicate of this layer here.

And then go to the add noise filter.

Setup the filter as shown here.

And set the layer mode to overlay. This gives us a subtle texture on these black metal sections.

And now all that is left is to crop the image a bit to our taste, maybe you prefer a different cropping so its up to you. I selected the crop shown here, just using the rectangular selection tool and defining the area for the new crop.

And then simply go to the image menu and apply the crop.

Final Image

And that is about it we have come to the end of this manipulation tutorial, covered a popular subject and worked with a beautiful model image; so it was fun for sure, yet I hope you have learned new things and enjoyed the process also. Thanks for the support and see you on the next tut.