Applying texture to a flat surface, or flatly applying a texture across a whole image (as a means to age it or degrade it) is simple stuff. Realistically applying a texture to an uneven surface is much more hands-on (more so than simply overlaying a texture and changing the Blending mode).
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.
Video Tutorial
Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.
Step 1
Job number one, as ever, is pooling your assets together. I got the man from iStockphoto here and the tree bark (courtesy of K. Tuck) from stock.xchng here.
Step 2
Cut out the face using the Pen tool (set to Paths not Shape Layers). Cut and paste it into your blank canvas (1562 pixels by 1172 pixels at 300dpi). Open up the bark image, and import it into your working document. Resize and rotate the document as in the screengrab.
Step 3
Use the Clone Stamp tool to fill in the rest of the texture. Avoid easily recognizable repetitions in the texture like the ones circled. Clone them out. I used a 200 pixel, soft-edged brush to do this
Step 4
Turn the visibility of the "Bark" layer off (clicking the eye icon next to the layer thumbnail will do this). Go to the Channels palette, select the channel with the best contrast, and duplicate this channel into a new document.
Step 5
Apply a 2 pixel Gaussian Blur to your new document and then adjust the Levels as in the screengrab below. Save as "Displace.psd."
Step 6
Reselect the "RGB" channel (so all channels are selected and the image is now back in color) and return to the Layers palette. Make the "Bark" layer visible and select it. Go to Filter > Distort > Displace. Set the Horizontal and Vertical scale to 1 (or try other values), select Stretch To Fit and Repeat Edge Pixels. Set the Layer Blending Mode to Multiply. You can see how it's distorted over parts of the face.
It hasn't quite put it in the right place so move the "Bark" down the face until the distortions match the face. Use this wrinkle (circled) as a guide as to where to put it.
Step 7
Duplicate the "Bark" layer twice. Set one to Multiply with an Opacity of 100%. Set the other to Normal at 40% Opacity. Position in the Layer hierarchy as in the image below.
Step 8
Command-click on the "Face" Layer to create a selection. Select the "Bark Normal 40% Layer" and go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal selection. Repeat this for the "Bark Multiply" Layer. Zoom into 300% and use the Pen tool to draw around the eyes and the mouth. Add a rough edge to the top of the mouth. Press Commmand-click on the Path thumbnail to create a selection.
Step 9
Select the "Bark Normal 40%" Layer Mask thumbnail to work directly on the Mask. Select black as the background color and then delete the selection from the Layer Mask. Repeat this process for the "Bark Multiply" Layer.
Step 10
Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves and set up as shown below. Then fill the Adjustment Layer Mask with black so the effects aren't visible.
Step 11
Turn off the visibility of the "Bark" Layers and use the Pen tool to draw a paths around the hard edges we need to mask. The bottom of the nose and cheek lines are good examples. Command-click on the Path thumbnail to create a selection from it.
Step 12
Select a soft-edged (0% Hardness) brush, loaded with white (as the foreground color) and set to 16% Opacity. Paint directly on the Layer Mask. Press Command + H to hide selection the, if it helps. Draw over several times, applying more at the shadow source and less as you get further from the harsher shadows.
Step 13
Draw around other features which produce hard lines such as the bottom lip. Draw the Shadows in the same manner.
Step 14
Create a selection from the "Face" layer by Command-clicking the layer thumbnail. Draw all the shadows in...
Step 15
...Changing the Brush size to suit size of the area you're treating. Around the lip for example, use a small brush.
Step 16
Turn the "Bark" layers off to see the key areas of shadow. You can still work on the Mask with the face showing. I flick between working with the "Bark" visible and invisible.
Step 17
In order to soften or erase any shadows that you're not happy with, change the brush color to black and draw on the mask in the same way as before. Keep working on the Mask until you get it right.
Step 18
Whilst drawing on the Mask, you should be changing your brush size and the opacity to suit the shadow. For a big gradual shadow you'll want around a 300 pixel brush set to 16% Opacity, all the way down to 18 pixels and increasing the opacity to suit. Finally, apply a 0.6 pixel Gaussian Blur to the Adjustment Curve Layer Mask to soften the hard edges.
Step 19
Duplicate the "Bark" Layer that sits beneath the "Face" Layer. Set them up so they are the same as the top Bark layers, one Normal at 40% opacity, one Multiply at 100%. Then under those two layers create a new layer and fill it with C=61%, M=66%, Y=66%, and K=62%.
Step 20
Create a selection from the "Face" Layer (Command-click the Layer thumbnail) and go to Select > Inverse. Then go to Select > Modify > Expand. Give it a 1 pixel expansion. Select the Curves Adjustment Layer Mask and Fill the selection with 20% black.
Step 21
Create a selection from the Eyes/Mouth Path you made earlier. Add some shadows by drawing on the Curves Adjustment Layer Mask.
Step 22
To further fuse the elements together, and to grade the image, add a Curves and a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer to the top of the Layers hierarchy.
Step 23
Flatten the image and go to Filter > Liquify. Select the Bloat tool and set up roughly how it is in the image below. We want to add a 3D quality to the areas such as cheeks, nose, and forehead. Select an appropriate Brush size for each of these areas and click on each a few times rather than dragging the brush around.
Conclusion
You can always add some real world effects such as leaves and bugs to the final image - go nuts. This technique works for applying any texture to any surface, for example you could make a brand new Mercedes SLK rusty and riveted, or make a house out of skin. Go have fun whilst you perfect your craft. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )JakeGy March 9th
Good, good…
( )Lawrence77 March 9th
really good!
( )michael March 9th
awesome, awesome
( )Colin March 10th
really awesome!
lawrence77 March 10th
hai Collin After a long time i see your comment?
Christian Tobler March 10th
Freakishly sweet! and awesome:)
( )Underdog March 10th
Really Freakishly sweet! and awesome:)
skysofly March 10th
you have no idea
Jachian June 16th
There’s a better way to do this, watch this video
( )http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vt44VEb_oU&feature=related
Nerd September 4th
Neat! Neat!
( )Saro March 9th
Thanks for this great tutorial!
( )enhee April 2nd
it is nice
( )Sammo March 9th
Good tutorial but I’d be tempted to remove the dark right ear, as for me anyway, it is quite prominent when it doesn’t have to be.
( )Jo March 10th
I second the motion!
( )isa June 3rd
I third the motion!
Peidão March 9th
Excellent!
( )Mr. Bremer March 9th
This is probably one of the best texture portrait tutorials I’ve seen. I really like the burning in of the shadows to create depth using the curves adjustment layer.
I’m going to have to try this myself!
( )Carlos March 9th
Fantastic, and somewhat pretty simple. Great tut. On an unrelated issue, are somebody else like me having trouble opening the vectortuts website? what´s going on?
( )Jo March 10th
So do I… Been having that problem too for almost a week now.
( )Lawrence77 March 9th
The man looks terribly angry here in this stock photo!
Nice Tutorial Davies…
a welcome 5th tutorial in PSDTUTS, another 150$ added to ur paypal!
thanks for sharing this
( )RCKY March 9th
Nice Tutorial, but wouldnt it be easyer to use the disortion map? (dont really know what its called in english)
( )RCKY March 9th
displacement map… for shure…
( )Alex March 12th
Check steps five and six…he uses the displacement map right away
( )JohnONolan March 9th
Very very cool, definitely going to give this one a try!
( )Lumzor March 9th
Just Awesome!
( )Greg March 9th
Looks awesome, thanks (like a trent from the Middleearth stories…)
( )Great, keep on doing!
cissko March 9th
great!!!!
( )Constantin Potorac March 9th
Great tutorial Davies. Really like the effect
( )Crysfel March 9th
looks good, very impressive
( )You March 9th
Great tut/effect, but the teeth dont fit.
( )Jaybo March 9th
if u just added a wooden texture to th teeth it’d prob look better
( )isa June 3rd
Nah! No way! I reckon that makes it look all the more awesome!
A tree trunk with a face coming out with bark teeth… meh…
But a tree trunk with a face coming out with real teeth! I would run like hell!
On second thoughts… anything coming out of a tree would make me run like hell LoL!!!
But you get what I mean
Tyler Cook March 9th
Excellent Effect, enjoyed it very much
( )Rafael Silva March 9th
Good tutorial
( )corey March 9th
He looks like the “boom headshot!” guy….
( )Wisaki March 26th
lol I thought so aswell (The guys name is Doug in Boom Headshot)
( )Alec March 29th
Hahaha, doug! Yeh.. Good tut nonetheless!
chris March 9th
n1. Defenitly a cool effect!
( )Alvaro March 9th
no words, really like this one
( )lawrence77 March 9th
you say no words! but you type/say 6 words! lol
(just for fun)
( )justhati March 9th
yeaH!
( )Finally a constructive tutorial again! Thanks a lot!
TomH March 9th
Looks good – but the teeth look REALLY out of place.
( )j March 9th
nice….
( )Stephen Olmstead March 9th
Nice job- this employs some really unique techniques to generate an awesome effect.
( )Sean Hodge March 9th
We added a few minor corrections to the tutorial. Thx.
( )lawrence77 March 9th
why and what are they Mr.Sean?
( )JamesZilla March 9th
I mis-wrote the displacement map values on STEP6 (cheers for Gavin Steele – video guy – for spotting that).
I forgot to write in the selection expansion value STEP20 (value was one)
There was also a screengrab missing STEP22 (not my fault
)
Sean Hodge March 10th
@James – Thx for clarifying these for the readers. Yah, I missed that screengrab in Step 22
writersbloc March 9th
Nice. Tried a different face I had no luck getting anywhere near the detail you have… nor can I figure out how you got your bark to look so deep and rich with that simple curve.
Real nice effect, but a little too much technique for me to follow along.
( )writersbloc March 9th
Bah, I’m a dumbazz- didn’t have my top multiply layer at 40%… Kind of helps the effect
( )Bill Labus March 9th
Someone needs to introduce this guy to braces.
Very cool tutorial.
( )TomH March 9th
Haha (but seriously, yeah
)
I’ll try this out when I have time. Thanks for posting!
( )haahteeth March 9th
LOL i hope thats not you because u zoomed in on those nasty chombers cool effect
( )Spades March 9th
Awesome tutorial, requires some knowledge of light to get a better effect. I loved it!
( )SawHtoo March 9th
Absolutely Cool Tutorial Thanks a lot! Will give a try.
( )Matthijn Dijkstra March 10th
Really nice i must say
( )jbcarey March 10th
This is a really nice tut… I’m going to try this one (as I’m sure A lot of people will.
( )Branden Silva March 10th
Awesome effect! Enjoyed it
( )Martinho March 10th
i would say probably the best tutorial of the year. Astonishing.
( )rap March 10th
very nice! i love it! the guy kinda look like the one on “The Mummy” movie.
( )thanks for sharing.
Jeroen March 10th
I like it, have done this before but seen some other techniques now cool
( )Dizzle March 10th
Two words … Wicked Cool!
( )Keep it up
Nick Rinylo March 10th
Looks Good, I like the idea.. I’m gonna apply the idea to a nice website design. Keep up the nice tutorials.
( )Mr Kuzio March 10th
This Tutorial is awesome. And I like it!
The wood texture is reall cool.
( )Brejk06 March 10th
Gr8!
Although i would like to remove both ears and make a softer transition between the bark and the face. Especially in the lower portions of the image.
( )tru March 10th
very creative indeed . I learn a few stuff about paths
( )Diego SA March 10th
Man, superb!
But, I have to say: beautiful teeth!
( )Closeupman March 10th
Get the guy for free here:
( )http://www.sxc.hu/photo/731510
Underdog March 11th
is that you?
( )Closeupman March 10th
Not EXACTLY the same, but similar expression and the best part is the image is FREE!
( )Dj Suz March 10th
I was just wondering if you had anything to fess up to perhaps or did you do a Chris Brown? You have an anger management tab up in the vid!
( )Now to get back to learning.
Dj Suz March 10th
Oh crap scrap that thought I commented (opened my big mouth before watching)
( )I will smack myself now.
ZaFaR March 10th
Awesome
( )ZaFaR March 10th
Awesome nice!
( )tung March 10th
i have another way,it’s very simple
( )isa June 3rd
So share it instead of saying what you said please.
Easy to criticise, but hard to do something yourself.
( )Bones March 11th
This is some great job
( )Laura March 11th
Nice
( )Cristhian Bedon March 12th
This is a crazy tut, great job.
( )Frank March 12th
This my result:
( )http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8936/boomfrank.png
you March 16th
LOL!!! didnt quite turn out right. (kidding)
nice
( )Alan March 12th
Very nicely done tutorial. I think ima go brush my teeth now…
( )chunkydesign March 13th
Really nice tutorial and easy to follow specially with the video, and a great effect, with principles that can be used to aply to other kind of textures. Thanks for posting this!!
( )tru March 14th
stucked at step 12 . Where to draw the brush ? which layer ?
( )Bilal Ghouri March 14th
Excellent, its an amazing tutorial
( )Gijo March 15th
Its nice to see the tutorial!!!
( )idon | saustomat March 15th
makyus !
( )amy March 16th
Nice,thanks for this great tutorial!
( )Matthew Heidenreich March 16th
really great tutorial, love the effect
( )Alex March 16th
Fantastic tutorial, half man and half tree
( )JamesZilla March 17th
At TRU ’stucked at step 12 . Where to draw the brush ? which layer ?’
On the Curves Adjustment Layer Mask.
( )javiinthezone March 18th
i’m going to do “lenticular effects” with this!
thanks psd!
( )Adri_ March 18th
Very good tutorial ! Thanks James !
( )poonam pandhari parab July 4th
name that is why no mean because there is no value of identity
( )nessa March 20th
You Can’t See The Forest For The Trees and splinter in flickr, how you do that? Can tell me?
( )thanks so much
raj86 March 22nd
very nice friend!
( )asifa March 22nd
very nice adventuriyas tutorials
( )Ludovic March 23rd
Welcome to 1990.
( )CgBaran Tuts March 29th
Great tutorial its veryuseful and outcome is amazing..
( )Metaludo March 29th
nice tutorial!
( )i already done this with a face and a hand :http://metaludo.deviantart.com/art/Memory-of-a-wall-104948956
buddy March 29th
wow, very nice tips. cool;)
( )EmptyWorld March 31st
oh dear James
( )i love your tut so much
thank you
pxlzombie March 31st
interesting, but how do i get the image of the guy for free?
( )javier April 8th
muy bueno
( )Fer April 9th
*applause*
incredible! I love this tutorial, I had no idea what was the displacement for. I was like :O :O :O :O when I saw it. Congratulations.
( )Deepak wakde April 11th
very nice tutorials, thanks for psd.tutsplus.com
( )ame April 15th
Lovely
( )jorge April 15th
genial gracias por compartir
( )nio April 21st
Thnx a lot!
( )Corey April 23rd
You actually knew what you were doing and the picture is amazing. But it’s the worst tutorial i have ever seen in the aspect of relating to people. You expect everyone following along this tutorial to live in their mom’s basement with no life playing world of warcraft and doing adobe photoshop just like you. Kudos for the work but you did a HORRIBLE job explaining things.
( )isa June 3rd
You watch too much “You suck at photoshop” dude!
( )Patricia April 24th
I never see that type of idea ! I really like it very much and i must tell you that is very creative Idea! It may used to some organization like “Green Peace” !
( )Gabe May 2nd
Whoo, great tutorial, and thanks a lot for the video, it really helped me understand it much better.
( )Graphic Designer May 5th
This is pretty confusing. I’m doing everything the instructions say, but it doesn’t turn out the same.
( )jagadeesh May 9th
this is my some months aim that is cleared by ur tutorial thanQ so much sir
( )jags is rock May 9th
nice tut sir
( )Elena May 11th
Hi, I love this effect – however I’m having some trouble doing it myself. Could someone please contact me at ellcyp@hotmail.com ? I would love some help. thanks!
( )boi May 11th
cool n love it
( )adam May 19th
why can’t you use displacement to map the tree texture on the face?
( )Santosh May 25th
great efforts, good results. thanks a lot for sharing
( )Tips for Website Design May 28th
This an awesome tutorial. I learnt a lot. Thanks so much
( )jeremy szelag May 31st
interesting who’s the guy
( )retoucher77 June 4th
that’ just amazing… wonderful job!
( )Abah eka June 16th
good tuts, thank u.
( )giselle June 17th
me encanto! esta muy bien hecho!
( )Iklan Baris Gratis June 25th
thanks for your tutorial
( )REGGIE June 25th
NICE..I WILL TRY THIS ONE…
( )me June 26th
Nice great tutorial..
It also remember me about that treeguy from indonesia whahah
but great job and tnQ for the tutorial!!!
( )Phoenixdown June 27th
Great tutorial!! The video is really helpful!!
( )spidermonkey July 3rd
Excellent tutorial, this will be very useful for my photography portfolio!
( )Landscape Photography July 13th
Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing.
( )Ziare Phresh Soldier July 21st
Your Message…Here mines just added a little of my style in it and made it kind of a movie like.
( )http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2422/3689582552_5878ac401e_b.jpg
Jeremy Darko July 26th
It’s fantastic, but I just don’t think that the leaf is necessary. It makes the image too complicated. Also, the right ear is a bit dark as already mentioned. I can definitely use this for future endeavors!
( )Mohd Saqib July 27th
Helloooo, nice tutorial…. but as I click on the above given wood link to download it then it shows Go Daddy website page… please give me the correct download link.. I need it to try to make this layout. if possible then send me the link on my email mohdsaqib786@gmail.com… well really simple and nice tutorial.. thanks for share it.
( )Web Design Brighton August 28th
good Design
( )Cyril September 4th
génial !
( )CMYK September 14th
Very nice tuto, Thanks!!!
( )CMYK September 14th
Very nice tuto!!! Thankssss PSD-Tuts!!
( )evilkitty75 September 28th
hehehe i love this method i use it myself
( )GAR October 25th
good tuto!
my outcome:
http://i37.tinypic.com/2crofo7.png
( )tuna November 13th
It’s fantastic, thanks..
( )