In this tutorial, you will learn how to combine digital painting and photo manipulation to create polished fantasy art. The process of combining digital painting and photo manipulation is a great mix. It truly allows you conquer the world with beautiful illustrations. Let's get started!
How to Combine Digital Painting and Photo Manipulation to Create a Platform Environment
Jul 21st in Painting, Photo Effects by Justice Von Brandt
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.
Step 1
The first step is to browse stock sites or take photographs to gain a basis for the finished piece. After browsing, pick out a few images that have potential to turn into a manipulation. After doing so, create enough thumbnails to further establish the theme and composition of the piece. This are small rough sketches that allow you to explore concepts and layouts quickly. The first thumbnail out of the set below was chosen for further development.
Step 2
Now, open the the base image and set it to 300 pixels per inch.
Step 3
Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. Set the contrast to +55. Also, erase the unwanted elements of the photograph.
Step 4
Now it’s time to add more elements into the picture. A glass dome is added to give the image a purpose. You don’t want an image that people are going to have to guess what they are looking at. The dome adds to the believability that people could live and work on this platform. When making concept art, believability is essential.
Step 5
The perspective of the dome doesn't exactly match the perspective of the initial image. To fix this, go to Filter > Liquify and warp the image until it matches. Make sure to use a fairly large brush since the whole image is being edited and not just sections. Warping the dome gives the platform a futuristic and fantastic feel by giving it some unusual curves.
Step 6
Next, clean up the bottom edges of the dome. Then paint a connecting border between the dome and platform to join the two.
Step 7
Next, cut out the image of a tree and paste it multiple times. After pasting the tree, erase the edges with a speckled brush to decrease repetition.
Step 8
First, roughly paint in the area you erased with blue. You can work on blending that into to the image as you work through the tutorial. Next, create a new layer and start painting over the trees you just placed. The best type of brush to paint foliage with is a speckled brush.
When painting the leaves, start with darker values first and then build up to a highlight. You also want to remember the light source of the rest of the image. Making everything consistent leads to a believable finished illustration.
Step 9
The next step is to create a plane for the runway. Start off with creating a random shape with the Lasso Tool (L).
Step 10
Then select the Fill Tool (F) and fill in the shape with white.
Step 11
Then paint in the detailing and basic shading for the plane.
Step 12
Next, place the plane into the environment. Erase the firing touch on the platform and replace it with a beacon light. Also, start adding in some brighter colors to your trees to add some visual interest.
Step 13
To give the image more depth it is a good technique to add structures behind the foreground image. Create a new layer and place the new dome below the main structure’s layer. Adding another dome reinforces the structure of the platform. Also, continue to work on the sky in the background.
Step 14
Continue painting more leaves and details of the foliage.
Step 15
Next, create a new layer. Set the layer to multiply and select the color black. Paint the left side of the image to add a deep shadow. The Opacity of that layer should be 69%. Also, add a plane in flight to reinforce the purpose and use of the platform.
Conclusion
To finish off the illustration, create a new layer, add some random spatter over the illustration, add some highlights, and the final image has a painted feel. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.
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User Comments
( ADD YOURS )josh July 21st
pretty cool!
( )Umer July 21st
umm nice! quick n sweet
( )aMs July 21st
?
( )massafakka July 22nd
right. just my thought lol…
> ? <
( )Lucas July 21st
Awesome, i must say i do indeed love it.
( )Shaw July 21st
I have no words that can describe this lol…:P
( )rendyo July 21st
nice picture mixing…
n_O
( )aMs July 21st
These instructions are very inaccurate
( )Saro July 21st
Awesome
( )MrrB July 21st
It’s colourful.
( )xxgoblin July 21st
woooah .. gorgeous
but.. i’m quote aMs ..
( )the instructions are hasty ..
Dave July 21st
If you can follow this tutorial, then you didn’t need it. Seems rushed
( )Michael July 21st
awesome
( )Dave July 21st
skips some steps I think, and doesn’t explain the details very well (or at all)
( )Kevin Schlueter July 21st
Should have done a better job with the sky. It doesn’t look very good.
( )Proof July 21st
magic. very creative, but I think work needs more blending
( )Emil Lyngbo July 21st
Skipped a lot of steps, and I don’t really like the final outcome. Sorry.
I thinks the speckled brush seems totally out of place – should be less sharp.
That, and then the spatter thing in the end, looks like somebody who has just discovered brushes in photoshop. It doesn’t blend really..
( )vlad July 21st
i dont like!
( )aMs July 21st
“Then select the Fill Tool (F) and fill in the shape with white.”
I have no tool under F, and there is no such thing in photoshop as Fill Tool. I guess you had in mind the Paint Bucket Tool (G).
…
( )Jarka H. July 21st
I think the result is not bad but information about creating the manipulation should be much more detailed. Not only I added this and that but also about how you blend it etc.
( )Guybrush July 21st
This isnt good enough for psdtuts – its cheesy and not very skilful. sorry Justice.
( )Yamato July 21st
here is only 1 word describing it – AWESOME
( )Nikhil July 21st
Final image is good but the steps are not explained properly….
( )RGB July 21st
The Photoshop techniques used here are amateurish and in some cases just plain wrong. The outcome has obvious mistakes in it, just look at the top right of the sky for a horrendous blending mistake.
( )John July 21st
and by “paint the plane” you mean cut apart the Milwaukee Art museum wings. http://www.mam.org/info/details/quadracci.php
( )RoaldA July 21st
cool!
( )Melody July 21st
Very Cool, you can also use the smudge tool to make the photo look more painted like brush strokes..very cool though, like the colors..
( )Joefrey July 21st
not bad, we need more high quality tutorials..
( )Fourbrezio July 21st
I think somebody really needs to redo this tutorial.
( )-the blending is off
-the dome lighting is off a bit
-instructions are rushed
-steps were skipped
and what bugged me the most was how you tried to create shadow (im guessing thats what that is?) on the lower left corner. It looks like you just burned half of it and called it good. The sky that you can see behind the posts shouldn’t have been darkened by shadow.
Mark Dijkstra July 21st
I must say very simple but very nice!!
( )zach July 21st
dissapointing… a little bit of a drop off from the other tutorials
( )Nardyello July 22nd
What a masterpiece! Talk about vision and talent!
( )bai July 22nd
yes cool !!
( )Razvan July 22nd
Very nice!
( )Drew July 22nd
I agree that this isn’t the typical type of work to be shown on PSD tuts, but i think people need to understand that it’s Justice’s style. All you need to do is view the portfolio – pretty obvious. In which case there is nothing offensive by it.
I also think that if people are going to criticize both the final outcome and the tutorial writing style…then it’s a little contradictory. We’re visual people, use the images to guide you if you understand what techniques are being used. Or, if you understand the technique why read it at all.
Typically when someone mentions fantasy art i think we all have some expectation to see glowing elements, smooth lines and soft blends… not all fantasy art has to be the same – that’s why it’s called art.
( )Rit July 22nd
Imagination works very powerfully here….I must add some shark in the water……. but the tutorial is supar….
( )tutorialslounge July 22nd
that’s really creative training with latest tips.
( )Diego SA July 22nd
Cool, well done. I’d take out the splatters and would explain every step in a more detailed way. I agree when is said some techniques seems a little amateur. But even so, the final result looks fantastic.
( )So, for you next tutorial, try to be more detailed and try to use something more advanced to make us hungry for knowledge, hehe!
Anyway, thanks!
VertigoSFX July 22nd
The final product is awesome but the tutorial is horrible. You need to go into more detail in your steps. You say erase unwanted areas, why don’t we want these areas? How do we know what to erase besides looking at your picture? Make sense of what you’re telling us because if I didn’t look ahead I wouldn’t know why I was erasing those random areas.
Painting the image, this needs to be explained. What’s the best way to paint, how do you set it up, what techniques are used to make it look believable. All you told us was to paint, we need a tutorial on how to do the painting.
Lastly the details on the plane bothered me, I’d like some more explanation into the placement of the random lines on this “plane.”
I hope you take this criticism to improve your next tut, i’m no tutorial writer because I lack the talent of many of the writers on this site but as a reader these are the things i’d like to see. Your final result is amazing. I really love the piece of work. Just explain things better in your future tutorials
Thanks!
( )ims July 22nd
peace be upon u …
i do agree with both ” Drew” & “VertigoSFX ”
the final results is really awesome but to be honest the instructions is really weak & lacking clearance … i was attracted by the title of the tutorial as i want to learn both ” digital painting & manipulations ” & how to blend both of them together , but i was shocked with the instructions .. i couldn’t know how to paint the tree , colored leaves!
it was like a simple case study nor a tutorial !
thanks
( )Epoc July 22nd
This is absolute rubbish. Read like a tutorial a 5th grader would write.
I can’t believe this made it on the site.
( )Kanchan Rai July 22nd
Cool Concept! The tutorials real cool but ya right, it’s too much hasty and very less detailed.
We’ve been getting cool tutorials in this site! this one seemed a bit out of track!
( )Alejandro July 23rd
Not too shabby. With a few things fixed could have been a masterpiece.
( )Mr Kuzio July 23rd
OMG!
I love this kind of things.
( )aliaskajan July 23rd
cool tutorial
( )Odaddy July 23rd
Quicky
( )SoVa July 23rd
Yea I just cancelled my membership =/
This a good site, just isn’t consistent with the quality of tutorials. This like many above me have said, isn’t even a tutorial. The previous tutorial “flooded city” isn’t even of great quality. Many tips and tricks have been said before in other tutorials. I hope the $150 which comes from our subscriptions didn’t pay for this. When the tutorials become more consistent I’ll gladly give you $10 a month $126 a year.
( )kick July 23rd
sucks so much
( )rezano July 23rd
*// That is very good Tutorial
I love it !
.: Tanks :.
( )Joshua July 23rd
I’ve always been interested in digital painting, and I thought this would be an interesting tutorial that would show me how to create a unique feel between the painting an manipulation.
I must admit that the instructions were quite vague, but it does give you a general direction to head toward. I think that it was encouraging creativity more than trying to instruct.
( )Nox July 24th
This is afaik called “matte painting”
And I agree with VertigoSFX
( )underdog July 24th
i like it .it’s good.. i will try to pain…lol
( )Eric Shafer July 27th
It’s a bit of a difficult tutorial but still worth reading.
Featured here: http://www.presidiacreative.com/best-of-the-web-30/
( )Sushimoron July 29th
The image still looks quite raw. Wish there was more lighter and darker elements and the colors more striking. Also, the instructions seem quite inaccurate.
( )Jaykumar July 29th
i like it .it’s good.. i will try this ? but i want to more …
( )wolf_dong July 30th
very good , have chinese
( )Csongor Kiss July 30th
Wonderful!
( )Wagner August 6th
WOW!!! This wonderfull!!!
( )Sydney Architectural photographer August 9th
Not a fan of this one… sorry!
( )CgBaran Tuts August 12th
I love ittt!!!
( )Confusion August 12th
I have to agree with some other comments the paint splatters towards the end ruin it alot needs more depth maybe just copy real foliage lol
( )g3niuz August 13th
great tutorial
( )marwa August 20th
awesome,,, gr8 work
( )Unique Prints August 21st
wow what an amazing tut!
( )great work, i would love to see more of you! =]
Mango August 25th
Thank you. This tutorial opens my eyes to concept composition. This is what I did what your tutorial.
http://mangoprojects.blogspot.com/2009/08/mount-kimboz.html
Once again, thank you.
( )kira September 2nd
thanks, great artwork
( )digital painting from photo
aleks September 9th
cute i still belive something is missing ( i dont know what) but otherwise its wonderfull
( )Akash October 3rd
Can u show how to paintthe leaves and splatter more properly? What brush is godd to use? I can not find any in photoshop and my own do not create a dense layer.
( )bro October 28th
i dont even know how to make boarder.. not very well explained.
( )