How to Create an Imaginative, Magical Painted Scene
Download Source Files
In this tutorial, we will be using several basic tools and stock images to create a fantasy artwork where everything seems to come alive from what is being painted on an old piece of paper. Let’s get working!
Editorial Note: this tutorial is influenced by the work Afterlife by Maciej Mizer.
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 $19/month. You can view the final image preview below.
Preparation
Before you start take a look at the images we’ll be using: Paper Texture from Bashcorpo, Sky from Neoikeia, Paint Brushes from Nyssi, Tree from WolfC Stock, Stroke Brush Set from FlightOfGrey, Toucan from sxc, Airplane from sxc, and Hand holding brush from sxc.
Step 1
Create a document with size 827px by 1169px. Download the Paper Texture from Bashcorpo and resize it to fit into the document.
Step 2
Then we will need an image of a cloudy sky. I found a pretty one sky image by Neoikeia. Resize the sky image and place it at the center of the document. Use Lasso Tool to draw an irregular selection as shown.
Go to Select > Modify > Feather. Set the Feather Radius to 30px. Follow by Select > Inverse then press Delete. Duplicate twice for this sky image as we will be using them later. Rename the sky layers (from bottom up) as “Sky 1,” “Sky 2″ and “Sky 3″ respectively. Hide “Sky 2″ and “Sky 3″ for now.
Step 3
Select the “Sky 1″ layer, go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Then follow by Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Check on Colorize. Set the Hue to 30, Saturation to 20 and Lightness to 30. Go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Crosshatch. Set the Stroke Length to 50, Sharpness to 20 and Strength to 1. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Linear Burn.
Step 4
Unhide the “Sky 3″ layer. Go to Filter > Stylize > Glowing Edges. Then follow by Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Multiply.
Step 5
Unhide the “Sky 2″ layer. Create a Layer Mask on the “Sky 2″ layer. Fill the mask with black. Download the Paint Brushes from Nyssi. Set the foreground color to white. Using the brushes downloaded, paint the layer mask to reveal part of the sky image. Then go to Filter > Paint Daubs. Set the Brush Size to 5, Sharpness to 7 and Brush Type to Simple.
Step 6
Let’s proceed on to the tree. Download the tree image made by WolfC Stock. Extract the tree away from its background using the Extract Tool (Click here for other methods of extraction). Position it as shown. Go to Filter > Blur > Smart Blur. Set the Radius to 3 and Threshold to 10.
Step 7
Duplicate the tree image three times, and rename the four layers (from bottom up) as “Painted Tree,” “Blurred Tree,” “Inverted Tree,” and “Outline Tree.” We will get on to them one by one now. Select the “Inverted Tree” layer, go to Image > Adjustments > Invert.
Step 8
Set the Blend Mode of the “Inverted Tree” layer to Color Dodge. Using the Brush Tool (set the color to black, size to 200, and Opacity to 40%), paint over the inverted tree and you will add the highlight.
Select the “Outline Tree” layer, go to Filter > Stylize > Glowing Edges, then Image > Adjustments > Desaturate ,and follow by Image > Adjustments > Invert. Set the Blend Mode of the “Outline Tree” layer to Multiply.
Step 9
Now hide the “Blurred Tree,” “Inverted Tree,” and “Outline Tree” layers. Select the “Painted Tree” layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Then Filter > Brush Strokes > Cross Hatch. Set the Stroke Length to 20, Sharpness to 20, and Strength to 1. Follow by Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, and Check on Colorize. Set the Hue to 30, Saturation to 20 and Lightness to 30.
Step 10
Unhide all the tree layers and create a group folder. Place the “Outline Tree,” “Inverted Tree,” and “Blurred Tree” layers into the folder. Select the folder and create a Layer Mask. Fill the layer mask with black. Using the paint brushes downloaded earlier, paint the layer mask to reveal part of the tree image.
Step 11
Create a new layer and name it as “Tree Stroke.” Download the Stroke Brush Set from FlightOfGrey. Select the last brush of the set and paint it with #22130D at the end of the tree trunk.
Step 12
Create a new layer behind the tree layers and name it “Tree Splatter.” Place several splattered green paints around the trunk area.
Step 13
Download several stock images from sxc.hu. For this tutorial, I have hot air balloon 1, hot air balloon 2, plane, crane, and seagulls. Place them around the left side of the document.
Go to Select > Adjustments > Desaturate. Then Filter > Brush Strokes > Cross Hatch. Set the Stroke Length to 20, Sharpness to 20 and Strength to 1. Follow by Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, and Check on Colorize. Set the Hue to 30, Saturation to 20, and Lightness to 30. Set the Blend Mode of these layers to Linear Burn.
Step 14
Extract another hot air balloon and place it above all the other layers. Right-click on the hot air balloon layer and choose Blending Option. Check on Drop Shadow. Set the Blend Mode to Multiply, Color to black, Opacity to 20%, Angle to 90, Distance to 80, Spread to 0, Size to 5 and leave the rest as default.
Step 15
Repeat Step 14 for the crane.
Step 16
Download a Toucan from sxc.hu. Extract the toucan out from its background and position it as shown.
Step 17
Using one of the paint brushes downloaded earlier, place black splattered paint at the bottom of the toucan.
Step 18
Create a Layer Mask on the “Toucan” layer, use the Brush Tool with a black color to reveal some of the leaves behind.
Step 19
Download an airplane from sxc.hu. Extract the plane from its background and position it the way shown below.
Step 20
Duplicate the “Plane” layer. Select the “bottom plane” layer and go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set the Angle to 90 and Distance to 20. Move the blurred plane slightly to its left.
Step 21
Create a new layer and name it “Line.” Using the Pen Tool, draw a path as shown below.
Step 22
Select the Brush Tool, set the size to 3px and color to #C83926. Right-click on the path you have drawn earlier, and choose Stroke Path. Check on Simulate Pressure and Type to Brush.
Step 23
Repeat Step 22 for a few more lines with different colors.
Step 24
Duplicate the original “Plane” layer. Select the duplicated plane and go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Set the Lightness to 0, then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and set the radius to 10px. Follow by Edit > Free Transform. Resize the plane shadow and move it under the original plane. Set the Opacity of this layer to 40%.
Step 25
Repeat Steps 19 to 24 for a colorful kite at the right side of the tree.
Step 26
Download an image of a hand holding brush from sxc.hu. Extract the hand and brush from their background and position it the way shown in the diagram.
Step 27
Duplicate the “Hand” layer. Select the duplicated hand and go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Set the Lightness to 0, then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 10px. Now go to Edit > Free Transform. Rotate the shadow slightly so the two tips of the brushes meet.
Step 28
Create a new layer above the brush. Place a small drop of paint at the tip of the brush with color #251A10. Right-click on this layer and choose Blending Options. Check on Bevel and Emboss. Set the Depth to 1, Size to 5, Angle to 165, Highlight Opacity to 30, and leave the rest as default.
Step 29
Create a new layer above the plane. Using the Lasso Tool, draw an irregular selection around the plane.
Step 30
With the selection, go to Select > Modify > Feather. Set the Feather Radius to 30px. Then go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Hard Light.
Step 31
Create one last new layer. Select the Brush Tool, pick the default Star 33 pixels brush and open up the Brush Palette. In the palette, check on Shape Dynamics. Set the Size Jitter to 100 and Minimum Diameter to 0
Conclusion
The final image is below. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I look forward to seeing your results!
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lol first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i made it haHAHAAHAHAHAHAHa
well good work i like it alot ^^thx
btw: FIRST!!!!
what kind of comment is that? :)
nonetheless – i love the job you’ve done on the background! blending of the clouds is pretty sweet! good tutorial, thx.
idiot
yep
Don’t hurt others by comments….
Its his wish to comment….
true
Good point Lawrence
Yes it’s his wish to comment, it is however also his wish to make a fool of himself. Seems like it was intentional to make an idiot of himself in this case, he just wants the attention, and he got it!
word on “idiot”
realy idiot …
im laughing right now!
I’ve never understood the point of posting “First!” on blogs. Why would anyone care about having the first comment and why would you think we care? Personally I think they should just block all “First!” posts.
Beyond that, I really like this tutorial, it’s straight-forward and concise. Great result!
Pretend the blog is a distant planet. Wuoldn’t you want to shout first! too?
Too bad it’s not though. :[
YOU ARE WRONG PHENOTYPE. HIS WISJ AND HE LIKE TO BE FIRST. AND U SHOULD NOTICE HE HAS READ THE TUTS AND COMMENT FIRST. HE IS FOLLOWING REGULARLY.
U CAN JUDGE ANYONE BY SIMPLY SEEING HIS COMMENTS.
All these ‘forum kids’ who think it’s cool to spam comments with ‘first’, ‘second’ and ‘third’ rubbish should be warned and banned, if they continue. It’s just pointless. It adds nothing to these articles other than mindless spam – it also makes the people who do it look like a total moron with no life.
Sorry for the rant, but this crap is getting out of control now. This is not a ‘gaymer’ forum :P
Totally agreed, block the “first posts”.
I’m sorry but this is a serious misconception. There’s absolutely no reason why you would correlate a person posting that he has the first post on a blog comment section to a “forum kid” given that the “‘first’, ‘second’ and ‘third’” rubbish is entirely nonexistent in a forum community.
The point of the issue, is that this type of rubbish should not be allowed here. People come here to read the tutorials and see what other people have to say about them. If you, or anyone else come here just to spam pointless crap, or to defend those who do, should really take one good look at the reasons why you did it. Nobody finds it clever, nobody finds it interesting, people find it annoying and pathetic.
Gamer forums are full of annoying kids, who post crap like this. The term ‘forum kid’ is often used as it’s mainly kids that do it and mainly on forums. It’s one of the only places that tolerate it. Considering a number of people actually pay for PSDTUTS+ myself included, don’t really approve of this kind of crap and it should be removed instantly and people who persist in their OMG FIRSTS!!!111!!111234 LOOL SECOND!!! THIRRRDDS!!!! and all the other ’1337′ kid crap should be warned and banned.
oh my god
We never start the flame war… (note on youtube.com)
…
Awesome tutorial man. I really like the style :)
That’s amazing tutorial, thanks.
This looks like the coolest tutorial by far but it’s missing a lot of steps and Didnt explain it well enough
I agree, and if you follow some of the filters according to the settings provided here, you don’t get anything like the images in the tutorial…
This is definitely a great image. I agree that the steps were not well explained. I started with the 1st step duplicating the sky image & it’s not clear at all. Do anyone know how to explain steps 2-5 in more detail so i can follow steps & get same results as tutorial? I couldn’t get past the 1st steps & I’m sure there’s more parts of the tutorial that’s very unclear as well.
I agree. I just followed the step 4, and I couldn’t get teh same result… something is missing ¬¬
yeah! nice work
amazing tutorial!!!!
wow…….Another awesome tutorial
What’s up with the images not displaying on first page load? 50% of the time I have to reload the page for the images to display.
Jonathan, that’s weird. I’m not sure what technical reason that would occur. The images are hosted on Amazon S3, which is a good service. Let me know if this happens on other tutorials for you. Thx.
IT HAPPENS FOR ME, IAM USING CHROME AND FIREFOX LATEST ONE.
Are you by any chance using Opera 7.x as a browser? If so, most likely the problem is the browser – when the page is heavy on images, Opera 7.x usually misses half of them in favor of speed (Later versions like 9.x don’t seem to have this behavior). Or it could be a problem in your Internet connection, or just a temporary server issue.
Awesome article. =)
*saves paper texture to resource folder*
Outcome is quite nice. But I dont really like those “fantasy-surreal-ink-drop-alice-in-wonderland-everything-is-flying-around” kind of images.
The tutorial isn’t very spectacular, nothing really new. But a nice tutorial for beginners anyway.
Awesome tutorial! Love seeing this kind of stuff.
Hai Johnson Welcome to PSDTUTS…
A very good tutorial…..
As usual unusual……… :D
Thanks pal. You have given great encouragements throughout ;)
Thanks dude…
I expect more tutorials here….
Outcome is ok…however, when I think “painted scene” I don’t think of photo manipulations and that’s all this is.
This site needs someone that can do an ACTUAL digital painting, not a photo manip. w/filters
Agreed. ^ I would love to see a actual painter on here, doing a good tutorial ^
Hey Johnson IMPRESSIVE work!
amazing. a lot of nice techniques….
I reckon this is a tutorial to reproduce Afterlife from mOsk
http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Afterlife/98110
It ain’t bad but it quite doesn’t compare to the original,
good job anyway
I don’t think it’s possible to capture a fully professional composition into a tutorial. It would be far too long. The tut Nik Ainley did came close and that had around 100 steps if I remember correctly.
There are two factors that are in the way
1) The tutorial author needs to be the best of the best on an international level if he wants to create a tutorial of extremely high quality
2) You’d have to capture every single step. About 6 months ago I spent two weeks on a composition which involved a ‘robotic’ woman. I generally tend to work for about two days on a piece. This was something that would take way too long to explain.
And I am utter poopoo compared to professionals such as mosk.
While there are numerous differences in these illustrations, I do see some similarities of color choice, placement of some of the stock, and overall look/feel. I’ve added an editorial note to the beginning of this tutorial siting the work “Afterlife,” by Maciej Mizer as an inspiration for this work. I appreciate you mentioning this. The work does have much of it’s own direction as well, and like much work was likely influenced by numerous sources. Thx.
Mosk/Maciej Mizer (known as heavily inspired to other artists’ works) and this tutorial are originally idea/produced by hellocolor (pawel nolbert). PLANES, LIQUID LINES, FLYING AROUND ETCCCCC BELONGS TO HELLOCOLOR. STUPID COPIERS!!!!!!!
heres the original artwork BEFOREEEE Mosk and this author’s tutorial… http://www.behance.net/Gallery/The-KDU-Keystone/82728
see i told you..
YOU MUUUSSTT GIVE CREDIT FOR INSPIRED EVEN THE TUTORIALS.
Glad to see Johnson Koh here on psdtuts! His tutorials are always great and easy to understand. Love his website too.
Thanks Robby for your continuous support! :D
Sorry, but I really don’t like this. The final outcome just doesn’t look right, the whole thing just looks too artificial.
now there’s a quick way to make 150 bucks.
Dear sir,
I’ve noticed your opinion of just about every tutorial is the same. I do not with to argue with you, however if you feel that this website is constantly doing the same then perhaps you may want to educate the general public on how one has to make his 150 dollars.
I trust that you are a very skilled artist who can outdo all of the authors on this website, since you have shown your expertise in your elaborate criticisms.
So sir, please do submit a tutorial and enlighten us with your superior skill.
Alternatively you can of course stop visiting the website if you feel such enormous dis contempt.
Thank you for your understanding.
Touché! :D
Sold.
Wonderful! I like the way the things comes to life! Very creative!
this definetely doesnt look like a ‘painted’ scene to me. it has some small amount of painted elements which aren’t blended correctly.
the outcome looks ok, but lacks some quality, also the colors needs some correction.
keep it up, hope your next works will be even better!
I’m just started learning PS and this is fantastic lesson. Thanks for sharing.
No noticed that it looks waaaaay too much like this? http://mosk.pl/admin/data/upimages/afterlife.jpg
already featured here on psdtuts awhile back …
This is almost of a copy of this guy http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Afterlife/98110
i’m hopping to see the screencast of this!!
A little over 10 Steps, don’t you agree? LOL. Just kidding.
I agree with Tony. Looks very familiar in style to the Afterlife tutorial.
not impressive, but kinda nice. there’s much room for improvement but again ppl should take what’s new for them, style, tehniques, etc and keep alive the desire to do always something better :)
@ Tony – there is a saying, the secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources, i believe Enstein said that and this is reason i don’t go further with my comment into what i like and don’t at this tut :)
peace
Its kinda hard to extract the tree. I got tons of white between the branches. Any tips?
Hi Matt, are you using CS3? Maybe you can try to adjust the levels or contrast to create a higher difference between the tree and its background before using the extract tool.
Hope it helps :)
noob
THIS IS STUPID INSPIRED TUTORIAL FROM THE ORIGINAL ARTWORK, THIS AUTHOR WAS HEAVILY INSPIRED. DON’T ASK ME FOR THE LINK, DO YOUR BROWSING!
ALL AUTHORS HERE CREATE TUTORIALS ARE DESPERATE FOR CASH, MOST OF THEM WERE INSPIRED BY THE TALENTED ARTISTS’ ARTWORK. YOU NEED TO USE YOUR OWN STYLE, NOT INSPIRED OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS OR HOW THEY DID IT, IT’S THEIR OWN STYLE.
STUPID COPY-INSPIRED AUTHORS.
wee wee u you didn’t like inspirations…. why?
We are grown with inspiration only!, by known or unknown…
How u study to walk, eat, speak languages etc., all are come with inspiration only wee wee!
So don’t scold with inspiration its all very important ;)
YES ITS TRUE. EVEN U CAME TO A FIELD OR SOMTHING U LIKE , U SHOULD HAVE A INSPIRATION.
It’s so difficult to take you serious with such caps.
INSPIRATION MAKES U FIND SOME IDEAS, IDEAS ARENT YOURS. U NEED TO RESEARCH 1ST AND ON UR OWN!
Mosk/Maciej Mizer (known as heavily inspired to other artists’ works) and this tutorial are originally idea/produced by hellocolor (pawel nolbert). PLANES, LIQUID LINES, FLYING AROUND ETCCCCC BELONGS TO HELLOCOLOR. STUPID COPIERS!!!!!!!
heres the original artwork BEFOREEEE Mosk and this author’s tutorial… http://www.behance.net/Gallery/The-KDU-Keystone/82728
see i told you..
YOU MUUUSSTT GIVE CREDIT FOR INSPIRED EVEN THE TUTORIALS.
I agree with wee wee. You should give someone’s credit, this tutorial was stolen idea by Hellocolor.
@ wee wee
I find it hard to determine what came first in the end. There’s a huge amount of work on the web that focuses around a tree with hot air balloons or planes or whatever.
Eventually we’re going to trace digital work back to traditional art, and then we can have fun tracing that back through renaissance influences, down to ancient geek pottery and Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Not done yet though. We can go back to stone age cave drawings.
The point is that it’s hard to find the line between inspiration and plain copying. Everything is copied from one thing or another because our minds are shaped through viewing other works of art…or design…or neither.
All artists are influenced by others. When there is too much influence though from one single source though there is an issue. The more an artists interprets things in there own way, the more unique it will stand.
@ wee wee – I think this is a drastic overstatement, but you’re welcome to your opinion.
@Arik – Good points about influence.
Are we here to judge this artist’s inspiration?
Aren’t we here because we’d like to learn some new techniques we can apply in our own artwork?
I’ve learned some new stuff, and I’ve even repeated a pretty similar inspired outcome. That’s how I learn, and that’s why in my opinion this is an excellent tutorial.
@wee wee – you’re kind of hard on this guy who, by the way, is not that close to the artwork you’ve linked. Please recognize it’s a legitimate well written tutorial and the techniques are good. That’s why we read PSDtuts.
yes technique here is ok. but similar objects in artwork isnt right. but most tutorials here are influenced by real artists. authors r ‘copier’ / ‘idea stealer’
Their are many people who ‘borrow’ other artists inspirations. Who are you to tell someone not to be inspired by someone else’s work? I see a lot of similar work done on here and other websites, its here to show people technique- maybe some people have never seen the afterlife, or the KDU. Also, is it necessary to use all caps?
It’s very similar with the Afterlife on the Behance Network. Color, trees, hot air balloon, sky(same effect), background, things around the trees, the plain, etc. The ideas and objects are the same! I think he just replaced the stock photos. Actually it’s nice but when I saw the Afterlife, I’m already disappointed with this.
No you ARE wrong. The afterlife (created by mosk) was COPIED from thekdu artwork, created by hellocolor. Look at the date who first created….
amazing. a lot of nice techniques….
Nice ! Love it ! :D
great….let me try try….thx Johnson Koh….
If that’s a copy – I personally don’t give a shit about it. As long as it teaches some new techniques – I’m good with tutorial. I am not familiar with that Afterlife stuff, but this tutorial inspires me, even though I am not PS guru.
Johnson, I indeed enjoy your tut. Thanks man.
wow you dont have eye details. lol
nice tut, i love all your tuts thanks
PERSONALLY I LIKE IT VERY MUCH AND I AM EXCEPTING LIKE THIS IN FUTURE. KEEP GOING.
Yeah, maybe it isnt very original but results are pretty nice.
I like it :)
hahaha..happy to see you in psdtuts..lol..i saw the pic but didn’t realize it was you who wrote the tutorial. :)
nice tutorial and great outcome (:
Can you help me? When I apply Glowing Edges and then change blending mode on multiply in the fourth step I recieve a black spot.
Did you desaturate and invert the layer?
Thanks. I forgot to invert the layer.
Wow cool tutorial
Keep up the good work guys
Nice tut! Agree with 29factory. The blending of the clouds is nice!
The complaining who “first” in the first comment is taking up more space than the one commen it self… better just leave it be.. then it’s not fun for the ones who are dong it either..
sry… forgot a couple of words and misspelled :s
*about who wrote “first”…
Paper background: Check
Photo of clouds: Check
Blending together a whole bunch of semi related pictures: Check
Lets get some originality back on this site.
This is really cool, I’m going to try to use some of the techiniques in a project I’m working on.
Nice tutorial thanks
I love these tutorials, thanks!
Featured here: http://www.presidiacreative.com/web-picks-23/
I still like this tutorial a lot, but I do think that its a copy. I, like someone else above me, was pretty dissapointed when I saw a pic of the original in one of the links above. I’m glad that it was made into a tutorial becuase I’m learning a lot, but A LOT more credit should have been given to the original.
Intense feedback…. back to the actual tutorial though, i am having a few problems… At step four, i was having the black spot problem as well, so i inverted the layer as suggested, but with step 3, after i applied the cross-hatching effect…well my Step 3 doesnt look like your step 3, is there something i am missing?
By the way, i think your tutorial is sweet…
Am I the only one who can see a faint picture in the paper texture?