In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Design a Natural Abstract Photo Manipulation in Photoshop. This is an intermediate tutorial so some steps can be tricky, but why not have a try :)

Along the way, we will apply some basic Photo Manipulation techniques such as layer blending and masking, we will also practice some selection techniques with Pen Tool and some photo retouch skills.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Model

Parrot 1

Parrot 2

Tree

Some Grungy Brushsets

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200px * 720px with white background, use the gradient fill tool (G) to fill the background with the following gradient:

Load the model image into Photoshop, cut out the upper body of the model and paste it onto our document, use the eraser tool (around 85% hardness) to remove the lower parts as shown below:

Tidy up the edges of the model with a 70% hardness eraser tool:

Apply some slight dodge and burn effect with the dodge and burn tool (set exposure to around 10%) on the model”

Use the grungy brushset as eraser, remove some parts of the model as shown below:

Hint: resize the brush to a smaller size before you erase.

Step 2

Let’s add the following image adjustment layers as clipping mask on the model layer:

Black and White

Levels

Apply the following layer mask on the Levels adjustment layer:

Curves

Brightness and Contrast

and you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Load the “Parrot 1″ image into Photoshop, cut out the parrot and paste it onto our document, resize and position it as shown below:

Use a soft eraser to remove the following parts off the parrot as shown below:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this parrot layer:

Black and White

Curves

and you will have the following effect:

Step 4

We can add the second parrot into the manipulation. Load the “Parrot 2″ image into Photoshop and copy out the parrot, paste it onto our document and resize it, as shown below:

Use a soft eraser (with 40% flow and opacity) to erase the following parts of the parrot to give it some extra lighting effect:

Duplicate this layer a few times, rotate and resize each layer, and hit Ctrl + U on each layer to adjust its Hue, for some variety in the image:

Step 5

We can now add a red circle around the model for some abstract effect – create a new layer and use a hard brush to paint a big circle:

Erase the centre bit with a slightly smaller eraser:

Use the grungy brushes as an eraser (set flow and opacity to around 40%), remove some parts of the circle off:

Duplicate this circle layer a few times and resize them, attach them around the model:

Step 6

We want to add some tree texture to the model – load the tree stock image into Photoshop, use the Pen tool to draw a path as shown below:

Right-click and make a selection with the feather radius of 1px:

Copy and paste the texture into our document, resize it and fit to the lower half of the model:

Use the liquify filter to apply some liquid effect to this tree texture, just to give it some artistic feeling:

Use the grungy brushes as an eraser (reduce their size), set the eraser flow and opacity to around 40%, erase some part of the tree texture as shown below:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping mask for this tree texture layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

and you will have the following effect:

Step 7

OK we’re almost done! For some final retouches, we can add some more textures around the model with the grungy brushsets:

Use the Pen Tool to draw some curvy path and stroke a with a 3px brush to add some lines around the model and the parrots:

Either use a cloud brush or the cloud filter to add some cloud and paint some shadow under the model:

You can add some more particles with a hard brush (with 40% flow and opacity) under the model:

Use a soft round white brush to paint some highlight around the model for some extra lighting effect:

and you will have the following effect so far:

I then further added some colour and light adjustments and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Design this Dramatic Planet Impact Scene (Inspired by Mass Effect 3) in Photoshop. This is an intermediate tutorial so some steps can be tricky, but why not have a try :)

Along the way, we will be practising how to produce the meteor effect, the impact effect, particle and fire effect, as well as some layer blending tips.

This effect is inspired by Mass Effect 3 in-game graphics, which is just really awesome :)

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Planet

Fire texture

Cloud brush (optional)

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200px *720px with black background. Load the planet PSD file into Photoshop, drag all layers onto our document, resize it as shown below:

Expand the “Cloud” folder, go to the “Cloud Shadow” layer, and reduce the layer opacity to around 30%:

Use a soft eraser, erase the edge of the render layer so it blends into the background a bit:

Use either the cloud filter, or the cloud brush you downloaded, add some cloud effect on the edge of the planet:

Step 2

On top of the planet layers, let’s go and add the following the adjustment layers:

Black and white

Layer mask on the black and white adjustment layer:

Colour Balance

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer:

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

Now let’s try and make this meteor effect. Create a new layer and grab a 30% hardness round brush, paint an orange dot as shown below:

Distort this dot twice, as shown below: (Ctrl + T, right-click to choose distort)

Duplicate this layer, and apply the following Hue/Saturation  (Ctrl + U) settings to this duplicated layer:

This will make the duplicate layer colour brighter than the original – Reduce the size of the duplicated layer slighting and move it to show the glowing part in the centre

Duplicate this layer again, apply the following Hue/Saturation settings:

This will turn the last layer to white – again we resize it and then merge all three layers together, compress it down as shown below:

Duplicate this merged layer a few more times to make the meteor trail path wider and longer, and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

We will now work on adding more effect for the impact. For this tutorial, I firstly use a soft white brush to paint some highlights on a new layer, use free transform tool to adjust the light shape if necessary:

We can then duplicate this meteor effect around the planet, as shown below:

Hint: add some smaller ones around the main (first) meteor for more effect, adjust the size of each one for more depth.

Step 5

We will now design the impact site – I decided to apply the fire texture to it – go and select a portion of the fire texture:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, place the new layer below the meteor layer and above the last adjustment layer for the planet. Refine the edge as shown below: (Ctrl + Alt + R)

Distort and warp this layer as shown below:

Change this layer blending mode to “Hard Light”, 70% opacity:

Duplicate this fire layer a few more times, change the layer blending mode to either “hard light” or “vivid light”, adjust the layer opacity accordingly. Try warping the fire texture as well to create a splashing effect:

Step 6

We’re almost done! Finally we can add some particle around the area of impact with the fire texture – this time, we select some small pieces of the texture, as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, then we can resize and distort it a bit to fit the angle of the planet, as shown below:

Duplicate this layer a few times, resize and attach them around the impact site:

I also added this selective colour image adjustment setting to fine-tune the colour of the image a bit:

and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will explain you the steps to design a conceptual digital composition with 3D and photography in Cinema 4D and Photoshop. This is an intermediate tutorial, mainly because not many of you may not be familiar with Cinema 4D, but we will get trough every step so you can understand all the process in an easy way.

We will start by creating a simple sphere in Cinema 4D into a exploded sphere with lights and textures. After that we will jump onto Photoshop to mix our 3D with photography using simple techniques such as selections and layer blending, masking, adjustments.

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

OK Let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following files:

Photoshop Displacement Map for the sphere wiggle effect.

GreyscaleGorilla HDRI Light Kit Pro for Cinema 4D studio light render. (Not Free)

In this tutorial I used many different style of brushes/images for mostly free websites. List them would be really big, but the ones used here are nothing too complex. You can find some similiar at your favorite websites.

Part 1 – Cinema 4D

Cinema 4dOpen a new file on Cinema 4d. Go to Objects – Primitive and add a Sphere. Go to the Attributes panel, select Objects tab and edit the Segments property into 45 so we have more geometry in our sphere to work with:

Go to the Materials Panel and create a new Material with the same values as the images below:

Inside the Displacement tab, click on Noise to go to the Shader Property and edit the values to the match the image below:

Go to your Objects tab and select your sphere. Now click C to convert this parametric object into a polygon object. You can see the icon changed. Apply your Material to the Shape, simply by dragging it to your object. You can see the color has changed in the preview window:

Go to the Menu – Objects – Scene – Background, to add a new background. Or use the shorcut like the image show:

Add a new Material to your background. You MUST pick a fushia or lime color so you can remove the background in a easy way on Photoshop. This also help us to create a good contrast when we render with lights:

Press ctrl+r / cmd+r or go to Menu – Render – Render View to render the composition to see the effect we applied into the shape:

Now go to – Mograph and add PolyFx. Go to your Objects Tab and grab it and place it inside your Sphere:

After that go to – Mograph – Effector and add Random. Place it inside your Sphere as well:

Go to attributes and edit the values to the match the image below:

Go to your preview scene and drag your Random Effector near the sphere. You can see in the Preview tab that the sphere is exploding into pieces:

Press ctrl+r / cmd+r or go to Menu – Render – Render View to render the composition to see the effect we applied into the shape:

We’re almost done in C4D. Go to Menu – Deformer and add Explosion FX or trought the shortcut showed in the image. Go to your Objects Tab and grab it and place it inside your Sphere:

Go to attributes of the Exposion FX and edit the values to the match the image below:

The Explosm FX gives you extra explosion elements to your sphere, but this step is optional. Check the difference below:

The sphere is pretty flat. It’s time to add some light’s. I used a OverHead Softbox and HDR Sky from GreyscaleGorilla.com – HDRI Light Kit Pro for Cinema 4D. For more info on how to download/install/use check he’s awesome website:

Shift+r to Render your image to picture view and go to File – Save as – select TIFF for the best quality. We need to save two images. One with the effects (Random+Explosion), and the other with disabled FX’s (just click on the green check mark to disable it) so we can mix a clean sphere with a “exploded” Sphere in Photoshop:

Part 2 – Photoshop

Open a new document on Photoshop. Create a new document sized 1280 * 720px:

Edit your background to Gradient Overlay to Radial 90º and Scale 15%. Use #f9f8f8 at 40% and #d2d2d3:

You will get this simple and smooth background:

Import your 3D polyfx images you saved into Photoshop and center both:

Place the sphere without effects bellow and mask both layers to the get a nice effect:

Duplicate the original sphere layer (without explosions) and go to Filter – Distort – Displace and add the follow values:

Photoshop ask you to open a file. Select the Displacement Map PSD file. This is how your layer should look like:

Place it above the two images and mask it to give a good look:

Go to google or your favorite stock image website and search for some crow’s. Once you select the one you like, import it into Photoshop and remove the background with pen tool:

Add the image into your composition and rotate/scale it:

Find more images in different perspectives and add them to the comp:

Search a feather image and paste into photoshop:

Add the following Adjustments to the feather:

Add more feather’s to the comp:

Select the first feather we added and go to Filter – Blur – Motion Blur and values to the match the image below:

Choose your favorite splatters brushes and add them behind the spheres to give a nice integration with the sphere 3d explosion:

Duplicate the sphere without FX’s. Scale them along the main comp:

Grab your favourite paint brushes and and paint with a nice cyan color to give it contrast. Use some tiny splatters too:

To create more contrast use some red abstract brushes too:

Add some extra elements like a line (mask it so it fades on the sphere) and a red circle:

We’re almost done. Now go to Filter – Render – Lens Flare and use a 50-300mm Zoom with 100% Brightness. Make it Screen with 25%:

Add Curves and tweak and bump up a little bit of the blacks:

Add some text in Museo Slab. Creat a simple black and white contrast. Play around with sizes to give a good feel:

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you have enjoy it and if you have any question, simply drop a comment below or email kyrielicious@gmail.com.

About the author

My name is Flávio Silva, also known as in the web has kyrielicious. I’m a 27 year old designer currently living in Portugal. I’m truly passionate about design of all kinds, I’m always looking for new challenges and inspirations. If you like to know more about me or get in touch visit my website kyrielicious.com or mail me at kyrielicious@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!

This “Houkai Amplifier by kyrielicious” artwork is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/.

In this Photoshop tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Design this Surreal Concept Manipulation with Alien Structures in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level tutorial so some steps can be tricky, but why not have a try!

The idea for this manipulation is that I would like to create some sort of out-of-this-world structure (alien alike) and add it to a open space (desert, dry land) with dark sky. Overall, these objects create a surreal feeling and a fantasy environment.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Desert

Sky

Tree

Female Model

Cliff

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1440px * 700px with black background. Load the desert image into Photoshop, select the sand portion of the image, copy and paste it onto our document, resize it to fit as as shown below:

Duplicate this desert layer once and apply the following reduce noise filter (filter > noise > reduce noise) to this duplicated layer:

And you will add some soften effect to the sand texture after applying this filter:

Add a layer mask to this duplicated desert layer:

and you will fade the top edge of the texture, as shown below:

Add the following 2 image adjustment layers:

Black and White

Levels

and you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Load the sky image into Photoshop, select a portion and paste it onto our document, above all previous layers:

Fade out the bottom edge with the layer masking technique mentioned in step 1:

Add the following 2 image adjustment layer as clipping mask to the sky layer:

Black and White

Layer Mask on black and white adjustment layer:

Levels

Layer mask over levels adjustment layer:

and here is the effect you will have so far:

Step 3

Let’s add some surreal structure into the image. I decided to manipulation a tree image and turn it into some sort of alien style object. So load the tree image into Photoshop, use the quick selection tool to select a portion as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, resize and position it as shown below:

Erase the edge with a soft eraser:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this tree layer:

Black and white

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer:

You will repeat this process and add a few more tree texture onto the bottom of this Alien structure:

Step 4

I decided to add one more tree texture on top of the first one, just to create a break-apart effect. So go back to the tree stock image, select another piece and paste onto our document:

You will notice I apply some liquify filter effect to this layer, to create a flowing effect around the edge:

Add a Black and White adjustment layer as clipping mask to this layer:

and here is the effect so far:

We can add some particle effect to the image – Go back to the tree image and select some small pieces with quick selection tool:

Copy and paste them over to our document, resize them to a very small scale, place them under the second tree layer:

Step 5

Load the model image into Photoshop and cut it out:

Paste and resize the model, position it under the tip of the structure as shown below:

Add some light above the model image just to create some surreal effect:

Step 6

Load the cliff image into Photoshop, select the small rock in the sea and cut it out:

Paste it onto our document, reduce its size a bit with free transform tool:

Use a soft eraser to erase the bottom edge, so it blends into ground texture:

Duplicate this rock layer once and flip it horizontally, reduce the size of the duplicated rock a bit and move it to the right:

Step 7

We’re almost done! Flatten the image (don’t forget to save first) and duplicate the background layer, apply some unsharp mask filter to it:

Mask out the following area on the sharpened layer:

Add some cloud around the structure to add some dramatic effect with either cloud brush or filter:

Hint: use free transform and eraser tool to adjust the cloud shape and size.

and here is the effect so far:

I then further added some colour effect onto the image, and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this Photoshop tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Design a Unique Wooden Face with Fiery Eye and Tear in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level tutorial so some steps can be tricky, but why not have a try!

The idea of this manipulation comes from browsing some ancient stone statue image on the internet – I decided to make something similar in Photoshop.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Face

Tree Bark

Fire

Step 1

Create a new document with a black background (size doesn’t matter), load the face image into Photoshop, use the pen tool to draw a path as shown below:

Make a selection of this path by right-clicking within the path and choose “Make Selection”: (set to 1px feather)

Copy and paste the selection on our document, resize and centre it:

Use a soft eraser to remove the edges of the face (especially the back) as shown below:

Step 2

Add the following adjustments layer over the face layer as clipping mask:

Black and white

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer:

Curves

and you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Now we will add the wood texture. Load the tree bark image into Photoshop, select the following area:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, resize and rotate it as shown below:

Make this layer a clipping mask, and change the blending mode to “overlay”:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask again for this wood layer:

Black and white

Levels

Go back to the wood layer, use a soft eraser to remove some parts of the wood texture to reveal some skin:

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 4

Now we will make the fiery eye. Load the fire image into Photoshop and select the following portion:

Smooth the edge out with the following refine edge filter settings:

Warp the fire texture as shown below to adjust its shape:

Change the blending mode of this fire layer to “hard light”, and remove the edges with a soft eraser:

Duplicate this fire layer once and change the layer blending mode of the duplicated layer to “Screen”, layer opacity to around 50%. You will have the following effect:

Step 5

We will now add some tear drop to the eye. Use the fire image and select the following portion:

Copy and paste the selection over the image, resize it and attach the smaller version to the eye, use a soft eraser to remove the edges to form a teary effect:

Use either a cloud brush or cloud filter to add some cloud effect around the face (this cloud layer should be under the face layer):

Step 6

Now let’s add some shining hair for the model. To do this, create a new layer and paint a white dot as shown below:

Use the liquify filter to warp the line as shown below, until it forms some sorts of hairy effect:

Duplicate this layer a few times and attach them to the head area:

I then use some abstract brushes to add some textures around the model, you can find plenty of those brushes on the internet:

I then further added some colour effect onto the image, and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

Welcome to another Exclusive Photoshop tutorial written specifically for the PSD Vault VIP Members. In this tutorial, we will explain the design process involved in making this “Moon Dance” Photo Manipulation in Photoshop. Hope you enjoy it :)

If you’re VIP member, you can log in to the VIP Members Area and click on Exclusive Tutorial button to download the tutorial. If you’re yet to become a VIP member, you can simply click on the banner below to signup:

To find out more about PSD Vault VIP Membership, check out: http://www.psdvault.com/vip

Final Image Preview

(Click to Enlarge)

VIP Members Only Tutorial

This tutorial is written exclusively by Bram Vanhaeren for PSD Vault VIP members:

Bram is 21 years old and studies cross media design. He’s been developing his style since his first pen tool experiments in Illustrator about 5 years ago. Bram’s style ranges from simple illustrations and typography to mixed media artwork.

Visit Bram’s Blog

What You Will Learn

In this tutorial, we will explain the design process involved in making this “Moon Dance” Photo Manipulation in Photoshop.  Techniques included are the use of selection tool, adjusting contrast, hair creation, and a clever usage of blend tool for making circles.

Tutorial Spotlights

Interested? Log in to your VIP members area to download it now :)

Not a member yet? Click on the banner below to sign up now:

To find out more about PSD Vault VIP Membership, check out: http://www.psdvault.com/vip

Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Thank you for your support and have a nice day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create Abstract Dark Photo Manipulation with Splatter Brushes in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial and some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try!

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Cracked Wall

Model – by faestock

Splatter Brushes

Step 1

Create a document size 660px * 1100px with black background. Load the cracked wall image into Photoshop and select a piece as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto the canvas, resize it to fit the width:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers over the texture layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

Use a soft eraser to remove some parts of the cracked texture layer, and aim to achieve this effect as shown below:

Step 2

Load the model image into Photoshop, and cut the body of the model out and paste it onto our canvas, resize and position it to the centre:

Use a soft eraser to erase the edge of the model as shown below:

Also use some grunge brushes as eraser, remove some parts of the model as shown below so to have a shattered effect:

Use the Smudge Tool with 9% strength and 15px in size, apply some smudge effect over the lips some it looks a bit distorted as shown below:

Step 3

Add the following 3 adjustment layers to this model layer as clipping mask:

Black and White

(Make sure you erase the hair portion on the layer mask of this black and white adjustment layer to reveal the red hair)

Levels

Curves

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 4

Now let’s add some hair onto the model – we can achieve via the Pen Tool and the brush tool. Firstly, draw a work path as shown below with the pen tool:

Choose a 3px hard brush as shown below:

And pick a dark red colour similar to the hair colour:

Go back and select the Pen Tool again and right-click on the path, and choose “Stroke Path”:

Stroke the path with the selected brush, with “simulate pressure” option on:

and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate this hair layer a few more times, resize and rotate the duplicated layers with the free transform tool, and aim to achieve the effect as shown below:

Step 5

We will be adding some abstract brush patterns using the brush we downloaded to around the model:

Make sure you adjust the brush size and colour (I used red) in order to add different effect to the model:

Add some brush strokes to around the hair area as well:

For artistic effect, use liquify effect to add some flowing effect on the brush paint as shown below: (use the forward warp tool on the liquify filter to achieve this effect)

and here is the overall effect I have after apply the brushes:

I then further added some colour effect onto the image with selective colours and image adjustment layer, and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create a Surreal Dark City with Meteorite Fall Scene in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial and some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try!

We will go through techniques such as cloud warping, hair drawing and some photo manipulation skills in Photoshop.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Ground

City

Model

Rock

Fire

Step 1

Create a new document size 1280px * 800px with black background. Load the ground image into Photoshop and select a portion as shown below:

Copy and paste and selection onto our document, use free transform tool to perspective this as shown below:

Use a soft eraser to remove some parts of the ground as shown below – this centre part will be where the model will be standing:

Add the following 2 adjustment layer to this ground layer:

Black and white

Levels

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

We will add the buildings to our image – load the city image into Photoshop and cut out the building part:

Paste the buildings onto our document, use a soft eraser to erase parts of the building as shown below – this will create depths and lighting variations on the image:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this city layer:

Black and white

Levels

Curves

We can add some cloud over building with a cloud brush or the cloud filter, use the warp tool to warp the cloud so they form different shapes as well:

If you’re having trouble with cloud warping, please check out this video I have on PSD Vault Youtube Channel: (Skip to 4:58 min)

Make sure you have some cloud on the ground as well:

Step 3

Now we can load the model image into Photoshop and cut out the model, copy and paste it onto our document, resize and position it as shown below:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers on the model layer as clipping mask:

Black and white

Levels

Erase the hair and upper body part on the layer mask of the levels adjustment layer so they’re not all dark:

Curves

Optional: you can paint some hair on the model to add some surreal effect:

You can check out this vidoe tutorial here to learn about how to draw hair in Photoshop:

Step 4

We will add a falling meteorite into the image – load the rock image into Photoshop and select a piece as shown below:

Copy and paste the rock onto our document, resize it and erase the edge of the rock with a soft eraser:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this rock layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

We will add some fire texture onto rock – load fire image into Photoshop, and select the following piece:

Copy and paste the selection over the rock, as shown below:

Change the blending mode to “overlay”:

and add some cloud trailing effect on the rock as shown below:

Step 5

I decided to add a fiery wing to the model for extra surreal effect. Select a curvy piece from the fire texture as shown below:

and use a combination of warp tool and liquify filter to warp this into a wing shape:

This effect is a little tricky to achieve, you might have to have several tries to get it.

Here is the effect you will aim to achieve: (the left wing is a duplication of the right wing, size is slightly reduced to add variety and make the human looks slightly bent to the left)

and here is the overall effect so far:

I then further added some colour effect onto the image with selective colours and image adjustment layer, and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create an Awesome Floating Face Manipulation with Fiery Hair in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial and some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try!

Along the way, I will show a nice technique of manipulating fire texture. I will also show you some basic retouching skills for your photo.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Ground

Model

Fire

Attention: If you have difficulty with Step 4 of this tutorial, check out this video tutorial I have below:

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1280 * 800px with black background. Load the ground image into Photoshop and select a piece from the ground, copy and paste the selection onto the image, then perspective it as shown below:

Use a soft eraser to fade the top edge as shown below:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers on the ground layers:

Black and White

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer:

Curves

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 2

We will now add the face in – load the model image into Photoshop and select the face:

Copy and paste the selection into our document, use a small soft eraser to clean up the edge:

Then we want to erase part of her face with a soft eraser:

Step 3

Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this face layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

Layer mask on the curves adjustment layer:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

We can add some cloud behind and around the face area with the cloud filter or a cloud brush:

We will now add fire texture into the image – select a piece as shown below:

Warp this selection and aim to achieve this shape below:

Apply the following image adjustments to this fire texture layer:

and here is the effect so far:

Go to Filter > Distort > Twirl and apply the following settings:

Hit Ctrl + F and repeat this filter a few times, and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate this layer few times and merge them together, then duplicate the merge layers a few times and scatter them around the head:

Step 5

We’re almost done! For some final touches, I added some particles with this rain brush I created on the image:

I then added some fire particles by going back to the fire image and selecting parts of it, copy and paste the selection onto our image:

Hint: make sure you change the blending mode of these fire layers to “Screen”.

I then added some colours and adjusted the contrast a bit with the selective color adjustment layer and curves adjustment layer, and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create a Surreal Magical Power Unleashed Scene in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial and some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try!

Along the way, we will render some power/energy lines by manipulating a fire texture, which is unleashed from the angelic figure. We will also add a floating rock which is chained, and the power will try to pull the rock towards to the angelic figure in order to break it.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Sky

Ground

Model – by ~Jaymasee

Angel Wing

Rock

Metal Chain

Fire

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1280px * 800px with black background. Load the Sky stock image into Photoshop, select a portion of the sky and paste it onto our document, adjust the size with free transform tool as you see fit:

Use a soft eraser to remove some parts of the sky as shown below:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers on top of the sky layer:

Black and White

Levels

Load the ground image into Photoshop, select a piece and copy and paste it onto our document, compress and perspective the selection with free transform tool, and form a ground texture for our image:

Add the following Black and White adjustment layer to the ground layer:

Use a soft eraser to remove some parts of the ground as shown below:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

Let’s make an angelic figure into the image – load the model image into Photoshop and select the girl:

Copy and paste the selection onto our image, resize and position it on the bottom right:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping mask for this girl layer:

Black and white

Levels

Curves

Create a new layer with the blending mode “overlay”, grab a small soft brush to paint some lights on the model as shown below:

Load the wing stock into Photoshop, move the wing onto the girl and use a soft eraser on the edge so it fades into the background:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

Load the rock image into Photoshop, select a piece of rock and move it onto our document, use a soft eraser to fade the edges, and position the rock on the centre left of the image:

Add the following 2 adjustment layer as clipping mask for this rock layer:

Levels

Curves

Load the chain image into Photoshop, use the quick selection tool to select a portion:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, and distort and warp it with free tranform as shown below, then attach it to the bottom of the rock:

Add the following black and white adjustment layer to this chain layer:

Repeat these steps above and add another chain to the top of the rock as shown below:

Step 4

Let’s made some energy lines/particles for the image. Load the fire image into Photoshop, and select a portion of the with a 30px feather Lasso Tool:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, warp it as shown below:

Apply the following Levels adjustments to this fire layer:

Change the blending mode of this fire layer to “Screen”:

Duplicate this fire layer a few times and merge them together (revert the blending mode to “screen” after the merge), add it to the top of the wing as shown below:

We can also use the liquify filter to warp the fire texture a bit, in order to have flowing effect which links the rock and the model:

Duplicate the liquified layer a few times for more effect:

Step 5

Let’s add some particles into the image. Again we use the Lasso Tool with 30px feather to select a portion as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our image, and apply the following Levels adjustment to it:

Change the layer blending mode to “screen” for this particle layer, and here is the effect so far:

Add the particles to different parts of the image as shown below, adjust its angel and shape with the free transform tool:

Then, we can use the method described in this tutorial (with red colour), add some flowing pattern into image:

Add more flowing patterns onto the image:

Step 6

We can add the following curves adjustment layer on top of all previous layer to adjust some lighting effect:

Layer mask on this curves adjustment layer:

and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the process of The Creation of “The Storm is Approaching” Artwork in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial so some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try!

Along the way, we will go through some photo manipulation/combination techniques, as well as some use of custom Photoshop brushes and image adjustments.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Ocean

Cloud

Cliff

Model

Lightning Brushes

Water splash brush

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1400px * 800px with black background. Load the ocean image into Photoshop and use a rectangular marquee tool to select a piece from of the ocean from the image, copy and paste the selection onto our document:

Hint: Erase the top edge of the ocean with a eraser tool, or use a black gradient fill tool (Black to Transparent setting) to fade the top edge.

Add the following 3 adjustment layers to this ocean layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

And as a result you will have a rough sea surface (transformed from a relatively calm surface), as shown below:

Use the cloud filter, or a cloud brush (lots of these) on the internet to add some cloud/mist over the ocean layer:

Step 2

Load the cloud image into Photoshop, and copy and paste a portion of it onto our document, resize and position it as shown below:

Apply some “Reduce Noise” filter to this cloud – this will add a softening effect and reduce the cloud noise:

Add the following adjustment layers to this cloud layer as its clipping mask:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

Again we erase the bottom of the cloud so it fades into the background, and merge with the ocean:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

We will add a cliff onto the image. Load the cliff image into Photoshop and select a portion as shown below with quick selection tool:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, resize and position it as shown below:

Use an eraser tool (with around 60% hardness), remove some parts of the rock as shown below:

Add the following 3 adjustment layer as clipping mask for this rock layer:

Black and white

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer:

Curves

and you will have the following effect so far:

Use the water splash brush you downloaded, paint some splash around the edge of the rock as shown below: (reduce the brush size to a small scale)

Step 4

We will now add the model in. Load the model image into Photoshop and copy and paste it onto our document, and resize it as shown below:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers to this model layer:

Black and white

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer:

By using this levels layer mask, it will darken the lower part of the model and create some depth:

Add some highlights on the ground with a soft white brush painting on a new layer (set the layer blending mode to “overlay)

Add some cloud warping effect around the model as well:

If you’re not sure of how to achieve this cloud warp effect, check out this video tutorial below: (jump to 4:55 min)

Step 5

We can now use the lightning brush to add some lightning effect over the ocean:

And use some water splashing brushes to add some splashes around the lightning:

We will also add some mist/cloud above the ocean for some more dramatic effect: (using the same cloud warp method as above)

We can finish up the photo by add some colour effect with various image adjustment layers (such as colour balance, selective colour, etc) for some more effect, and here is the final effect (click to enlarge)

I have a video Photoshop tutorial showing you how to achieve this type of colour effect via image adjustment layers here:

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this Dark  Magical Scene with Nebula Effect in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial so some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try!

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Model

Fire 1

Fire 2

Nebula Texture by Moonchilde-Stock

Explosion brush

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1400px * 800px with black background. Load the model image into Photoshop, select the model and the skull on the ground, cut them out and paste onto our document, resize and position the selection to the centre:

Use an soft eraser to erase the edges and fade it into the background, we will also want to completely erase the raising left arm as well for attaching the fire texture later on:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this model layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

and this is the effect so far:

Step 2

We will be adding some textures over the model. Load the Fire 1 Texture into Photoshop and use a quick selection tool to select a portion of it:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, then Ctrl + Left click on the thumbnail image on the layer palette to select this layer, and press Ctrl + Alt + R to bring up the Refine Edge tool, apply the following settings:

Then press Ctrl + L to bring up the levels adjustment tool, apply the following settings:

You will have this similar effect for the fire texture:

Then we can apply some warp effect with the free transform tool warp option:

We can then duplicate this fire texture layer a few times, rotate and attach them to different parts of the body as shown below: (set the layer blending mode according to the screenshot below)

We can also put some fire texture under the body by having some duplicated fire texture layers beneath the model layer:

Step 3

We can add a fire pattern under the model by drawing a polygon shape with the polygon tool:

Set the side number to “5″ from the tool options bar, draw a shape and use the free transform to distort/perspective it on the ground:

Then we use the line tool link each point as shown below to form a star shape:

Load the “Fire 2″ image and select a portion of the fire as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, use the free transform tool to align it to the lines we drew before:

Repeat this process above and cover all lines with fire texture, then merge the fire line layers together, use the free transform too to  perspective it as shown below:

Use a soft brush to paint some ground texture, again we can use the free transform tool and a soft eraser to achieve the desire effect:

Step 4

We can load the nebula texture into Photoshop and select a piece with the Lasso Tool, copy and paste it onto our document above, and place it above all previous layers:

Use the Explosion brushset as and eraser, remove some parts of the nebula with it – this will add some cloudy effect onto the texture:

Apply the following image adjustment to this nebula layer:

Hue/Saturation

Levels

and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate this nebula layer and warp it with the free transform tool:

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 5

We will add some aura effect to the image – firstly either paint or render some cloud on the image:

Go to Filter > Distort > Spherize to this cloud layer:

Repeat this filter around 10 times by pressing Ctrl + F, then free transform this layer:

Use a soft eraser to remove the edges, and here is the effect you will have:

We will add a colour balance adjustment on top of all previous layers:

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 6

In the final step, we can flatten the image and duplicate the background layer, and apply some “Accented Edges” filter settings to the duplicate layer:

Add some layer mask effect so hide some parts of this layer, and here is the overall effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create a Surreal Urban City Montage with Lightning Effect in Photoshop . This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial so some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try!

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version.

Along the way, we will practice mixing a series of photos and form a surreal, urban city scene with layer blending options and image adjustments, as well using various toolbox tools to adjust and fine-tune the image.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

Version 1

Version 2

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

City by ~Ealucids-Photos

Model

Man in Suit Standing

Lightning

Step 1

Create a new document sized 900px * 1278px with a black background, create a new layer and use a grunge brushset (you should be able to find lots of those on the net) and paint a background:

Hint: set the brush opacity and flow to around 30% so we can have subtle painting effect, use a soft eraser along the way to remove the area we don’t want.

Load the city image into Photoshop, select a piece as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, resize and erase the edge as shown below:

Add the following adjustment layers as clipping mask to this city layer:

Black and white

Levels

On this levels layer mask, I used the soft eraser tool to remove some part of it to reveal the lighting behind it”

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

We will now add the face into the image. Load the model face into Photoshop and cut out the face, resize and position it into the centre of the image:

Erase the edge of the face with a soft erase:

Then attach the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this face layer:

Black and white

Levels

Optional: you can add a bit grungy brush paint effect on the face to as some roughness on the image:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

We will now add a triangle platform on the bottom of the image and add a standing man on top of it. So let’s create a new layer and use the Pen Tool to draw a shape as below, and fill it with a light grey colour:

Apply the following Gradient Overlay blending option on this triangle layer:

Use a soft eraser to fade the bottom and the edge of this triangle to create some depth, also add some cloud around it:

Load the “man in suit” image into Photoshop and paste it over the platform as shown below:

Use a soft eraser to darken the lower half of his body as shown below:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers on this man standing layer:

Black and white

Levels

and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

We can add some cloud on the top of the canvas as shown below, either with a cloud brush or the cloud filter:

Now we will create some abstract flying lines – we will create a new layer and paint an orange dot:

Paint a smaller yellow dot in the centre as shown below:

Then merge those two layers, duplicate it, and apply the liquify filter on it as shown below on the duplicated layer:

Then we adjust the shape of the original dot layer with the distort tool:

Once you’re happy with the shape, merge those two layers again and use the free transform tool to adjust the shape:

Duplicate and scatter those lines around the image, rotate them and adjust the layer opacity as you see fit:

Step 5

Load the lightning image into Photoshop and select a portion of it with the Lasso Tool (30px feather):

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, and apply the black and white adjustment to this layer:

Set the blending mode of this layer to  ”Screen”, duplicate this layer once and move them to the top of the canvas:

and you will have the following effect so far:

We can add some colour effect to the image, and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

Version 1

Version 2

If you wish to find out a thing or two with how to apply this colour effect, check out this video Photoshop tutorial below:

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Design a Rusted Metal Face Manipulation with Abstract Falling Lines in Photoshop. The Aim of this tutorial is to cover some interesting techniques when it comes to applying textures to human skin, as well as creating simple abstract lines via the Warp Tool.

This is a beginner-intermediate level Photoshop tutorial.

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Model

Rusted Metal

Watercolor Brushes

Step 1

Create a new document sized 800px * 1020px with black background, load the model image into Photoshop and cut of the head and shoulder portion of the model, paste it onto our document. Resize and position this layer to the centre, and use a soft eraser to fade the edges as shown below:

Use a small hard eraser to tidy up the hair:

Duplicate this layer once and apply the following Surface Blur settings to it:

Duplicate this surface blurred layer once, then use the watercolour brush we downloaded earlier as eraser, remove parts of the face for some abstract break-apart effect:

Hide the 2 previous layers and keep only the third layer visible.

Step 2

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask on top of the third duplicated layer:

Black and White

Levels

Layer mask on the Levels adjustment layer:

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 3

We will now apply the rusted metal texture onto the face. Open up the texture image in Photoshop, load the selection of the model layer and drag it over onto the texture image:

Copy and paste the selection over onto the model, place the layer above the previous adjustment layers:

We will want to remove some parts of the metal texture to reveal the eyes and nose, etc with a layer mask attached:

Change the blending mode of this metal texture layer to “Hard Light”, you will have the following effect:

Add the following adjustment layer as clipping mask to this metal texture layer:

Black and White

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 4

We can add fading smoke/cloud around the face to add some depth to the image:

Optionally you can add some small particles around the face to create some break apart effect:

We will make some abstract curvy lines – paint a small orange dot with soft brush:

Use the Warp Tool to manipulate this dot as shown below:

Duplicate this layer a few times, rotate and resize each duplicated layer and scatter them around to form the falling effect:

Attach one line to the bottom of the right eye as well:

Step 5

We’re almost done! For some final retouches, add the following 2 adjustment layers on top:

Curves

Colour Balance

Midtones

Highlights

and you will have the following final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create a Surreal Burning Tree Scene with Falling Particle Effect in Photoshop. We will be using some of the new brush presets in Photoshop CS6 and use them to add the fire burning effect and the falling particle effect.

This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial so some steps can be tricky.

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Model

Tree

Fire

Crow

Step 1

Create a new document sized 800px * 1197px with black background. Use either the cloud filter or a cloud brush to paint some subtle cloud texture over on the background layer:

Load the Tree stock image into Photoshop and select a portion of the ground, copy and paste the selection over to our document, use the free transform tool to add some perspectives on this ground texture, also erase the top edge with a soft eraser:

Add the following 3 adjustment layer as clipping mask to this ground texture layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Add some cloud effect above the ground for some dramatic effect:

Step 2

We will now add the tree into the image. Use whatever selection tool to make a rough selection on the tree image, and cut out the centre portion of that image:

Paste the selection onto the image, position it as shown below:

We will get rid of some parts of the tree by applying the following layer mask:

and here is the effect after the layer mask:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this tree layer:

Black and White

Levels

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

We will add another branch into the image – so let’s select this part of the image:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document:

Again we add a layer mask to hide some parts of this branch:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this branch:

Black and White

Levels

and you will have the following effect:

Step 4

We will now add the lady figure into the image. Load the model stock image into Photoshop and cut out the model, paste it onto our image and place it to the position as shown below:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this model:

Black and White

Levels

Create a new layer and set its blending mode to overlay, use a soft white brush to paint some highlights to this model:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 5

OK we will get to the fun part of this tut :) Choose the following brush from brush palette (note: this brush is new to CS6, if you don’t have CS6, use alternative similar brush) and pick an dark orange colour:

Set the brush flow and opacity to around 50%, use the brush to paint some fire texture over the tree texture:

Hint: use a soft eraser to remove unnecessary painting off.

We can also add some real fire texture over the image by copy and paste from the fire stock image we downloaded:

Choose this Round Point Stiff brush from the panel, paint some falling fire particles with it:

Step 6

We will add some falling particles to the image – again we use the round point stiff brush to paint some particles around the image:

Then we can apply the following motion blur filter effect to this particle layer:

And you will see the following falling effect on the particles:

Step 7

We’re almost done :) For some final retouches, we will add some sky textures over the top of the image:

Load the crow image into Photoshop and add a pair of crows into the image, as shown below:

Use the blur tool to blur out some parts of the wings to add some motion to the flying creature:

I further added some colour adjustments over the image, and you will have the following final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

Welcome to another Exclusive Photoshop tutorial written specifically for the PSD Vault VIP Members! In this tutorial, we will explain the process involved in making this Digital Painting of Natalie Portman in Photoshop CS6. Hope you enjoy it :)

If you’re VIP member, you can log in to the VIP Members Area and click on Exclusive Tutorial button to download the tutorial. If you’re yet to become a VIP member, you can simply click on the banner below to signup:

To find out more about PSD Vault VIP Membership, check out this video below:

Final Image Preview

(Click to Enlarge)

VIP Members Only Tutorial

This tutorial is written exclusively for PSD Vault VIP members by Mario Teodosio, who is a great Freelancer Artist specialised in digital painting and illustration from Italy.

Find Mario on Facebook

What You Will Learn

In this tutorial, author will demonstrate the creation process behind this digital painting of Natalie Portman in Photoshop CS6.

Tutorial Spotlights

Interested? Log in to your VIP members area to download it now :)

Not a member yet? Click on the banner below to sign up now:

To find out more about PSD Vault VIP Membership, check out this video below:

Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Thank you for your support and have a nice day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create this Manipulative Human Artwork with Particles and Flying Flower Petals in Photoshop. We will go through several techniques such as hair drawing, particle rendering from a stock image, and making a custom flower petals brush.

This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial so some steps can be tricky.

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Model by mjranum-stock

Metal Texture

Step 1

Create a new document 724px * 1024px with black background. We will prepare some ground texture first, so let’s load the Metal Texture into Photoshop and select a portion of it with the rectangular marquee tool:

Copy and paste the selection over to our document, use the free transform tool to perspective this as shown below:

Then, use a soft eraser to remove the edges of the texture to create some depth:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this texture layer:

Black and White

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer:

Curves

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 2

Load the model image into Photoshop, and cut out the model as shown below, resize and place it above our ground texture:

Tidy up the edges of the model with a soft eraser, as well as fade the lower body a bit so it blends into the background:

Hint: set the eraser tool’s flow and opacity to around 50% for a subtle effect.

Add a levels adjustment layer as clipping mask to this model layer:

Attach the following layer mask on this levels adjustment layer:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

The hair looks a bit boring in my opinion so I decided to draw some instead. Create a a new layer and draw a path with the Pen Tool:

Choose a 4px hard brush:

Go back to Pen Tool and Right-click on the Path, choose “Stroke Path”:

Stroke the path with this brush, and turn on “Simulate Pressure”:

and you will have the following effect:

I repeated this above steps many times and adjusted the shapes, size and colour of the hair, and I have the following effect as a result:

This can be a lengthy process so be patient :) If you have difficulty with this step, check out this video tutorial I have on the PSDVault Youtube Channel:

Step 4

We can now paint or render some cloud over the background with either a cloud brush, or cloud filter, make sure you adjust the layer opacity to a low value to ensure we only have a subtle effect:

We can add some particles around the model – once again we utilise the metal texture and select a piece from it:

Copy and paste the selection over to our document and place the layer below the model layer, add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to it:

Black and White

Levels

Warp this particle layer so it forms a flying shape:

and here is the effect you will have:

Repeat the above steps and add some flying particles to the right hand side as well:

Step 5

OK we can now make a new brushset for painting the flying flower petals, create a new document (size doesn’t really matter), create a new layer and paint a single dot:

Warp this dot into a petal shape with the warp tool:

Then hide the background layer, go to Image > Trim and trim out the transparent pixels, then go to Edit > Define brush preset:

Give the brush a name, and go the brushes windows and apply the following settings:

Use this brush to paint the flower petals according to the flying Hair path:

and you will have the following effect so far:

I further added some colour adjustments over the image, and you will have the following final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Create a Horror Cracked Human Figure with Layer Masking Techniques in Photoshop. The primary goal of this tutorial is to show you how you can blend textures together with layer mask, and how to achieve the best end result possible.

We will also go through other skills such as image adjustments, layer blending, selection tools and some simple photo retouches.

This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial so some steps can be tricky.

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Model by mousiestock

Metal Background Texture

Crack Texture

Tree Roots Stock

Step 1

Load the Metal background image into Photoshop – we will use it as our canvas. Duplicate the background layer and apply the following unsharp mask filter to it in order to bring out a bit more details:

Add the following 2 image adjustment layers to this background layer:

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer:

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

Load the model image into Photoshop and cut of the model from its background, paste it onto our document. Resize and position it to the centre of the canvas:

Then use the spot healing tool to clean out some dark spots as shown below:

Use a soft erase tool to fade the edges of the model so it blends into the background:

Step 3

We can add the following 2 image adjustment layers this model layer as clipping mask:

Levels

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

We can now add the crack texture onto the model – load the crack image into Photoshop and use the Lasso Tool to select a portion of texture:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document and set it as a clipping mask to the layer below, use a soft eraser  (set flow and opacity to around 60%) to remove some parts of the texture as shown below:

Hint: this effect can be a bit tricky achieve, you should try adjust the flow and opacity of the eraser tool as you see it, until parts of the body is reveal and not covered by cracks.

Again we add the following 2 adjustment layer as clipping mask for this cracked texture layer:

Black and White

Levels

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 5

We will add some further crack texture around the model, so go back to the cracked image and select another piece of it, copy and paste the selection over onto our document, de-saturate its colour:

I applied the following layer mask to this new cracked texture layer to hide some of it:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers to this new crack layer as clipping mask:

Levels

Curves

and you will have the following effect so far:

Reduce the layer opacity of the new cracked texture slightly down to around 90% for a subtle effect:

Step 6

I decided to add something under the model for some extra effect. So I loaded the tree root image into Photoshop and select a piece of the roots with the quick selection tool:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, resize and place it under the body, add the following layer mask to it to soften its edges:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this root layer:

Black and white

Levels

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 7

We’re almost done! For some final touches, I rendered some cloud down the bottom of the canvas:

I also used the brush created in Step 5 of this tutorial to added a few leaves around the model:

I also used a 2px hard brush to paint some lines around the model for some dramatised tangling effect:

I further added some colour adjustments over the image, and you will have the following final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to Design this Watercolour Vintage Artwork with Old Newspaper in Photoshop.

Along the way, I will show you how to mix custom watercolour brushes and old newspaper to create vintage feel in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level Photoshop tutorial so some steps can be tricky – if you think you’re up to the challenge, please go ahead :)

The inspiration of this tutorial comes from one the artwork displayed in this post on Abduzeedo.

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Watercolour Brushes (choose one from the list)

Paper Texture

Model

Newspaper

Step 1

Create a new document sized 700px * 1020px with white background, use the watercolour brush you download, paint some texture over the background:

Hint: set brush flow and opacity to around 40% for a subtle effect.

Load the paper texture into Photoshop, select a portion as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection over our document, set blending mode to “overlay” for this new layer:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers on top:

Levels

Curves

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 2

Load the model image into Photoshop, cut out the model and place it to the position shown below:

Apply the following Watercolour Filter to this new layer:

Add a layer mask to this model layer, and use the watercolour brush as eraser to remove some parts of the model, as shown below:

Apply the following “Reduce Noise” filter to this model layer (Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise):

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 3

Add the following adjustment layers as clipping mask to this model layer:

Black and White

Layer mask on black and white adjustment layer:

Levels

Layer mask on levels adjustment layer:

Curves

and you will have the following effect so far:

Step 4

Load the Newspaper image into Photoshop, use Lasso Tool with a 10px feather to select a portion of it:

Copy and paste the selection below the model layer, duplicate this layer a few times, rotate and resize them, then place them around the model as shown below:

Also place a copy above the model layer to the position shown below:

Use a soft eraser to remove the edge of the newspaper texture to fade it into the background:

Paint some more watercolour texture on the model as shown below:

I further adjusted the colour balance a bit to give it a bit of old paper feel, and here is my final effect:

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this Freestyle Human Portrait Manipulation in Photoshop with Brush Painting and Layer Masking. We will show you how you can apply brush painting and layer masking techniques to create unique and interesting effect for your portrait manipulation.

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version. Some brushes are exclusive to Photoshop CS6.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Model

Debris Brush

Stone Wall Texture

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1000px * 1000px with white background. Load the stone wall texture into Photoshop and select a portion as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, resize it to fix the document size:

Use a soft eraser with 50% flow and opacity, erase the following portions of this texture layer:

Add the following 3 adjustment layers on top of this texture layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

Load the model image into Photoshop and cut the model out, paste it onto our document. Resize and position it as shown below:

Apply the following Surface Blur filter to this model layer:

Use a combination of soft and hard brush, as well as the debris brush, apply the following layer mask on this model layer:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

Add the following 3 adjustment layers as clipping masks to the model layer:

Black and White

Layer mask on the black and white adjustment  layer:

Levels

Layer mask on this Levels adjustment layer:

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

This is the fun part of this tutorial :) Let’s grab this “Round Fan Stiff Thin Bristles” brush, make sure you set the brush setting according to the screenshot below (click to enlarge):

Use this brush to paint some pattern on a new layer, to the area shown below:

We can also grab this “Round Paint Stiff” brush and paint something on a new layer:

Use the liquify filter to warp this painting so it forms a flowing pattern:

Attach this to the right eye as shown below:

Step 5

I decided to have a play with the hair area and add some effect to it. So I used the Quick Selection Tool with a 10px size setting:

Draw a selection of the hair area:

Fill the selection with white colour and use a soft eraser to remove the top portion of this fill, as shown below:

Change the blending mode to “Overlay”, slightly reduce the layer opacity to around 90%:

Duplicate this layer once and keep its blending mode as “Overlay”, move it down a bit to the forehead area:

Step 6

Ok we’re almost done. For some final touches, I painted some particles aroudn the model with the debris brush we downloaded earlier (make sure you reduce the brush size before you paint):

To add some more colour into the image, I added a Vibrance adjustment layer with the following settings:

and here is my final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!