Movie Poster 1: Text Effect in Photoshop

Step 1 Let's start our design in Illustrator, it's easier to get the text done in Illustrator, even though you can do that in Photoshop as well. When I saw the official Clash of the Titans poster I knew that font, it was the Bank Gothic, or the Bank Gothic is very similar. So with the Type Tool (T) add the word "clash", then "of the" in another independent object and then "titans", again in another object and line. All of the in uppercase.

Step 2

Select the texts and go to Type>Create Outlines. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) start editing the text. First the A of "clash". then the F of "of" and the T and E of "the". After that edit the word "titans" by changing the T and A. Use the image below for reference. Basically you will be moving points, but be careful to keep the same alignments and angles as the original text.

Step 3

Now open Photoshop and create a new document. Create a new layer and fill it with any color, then go to Layer>Layer Style>Gradient Overlay. Use a light beige #fee4c8 and a very dark brown #0f0802 for the gradient, use Radial for the Style and 100% opacity.

Step 4

Add a new layer and go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Make sure you have black and white for the colors.

Step 5

Change the clouds' layer Blend Mode to Color Dodge. After that go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Over the Layers Palette, click on the mask thumb of the layer and go to Filter>Render>Clouds to apply the clouds to the layer mask, that will make the clouds less strong. Tip: play with masks and apply filter on the masks, you will be surprise with the possibilities and the results.

Step 6

Go to Edit>Transform>Warp. Select the Fisheye warp type, then move the controller towards the center of the document. That will create a really nice blur effect, much faster than the zoom blur in Photoshop.

Step 7

Copy the words "Clash of the " from Illustrator to Photoshop. We will do these words first because we will apply a different Layer Style preset for the Bevel and Emboss.

Step 8

First thing here is to search for a old and rusty metal texture. I found the one I'm using on Google Images.
Open the image in Photoshop and then go to Edit>Define Pattern. After that go back to our design and select the layer with the words "clash of the", the go to Layer>Layer Style>Pattern Overlay. Select the metal pattern you have just created.

Step 9

After the Pattern Overlay, select Bevel and Emboss. For the Technique use Chisel Hard, for the Depth use 500%, for the Size use 120 pixels, for the Soften use 0 pixel. Over the Shading Options, use 95º for the Angle, 35º for the Altitude, then for the Highlight Mode use Color Dodge with white for the color and 65% for the Opacity. For the Shadow Mode use Color Burn with Black for the color, then 40% for the Opacity.

Step 10

Now select Contour, then just change the Range to 50%.

Step 11

Here you can see the effect you will have. Notice that the ligths are coming from the bottom, or the center of the document, and that is why we split the words.

Step 12

Copy the word "titans" from Illustrator and paste it in Photoshop. On the layers palette select the layer we applied the layer styles in the previous steps and with the right button of the mouse click and select Copy Layer Styles. After that select the "titans" layer and click again with the right button of the mouse click and select Paste Layer Styles. Double click on the layer to open the Layer Style dialog box. Select Bevel and Emboss, then just change the Direction to Up.

Step 13

This is the effect you wll have gotten so far, notice now that the light for the word "titans" is coming from the top while for the "clash of the" is coming from the bottom.

Step 14

If you watched the movie you will know that the Pegasus was a black winged horse, so I got an image of a winged horse from Shutterstock, you can find it over here. It's a vector image, but that is fine, just place it as it is coming from the center.

Step 15

To make the horse more realistic and less vector style go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Use 35º for the Angle and 20 pixels for the Distance.

Step 16

For the flares you can create them using different techniques, you can do that using the noise gradient, the lens flare filter (least recommended) and using an image. I have used a image that is really good for that on most of my projects, the only thing I do is to change the Hue and Saturation to make the colors match the design. You can find the image I used here.
As you can se the background of the image is black so the only thing you have to do is to change the Blend Mode to Screen, so the black will be transparent.

Step 17

Add more lens flares over some letters of the texts. Use the image below fore reference.

Step 18

Select all layers and duplicate them, after that merge all the duplicated layers into one layer only. The keyboard shortcut to that is Command(mac)/Control(pc) + Alt + Shit + E. Select this layer and go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur. Use 5 for the Amount, Zoom for the Blur Method and Best for the Quality.

Conclusion

The zoom blur will give that movement idea to our design, as the text is coming out of the page, exactly like the credits at the end of the movie. You can add some noise as well to give that movie style to the image. The technique on this tutorial is pretty simple, there's nothing that is difficult to be done, but the most important thing was that I wanted to show you that you can find inspiration everywhere, but it's important that you turn this inspiration into something real. The best way to do that is through personal projects ;)

Making a Collag:Camouflage Paper Jacket

This article shows some uses of patterns in design and illustration. The section on Camouflage Techniques discusses the blending of the foreground and the background of an image by using patterns. The article also shows some artwork that influenced this design. This tutorial uses vector masks and the Burn Tool to achieve many of the effects presented. If you’re not familiar with these tools, you will be by the end of this tutorial. It shouldn’t take you much longer than an hour to complete, even if you’re a novice. Let’s get to it!

Step 1

Download the two photos we’ll be using for this tutorial: model and torn paper. I downloaded the medium size. Now create a document 1132px by 1696px (these are the same dimensions as our model pic).

Step 2

Place our texture background in the back and turn its visibility off for now. Also, place a copy of our model photo behind and hide it as well, as we will be using a destructive editing technique, so it’s good to keep a copy. We’re going to use techniques found in this video to extract the model from the background.
Select the "model layer" in the Layers palette. Then go to Filter > Extract. Grab the Highlighter Tool and outline the hair with an 80px Brush Size. Outline the rest of the model with a 10px Brush Size, zoom in when necessary. Then grab the Fill tool and Click inside the image. Then hit OK. The result is the last in the series below.
Tip: We use the Extract Filter because it gives us professional results quickly. After applying the extract, use the History Brush Tool if you need to clean up the extraction. See the video link for an example of this in action.

Step 3

Turn the "texture" layer’s visibility back on, and the background is now replaced. Notice how this texture isn’t quite long enough to fill the entire background. The lower left and right corners are not filled. We’ll need to account for this in later stages of the design process.

Step 4

Now let’s start building our Camouflage Collage Jacket. We’re going to break it into six parts. This will give us some flexibility. You could choose to break it up into more or fewer parts. I chose to use vector masks. This was chosen because we’re using a collage style. The vector masks give hard-edged cuts. It fits the style of what we are looking for. We will work from back to front. Let’s start with the left side.
Copy the "texture" layer. Then position it behind the left side of the jacket. Make sure this layer is selected. Then grab the Pen Tool (P). Make sure that Paths are selected. The Paths button is located in the top left-hand corner of Photoshop’s interface. Start drawing the shape of the left side of the jacket. Keep in mind what will go in front of this layer. This will help with deciding the path. Also, overshoot the original jacket a little, as you don’t want the original tan jacket to show in the final design.
Once you’ve drawn the mask, Ctrl-click and select Create Vector Mask. Then name the layer "left_side." Position the new layer in front of the model. Then add to the mask. Make sure the Vector Mask Thumbnail is selected. Then draw in the small patch at the bottom of the design, as shown in the last image below.
Be careful of which area you choose to use from the background, as some areas of the texture image are blurry. Those areas wouldn’t be the best to put into the jacket. Notice how we changed the jacket path to be a bit larger in the left-hand corner. This hides that area where the background ended.

Step 5

Now we will draw the left arm. Make another copy of the "texture" layer. Then position it behind the left side of the jacket. Again, draw a Vector Layer Mask, using the same process as in the previous step. Once you’ve completed, name the layer "left_arm," and move it to the front.
Tip: you may want to turn the Visibility of the "left_side" layer on and off while drawing this path. Ultimately, the "left_arm" layer should slightly overlap the "left_side" layer. Also, notice how we placed the texture in a different position than when we created the first mask. This further separates these two areas. If you prefer this to look flatter here then mask the texture in the same position as the "left_side" layer.
This tutorial demonstrates how to control the placement of patterns to blend an image into the background, as camouflage. It also shows how to make that same pattern pop out and mold into realistic texture in other areas of the design. Let’s take a look at a workflow to achieve this effect.

Step 6

Let’s draw the left jacket lapel next. Make another copy of the "texture" layer. Then position it behind the left side of the jacket lapel. Again, draw a Vector Layer Mask, using the same process. Once completed name the layer "left_lapel," and move it to the front. There are three pieces that make up the left lapel mask. The progressive process of making this mask is shown below.

Step 7

Repeat this process of creating Vector Masks for each piece of the right side of the jacket. Name the right pieces "right_side," "right_arm," and "right_lapel." Then position your textures the way you want them to look in the final design. On the right side, be sure to account for where the texture ends, and make the "right_side," layer cover up the missing texture spot.
You can unlink the mask from a layer in the Layers Palette. There is a little chain link icon that can be toggled on and off. When toggled off you can reposition the texture of the layer without moving the mask. You want to do any repositioning now, as we’ll be using the Burn Tool in the next step. This tool works directly with pixels, and therefore is irreversible. I also repositioned the background a little.
You may also want to save a copy of the document at this point as well, in case you want to return to this stage of the design. To do that go to File > Save As, and in the dialogue box check As a Copy. I named my copy "flat_masks".

Step 8

Now we want to decide which areas of our image to give volume to and which areas to keep flat. We want the camouflage to be strong in parts of the image. The strategy for this design is to have some parts look like an actual jacket, and others blend into the background as flat texture. This confusion of foreground and background adds interest to the image. We want a good mix of the two. The lapels will be the focal point. We’ll give them a full shading treatment.
We will predominantly use the Burn Tool (O) to brush in our shading. Once that tool is selected, choose a soft brush with a size between 40px and 80px. You can tap the left and right brackets ([ ] )on your keyboard to quickly increase or decrease the brush size. The options for this tool are located in the top left-hand corner of Photoshop’s Interface. Focus on the Range of Midtones mostly here, but if you want to make the Shadows or Highlights darker you could choose those Ranges as well. I also left the exposure at 50 percent. Keep in mind if you overdo it, you can grab the Dodge Tool, and lighten the image again.
Now Burn areas of the lapel with the Burn Tool. Focus on the outer edges. Turn off the texture and look at the original jacket. Take clues from the shading done to the original jacket, though feel free to differ when it makes sense. For the most part, significantly darken the inner edge of the lapel. Then darken the outer edge a little bit to create a curvature on the lapel.
The images below show the right lapel being created. Notice how we start with shading the inner shadow on the lapel. Then we move on to add some shading to the outer edge of the lapel. Overall a larger brush can be used on the inside. Then drop the brush size down a bit for the outside edge. The last image shows how the Burn Tool adds shading to the lapels. They now appear curved and are no longer flat.

Step 9

Now we will burn the "left_side," and "right_side," layers to add some emphasis to the lapels. We will also add shading in the sides. We’re going to let the left side blend into the background, but shade the right side more. The arrows in the images below show the areas shaded the most. The final image in the set below shows our results so far.

Step 10

Let’s give the sleeves some volume. We’ll be using the Burn Tool on the "left_arm," and "right_arm," layers. The arrows below indicate where most of the shading was placed.

Conclusion

Now that we have composed the image, go in and make any final adjustments. There is great variation that can be achieved with this type of design. It depends on how much volume you want areas to have, or if you want some areas to appear more flat. Consider using this kind of collage-style camouflage technique in one of your own designs. The final image is below.

Designing "The Haunted House"

The first step was to pick out the elements that made up the character of these images. I finally decided it boiled down to three specific characteristics:

• Hugely dramatic cloud-filled sky,
• Aggressive sharpening of the foreground and other major subject areas,
• Intense, almost unreal, colour saturation and contrast,

So now we know what effects we want to achieve, lets get to it! Firstly, you'll need the main subject photo - in this case the house that we are going to "haunt". Here's the one I'm going to use:

As you can see, the sky in this photo is anything but dramatic, so we'll need a sky image too. Here's mine:

Due to the wonderful English weather I sometimes find that I have otherwise good photos that are spoiled by a lacklustre sky, so whenever I see a dramatic or colourful sky I always grab a few shots. Over time, I have built up quite a library of good skies that I can use in these type of situations. Step 1: First, we need to remove the original sky from the House image. Open it up in Photoshop, right-click the Background layer in the Layers palette and select Layer From Background... from the pop-up menu. Give the layer a name (let's call it House) and then click OK in the New Layer dialog box. Step 2: Select the sky area. The selection tool you use is a matter of personal choice - since the sky in this image is quite uniform, I'm going to use the Magic Wand Tool. Set the Tolerance to 32 with Anti-Alias and Contiguous both checked. Click in the sky area. You'll see that most of the sky is selected, although we also need to select the small areas of sky that are visible though the balustrades at the top of the walls. It may help to zoom in a bit so you can see these areas more clearly. Hold down Shift (to add to the current selection) and click each bit of sky. Try lowering the tolerance level if too much wall is getting selected. Step 3: Once you are happy with your selection, press Delete to remove the sky. Step 4: You will notice that the trees at the lower left area of the image have unselected areas of sky showing through their branches. If they had been more prominent parts of the image, I might have taken the trouble to select and remove them too, but I decided to remove the tree branches altogether. Select the Eraser Tool and choose a medium-sized, hard-edged brush, then erase the unwanted branches:   Step 5: I wasn't happy with the balance of the composition in the original House image - I thought there was too much lawn at the bottom of the image, and it needed more space above the house to show off the dramatic sky. First, I checked the image size (Image > Image Size...) and noted it was 1000px x 680px. I decided I would shave off 80px from the bottom of the image, so I selected the Crop Tool and entered the following values in the option bar: Click outside the top left corner of the image and drag the Crop Tool's cursor downwards and to the right until the crop area extends across the entire image. Press Enter to crop the image. Now add an extra 80px of space to the top of the image. Select Image > Canvas Size... and set the following options: Click OK to finish. Step 6: Now to bring in the sky. Open up the sky image and select the Move Tool. Click and drag the sky image into the house image. When you release the mouse button, the sky image will appear as a new layer. Name this layer Sky and then drag it to the bottom of the layer stack in the Layers palette. With the Sky layer active, use the Move Tool and/or the arrow keys to position the sky correctly. Now your Layers palette should look like this:

Already a big improvement, but there's more to come! Step 7: Now we're going to work on the sky. Make sure the Sky layer is still active, then add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and then select Hue/Saturation... or select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation... from the main menu). In the Saturation textbox, enter a value of +35 and click OK. Now add a Levels adjustment layer above the Hue/Saturation layer. Play around with the sliders until you get a really dramatic-looking sky. The settings I ended up with were: And here's the image: Step 8: Now it's time to work on the house. Click the House layer to make it active, then add a Levels adjustment layer above it. Don't make any changes just yet - click OK to close the Levels dialog box. We don't want this Levels adjustment layer to affect the Sky layer, so we need to clip it to the House layer. Hold the ALT (on mac: OPT) key down and hover your mouse over the join between the House layer and the Levels adjustment layer above it - the cursor should change to two overlapping circles. Click to create the Clipping Mask. Now we can double-click the Levels adjustment layer icon to open the Levels dialog box. Once again, play around with the sliders to really beef up the contrast of the House image. These are the settings I used: And here's the image: Now for the extreme sharpening. I originally thought this was the result of using a filter such as Unsharp Mask or Smart Sharpen, but I found the following method gave a much better effect... Step 9: Click the House layer to make it active, then make a copy of it (either by dragging it to the Create a new layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette, or by right-clicking the layer and selecting Duplicate Layer...). Name this layer Hard Mix and drag it to the top of the layer stack. Step 10: With the Hard Mix layer active, change the Blending Mode to Hard Mix. Invert the layer (select Image > Adjustments > Invert or click Ctrl+I). Apply a small amount of Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... and set the Radius to about 5 pixels). Change the layer Fill to 70%. Step 11: To further refine the sharpening effect, duplicate the House layer again, as described in Step 9 above. Drag this duplicate to the top of the layer stack and name it Pin Light. Step 12: With the Pin Light layer active, change the Blending Mode to Pin Light. Invert the layer. Apply a small amount of Gaussian Blur (again, set the Radius to about 5 pixels). Change the layer Fill to 20%. If the House layer has become unclipped from the layers above it during the duplication processes, re-clip it to the Levels adjustment layer as described in Step 8 above. Here's the image now: Step 13: To consolidate the final image and to restore some black to the shadows in the House layer, add one more Levels adjustment layer to the top of the layer stack. This is not a clipping mask, so it will affect the entire image. The settings I used were: Your final Layers palette should look something like this: And here's the final image: Please note that the technique appears a little unsubtle in the above images due to the effects of resizing and optimizing the images for posting to the web. With a larger and higher resolution image, the effect will be better. Also remember that, as with most Photoshop tutorials, none of the above values are absolutes - don't be afraid to play around with the adjustment layers, the amount of Gaussian blur and the layers' Fill values to get the effect exactly to your taste. In Photoshop, experimentation is the key to success!

Create A Unique Steampunk Photo Manipulation In Photoshop

In this tutorial I will be showing you how to create a composite image using various elements that will come together to make a unique Steampunk design. We will be using the Pen Tool, Layer Masks and Adjustment Layers, and doing quite a bit of Photo Manipulating throughout the tutorial. We have a lot to cover today so let’s get caffeinated and begin!

Final Image

Here is a preview of the image that we are going to be creating:

Step 1

First off we want to open up the model image from the Resources > Images folder. Once the image is loaded, double click on the “Background” layer to unlock it. After that, press Command/Ctrl + J to duplicate the layer. Turn the visibility of your original layer off, and then click on the Layer Mask icon indicated in the image below to add a mask.

Switch to your Brush Tool (B) and make sure that you have a large, hard, round brush with a solid black fill color selected.

Using your brush, begin to paint into the background of your image and you should see it begin to disappear as you mask out the larger, extraneous areas around the model.

In order to work faster, I usually go back and forth between this method of silhouetting an image and using the Pen Tool, which we are about to implement in the next step.

Step 2

Before we move on I just want to point something out about masks and working with them. When you observe your Layers Palette you will notice that there is a small frame that appears around the thumbnail icon of that particular layer that has a mask applied to it. In the image below, take note of the difference:

The image on the left shows that you have your mask selected, and the image on the right does not. This can trip up a lot of people when they begin to work with masks, and for the remainder of the tutorial I will refer to this as the layer mask thumbnail icon. After making selections you need to make sure that you switch to this if it isn’t already selected in order remove parts of that image and not end up simply painting black or white the on the image.

Next, switch to your Pen Tool (P) and zoom in closely to your image in order to begin to trace around the contours of the model.

Once you have finished tracing a section, close the path and while holding down the Control Key, click anywhere along your path to reveal this dropdown menu:

From here we want to choose “Make Selection” and when the next dialog box appears, simply click “OK”.

The marching ants will indicate the area that you have selected, and now you can switch back to your Brush Tool (B) and paint into the area to remove it from the image.

Step 3

Repeat this process for the remaining areas around the model in order to completely isolate the figure. In the image below you will see another selection I have made using the Pen Tool (P):

After making the selection active I simply painted in the area with a black round brush. In both of the screenshots you will notice the layer mask thumbnail icon is selected (indicated by the small frame that we saw in the previous step).

After masking out all of the background areas including he hair that we don’t want, you should have something like the image above. Take your time to make this selection in the beginning of the design, as it will only add to the professionalism in your work.

Step 4

Create a new layer and fill it with a solid black using your Paint Bucket Tool (G). Place this layer between the original layer and the layer with the isolated model.

Next, with your top layer selected, click on the icon at the bottom of your Layers Palette that looks like a small black and white cookie – this is the Adjustment Layer icon that will allow us to apply certain adjustments in a non-destructive way so that we can maintain the quality of our image.

From the menu that appears, choose “Hue/Saturation” and the dialog box will appear. What we want to do next is simply move the Saturation slider all the way to the left so that everything below this layer is completely desaturated.

Step 5

You will notice that when we apply our Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer, that a small mask icon appears next to the thumbnail icon in your Layers Palette. This allows us to use the built in mask the same way that we would use a normal mask in that by painting into it, we can remove that effect from certain parts of the image.

Switch over to your Brush Tool (B) and choose a small, hard round brush. With a solid black color selected, begin to paint the fabric of the shirt so that it will reveal the original color of the layer beneath the Adjustment Layer. Remember to make sure that you have the Hue/Saturation Layer selected, and that the layer mask thumbnail icon is selected.

Continue to do this, zooming in closely and using a smaller brush for the details until you have revealed all the shirt color.

.

Step 6

Now we are going to save our main document and put this aside for a moment. What we want to do next is open the image of the goggles from the resources folder. Once the image is open, double click the “Background” layer to unlock it so that we can modify it.

Zoom in closely and switch over to your Pen Tool (P) so that you can begin to trace around the shape of the goggles. In certain places the hair may get in the way so try to visualize where the curves would be, we will be fixing this once we drop it into our composition.

Once you are satisfied with your tracing, close the path and hold down the Control Key before clicking anywhere along your path to reveal a dropdown menu. From this menu, choose “Make Selection” just as we did earlier when we were silhouetting our model image.

When the next dialog box appears, simply press the Enter Key or click “OK” to proceed.

You should now see the marching ants that indicate your selection area. While the selection is active, press Command/Ctrl + J in order to paste the selection onto a new layer.

You should now have your original layer, as well as a layer above it containing only the goggles that we have selected.

Step 7

We will now bring the goggles into our Photoshop document and bring this layer to the top of the Layers Palette. The goggles are facing the opposite direction so we will need to quickly do a Free Transform by pressing Command/Ctrl + T and then when the menu appears, choose “Flip Horizontal” as shown below:

Press the Enter Key to accept the changes and position the goggles roughly where we will need them to be. Here I have slightly rotated them and reduced the size just for positioning, which can also be done by initiating a Free Transform Command.

Step 8

Create a new layer at the top of your Layers Palette and with your Pen Tool (P) selected, begin to trace around the goggles. Close the path and click along it while holding the Control Key as we did earlier in order to create a selection. Once your selection is active, switch to your Brush Tool (B). With a light opacity brush setting, begin to paint over the left side of the goggles to cover up the hair.

In order to work faster, you can hold down the Alt/Option Key to toggle back and forth between your brush and the Eye Dropper Tool (I). Doing this will allow you to quickly sample pieces of color and then paint onto a new layer to cover up certain areas of the image, in this case the hair from the model in the original photo.

We will now make an additional new layer where we will trace the lenses of the goggles using the same technique.

Once again, use the Brush Tool (B) after making a selection and paint over the lenses to smooth them out. We will be adding our own highlights and reflections so we want to start with a nice dark lens as a base while still making it look natural.

Continue working on some of the details such as the nose. Here I have made a selection so that I can actually fill in some extra material near the nose. Each time that you cover over a new part of the image you should be creating a new layer so that you have more control over the individual elements.

Step 9

Select your top layer, which should be one of the goggle layers. Then, hold the Shift Key and select the bottom-most layer of the goggles.

You should now have all of your goggle layers selected and highlighted in your Layers Palette. What we want to do now is simply drag these layers below the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer so that the goggles also become desaturated.

With all of the layers still selected, press Command/Ctrl + G to put these layers into a Group Folder and name it “Goggles” or something to that affect. From here, we will add a Layer Mask to the Group Folder, which will allow us to mask out parts of the goggle strap near the ear by using a small hard round brush at a low opacity.

With a very light black brush I have also masked out some of the lenses so you can just barely see the eyes underneath.

Check your image from time to time, zooming in and out to see how things are looking. At the moment we have several layers but things are pretty organized and you can see how the image is starting to take shape.

Step 10

Next we will bring in the grunge texture image from the resources folder and once it’s in your Photoshop document, move it just above the solid black background layer.

Switch to your Gradient Tool (G) and select a Radial Gradient that fades from black to transparent, also make sure to check off the “Reverse” option as shown below”

With your texture layer selected, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of your palette to apply a mask to the texture layer. Then, with your Gradient Tool (G), click and drag outwards from the center of the image and you will notice that the gradient now creates a mask that gradually fades the corners of the image.

The thing to remember about using masks is that you can work without having to undo something by simply switching back and forth between a black and white brush and painting onto a layer that has the mask.

Step 11

Holding the Command Key (Control on Wndows), click on the layer thumbnail icon of the silhouetted model and you will see the marching ants indicating your selection.

Create a new layer at the top of your Layers Palette and while still keeping your selection active, switch to your Brush Tool (B). Select a large, soft brush with a deep brown color (here I am using #463626) and begin to paint the hair of the model.

Next we are going to change the Blending Mode of the layer to Multiply as shown below:

Apply a Layer Mask to this layer and change your color from brown to black and white by pressing the D Key on your keyboard. With your black brush now selected, paint along the edges of the hair and goggles, as well as along the jaw line of the model as I have indicated here:

Take a few minutes to experiment with this until you are happy with the results. We have now given our model some dark brown hair and will continue to manipulate the photo in a way that will allow us to establish the feel that we are going for. Making selections and using masks can be very useful not only for isolating objects from their backgrounds, but also for altering specific pieces of an image resulting in a much more customized feel.

Step 12

Before moving on I am just going to reduce the opacity of the grunge texture to about 60% to provide more contrast between the foreground and the background. Once you have done that, create a new layer at the top of your palette and switch to your Marquee Selection Tool (M). Create a narrow but tall rectangular selection as shown here:

Then, switch to your Gradient Tool (G) and select a Linear Gradient that fades from solid white to transparent, using the settings I’ve shown below:

With your selection still active, click and drag from left to right to create a subtle white fade.

You can now press Command/Ctrl + D to deselect the area and use the Free Transform (Command/Ctrl + T) to rotate and place your gradient over one of the lenses. Press Command/Ctrl + J) to duplicate the layer a few more times so that you have a few of them going over the lenses.

You should now have a few of these layers stacked on top of each other, so we are going to quickly merge them by selecting the top layer and pressing Command/Ctrl + E to merge down until all of your gradients are on one layer.

Next, with your newly merged layer highlighted in your Layers Palette, hold down the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the layer thumbnail icon of the lenses, which are currently inside of the “Goggles” folder. Doing this should activate a selection just around the lenses that we traced earlier on.

With the selection now active, and your top gradient layer highlighted, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette.

You should now see that your gradient highlights are only showing inside of the lenses. We can now use a light opacity black brush to tone them down as we have gained more control over the highlights by using a Layer Mask.

Step 13

Switch to your Brush Tool (B) and apply the settings shown below:

You should make sure to use a solid black color and then hold the Commad/Ctrl Key and click the layer thumbnail icon of the goggles. Doing this will activate a selection around the goggles. From here, create a new layer just above the goggles and paint just outside of the selection area with your brush. You should notice that this creates an airbrushed effect that will allow us to darken certain parts of the goggles.

Pay special attention to the areas I have indicated in the image above. Shading in these parts will add depth to the image and help bring these separate elements together.

Step 14

Switch to your Paint Bucket Tool (G) and choose a vibrant cyan color (#00B9FF) as shown below:

Create a new layer above the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and fill it with this color.

Next, hold the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the thumbnail layer icon of the model layer. Once the selection around the model is active, hold both the Command/Ctrl + Shift Keys and click on the thumbnail layer icon of the goggles. This will add to the previous selection, so now you should see the marching ants around the model and the goggles together.

With your blue layer highlighted, and your selection still active, press Command/Ctrl + Shift + I on your keyboard to inverse the selection.

After inversing your selection, once again click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette to mask out the color everywhere except for the background.

Change the Blending Mode of this layer to “Color” and you should end up with a result similar to the image shown below:

Step 15

Create a new layer at the top of the Layers Palette and switch back to your Brush Tool (B) and apply the following settings with a solid black fill:

Using this large soft brush, paint around the edges of the image to further fade the corners to black. The idea here is to help push the background further back and to bring the model to the foreground to add more contrast to the design.

Step 16

What we are going to next is move the model and all of the corresponding parts towards the center of the image in order to make room for a jetpack. To do this, we will first need to select the top most layer (excluding the vignette layer as this can stay in place) then, hold down the Shift Key and select the bottom model layer. This should select all of the layers shown below:

Hold down the Shift Key once again and tap all of the layers to the left about 8-10 times so that all of them shift over together.

You will notice now that the blue background doesn’t extend all the way, and we have already applied our mask, which we don’t want to mess up. Luckily, there is a quick way to adjust this so that we can maintain our mask and also have the color extend all the way to the edge.

Notice in the image above that there is a small link icon between the thumbnail icon and the layer mask icon. What we want to do here is hold down the Alt/Option key and click on this small link icon to “unlink” the two temporarily.

Now all we need to do is press Command/Ctrl + T to initiate a Free Transform, and simply drag the handle on the right side all the way to the edge of the canvas. Once again, hold down the Alt/Option Key and click between the two thumbnail icons to “re-link” the color with the mask. That is a quick way to adjust the image without it messing up our Layer Mask.

Step 17

Create a new layer just below the vignette layer and with your Pen Tool (P) selected, begin to create a tubular, jetpack shape something like the image below:

After closing your path, hold down the Control Key and click anywhere along this line just like we did earlier and proceed to activate the selection. Once this happens, switch to your Brush (B) and fill in the area using a dark brown color – here I am using #3C2C17.

The idea is to quickly establish something that we can work with for the beginning of her jetpack.

Step 18

At the moment our shape is overlapping the arm of our model, and we want it to fall behind her as if it’s placed on her back. We can fix this by holding down the Command Key (Control on Windows), clicking the thumbnail layer icon of the model to activate a selection. We will then inverse the selection by pressing Command/Ctrl + Shift+ I.

Once we have our active, inversed selection, we will simply need to apply a Layer Mask by clicking the icon located at the bottom of the Layers Palette.

Next, hold down the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the thumbnail layer icon of the jetpack shape to create a selection. We can now use a mid-sized brush to fill in some quick highlights.

With your selection still active, create a new layer above the jetpack layer and set the Blending Mode to Screen. We will then select a brighter shade of color – here I am using #B5721B.

Start to fill in some of the lighter shades of color in your new layer by using your brush. Keep the opacity setting around 20% so that you can build up the color gradually. We don’t need to focus on the details too much at this point but we want to start introducing some more values to the color scheme.

Create another new layer and change the Blending Mode to Multiply. Using your low opacity brush, choose a dark brown color (#32220E) as shown below:

Just as we added in some highlights we can bring in some shadows and begin to paint into the shape using the same technique.

Step 19

Select your jetpack shape layer, and then while holding the Shift Key, click on the shadow layer so that you have all three of your jetpack layers selected.

Press Command/Ctrl + G to put all three of these layers into a Group Folder and name it something clever like “Jetpack” or anything else that you would like.

What we are going to do now is just quickly select our new folder and press Command/Ctrl + T so that we can use the Free Transform Command to make our entire shape wider. We want the jetpack to be thicker or around the same thickness as the arm of the model.

Once you are happy with the sizing and positioning, press the Enter Key to apply your changes. We will then hold down the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the thumbnail layer icon of the model to activate a selection around her. Then, we will once again inverse the selection Command/Ctrl + Shift + I.

The last step is to now click on the Layer Mask icon so that all of the jetpack shapes and shadows are behind the model (or so it appears, such is the wondrous glory of Photoshop).

Hopefully you are starting to see the patterns and getting the hang of using the tools to make selections and mask them as you see fit.

Step 20

Next, hold the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the thumbnail layer icon of the jetpack base layer as shown below:

Once you have activated your selection we are going to create a new layer above the jetpack folder. Switch to your Brush Tool (B) and bring up the brushes options panel by pressing F5 on the keyboard. Click the small arrow on the upper right of the panel to load the grunge brushes from the resource folder.

After loading the brushes, select the first of the four brushes in the set.

With the panel still open, we are going to check off “Shape Dynamics” and apply the settings shown here:

We will also need to check off “Scattering” and apply these settings:

After you have applied these settings we will also want to check off the “Smoothing” option. Move your new layer inside of the jetpack folder and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. Using a light brown color, begin to paint with your modified grunge brush onto this layer.

You will see I have created a second layer above this one where I have used a darker brown color on a layer set to Multiply in order to establish some darker grunge texture on the jetpack.

Step 21

Create a new layer on top of the jetpack folder and using your Marquee Tool (M) we are going to hold down the Shift Key and drag outwards to create a circular shape. We will fill this shape with a medium gray color as shown below:

Press Command/Ctrl + T to initiate a Free Transform and then hold down the Control Key and click on the shape to reveal a dropdown menu. From the menu, select “Skew” and drag the upper left handle downwards, similar to the image shown here:

You should also use the Free Transform Command to reduce the width of the shape by moving in the right handle so that it appears to be in perspective. Create a duplicate of this layer by pressing Command/Ctrl + J and fill the original layer underneath with a solid brown color (you can sample a brown from the jetpack base by holding down the Alt/Option Key to toggle between the Eyedropper and the Brush Tool).

Create a few more shapes below these layers to create more depth. Here I have created a rounded back, and a stem looking piece connecting the shapes to the base of the jetpack. The easiest way to do this is to continue using the Pen Tool (P) and then making a selection that you can fill with a color sampled from the jetpack.

Step 22

What we want to do now is add a bit more detail to these pieces and having each piece on it’s own layer will make this a great deal easier. Hold the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the layer thumbnail icon of the individual piece to create a selection. From here, you can then create a new layer above it and paint into it using a low opacity brush.

We want to work fairly quickly to establish some details such as some hands on the face of the gauge of the jetpack. The smaller details are created separately using the Pen and Brush Tools. Once you have established some detail you can select the top layer of your details, hold down the Shift Key, and select the bottom layer so that they are all selected together as shown below:

Press Command/Ctrl + G to place all of these layers into their own Group Folder. Here I have named the folder “Jetpack Clock” just so I can identify it quickly once the layers start adding up.

In order to make the folder appear to be placed behind the model we will need to hold down the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the layer thumbnail icon of the model and inverse the selection (Command/Ctrl + Shift + I).

With the selection now inversed we can click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette.

Step 23

Next, create another new layer above the “Jetpack – Clock” folder and with your Pen Tool (P) selected, trace a curved shape around the middle part of the jetpack. Close the path and activate the selection.

While your selection is active, select a medium brown color such as #523612 as shown below:

We can now use either our Brush Tool (B) or the Paint Bucket (G) to fill the selection with our color.

We will need to add a lip so that the shape doesn’t just end at the edges. To do this, zoom in and with a small hard round brush, paint some small curved shapes using the image below as a guide:

Once you are happy with the shape, hold the Command/Ctrl Key and once again click on the layer thumbnail icon of the model layer to activate the selection.

Now we will simply erase the shape from this selection so the model is in front.

Step 24

Switch back to your Brush Tool (B) and select a light tan color – here I am using #E0CA9E.

Hold the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the layer thumbnail icon of our new shape. Once you have activated your selection, create a new layer just above the shape and using a soft round brush with a low opacity, begin to brush along the top edges of the shape to add some highlights. You can also experiment with the Blending Modes here, but I find that using Overlay works quite well for this part.

Continue to paint on new layers in order to add some more texture and detail to this piece of the jetpack using the same techniques.

Once you have added some more value, select all of these layers by clicking the top layer, holding the Shift Key, and clicking the bottom layer.

We can now put these layers into their own folder by again pressing Command/Ctrl + G as we have done earlier on with the other main pieces.

Step 25

Create another new layer and using your Marquee Selection Tool (M), create a small circular shape and fill it with white.

Press Command/Ctrl + J to duplicate the layer and then move it downwards while holding the Shift Key to make sure that it falls directly below the top shape.

Now we will add a third layer and this time draw a rectangular shape filled with white in order to connect the two circles together.

Select these three layers and press Command/Ctrl + E to merge them together. We will now duplicate this layer two more times by once again pressing Command/Ctrl + J. You should now have three of these shapes in total. Place each shape so that they appear to follow along the shape of the jetpack and check to make sure that they are an equal distance apart.

After placing the three shapes, hold down the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the first layer thumbnail icon of the top shape. After activating the selection, hold down the Shift and Command/Ctrl Keys to click on the layer thumbnails of the remaining two shapes. You should now have an active selection around all three of these new shapes.

With the selection still active, click on the “Jetpack – Detail” folder that contains the middle shape, and inverse the selection by pressing Command/Ctrl + Shift + I. Notice that there are now marching ants around the shapes and also the outer boundaries of our canvas.

Next, click on the Layer Mask icon and turn off the visibility of the three shape layers. You should be left with something like the image shown below:

Step 26

Create a layer below the “Jetpack – Detail” folder and using a low opacity brush, paint in some shadows where the shapes are knocked out to create some depth.

Continue to use this technique by holding the Command/Ctrl Key and clicking the layer thumbnail icon of the various shapes to activate selections before painting into them using a brush with various opacity settings. Feel free to also experiment with the Blending Modes of these layers to see which ones yield the best results.

You can see in the image above that I have added several layers to my design that contain either shadows, highlights, or textures that will all help the jetpack and the overall image feel more cohesive.

The techniques we have been using so far should be somewhat familiar to you by now, so continue working in this way to build up your image by adding more details as you go. I have added a tube to the back of the jetpack as well, and did this by creating the shape with the Pen Tool (P) before activating the selection and painting into it. The highlights were then added by clicking the layer thumbnail icon of the base shape, creating a new layer above it, and painting outside of the edges with a low opacity brush.

After spending a bit more time adding some details and color to the jetpack you will start to see how it can really come to life and feel like it is a part of the image and in addition, it also helps add to the steampunk feel that we are going for.

Step 27

Create a new layer at the top of the Layers Palette, just beneath the vignette layer. With your Pen Tool (P) begin to trace a shape for where the strap would fall over the shoulder. Using the same techniques we have been using throughout, close the path, make your selection, and fill it in with some darker colors as shown below:

At this point we can go ahead and finish the bottom piece of the strap that would come below and in front of the model. We will again just hold down the Alt/Option Key to toggle between the Brush Tool (B) and the Eyedropper Tool (I) so that we can quickly sample some colors from the darker areas of the jetpack.

Once you have completed the lower part of the strap, make a copy of the layer (Command/Ctrl + J) and move it below the original. Hold down the Command/Ctrl Key and click on the layer thumbnail icon for this layer to activate a selection around it. After you have done that, fill the duplicate shape layer with solid black.

With this layer still selected, we are going to go to the Filter menu and select Blur>Gaussian Blur.

When the menu appears we want to apply a blur setting of about 3.2 pixels.

After applying the Gaussian Blur all we need to do is zoom in and clean up the edges a bit where the shadow overlaps the arm.

Step 28

Now that we have the jetpack and the straps created we are going to add some more details. Create another new layer above the straps and switch to your Brush Tool (B). Use a small hard round brush with the settings shown here:

Switch over to your Pen Tool (P) and begin to follow the curve of the straps, leaving a bit of space between your path and the bottom edge of the material.

Once you have created a path that you are happy with, hold down the Control Key and click anywhere along the path to reveal the dropdown menu. From this menu, we want to select “Stroke Path” as shown here:

When the next box appears, make sure to leave “Simulate Pressure” unchecked since we want a uniform stroke applied.

After creating the stroke we will hold the Control Key once more and click along the path to bring up the menu where we will now select “Delete Path” which will leave only the stroke created by the brush.

Repeat this process for the remaining seam on the bottom part of the strap.

Step 29

Double click on one of the seam layers that we created in the previous step to bring up the Layer Styles. Once the dialog box appears, check off “Color Overlay” as shown in the image below:

For the color we will use #93701E.

Once applying the settings, press the Enter Key to apply the settings. Next, what we want to do is hold down the Control Key and click on the layer that we have just applied the Color Overlay to and when the dropdown menu appears, select “Copy Layer Style”. Hold down the Control Key again, this time on the other seam layer. When the menu appears this time, choose “Paste Layer Style” to apply the same effect to both of the seam layers.

Step 30

What we want to do next is select both of the seam layers by selecting the first in your Layers Palette, holding down the Shift Key, and then clicking on the second layer. From here, simply press Command/Ctrl + G to put them into a Group Folder. I have also done this for the actual straps of the jetpack.

With the newly created folder containing both of the seam layers, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the palette to apply a mask.

Use a small hard round brush to mask out small gaps along the seams, giving them a more “sewn” appearance. As you are working, try to keep an equal amount of space between each section of the seam.

Once you are happy with that, increase the size of your brush and set it to a low opacity (10 – 20%) and then paint with black into the image where we want to essentially reduce the visibility of the seams in certain areas to give them some depth. The image below indicates the areas where I have made a few passes with my brush to achieve this.

Step 31

At this point I think we need to make some small tweaks and adjustments to a few areas in order to create some more balance and uniformity throughout the design. First let’s select the copy of the model layer, that is the “Original Copy Overlay” layer and make a copy of it by pressing Command/Ctrl + J. This will enhance the Overlay effect that we have applied to give the skin a bit more contrast. One thing you might try here is adding a Layer Mask and brushing out certain areas of her arm, as the shadow is a bit too heavy and dark.

Next we want to make a change to the shirt. To do this we will use the selection we made earlier by holding down the Command/Ctrl Key and clicking on the layer thumbnail icon of the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer that we created earlier on.

Once the selection is active, we will need to inverse it so that we have the shirt selected, rather than everything around it. To do this, press Command/Ctrl + Shift + I and now we have the shirt.

With your selection remaining active, create a new layer above the Adjustment Layer and fill the selection with solid black using either your Brush Tool (B) or Paint Bucket Tool (G). After that, reduce the opacity of the layer to somewhere around 30-40% and change the Blending Mode to Color.

Step 32

We now want to bring back in some of the flesh tones and the color of the skin, so we can reduce the opacity of the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer down by about 10 – 20% just to show a bit of variation in the skin. Even some of these darker purple colors will add life back into the figure.

Step 33

Jumping around a bit more we will now create a new layer and using a large soft round brush at a low opacity, brush in some highlights on top of the goggles. You can see my settings below, but feel free to experiment here and see where you would like the highlights to fall.

Step 34

Create another new layer above the hair color and change the Blending Mode to Overlay. Using the same brush, begin to paint in some highlights over the hair to bring out some of the brighter areas. Continue to make new layers and use your brush at various opacity settings in order to mix things up.

Here I have created another new layer set to Overlay, and instead of a white color for the brush, I am using #5C3C15 and painting over the hair as doing this will make the hair look more reddish and vibrant. Experiment with the opacity of the layer and see what you like.

Step 35

The next adjustment that we need to make is on the jetpack, and what we want to do here is tone down some of the vibrancy and saturation a bit to help it blend with it’s surrounding elements.

To do this, you will need to go through the different parts of the jetpack layers and hold the Command + Shift Keys while clicking on the layer thumbnail icons of the different shapes. You don’t need to get all of the highlights here, only the main pieces like the clock, the straps, the tube, and the jetpack base shapes need to be selected.

Once these are all selected we will have the whole jetpack. From here, click on the Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette and select “Hue/Saturation” from the menu.

You will notice that now, because we had all of these pieces selected, it will automatically apply the mask when we select the Adjustment Layer of our choosing.

In this case we will be desaturating and slightly darkening the object, you can see the settings I am using for the jetpack below:

Step 36

Just to add a few more details I have painted in some darker shadows below the model and jetpack layers and have also added a Curves Adjustment Layer by clicking the icon shown below and choosing “Curves” from the menu.

Below are the settings that I am using in the image, feel free to experiment with this but remember that it should be subtle.

Step 37

Another detail that I have added to the background is some cool steampunk machine drawings, which I have downloaded from DeviantArt. For your convenience, these brushes have been saved in the resources folder and can easily be loaded into Photoshop.

In the image below, I have used a white brush at full opacity on a new layer set to Overlay, and then applied a Layer Mask so that it appears behind the model and the jetpack. Lastly, reduce the opacity of the layer so that some of the grunge texture shows through.

Step 38

At this point we are just adding bits of detail throughout the image to push it a bit further. Here I have created a new layer set to Overlay and just used the Pen Tool (P) to create a few paths that follow the details of the jetpack and stroked it with a white brush.

These extra pieces of detail go a long way when looking at the overall image.

Step 39

We will add one more layer just below the Curves Adjustment Layer and fill it with a solid black using your Paint Bucket Tool (G). From here, go to the Filter Menu and choose Noise>Add Noise as shown below:

The image below shows the noise settings that I am using.

Change the Blending Mode of the noise layer to Soft Light and reduce the opacity to somewhere around 8-10% as shown.

Step 40

We are now finished with our Steampunk inspired design! I know that there were a lot of steps to follow but I hope that I was able to give you some useful tips and information along the way. If you have made it this far then you have done a great job and you should now have a few new techniques that you can try out and apply to some of your own designs. Thanks for watching!

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome.