Graphic of the World

How to Turn Humdrum Photos into Cinematic Portraits

2009-11-09T16:03:33Z

There are a plethora of ways to treat a portrait for a myriad of uses, but that is for another feature. Let’s tackle adding drama or a cinematic quality to a regular, humdrum portrait. Let’s even throw in a little bit of faking HDR. That way if you work on a project that requires a stunning shot without the stunning photography, you’ll be able to cobble something together using your mad skillz!

Final Image Preview

This tutorial is for intermediate Photoshop users. Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below. View the final image below or a larger version here.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Asset Preparation

The images I’ve used are: The man, the cloud, the water drops 1, and water drops 2. As always feel free to use your own images, however you may need to tweak the settings of any of the steps to get the right effect with different assets.

Step 1

Open the man image from iStockphoto and separate him from the background. Use whichever method you’re comfortable with, I would usually use the Pen Tool, but I’ll be honest, as he’s got no hair to worry about and the background is white I kinda cheated. I used the, ahem, Magic Wand Tool to select the white. I then Feathered the selection by 1 pixel (Select > Feather), expanded it by 2 pixels (Select > Modify > Expand) and hit delete 2-3 times until the white halo disappeared. Call this layer “MAN.” Select the Dodge Tool, set the Range to Highlights and the Exposure to 15% and run it over the Iris a couple of times. This should bring the eyes out a bit.

Step 2

Open up the cloud image from sxc.hu and import it into the document underneath the “MAN” layer. Resize it to about 130% and drag (Use the Select Tool, hold Alt and simply drag the cloud around the canvas) three duplicates. Overlap them as in the image below. Then select the eraser, set as a large soft-edged brush, and run it along the hard-edges where the cloud layers meet.

Step 3

Finally, select the Clone Tool, set it to a large (around 400 pixels) soft-edged (0% hardness) brush and clone out the obvious pattern repetitions. Choose multiple source points to avoid more obvious patterns.

Step 4

These next few steps are a lot easier if you have access to a graphics tablet, however you can still do it with a mouse. Create a Curves Adjustment Layer just above the “MAN” layer and check the box that’s marked Use Previous Layer to Create a Clipping Mask. Set it up as shown and call it “CURVES_DARK.” Select the “CURVES_DARK” layer mask and fill it with black, this should hide the effects of the Curves.

Select the Paintbrush Tool and set it to 0% Hardness, 15% Opacity and 65% Flow. Change the Brush size to suit the part of the image you’re treating. Obviously the bigger the brush, the smoother the transition. Set the Foreground Color to White and begin painting directly on the Layer Mask. Some areas require more work than others so don’t be scared of going over some patches several times.

Check the image below for approximate brush sizes to use. Cover both the skin and clothing. There is no exact science to this, it’s a lot of trial and error.

To get the finer details you’ll need to reduce the brush size right down. The eyelashes as an example required a 3 pixel brush, but I increased the opacity to around 40 percent. I did the same with the wrinkles and other hard-edges.

Ultimately, your Layer Mask should resemble this (press Alt and click on the Layer Mask to see where you’ve painted on the mask). I didn’t quite do enough on the Mask and there are three ways to rectify this. Option 1 is to double-click on the Layer Thumbnail (this is represented, in this case, by a circle that’s half black and half grey). Adjust the Curves to produce a darker result. Option 2 is to continue painting on the Layer Mask, but you risk messing up your good work. Option 3 is to duplicate the Curves Adjustment Layer, then you can scale back the effect by tweaking the Layer Opacity.

Step 5

Again, all you peeps with a graphics tablet are going to find this a lot easier. Create another Curves Adjustment Layer above “MAN” and “CURVES_DARK” on the layer palette. Check the box that’s marked Use Previous Layer to Create a Clipping Mask and call it “CURVES_LIGHT.” Pull the upper part of the line upwards to lighten the image. Note: How much you manipulate the Curves layers (including “CURVES_DARK”) affects how much you’ll need to draw on the Layer Mask and how much you’ll need to tweak the overall exposure later on.

Fill the “CURVES_LIGHT” Layer Mask with black and Draw directly onto it with a soft-edged brush loaded with white. Again pick the brush size and opacity to match the area you’re treating. If you overdo an area, load your brush with black and go over the problem area.

You’re looking to paint over all the areas where there are highlights. To strengthen things like the wrinkles, you should paint light next to the dark but not over it. Paint up to hard-edges with a small brush and then away from it with a large brush to diffuse the transition.

Alt-click on your Layer Mask thumbnail to see where you’ve painted on it. It should resemble the image below. Note the Layers palette as well, all my layers are currently on Normal at 100% Opacity and Fill. The little arrow next to the Layer thumbnail signifies that it’s using the lower layer as a clipping mask.

If yours don’t, then select the “CURVES” layer and go to Layer > Create clipping mask. To mask off any areas you require a hard-edge such as the bottom of the nose, simply draw around it using the Pen Tool, turn the path into a selection and paint onto the appropriate Layer Mask.

Step 6

Create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer above “MAN,” “CURVES_DARK” and “CURVES_LIGHT.” Use the underlying layers as a Clipping Mask. Set the Gradient Map as shown below and then change the Layer Blending Mode to Soft Light and the Opacity to 75%. Now you could tweak the hue/saturation, play with the channel mixer and add a nice studio-esque background and stop there for now. But let’s carry on and add some real drama to this.

Step 7

Add a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer below “MAN” and above “CLOUD.” Input the darker color as #164370 (a darkish blue) and the lighter color as #e2dc9a (a muddy yellow). OK this, then set the Layer Blending Mode as Soft Light and change the Layer Opacity to 68%. Add a Curves Adjustment Layer directly below the Gradient Map. Adjust as shown and then change the Layer Opacity to 60%. Your Layers palette should that shown below.

Step 8

Add a new layer directly above “CLOUD” and fill it with 60% black. Set the Blending Mode to Overlay (it should disappear). Select the Burn Tool and set to a big brush (917 diameter, 0% hardness), set the Range to Midtones and the Exposure to around 15%. Then burn around the corners to create a vignette. Call the layer “VIGNETTE” and adjust the Opacity to suit. Mine ended up at 77%.

Step 9

Create a new layer directly above “MAN” (using “MAN” as a Clipping Path) and another directly below the “CLOUD_CURVES” and “GRADIENTMAP” layers. Call the new layers “WHITEGLOW.” Select the Paintbrush Tool, load it with white and work on the layers as shown below. Create a soft, white glow below the man to lift him from the background. Then create a white glow above to bleed light from the background over the subject. Follow the pink path as shown, then go over a second time.

Step 10

This next step is a stylistic choice as we’re going for a stylized look. However, if you want a more naturalistic finish you can skip this part. Select all the layers currently linked with “MAN.”

Then go to Filter > Stylize > Glowing Edges and set up as shown.

We want to knock out the midtones on this so go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and set up as shown.

Then change the Layer Blending Mode to Screen and drop the Opacity down to around 34%. Duplicate this layer and set the duplicate Blending Mode to Overlay, change the Opacity to around 13%. I also masked off areas around the chin on the original Glowing Edges Layer (Screen, 34%).

Step 11

Duplicate the “CLOUD” layer and drag it above the “GLOW_EDGES” layers. Apply a 2-3 pixel Gaussian Blur, then set the Layer Blending Mode to Screen and the Opacity to 50%. Take a soft-edged Eraser and delete all parts of the cloud that spill over the face and details. Duplicate the layer and drag it until you get a fairly even coverage of mist at the bottom of the image. Call these layers “CLOUD_BLURRED.”

Step 12

Download the water drops 1 image from sxc.hu and open it. Go to Image > Rotate Canvas > 180 degrees. Erase the bigger ball of water and the broken balloon part.

Then select the Burn Tool, set it to Shadows with an Exposure of 35% and run it along where you’ve erased. This should give a more realistic blend.

Paste it into your document directly above the “CLOUD_BLURRED” layers and set the Blending Mode to Screen. Position on the shoulder so that the condensed drips line up with the mans shoulder. You will need to rotate it to fit. Then drag a duplicate of this layer along the shoulder, rotate and fit. Call these layers “DROPS_RIGHT.”

Duplicate both “DROPS_RIGHT” layers and with the duplicates selected go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Rotate them to fit the line of the shoulder and rename them both “DROPS_LEFT.”

Download and open the water drops 2 image from sxc.hu. We only want the drops here so delete the Balloon and the denser part of the water (Eraser and then Burn Tool). Paste into the Working document, change Blending Mode to Screen. To get smaller bits of spray simply resize to make them smaller.

To get drops of rain, drag a duplicate and resize bigger. Make several copies until you get a good spread. Use the Clone Tool to get a more precise covering. Then group the layers, select the group and go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal all. Use this Mask to soften the impact of the rain, remove any drops covering detail and give it an overall clean up.

Step 13

Create a new layer directly above the “WATER_DROPS” group (the rain and stuff) and call it “STARBURST.” Fill it with 60% black and go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and set up as shown below.

Then go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. Apply a Zoom blur as shown. The Blur center should be just on the mans shoulder. If you don’t hit that, then just reposition the layer and resize it so it fills the entire canvas.

Finally, adjust the Levels as in the image below and set the Layer Blending Mode to Overlay. As 60% is pretty much an overlay neutral color, and the levels are well balanced out, it shouldn’t affect the whole image. Add a Layer Mask to mask out any areas that you don’t want rays. I masked out parts of the face and shirt.

Step 14

Create a new layer directly above “STARBURST” and call it “FAKE_RAIN.” Fill it with 60% black, add noise (as you did for “STARBURST”) and then resize it.

Then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur.

Bring up the blending options (click the f symbol in the black circle at the bottom of layers palette) and pull the black Layer Slider across to 130.

Apply a Small Gaussian Blur.

And a Smart Sharpen filter.

Finally, tweak the Levels and set the Layer Blending Mode to Hard Light.

Step 15

Duplicate “FAKE_RAIN,” call it “FAKE_RAIN_BGROUND” and move it below the “VIGNETTE” layer on the layers palette. Rotate it 10 degrees or so and change the Layer Opacity to 75%.

Step 16

Create a new Gradient Map Adjustment Layer directly above “FAKE_RAIN.” Set the darker color as #075053 and the lighter color as white. Then set the Layer Blending Mode to Color with an Opacity of 55%. Add a Layer Mask (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All), grab a large soft-edged brush, load it with black, reduce brush Opacity to 20% and paint over the face area a couple of times.

Step 17

Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer directly above the Gradient Map you just created. Pull the Saturation slider down to -68% and OK it. At this staged I added a Layer Mask and masked off some of the red tie using the a soft-edged brush at 25% Opacity.

Step 18

Add a Curves Adjustment Layer above that and set up as shown below. It’s looking pretty moody now, time to add the finishers on this.

Step 19

Create a new layer above the three new Adjustment Layers and call it “OVERLAY_DODGE/BURN.” Fill it with 60% black and change the Layer Blending Mode to Overlay. Using the Dodge and Burn Tools we’re going to further boost some highlights and a couple of shadows.

Here’s how it looks with the changes.

Here’s roughly what your “OVERLAY_DODGE/BURN” layer should look like on Normal Blending Mode. Notice that some areas are whiter than others, those areas have been painted on more times than the darker parts. Layering it up is the key to a smooth and natural transition.

Step 20

As a little salad garnish I’ve added a lens flare. Fill a new layer with black. Go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare and pick 105mm prime. The default settings should be fine. Set the lens flare Layer Blending Mode to Screen and position it above the shoulder. It’s worth mentioning that I also applied a small amount of noise, followed by a Gaussian Blur (around 4 pixels) and then a smart sharpen (around 150 at 7 pixels).

Step 21

Select all of your layers and duplicate them. Merge all the duplicated layers into one, making sure you leave the originals untouched. Duplicate the merged layer and name one “HIGH_PASS” and one “INVERTED.” Select “HIGH_PASS” and go to Filter > Other > High Pass. OK a 2 pixel pass and then set the Layer to Overlay. Mask off any sections you feel are too strong, I did the starburst area a little.

Step 22

Select the “INVERTED” layer and desaturate it (Command + Shift + U). Then invert it (Command + I), apply a 40 pixel Gaussian Blur and then set the Layer Blending Mode to Overlay. It’s a little much so drop the Layer Opacity to around 45% or whatever you’re comfortable with.

Conclusion

You should be left with a highly editable image. Adjust Layer Opacities, fine-tune Layer Masks, play with Adjustment Layers or even turn visibility of some of the layers off. Even without the rain and the clouds and whatnot, what you’re left with is a way to make portraits punchier. View the final image below or a larger version here.

Similar Posts:

How to Create a Dark Emotional Photo Manipulation

2009-11-09T15:05:46Z

This is a tutorial with a simple idea: to create an emotional photo manipulation. Following this tutorial, you will learn how to blend different images to make a dark atmospheric background, modify the dress of the model, apply makeup, paint hair, blend different objects in the background, and more – all to create a moody illustration. So, let’s start!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Arranging the Stock Images

The photo manipulation in the tutorial was created using the following stock images:

Melancholia Model, by mizzd-stock
Fantasy Forest by casperium
Autumn Leaves by Drezdany-stocks
Falling Leaves by JLStock included in Plus download
Vines by loveit
Ravens by unholy-stock

Step 1

The first step is to create a new PSD. Go to File > New. I choose to work in CMYK color mode.

Step 2

The next step is to create a background. Drag the Autumn Leaves background picture into the new file. Duplicate the layer and arrange it like in the first picture. Add a layer mask and erase the edges like in the picture below so it will look natural. Duplicate the layer again, add a new layer mask, and erase the edges as shown.

Step 3

Add a Color Balance Adjustment Layer and arrange the levels to: -57, -56, +26, as shown.

Step 4

Now add an Adjustment Layer of Curves and choose 38 for the output and 27 for the input.

Step 5

Drag the Fantasy Forest picture into the file. Now add a layer mask and erase on the edges using a basic, black brush as shown.

Step 6

Go to the Autumn Leaves picture layer. Choose the Lasso Tool and insert a part of the leaves. Press Command + J . Arrange the new layer as shown.

Step 7

The next step is to cut-out the Melancholia Model. Open the picture with the model. Select the Pen Tool and cut out the model. When you closed the path right-click and Make Selection (Radius of 0 ) and then press Command + J.

Step 8

Drag the model into the main document and arrange it as shown.

Step 9

The next step is to remodel her dress, since it appears to be too short for this background. Grab the Pen Tool and cut-out a copy of the end of the dress.

Step 10

Arrange the copy as shown.

Step 11

Create a new Adjustment Layer of Curves and choose 32 output and 20 input.

Step 12

Fill the layer mask with a black color (Alt + backspace). Choose a basic brush, then with white color the shadow of the model as shown.

Step 13

Open the creepers from the Vines file. Drag them into the PSD file, and arrange them as shown.

Step 14

Now let’s paint the hair. Create a new layer and pick the color you want to be the darkest and paint the shape of the hair. Next, create a new layer and with a lighter color paint some hair. Do this operation a few times on different layers and with lighter and lighter colors until you have the right result.

Don’t do them on the same layer because if you don’t like the result you have to erase all the hair. Once you have the right result, merge all the hair layers (press the Command button, select the layers, and then press Command + E). Next select the Burn Tool and put some shadows on the hair and select the Dodge Tool for the lights. Follow the images below for guidance.

Step 15

Go to the model’s layer and select the Burn Tool. Apply some shadows on the model’s dress.

Step 16

Go to the Adjustment Layers, create a Color Balance layer, and use these settings: 0, -19, -27. Fill the layers mask with black and with white color paint the creepers.

Step 17

Next let’s paint the model’s face. Create a new layer. Select a light color of the model’s face with the Eyedropper Tool and with a basic brush (4 or 5 for Opacity) paint her face. Create a new layer and paint her eyes. Do the same for the mouth. Don’t paint them on the same layer.

Once you have a satisfying result, merge the layers (press Command, select the layers you want to merge and then press Command + E). Use the Burn Tool for the shadows of the face and the Dodge Tool for the light.

Step 18

Drag and drop the Ravens as shown.

Step 19

Create a new layer to paint the ravens’ wings and jewels, as shown below. Do the same with all the crows. For this, use a basic round brush with smooth edges.

Step 20

In this step, create a new layer and draw some shadows with a basic brush on the model’s hand. This is a minor detail, but it’s important because it makes it look natural.

Step 21

Create an Adjustment Layer of Photo filter with a Density of 25%.

Step 22

Create a Color balance layer with Levels: -18, +17, -19. Fill the layer mask with black. Paint with a basic, white brush on the model’s figure.

Step 23

Create a Color Balance Adjustment Layer with Levels: +28, -13, and -27.

Step 24

Drag and drop some cut-out leaves into the file. You can use the “leaves.png” file included in the Plus download or an image of your own choosing.

Step 25

Command-click the layer with the leaves to select them. Create a Color Balance Adjustment Layer with Levels: +67, -22, and +19. Fill the layer mask with black. Paint the leaves with a basic, white-colored brush.

Step 26

Create an Curves Adjustment Layers with Output 17 and Input 11. Fill the layer mask with black. Paint on some shadows with a basic, white-colored brush, as in the picture.

Step 27

Use a new photo filter. Crete a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer with a Density of 25 %.

Step 28

Create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer. Set the Opacity to 15 %.

Conclusion

Sit back and look at your emotional photo manipulation. The final image is below.

Similar Posts:

Add Fantastic Color to 3D Text – Part 2

2009-11-09T14:56:15Z

This is the this last part of this two part tutorial on adding fantastic color to 3D text. In this tutorial, you will learn how to bring a simple text to life and place everything in fantastic, colored and glowing 3D space. Some neat techniques covered here will allow you to bring your artwork to the next level. Don’t miss it!

Final Image Preview

Let’s take a look at the image we’ll be creating in Part II of this series. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.

Introduction and Preparation

Welcome to Part II of this tutorial series. As I mentioned before it’s kind of a continuation of the tutorial Super Malleable Lines, there are some similar effects shown, but from a very different angle. In Part Two of this tutorial, we will focus on great glowing effects, some messy brushing and gloss effects.

We will begin with creating text reflection in our splatter, so you need to download the demo version of Xara3D 6. You may use Adobe Illustrator as well, but I strongly recommend to get Xara for this piece.

Images to use:

abstract lights from 123rf.com
bubbles from 123rf.com
metal texture from cgtextures.com
another metal texture from cgtextures.com
papertexture from cgtextures.com
ice crack from sxc.hu
ink brushes from brusheezy.com
watercolor brushes from brusheezy.com

Step 1 – Let’s Continue: Adding Text Reflection to Splatter

Just to remind you what we did in the previous image looks like when we ended, the first image below is the final one from Add Fantastic Color to 3D Text – Part I.

And as I said we will now move forward by creating text reflection. To do this you need to open Xara3D 6 and again create the same text with the Agenda font. Same size but a different view (second image below). Why are we doing this? Well, this is the time when you need to close your eyes and try to imagine how would the reflection look. Look again at the second image below. If you imagine this text flipped vertically, you will get a mirror reflection of our original text.

The colors of this text reflection aren’t that important as in Part I. This text will be barely visible so we will darken it anyway and erase half of it. But the main thing to remember, is that the text needs to be pink (as our original text).

If you already got this text generated, save it (Export) as shown in the third image below.

Step 2 – Creating Reflection: Adjusting

Bring the reflection text to our main project, name it “reflection” and put it somewhere below the main text (and below the shadow of this text) in the Layers Palette. Then hit Command + T (Free Transform) flip it vertically and then use Warp to adjust the reflection to the main text (second image below).

OK, now if your text is as bright as mine, grab the Burn Tool (O) set the Range to Midtones and darken it a little (third image below). It looks good but it’s still a little too colorful. I decided to decrease the saturation a little (Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation, and add a value of -22 to the Saturation).

Step 3 – Correcting Reflection and Adding Splatter Shine

This reflection still needs some touch-ups. So go to Layers Palette and select the “reflection” layer, then add a Layer Mask to it. Now grab the Gradient Tool (G), change its color to black and (while having the Layer Mask selected) drag a gradient from the bottom to the top of the reflection text (first image below).

Next Command-click on the “reflection” layer’s thumbnail to call the selection of this layer. Create a new layer above it, name it “reflection touch up” and change the layer’s Blending Mode to Multiply. Pick a dark pink color (#853b6d) from the colors palette, then grab the Brush Tool (B). Make the brush very soft and start painting inside the selection (second image below).

Now, make sure you still have your Brush Tool (B) selected, and also make sure it’s set to 0% Hardness and around 5-10% Flow. Pick a white color, go to the Layers Palette, move somewhere above our splatter layers and create a new layer there. Name it “splatter shine” and change it’s Blending Mode to Overlay. Now use a brush and start painting on splatter to create a nice shine (3rd, 4th, and 5th images below).

Step 4 – Adding Messy Splash Brushes

First important note before you start doing anything is to create a new layer group below the shadow splatter. Then open one of the downloaded brush packs and select a big messy brush (brush in first image below). Create a new layer, name it “Brush.” Use #cceeff color and set it throughout the whole splatter. Then go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask, set the Amount to around 80-90% (first image below).

Once you do this, recall the selection of the splatter, and hit Delete on the keyboard while still having selected the “Brush” layer (second image below). Now press Command + D to deselect the selection, next turn the Opacity of the “Brush” layer to 30% and set its Blending Mode to Overlay (you should get something similar to the third image below).

Step 5 – More Splashy Brushing

Basically there are two ways of adding these brushes. The first one is shown in the previous step, and the second in the pictures below. You need to recall the selection of splatter, then go to Select > Inverse. Create a new layer, set its Blending Mode to Overlay. Grab the Brush Tool (B), pick a nice splash/splatter brush and add them on the left and right side beyond the splatter (like you see in the first image below). Play around with layer opacity, the higher opacity the harder the color.

Keep adding brushes the way you’re comfortable with. Work dynamically with the brush size and help yourself with Eraser Tool (E). Sometimes, you just need to get rid of unwanted splatter brush part.

Step 6 – Enhancing Splatter Shadow

Now let’s get back to the splatter shadow. As we made the shadow tiny before, now with the new surface we need to enhance it. Refer to adding shadow in tutorial Part I. So grab the Brush Tool (B). Set the color to dark blue (something like #125361), make your brush soft as before and add a little bit more shadow. Do it pretty much the same way as in tutorial Part I, just add a little bit more shadow and this time without having any selection.

Step 7 – Creating Brush Splatter

OK, now find some free space on your background. To do this pick only splatters that spread their parts widely. Create each brush on a new layer. I prepared a small guide below, what to do, and how to set these brushes and layers:

#a5efff, Brush Opacity 60%, Flow 60%
#a5efff, Brush Opacity 80%, Flow 90%
#c4f2ff, same opacity/flow
#e1f7ff, same opacity/flow
#e1f7ff, same opacity/flow
#e1f7ff, Layer Blending Mode: Overlay, Layer Opacity: 73%
white color (here use a regular rounded, soft brush and enhance the center of this splatter)
#d5f4ff, Layer Blending Mode: Overlay (here use a regular rounded, soft brush, in the center of splatter to create glow)
#97f2ff, Layer Blending Mode: Overlay (here use a regular rounded, soft brush, around the splatter to create more glow)

When you’re done, go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask, and set the Amount to around 60%. Apply this to each brush layer.

Note: If somewhere lacks information about Opacity or anything, it means it should be set by default to 100%.

Step 8 – Adding Lights

Select all the light layers and group them. Next, grab this group and drag it into the New Layer icon around 7-8 times to create many lights (fist image below). Place them where the natural light hits letters (but behind the text).

Now change your brush to a regular rounded shape (big diameter). Set the Hardness to 0%, Opacity to 100%, and Flow to 15%. Pick a dark blue color like #1c364d. In the Layers Palette create two new layers, one above the lights, and one below them.

Now refer to the third and forth images below, and start adding a darker color to the background between the lights. This will enhance the lights, making them more readable (you may even change the Blending Mode of this layer to Hard Light to make this effect even more visible).

Then copy the group with lights two times and add more lights. One to the shine inside the splatter and another one behind the text.

Step 9 – Texture effects

Open a cool ice crack image. Go to the Channels Palette and drag the Red Channel into the New Layer icon. You should get now something similar to the second image below. Now select the “Red copy” channel, select the black dropper (I believe it’s correctly called Black Point Dropper). Then click on a gray spot, and you should get something similar to the third image below.

When you’re done, Command-click on the “Red copy” channel’s thumbnail to load the selection of the white texture that remains. Now select the RGB channel and switch to the Layers Palette (fourth image below). Select the layer and use Command + C (copy). Then go to our main project document and hit Command + V (paste) – fifth image below.

Step 10 – Creating Texture

Now go to the Layers Palette into the texture blending layer options. Select Color Overlay and set the color to #94e3ed (first image below). Then create a new empty layer and merge the texture with this empty layer using Command + E (second image below). Now set this layer Blending Option to Overlay. Make several copies of this layer and use Command + T to rotate this layer.

Step 11 – Manipulating Textures

Now grab the Lasso Tool (L) and draw a path around any interesting you part (I selected here a really messy and detailed spot). Hit Command + I to inverse the selection and press Delete on your keyboard to remove unwanted parts (second image below).

Next select a spatter brush 39px, add a Layer Mask to this ice crack layer, select a black color and remove some texture (third image below).

Step 12 – Messy Texturing

Once you get this done, go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask and increase the Radius a little. Repeat the whole process and create a few effects like this. The best solution is to put each one on light spots.

Step 13 – Color Spheres

Now, create a new layer group and make new a layer inside it. Name it “orange ball.” Pick #ffc000 for the color. Select the Ellipse Tool (U) (make sure you have the option Shape Layers selected) and create a circle. All needed settings you have are shown here in the second and third images below.

Next you need to create a new shape layer (on new layer) and set the color to white. Then create a new Layer Mask over there and paint with black on this mask to get rid of the middle and bottom parts (7th image below). Now this looks like a gloss or a light, so move this on our sphere and match it.

Step 14 – Creating Spheres, Continuation

For each sphere pick another color. Each process looks the same, only colors change. Work a lot with proper colors, they must fit your illustration. Try to find a good tone in between too bright or too dark.

Step 15 – Touching-Up Sphere Shadows

I don’t want to bore you showing the settings of each sphere that I created. I showed you how it works, so you should be able to pick some colors by yourself. Anyway create many spheres in different sizes and each one in a different color.

Now take a look at the first two spheres from the bottom – the green and red one. I like to see some realism in my work so I always try to put some stuff on the ground. I mean, we will just add some shadows to these front spheres (it’s not like you must do this, as this looks OK for now, but I think it gives a great overall touch).

So Command-click on the red sphere’s layer thumbnail to call the selection. Hit Command + Shift + C (Copy Merged) and paste (Command + V) this sphere. Now select this copy, drag it below the original red sphere, hit Command + T (Free Transform), and select Flip Vertical. Grab the Eraser Tool (E) with soft settings, then erase the bottom of this flipped sphere (third image below) to create the reflection.

Now refer to the fourth image below, select the Brush Tool (B), and pick #1a525f color. Make your brush very soft (by me soft always means like 0% Hardness and 10-20% Flow). Set your diameter to 2-3px and create a new layer below the original red sphere, but above the red sphere reflection. Then first paint exactly below the original sphere, along its bottom line to create a tiny hard shadow.

Step 16 – Flying Sphere Shadow

Now, let’s take care of the green sphere shadow. It looks to me like it was more in the air than on the ground so I decided to create an illusion with shadow that this sphere is really flying.

So take a look at first image below. I drew some arrows to show you how you should add this shadow. Because we are in 3D space, and there is some perspective, we need to make some depth with this shadow. As previously grab the Brush Tool (B) with the same settings, but change your diameter to a bigger one and create a soft shadow. Try to get a soft ellipse with a little harder center.

Step 17 – Malleable Lines

You probably should remember the Super Malleable Lines tutorial where I showed you a great technique of simulating shape layers. Well it’s the same thing now. If you like you can refer to the Malleable Lines tutorial as well. But in this one, I made it more custom.

Grab the Line Tool (U), drag three lines in one column (first image below). Then apply some layer styles (second image below) to give this piece a color variety. Then use Command + T and select Warp. Bend this shape layer as many times as you need, and try to achieve a nice, thin, curvy lines.

Step 18 – Selecting Proper Parts

These shape layers are never perfectly shaped after bending. So in the first picture below I selected the parts that we’re interested in. In the second image below I selected the parts that you need to get rid of. And in the last picture below they are simply erased using Layer Masks with a hard black brush.

Note: It’s a great thing that you actually can use layer masks on shape layers, you simply loose nothing, you can recreate the layer when you want.

Step 19 – Constructing Lines

Something like this is very hard to achieve using only the Pen Tool with path stroke, so I construct lines with small pieces (and it’s great because they are still shape layers).

As you have prepared a few shape layers (curvy lines), use them, copy them and rotate them to create one curly line going around the orange sphere. You just need to set lines properly and they will do everything for you.

Note: Remember to blend the connections between lines nicely. Use layer mask to do the blending part.

Once you achieve a cool curly line, select all these shape layers and merge them into one (Command + E) (but always save some extra copies of your shape layers that you don’t need to recreate them). Next, you probably should get something similar to the third image below, and you need to decide which line to erase from the sphere because now it’s not looking right.

Refer to the forth image below. Add a Layer Mask to our merged layer, call the selection of orange sphere, grab the Brush Tool (B), pick a black color and erase one of these two lines that cover the sphere.

Step 20 – Enhancing Malleable Lines

Before we do anything further, you need to change your brush settings. Go to the Brush Palette and apply the settings shown below. Change the brush Opacity to around 15% and the Flow to something like 50%. Pick a bright blue color (like #baf3ff).

Create a new layer, change its Blending Mode to Overlay and start painting on the malleable line. This will make the line thicker, and this brush the way we made should easily allow you to paint with the mouse. You need to set many small marks to get this line more visible, and this covers some imperfections.

Step 21 – Creating Glow

Now this is my favorite part. I believe the photo of abstract lights was taken on slow shutter, looks like a painted glowing light, and it’s great. Open it in Photoshop, pick the Lasso Tool (L) and select a piece of this glow. Drag this to our main project.

Use Command + Shift + U to desaturate this it. Then grab the Eraser Tool (E), make the settings very soft and erase the hard edges of this piece. Then hit Command + T (Free Transform) to match it to our malleable line. Select Warp (Command +T to get the option bar) and adjust it to the line shape. Help yourself with a soft eraser if something doesn’t fit.

Step 22 – Creating Glow, Continued

Select a very light blue color (like #8cfbff). Reset your brush settings, and set the Hardness to 0% and Flow to 5%. Then create new layers above the previous ones (and above the malleable line). Set this layer’s Blending Mode to Hard Light and add some more glow to shining parts of the sphere and the line. Don’t overdo this, we’re looking only for a touch of glow.

Step 23 – Malleable Line, and Glow Process Repeat

As the title says, yes this will go the same way again and again. Apply these effects to each sphere that you have created. And remember that everything needs to be set up as in this tutorial. You simply cannot create these glowing effects in blue color if your illustration has pink or orange background, this also needs to be blue. And most important information: glow effects work the best when they are applied to the dark background. Below is a small case study for blue sphere treatment.

Step 24 – Adding Bubbles

OK, after applying more of these glow effects you will reach something similar to the first image below. Now, let’s take care of some more details. I found a nice picture of bubbles and thought it may be used well. The only rule is that this picture needs to have a black background.

So drag this image to our main project document. Press Command + Shift + U (Desaturate) – second image below. Change its Blending Mode to Screen (third image below). Now use Command + T to rotate it in different ways to create a messy look. Help yourself with a hard eraser if some bubbles are disturbing.

Finally create a new layer above all the bubbles, set its Blending Mode to Overlay and select the Brush Tool (B). Use very soft settings, pick #8cfbff color and slightly paint on these bubbles. This will give a nice glowing touch.

Step 25 – Background Textures

Now open some dirty image (I picked the one below, as it has mass details). Hit Command + Shift + U to Desaturate (second image below). Next hit Command + L (Levels) and adjust it to get a visible difference between black and whites. Next go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask and sharpen this texture a little.

Step 26 – Applying Textures

When the texture is ready, drag it to our main project document. Set its layer Blending Mode to Screen. Grab the Eraser Tool (E), set it to Hardness 0%, Flow 10% and blend the texture with the background. Repeat this process to fill some empty space in the background.

This may be hard to see, but the texture is there. This gives a little noise to the background and makes it irregular. I like it this way.

Step 27 – Paper Texture Effect

Open the paper texture image. Unlock this layer by left-clicking two times on it. Then use Command + J (duplicate). Once you get the duplicate, set its Blending mode to Overlay and go to Filter > Other > Highpass, and set the Radius to around 40% to get some depth in the darker spots. Then drag both these layers to our main project. Grab the Eraser Tool (E), set it to Hardness 0%, Flow 10% and blend both textures with the background. Use this technique to sightly fill the whole canvas.

Step 28 – Final Adjustments

The final adjustments are very important as they give a unique look to your work. Go to the top of the Layers Palette and add several adjustment layers as you see in below. Add them one by one and work with their opacities and on the layer masks.

Example: When I added Levels (first image below) the shadow below letters seemed too dark, but the adjustment layer fit the whole illustration well. So I selected the Layer Mask of the Levels layer and erased the black shadow from below the letters using a soft, black brush. And so on with more adjustment layers, if something doesn’t look right at some spots, help yourself using layer mask and a black brush.

The gradient maps in the third and fourth images below are from Black color to Gray and from Black to White (I guess there was no need to write this down, but if you need to know here it is).

Conclusion

In the end you can sharpen this image a little using highpass or unsharp mask. This will give it some more quality. But anyway, it’s the end, I’m glad you could reach it to this point, as this was a tough piece. Have fun with your own works. May the color be with you!

You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

Similar Posts:

Add Fantastic Color to 3D Text – Part 1

2009-11-09T14:45:11Z

This is the first part of a two part series. Part two will be released tomorrow. In this piece you will learn how to bring a simple text to life and place everything in fantastic, colored and glowing 3D space. Some neat techniques covered here will allow you to bring your art to the next level. Don’t miss it!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating by the end of this two Part series. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one?. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.

Introduction and Preparation

This tutorial series is kind of a continuation of the tutorial Super Malleable Lines. There are some similar effects shown here, but from a very different angle. In Part I of this tutorial, we will focus on how to create 3D text and the splatter effect.

First of all, to create the 3D text, you need to download the demo version of Xara 3D6. You may use Adobe Illustrator as well, but I strongly recommend you get Xara for this piece. Also download the stained metal texture image we’ll be using from cgtextures.com.

Step 1 – How to Begin?

The best way to start a colorful art piece is finding the right colors. In the Super Malleable Lines tutorial, the colors of the background were sunny, so this gave us a warm impression. Here we’ll move more into cold tones.

Let’s start with opening a new document of around 1350 pixels by 1600 pixels with a resolution of 300px/inch. Create a new layer and make a short color matching. Don’t pick the first color you choose, try to play around with some different tones. People often destroy their works with bad looking backgrounds.

So now that we found a good fitting color, grab the Paint Bucket Tool (G) and fill the new layer with #166a91. Name this layer “background.”

Step 2 – Background Depth

Now what we need is to give this background some life. Again, spend some time on searching colors, try to get some proper cool tones. What I’m talking about is finding darker and lighter tones of this blue color. The colors that I used are shown in the images below.

If you already picked some good darker color (or if you have some problems with colors refer to the images below – I showed the specific color used). Grab the Brush Tool (B), set the Flow to 5%, Hardness to 0% and make your diameter very big as you see below. Create a new layer, name it “bg_color” and paint in the corners with this big brush. Make each brushing of new color on it’s own new layer.

Try to paint in different spots, basically make the edges darker and the middle brighter. This way you will receive some irregular gradients and that’s what we want.

Step 3 – Adjusting Color

When you’re done with coloring the background make sure everything works for you fine. The colors seemed a little too bright for me, so I decided to go to the Layers Palette and I added a new adjustment layer of Hue/Saturation above all the layers. Then I slightly decreased Saturation, removing some color.

Step 4 – Preparing Texture for Splatter

Now open some stained metal texture. I don’t know why is this called “metal,” seems to me like some stains. Anyway, stains are the point, you can pick an image of your own choice. It must be suitable to your needs.

Now hit Command + T, use Distort to make a perspective of this picture. Then hit Command + Shift + U to desaturate. Command-click on this layer’s thumbnail to call the selection. Copy it using Command + C.

Step 5 – Creating Splatter, Shape and Shadows

Get back to our main project document. Grab the Pen Tool (P)and draw a splatter shape, then turn it into a selection. Create a new layer above all, name it “texture.” Now go to Edit > Paste Into. Our texture should now dynamically be pasted into the selection, it means you can change its position inside the selection. Now change this layer Blending Mode to Overlay and set the Opacity to 70% and your project should look like the second image below.

Now create a new layer above all and name it “splatter shading.” Grab the Brush Tool (B) and change the color to #125361. Make sure your brush settings are very soft, something like Hardness 0%, Flow 10%. Now make the selection of the texture layer (Command-click on the layer’s thumbnail). Take a look at the third image below and paint in the indicated spots. We need to darken the inner curved parts of this splatter to create a convex look. This splatter needs to pop up a little, to be not so flat. Refer to the 4th and 5th image below.

Step 6 – Creating Splatter: Lights

OK, now as you created some shading, let’s move to lights. Look at the first image below. I made a small preparation (this is not something you need to do). Before you add lighting you need to imagine how it would look like if it was real. So I created several simple lines to show you which places are good to set the lights.

If you’re ready, then create a new layer above all and name it “splatter lighting.” Call the selection of the “texture” layer. Now with the same brush settings and a brighter color #99e9ea, start painting in the indicated spots (keep a small space from the splatter edge).

Note: Remember that you’re able to make changes anytime you feel something is not right, so if you give too much shade or lighting, help yourself with the soft Eraser Tool (E) to erase unwanted parts.

Step 7 – Creating Splatter: Brush Settings

Before we move further, go to the Brush Palette and change the brush settings, as shown below.

What’s this for? Using a small, soft and faded brush you can easily paint with a mouse. If you paint in one spot, you’re allowed to make some failure lines, as they will be barely visible. Refer to the second image below, and look how the light lines are being created. In the third image below there are white arrows that indicate where to paint. Add these light lines on each outer curved edge of the splatter.

Step 8 – Creating Splatter: Adding Lights

Now, don’t change your brush settings, only increase the diameter a little and change the color to white. Then create a new layer above all, name it “lighting overlay.” Set this layer’s Blending Mode to Overlay, and start painting in the same spots that were indicated in Step 6. Create only little spots, not lines.

Step 9 – Creating Splatter: Adding Lights More

Continue adding lighting on selected splatter parts. Remember to work dynamically with your diameter. You can go from bigger to smaller to create nice spot lights.

Also help yourself with the Eraser Tool (E) and a very soft eraser, something like 0% Hardness and 8% Flow. Take your time while working on the details.

Step 10 – Creating Splatter: Touch Ups

Next, create a new layer above all, name it “splatter touch ups” and change it’s Blending Mode to Multiply. Reset your brush settings. Then set the brush to Hardness 0%, Flow 5%, change the color to #125361. Now look at the first image below and darken in the indicated spots just a touch. Then switch to a white color, create a new layer, name it “splatter light,” then use the same brush settings to add some more light to this splatter.

Step 11 – Shading Process Explanation

Before we move to creating splatter shadow, here are a couple things you need to understand:

If you want to put an object in 3D space and place it on the surface, you need to pay attention to where is your light source (or sources).
Remember that objects also drop shadows below themselves (refer to the image below, “the shadow between box and desk”). This is something many designers forget (or don’t know) about it.
This means that sometimes one object may have fewer shadows depending on light sources and where it’s placed.
Also keep in mind that the “darkened area” (refer to image below) of objects always remains darker than other parts.
And it’s the same for the “lightened area,” it’s lighter than other parts of the lightened object.

Step 12 – Creating Splatter: Shading Process

We have not specified the source of light in this work so we will skip the shadow caused by the source light. We will only take care for the shadow below the splatter (refer to pointer 2 in the previous step).

Step 13 – Splatter Shadow

Now there is only a slight difference between splatter with shadow and without it. But it’s OK for now. In Part II of this tutorial, we will make this surface more dirty and this will give a stronger shadow effect.

We’re almost done with it, but before we move further I want you to look at the third image below. Maybe you’re wondering why these spots have no shadow? The splatter looks like a 3D object, so if you had it in 3D program you could rotate it seeing how each side looks. Now, if you could look at the splatter from the right side, the shadow would be there. But from our point of view (front) it’s just not visible, so we don’t add it.

It’s kinda hard to explain, sometimes you just need to imagine how it would look like in reality.

Step 14 – Text Preparation

OK, once we’re done with the splatter, we can move further to creating text. But before you do this, let’s take a look at the first image below. As you see, not the whole splash was covered with lights and shading. The area indicated with the pink color looks unfinished. It’s OK, because I planned this illustration from the beginning to create a text in the middle. So the text should cover some imperfections of the back.

The second, third and fourth image below are a little show of how I basically planned to do the text. I made a small preparation as I didn’t exactly know how this should look. This isn’t something you must do, but sometimes it’s good to experiment. So now when this flat text occurred a lot of ideas came to my head. This pretty much helped me to see what I want to achieve.

Step 15 – Text in 3D Space

To put 3D text on a surface in 3D space you need to set the horizon line. Take a look at first image below. My base was the splatter I created. In our case the horizon line should be a little above the top edge of the splatter. You don’t have to draw these lines like I did in the first image below, just try to imagine where this line should be.

This isn’t necessary in some abstract pieces where for example: letters are flying in the air, as they can rotate.

Before we move on to creating the 3D text, you need to also understand the position of letters: take a look at the second image below. If the letters lay below the horizon line, then remember that you look at them from the top, and this is the way we will create our text.

Step 16 – Preparing Text in Xara

OK, finally some action. Open Xara3D 6. And as I said before keep the top of the letters visible. Xara is very easy to use, if you spend around 5 minutes you will get to know everything.

In the images below I indicated some more important options that were used here to generate this text. I recommend you play around with your own settings. But if you want to achieve something similar to mine, then the colors used here are:

Light 1: #FBDBFF
Light 2: #EF72D2
Light 3: #E35DB0

The rest of the color options stay untouched.

Step 17 – Saving Text

People sometimes forget about a few things in Xara3D 6:

Before you save your project, go to Shadow options and turn off Shadow (we don’t want to be bothered with Xara’s original shadow, which looks pretty bad).
Then to save the file to a Photoshop readable format, go to File > Export, select PNG format and save the image with the same settings, as shown in the second image below.

Step 18 – Adjusting Text

OK, we saved the text in PNG format so it’s transparent. Now open the text in Photoshop and drag it into our project. Then hit Command + T (Free Transform) and select Warp. Try to make this text less straight and more rounded like it was circling. It gives a better 3D feeling.

Next refer to the third image below: grab the Burn Tool (O), set the Range to Midtones, the Flow to 25% and paint a little on the bottom of each letter (later this will help achieve a better shadow effect).

After this, correct some tones of the text using Layer > Adjustments > Selective Color (forth and fifth images below). This is up to personal taste. Try to adjust mostly Reds, as this option will mostly affect your pink text.

Step 19 – Text Touch-Ups

OK, now take a look at the first image below. I have indicated some places that look pretty bad. This dark color doesn’t exactly fit our illustration. Beside, the red arrow indicates a spot that Xara kinda destroyed, this looks dirty. We’re going to touch up all these spots.

So first grab the Pen Tool (P) and draw a path on the worst looking spot of this text (it’s indicated by a red arrow). Turn this selection on (right-click > Make Selection). Then select the Clone Stamp Tool (S), refer to the third image below. Make your settings the same as mine (also set the Hardness to 0%). Then touch up this bad looking spot. And it’s good to do this on a new layer.

Step 20 – Text Touch-Ups: Brightening

OK, now let’s take care of the rest of the bad looking spots. Create a new layer above the text layer, you can name it “text correction” and change its Blending Mode to Overlay. Grab the Brush Tool (B), change the brush settings to Flow 10%, Hardness 0%, and give it a big diameter. Now pick #ffbdf3 for the color. Next hold Command-click on the text layer thumbnail to call the selection of this text. Then make a soft brushing on the spots that look too dark.

The main task is to pick a bright pink color (that matches the color of your text) and cover some imperfections using overlay blending mode. You can even go through some random spots of text faces, this will give a nice tonal variety to the text.

Step 21 – Creating Gloss

Now let’s take care of the gloss. I wrote everything on the images below, you should be able to easily follow them. The main thing about this is to create a soft gradient from the middle of these letters heading to the top. You can do this the way you’re comfortable with, although I think the way shown below is pretty cool and fast.

Step 22 – Creating Inner Reflection

Let’s move to creating some depth. These letters look OK for now, but it’s nothing special yet. We need to give them a more unique look. We’re going to create an illusion that the text is reflecting something from the environment. And the thing is no one cares wether the reflection is showing real objects or fake ones, as long as it looks good.

So Command-click on the text layer thumbnail to call the selection of this text. Then hit Command + Shift + C (Copy merged) and Command + V (Paste). Now we made the exact same duplicate of the whole text. Name this layer “Reflection 1,” make a few duplicates of this layer and name them in order “Reflection 1,” “Reflection 2,” and “Reflection 3.”

Now grab one of the reflection layers, hit Command + T (Free Transform), and rotate it as you see in the first image below. Then call the selection from the original text layer (second image below). Go to Select > Inverse and hit delete (remember to select the transformed reflection layer while you’re hitting delete). You should get something that looks similar to the second image below.

Then change the reflection layer Opacity to around 15-20% and set its Blending Mode to Overlay. You should get something similar to the third image below. Make sure the reflection stays only in the text faces, so if it goes somewhere to far use a soft eraser to make the touch ups (forth image below).

Repeat the reflection process around 2-3 times until you cover the whole text (carefully, don’t get to messy). Refer to the fifth image below, you should get something like this.

Step 23 – Gloss and Reflection Correction

Now we’ll make the gloss and reflection effect even stronger. Grab the Eraser Tool (E), set its Flow to 5% and Hardness to 0%, then make a small erasing around the gloss of each letter (where the white arrows indicate). Then switch to the Burn Tool (O), set the Range to Midtones and Exposure to around 20%, and add some depth to each letter (where the red arrows indicate).

Step 24 – Text Touch-Ups

Now let’s solve some lighting problems. Obviously the text is mostly lightened from the top-left (first image below). You can see that the top-left side of these letters is brighter than the right side. Of course there area few light sources on this text because the front is also bright, but let’s focus on the strongest light source.

Look at the second image below, it looks like we’re missing something. The rest of these letters have a nice light and shade, but the top of the letters “L” and “R” almost completely lack shading. It’s probably caused by the light from Xara. I guess it was too low to reach the top of these letters. But it’s no problem, we’re going to fix it, as it will look much better afterwards.

So call the selection of the text layer (third image below). Grab the Brush Tool with the same settings as previously (Hardness 0%, Flow around 5%), change the color to the some darker pink (#79185d). Create a new layer above all, name it “additional shade” and start painting by the right side of the top of these letters, refer to the third image below.

Next create new layer above, name it “additional light” and repeat the same process but this time from the left side of these letters (refer to 4th image below).

Note: Always remember to help yourself with a soft eraser if something doesn’t go right.

Step 25 – Text Touch-Ups

Go to the Layers Palette and create a new adjustment layer Gradient Map above all the layers. Select the gradient from Black to White, and you should have something similar to the first image below. Then change the Blending Mode of this layer to Soft Light, and lower the Opacity to 70% (second image below).

Finally call the selection of the text layer, go to Select > Inverse. Then go to the Layers Palette and select the Mask of the Gradient Map layer. Once you do this, grab the Paint Bucket Tool (G), change the color to black and fill the Mask (third image below).

And what did it do? Now we’re sure that this gradient map affects only this text, nothing outside it.

Step 26 – Text Touch-Ups

Now it’s a small detail, but I like to add this. Change you brush settings to Hardness 100%, Flow 100%, then grab the Pen Tool (P). Create a new layer above all, and make a curve or straight line on the top of each letter like you see below.

When you’re done, right-click and select Stroke Path. Make sure option Simulate Pressure is checked.

Step 27 – Creating Text Shadow

I guess the hardest part of all is always adding shadows. OK, first of all let’s make a standard shadow between the splash and letters.

Before you begin, remember that it’s good to treat shadows with the same color that the surface has but in different tone. So our splatter surface is a light blue color, then for the shadow choose a dark blue color (something like #092330). Now grab the Brush Tool (B), remember to have Hardness set to 0%, and the rest of the options you have got below.

Create a new layer below the text layer and name it “text shadow.” Start with a small diameter and add tiny shadow lines exactly below the letters. Make your diameter bigger to fill the empty spaces between the letters.

Note: Always help yourself with a soft eraser!

Step 28 – Final Adjustments

We’re heading to the end of Part I of this tutorial. I usually play around with some overall adjustments when I’m about to finish. So go to the Layers Palette, create a new Gradient Map adjustment layer, select the “Violet, Orange” preset and click OK. Then change this layer’s Blending Mode to Soft light and lower its Opacity to around 20% (this will give a little more warmness to this piece).

Next repeat this process but this time create a Gradient Map from dark blue (greeny black) #202930 to a lighter color (even turning into grey) #31505b. Set this layer’s Blending Mode to Soft Light and Opacity to around 80%. This will increase some color and contrast.

This text still looked too cold for me so I decided to create another Gradient Map using the same process. This time I used colors from #2e2111 to #e2be84 (third image below). These are some browny, yellowish colors to add some more warmness. And again change this layer’s Blending Mode to Soft Light and its Opacity to around 30%.

And finally you may add Curves adjustment layer if you like. This is not necessary, but I think the dark and contrasted tone gives a nice feeling. You can also play with the Red Channel in Curves to give the text color a more desired look.

Step 29 – Final Touch-Ups

After adding a few gradient maps I decided to move some light parts (indicated by white arrows). I also made a small shadow correction as it seemed too dark and dense.

Also as you can see in the second image below, I lowered the opacity of shadow between the text and splatter. It’s just because curves made it a little bit too dark.

Be ready for any corrections, after adjusting colors and contrast sometimes you may wanna change something. And it’s good to take a fresh look at your piece and work on some details if they don’t fit correctly.

Conclusion

So now you know how to create a cool splatter from scratch, add glossy colorful 3D text. Fill the whole image with great colors and place everything in 3D space. I think there are many useful effects and techniques you can use in your own projects.

And this way we have reached the end of Tutorial Part I. Although this piece needs some more detailed work all over it, as it is too empty. So in Tutorial Part II you will learn about some nice techniques for achieving glowing effects and creating a creative messy look. Check it out soon!

Thanks for reading the tutorial. You can view the final image of this two part series below or view a larger version here.

Similar Posts:

Create a Web Layout with 3D Elements using Photoshop

2009-09-30T10:47:48Z

In this web design tutorial, you will discover a way to create a sleek and professional web page layout that incorporates the 3D Ribbon design trend, as well as some other captivating 3D elements, using Photoshop.

Final Result

Here’s a preview of what we’re going to create. Click on the image below to see the full-resolution final product.

Creating the Photoshop document

1 Start off by creating a new document (Ctrl+N); enter the dimensions 1200 pixels by 1200 pixels.

Making the Background layer editable

2 By default, Photoshop locks the Background layer so that you cannot edit it. To make it editable, double-click on your Background layer within the Layers Panel (press F7 to toggle the Layers Panel if it is not visible). Alternatively, you can right-click on the Background layer and choose to “Layers from Background”. Once double clicked, you’ll be presented with a dialog box (as shown in the figure below). Enter a new name for your Background layer and press OK; doing this will enable us to edit our background layer.

Creating the background

3 Now that our background layer is editable, double-click on the layer’s thumbnail to add a Gradient Overlay layer style; use the following figure as a guide on the layer style’s settings.

4 Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) named “header background“. Choose the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) in the Tools Panel and then make a selection across the top half the canvas; the selection should be about 150px in height and span the entire width of the canvas.

5 Fill the selection (Alt+Backspace) with any color then add these layer styles.

6 Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) labeled “navigation background“. Repeat Steps 4 – 5, only this time the selection should be about 50px in height, still spanning the full width of our canvas; the selection should also be made directly underneath the last one.

7 Fill the selection (Alt+Backspace) with any color then add a couple of layer styles (a Color Overlay and a Stroke layer style).

You should now have something like this.

Creating the Header

8 Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) labeled “header“, get the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) from the Tools Panel and then make a fixed sized selection that is 850px wide and 150px in height.

9 Place the selection in the middle of the canvas, making sure that the bottom of the selection ends on the stroke which is applied to the “navigation background” layer.

10 Fill the selection (Alt+Backspace) with any color, and then add the following three layer styles.

Adding the Header title

11 Add your website title and slogan on to the left side of the header by utilizing the Horizontal Type Tool (T). The settings and color codes are listed in the figure below.

You should have something like this.

Creating the Navigation bar

12 Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) labeled “navigation“. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to make a fixed selection that’s 850px wide and 50px in height.

13 Make the selection directly underneath the header, then fill with any color.

14 Now, add these three layer styles to your “navigation” layer.

You should have something like this.

15 Use the Horizontal Type Tool (T) to add your navigation links onto your navigation bar.

Making the Navigation Hover button

16 Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) from the Tools Panel and set its Radius to 10px.

17 Draw out a small rectangle that’s about 80px x 50px.

18 Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to make a rectangle over the top half of the rectangle. Fill the rectangle the same color as the rounded rectangle.

19 Duplicate the shape by right clicking on the layer and choosing Duplicate Layer. Then rotate the duplicated layer 180 degrees using the Transform feature, Edit > Transform > Rotate 180^o. Finally, place the shapes next to each other making sure there level; use the Move Tool (V) to move the shape around.

20 Make a selection around half of the duplicated shape using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M). Once you’ve made a selection, hit the Del key to clear the area beneath the marquee selection.

21 Use the Move Tool (V) and your arrow keys to align the little shape next to the bigger shape, making sure they are not directly overlapping. Once moved into place, Ctrl + click your little shape layer’s thumbnail within the Layers Panel window to load a selection around it.

22 Switch to the bigger shape’s layer and hit the Del key to clear the area beneath it. Repeat the steps for the other side of the shape – and when you’re finished – you should have something like this.

Transforming the Hover button

23 Once you have your hover button you can delete the duplicated layer, and then rename the remaining layer “nav hover“. Now, add these couple of layer styles to it.

24 Drag the “nav hover” layer underneath your navigation text layer. Shift the “nav button” layer behind one of your navigation links and then change the link texts color to white (#FFFFFF).

25 Underneath your “nav hover” button layer, create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) called “nav hover extra“. On this layer, create a small ellipse using the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) and fill the ellipse with the color #A3002F.

26 Cut the ellipse in half by using the Rectangular Marquee Tool to make a selection of the bottom half, and deleting the bottom portion of it. Then move the half-ellipse under the rounded part of the nav button. If the ellipse hangs over the navigation, trim it some more. Once the ellipse is the correct size, duplicate its layer and place the duplicated one on the other side.

You should have something like this.

Creating the Content Area

27 Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) called “content area“. Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool, create a selection 850px in width, same as our other boxes, and as high as you need depending on the amount of content your going to have; you can make it bigger or smaller later, as needed. Fill the selection with any color and then add these three layer styles.

28 Drag the “content area” layer below the “navigation” layer and adjust the content area box using the Move Tool (V) so its looks like an indented line where the content area and navigation meet.

Making the Search box graphic

29 Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) called “search field” and create a rectangular marquee selection inside the navigation area on the right hand side using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M).

30 Fill the selection by choosing Edit > Fill (Shift+F5) with the color of white (#FFFFFF), and then add a Stroke layer style.

31 Inside the dummy search field, add some text inside using the Horizontal Type Tool (T).

32 Directly next to the dummy search field, create another selection using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M).

33 Fill the selection with any color then add a Gradient Overlay and Stroke layer style; use the following figures for guidance on their settings.

You should have something like this.

Creating the Featured Area

34 Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) called “featured area” and create a rounded rectangle area using the Rounded Rectangle Tool with a radius set at 10px.

35 Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to create a pointed arrow on the upper left side. Fill the arrow on the same layer with the same color as the rounded rectangle.

36 Now add a couple of layer styles (a Gradient Overlay and Stroke) to your featured area layer.

Filling in the Featured Area with content

37 Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) called “featured border” and using the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), create a rectangular shape inside the featured area.

38 Add a subtle gradient overlay to the featured border layer. Click the layer’s thumbnail whilst holding down the Ctrl key on the keyboard to load a selection around it, and then go to “Select > Modify > Contract”. Contract the selection by 10px, and then press OK.

39 Find an image/photo that you want to use (I used an image of some flowers), open it in Photoshop, and copy the image to your clipboard (Ctrl + C). Then with the contracted marquee selection that we made in the previous step still active, go to Edit > Paste Into (Shift+Ctrl+V). The image will then be paste inside the selection.

40 Finish off the featured area with some dummy text and titles.

Creating the content area’s 3D Ribbons

41 Use the same method as our navigation hover buttons to create the left par, only this time create the main overlapping part much longer and horizontally oriented instead of vertically oriented (jump back up to the Making the Navigation Hover button section of the tutorial to refresh your memory if needed).

42 At the end of the ribbon (right-hand side), create a triangular shape using the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and use the Del key to remove the unwanted area. Finally, add a Drop Shadow layer style to this layer (use your preferred settings) and some dummy text.

43 Duplicate the 3D ribbon layer and flip the duplicated layer by choosing Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontally. Use the Move Tool (V) to position it on the right; they will serve as the headings for the sidebar content.

44 Underneath each heading, add some dummy text and maybe an image or two.

Creating the Footer

45 Recreate the hover button again (alternatively, you can simply duplicate the layers of the hover button).

46 Replace the Gradient Overlay settings using the colors listed below.

47 Merge them into one layer and rotate it via Edit > Transform > Rotate 90^o CCW. Move the object on the left side of the layout.

48 Duplicate the shape again and flip it horizontally using Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontally. Move the shape across on to the other side of the layout.

49 Merge both shapes into one layer (Ctrl+E), zoom (Z) into any one of the shapes, and make a rectangular selection just like in the figure below, and choose Edit > Free Transform (Ctrl+T).

50 Select the middle anchor point and drag across to the other side of the canvas.

You should have something like this.

51 Finally, using the Horizontal Type Tool (T) add your footer information.

The end!

If you followed along the tutorial, you should end up with something like the following figure.

Download the Photoshop file

You can download the final Photoshop file (PSD) used in this tutorial to enhance your learning and to compare your own work with ours.

3d-ribbon-layout.zip (ZIP, 1.24MB)

Please share your results!

You can share your own results on Flickr by joining the Six Revisions group and uploading your final product. Whether you’re just a beginner or an advanced Photoshop user – we’d love to see what you’ve got!

Similar Posts:

Fonts Inspiration: Lukano Font

2009-08-15T21:38:27Z

Lukano now available exclusively through Hype For Type -
Buy Here – >http://www.hypefortype.com/?page=22&ID=54

Opening spread using a volumetric treatment of the Lukano font for the Pleix feature in Lifelounge Magazine – The Tiny Edition.

Opening spread using the Lukano font for the Jason Acuna interview in Lifelounge Magazine – The Tiny Edition

Opening left page using the Lukano font for the Friends With You feature in Lifelounge Magazine – The Tiny Edition

Source: http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Lukano-Font/144857

Similar Posts:

15+ High Quality Free WordPress Themes Released in June-July 2009

2009-08-04T11:57:20Z

Here is a small but a very great collection of 15+ Free Premium-Like WordPress Themes that I consider the best free themes released in the last two months. Hope you’ll enjoy this collection, I’m sure you will like some of them because I spend hours to find the best from different sites and blogs.

1. Mainam Clouds – Free Wordpress Theme| Theme Details | View Live

2. Paper Wal – Free Wordpress Themel | Theme Details | View Live

3. Mainstream – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

4. AzSands – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

5. KeKo – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

6. Phloggin – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

7. Rask – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

8. Marangal Black – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

9. Black Motion – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

10. Blue Station – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

11. MinaFlow – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

12. Dimaggio – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

13. Grunge Style – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

14. Pyrmont V2 – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

15. dfBlog – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

16. Girly Nature – Free Wordpress Theme | Theme Details | View Live

Similar Posts:

Apple Ads Creative Advertising

2009-08-04T10:38:01Z

Similar Posts:

Free emotion pack Icons: Mr. Zhong Emotions

2009-08-01T10:08:47Z

Mr. Zhong Emotions Do you know Mr. Zhong? He is a passionate guy with brainless life style. Want him go into your life? Just download our latest emotion pack and use it on your IM software for free!

This emotion pack contains 14 pngs files(7 with body and 7 without body).

Download the Icons

Similar Posts:

Free Icons: Decorative Seasonal RSS Icon Pack

2009-08-01T10:00:33Z

This Free Icon Pack is for use in your personal and commercial projects, and can be used without attribution. It may not be redistributed without permission from Tutorial9.

This Free Seasonal RSS Icon Pack was created exclusively for the viewers of Tutorial9 by Helloicon.

Each icon is in .png format sized at 256×256px with transparent backgrounds. Pretty much everyone’s using RSS now. Wouldn’t it be cool to use a different seasonal themed icon for each season? With these Seasonal RSS Icons, representing Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter it’s possible!

Download the Icons

Similar Posts: