I’ve hand selected 30 of my favorite pieces of design that make use of smoke, as well as 5 useful tutorials to help you integrate smoke into your own designs.

Designs

Smoke Man

Smoke Close Up

Smoke Scream

The Smoke

The Punishment of an Angel

Smoke Horse

Smoke Soldier

Hello

Smoke Bird

Egress

Light of the Shadows

Smoke Study

The Oracle

ID 09

Reaper

Inspiration

No Smoking Under Water

Taschi

Torched Silk

Voodoo Skull

Disolviendose en el Tiempo

Senseless

Unattended Cigarette

Smokey View

Flare

Cries of Slaughtered

Smoked

Dead From Smoking

Aroma

Captivity

Tutorials

Create Smokey Typography in 12 Steps

Create a Fiery Face Explosion

Smoke Type in Photoshop in 10 Steps

Creating a Smoke Fading Effect

Creating a Stunning Digital Smoke Effect

This tutorial was written for PSDFAN by Simon Hubbert. You can check out his DeviantArt page for more examples of his work.

If you would like to submit your own article then please get in touch.

Final Image

As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:

If you want access to the downloadable .PSD file for this, and every other tutorial at PSDFAN, then join our members area for just $4.95 per month.

Images Used

The following images were used in the making of this tutorial:

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/85994
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1189018
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1063678
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/930455
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1139999

Step 1

Go to http://www.sxc.hu/photo/85994 and save the image to your computer. Now open up it up in Photoshop.

Go to Image and then Image Size and enter 1400 in the Width box.

Step 2

Duplicate the original layer and go to Image, Adjustments, Hue/Saturation and enter these settings.

Step 3

Go to http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1189018 and copy and paste this image into your document and name this layer fire. You’ll notice that it’s a tiny bit too big for your image so just re-size it so it fits your page.

Set the Layer Style for this layer to Screen. Now press Ctrl/Apple and T and then rotate and move the image so it looks like this. Make sure the start of the flame looks like it is coming out the mouth.

There are a couple of imperfections on the fire image so select the Eraser and use a small, soft edged brush to get rid of these areas.

Before:

After:

Step 4

Grab the Lasso Tool and select this area of the flames.

Now go to Edit, Transform, Warp. Warp the flames so they are in line with the nostrils. Now you can erase part of the flame so it looks like they are coming out the nose.

You might find when you warped it ‘drags’ away some of the flame from the rest of the picture so just select the clone stamp tool to get rid of any small black areas.

Again go to Edit, Transform, Warp and warp it so the flame looks like it’s rising slightly instead of going in a straight line.

Step 5

Now go to http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1063678, copy and paste that image into your document and name the layer Smoke. Again re-size it so it fits your page. Set the Layer Style for this layer to Screen and turn the smoke layer 90 degrees counter clockwise. Now move the smoke so the sharp edge on the right is slightly past the mouth.

With a soft edged brush erase out the smoke that is past the mouth so it looks like the smoke is coming out the mouth.

For the final part of this step go to Image, Adjustments and Desaturate the Smoke layer.

Step 6

Download this image http://www.sxc.hu/photo/930455 and name this layer Smoke 2.

Desaturate this layer and then place this image so the smoke trail starts at the mouth.

Change the layer style to Screen.

Step 7

Next copy and paste this image into your document http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1139999 and name it Spray. Again re-size it so it fits your page and set the Layer Style to Screen. Now we want to erase the big water droplet and the smaller one on the right.

Grab a large soft edged brush and erase those parts out. Put this image into the middle of the picture so the spray is coming out the mouth. I then used the Clone Stamp tool quickly with a large, soft edged brush to add a bit more spray.

This is how your image should be looking like so far.

Step 8

Add a new layer, name it Light and fill the image with the colour black. Go to Filter, Render and Lens Flare and use these settings.

Now erase most of this layer with a large, soft edged brush leaving only the brightest part of the flare.

Move the flare so it is in the mouth. This is what your image should look like.

Set the Layer Style to Colour Dodge.

Step 9

This step will add a little bit more ‘pazzaz’ to the fire and smoke.

Add another new layer, press D on your keyboard to reset your colour palette and then go to Filter, Render, Clouds. Now set the Layer Style for this layer to Overlay and grab a large, soft edged eraser and erase over the face.

Step 10

Again add a new layer on top of everything and select a large, soft edged brush and brush over this area of the face in the colour black.

Before:

After:

Step 11

On your background copy layer select the Lasso Tool and select this area of the face. This selection does not have to be neat and tidy!

Now copy and paste this selection (Ctrl/Apple + C to copy and then press Ctrl/Apple + V to paste) so you have a new layer with what you selected. Name this layer Heat Simmer and then go to Filter, Distort, Ripple and enter 150 in the dialog box. This will create a nice heat simmer effect.

And We’re Done!

That’s the tutorial finished! I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learnt something useful from this.

If you want to view the full sized final image, then click here:

FULL SIZED FINAL IMAGE.

Don’t forget! If you want access to the downloadable .PSD file for this, and every other tutorial at PSDFAN, then join our members area for just $4.95 per month.

The following 35 websites all use prominent illustrations to create beautiful end results!

Zologicka

Sketchen

Ekimmoravia

Kunisaki

A Crayons Life

Kukoo

Pampaneo

Creative Style

Made to Kill

ForkBomb Studios

Fernando Landi

Fimel

Fishing Cactus

Douglas Menezes

Plechi

Snopp

Mauricio Castillo

Wig Wag Walk

Owltastic

No Sleep For Sheep

Lionite

Leihu

Matcheck

Redunzindo Apanca

MplusZ

Lillies Friends

Giancarlo Fajardo

Amour Chaleur

Southern Media

Kirdan

Web Touch Up

Ef Interns

Barista App

Indresgeles

Pally Giraffe

You can view the textures below, and can download the full sized textures at the bottom of this page.

Download Them Free

You can download the full-sized textures totally free using the link below:

Free Rock Textures Set

License: Creative Commons Attribution

The Author

These textures were provided by Andre Oliveira, a talented photographer and artist. You can see more of his work at his DeviantArt Page or Behance Page.

As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:

If you want access to the downloadable .PSD file for this, and every other tutorial at PSDFAN, then join our members area for just $4.95 per month.

Images Used

The following images were used in the making of this tutorial:

Lion Statue
Steps
Curtain
Victorian Woman
Victorian Man
Victorian Gentleman
Light
Pillar
Hanging Curtain
Old Paper Texture

Step 1

Create a new document (1000X600px). Then paste in your photo of a theatre curtain.

Step 2

Now we want to make the curtain more intense, yet also more retro feeling.

STEP A:

First I go to levels and apply the settings shown below. By moving the left and middle sliders to the right, the shadows of the curtain are emphasized, which gives it overall more intensity.

STEP B:

Now I go to image>adjustments>hue/saturation and reduce the saturation and lightness. This is to try and achieve a more retro feel, through the use of washed out colored, creating a dusty, worn look.

STEP C:

Now to really create an old, dusty looking curtain, I go to image>adjustments>color balance and apply the settings shown below:

RESULT:

Step 3

Now create a new layer called ‘clouds’. Go to filter>render>clouds. This will render clouds over your entire canvas. However, we want the clouds to only be in the center of the stage, and to gradually fade out towards the edges of the piece.

To achieve this, we require a layer mask. Go to layer>add layer mask>reveal all. Now select your gradient tool, and choose a white (0% opacity) to black (100% opacity) radial gradient. Drag this gradient out from roughly the center of your canvas towards one of the edges. This will create a ball of cloud in the center of your canvas.

Finally, to make the clouds blend better with your curtain, change your ‘clouds’ layers blend mode to ’soft light’.

Step 4

Now cut out and paste in an image of a lion statue. I cut out this image using the lasso tool, but the pen tool works equally well. Position the lion statue in the bottom left area of your canvas, and then duplicate this layer, go to edit>transform>flip horizontal and position the flipped statue in the bottom right area of your canvas.

Step 5

Now merge down the top lion layer, so that both of your lions are on one merged layer.

I want to make the lions more intense. The colors and saturation appear OK, so I just go to image>adjustments>levels and alter the levels slightly, to add more shadow to the statues.

Step 6

Now paste in a pillar behind your left lion layer. Duplicate it, and move the duplicate to behind the right lion.

Step 7

Just like with your lion layers, merge your two pillar layers together.

Then apply the levels setting shown below to make your pillars more intense.

Step 8

Now I paste in an image of a tied back theatre curtain. I position it on a new layer, beneath my pillar and lion layers. You can see from the first image below that the photo does not extend far enough downwards to cover the area between the lion and pillar. To fix this, I use my rectangular marquee tool to select the area of curtain below the gold tie, and then go to edit>transform>scale and simply drag the bounding box downwards.

Finally, I go to filter>sharpen>sharpen (with my bottom area of curtain still selected). This is because transforming this area of curtain led to it becoming slightly blurred, and I wanted it looking as sharp as the upper area of curtain.

Step 9

Now merge your two tied curtains layers together. We want to blend these curtains with the rest of the piece, specifically the main backdrop curtain.

STEP A:

Start by going to image>adjustments>hue/saturation:

STEP B:

Then go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the settings shown below:

STEP C:

Go to image>adjustments>color balance and apply the following settings:

STEP D:

You should end up with a final result like this:

Step 10

If you look at our image so far, the tied back curtains are certainly an improvement on before, but sometimes initial blending just doesn’t cut it. To improve them further, I go back to hue/saturation settings and adjust them again:

Step 11

Now paste in an image of some steps behind your lions layer.

Then go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the settings shown below:

Step 12

Looking at the join between the lion statue’s bases and the steps, it’s a little too uniform. To make it more jagged and thus realistic, I select the lions layer, and use the lasso tool to select/delete a jagged edge.

Step 13

Create a new layer called ‘cloud front’. Go to filter>render>clouds. Then, just as you did with the clouds in front of your main curtain, apply a layer mask, and then fade out the edges of the clouds using a white-black radial gradient. Make a ball of cloud in front of the left lion statue. Create a new layer called ‘cloud front 2′ and repeat these steps, creating the clouds in front of the right statue.

Then change both layers blend modes to ‘hard light’. This should create a subtle, but visible mass of clouds in front of each statue.

Step 14

Now paste in three photos of Victorian characters. I cut them out using the lasso tool, but again, the pen tool is equally suitable.

Position the characters at the top of the stairs.

Step 15

Now apply some text to the center of your back curtain. I used the font ‘Dirty and Classic’ and the color B2826C. Then I changed my layer blend mode to ‘color burn’ and reduced the opacity to 60%.

I want to make the text less flat, and more fitting to the wavy shape of the curtain. To do this, I go to filter>distort>ripple and apply a ripple effect (amount: 60%).

Step 16

Now add some more text and a symbol to your curtain. Make sure to make them all the same color, and then change each layer blend mode to ‘color burn’ and apply the same ripple filter.

Now use a rough eraser brush to erase parts of your text, creating a more grungy appearance.

Step 17

Now paste in a photo of a light. Position it on the edge of the left lion statue. Then duplicate it, and move the duplicate down the edge of the statue. Go to edit>transform>scale and shrink the duplicate light very slightly. Repeat this to create a third, smaller light. This should give the illusion of perspective, as a line of lights line the statue, each appearing smaller as it gets further away from us.

Finally, merge these three layers, and duplicate the merged layer. Then go to edit>transform>flip horizontal and move the flipped row of lights to the opposite statue. Then merge this layer with the left row of lights layer.

Step 18

Now select your merged lights layer, and apply the levels and hue/saturation settings shown below:

Step 19

Now create a new layer called ‘light beams’. Create a selection using your lasso tool, that spans out from the far left light, in the rough shape of where light would be pointing. Be sure to expand your ‘light beams’ area as you get further away from the light source.

Then, with your selection in place, go to filter>render clouds.

Then go to filter>blur>gaussian blur, and apply a blur of 9.5 strength.

Step 20

Now change your ‘light beams’ layer’s blend mode to ‘linear dodge’ and reduce it’s opacity to 40%. Then use a large, soft eraser brush to eraser the very end of the light beam, so that it gently fades into the background curtain.

Step 21

Now duplicate your light beam and place it over each one of your lights (including the lights on the opposite side, by flipping it).

You may notice that where all of the light beams connect is overly bright, detracting from the rest of the image. To fix this, I simply erase this area using a large, soft, low opacity eraser brush.

Step 22

Clearly with so much lighting pointing towards our actors, they would cast a shadow on the back curtain. Fortunately we are going to construct one!

To do so, ensure that all 3 of your actors have been merged to be on the same layer. Then duplicate this layer, and move the duplicate beneath the original. Then go to blending options and apply a black color overlay.

Then go to edit>transform>distort and distort your shadow layer so that the shadows follow the path of your light beams.

Finally, go to filter>blur>gaussian blur and apply a 9.5 strength gaussian blur to your shadow layer.

Step 23

Now reduce your shadow layer’s opacity to 60%. Then duplicate it, flip it horizontal, and move the duplicate to fit the path of your other set of light beams.

Step 24

Now create a new top layer called ’shadows’. Select a medium sized, soft black paintbrush (5% opacity), and set it to ‘color burn’ mode.

Then proceed to brush over areas that you feel require more shadow. This step is very important in shaping your overall image. I can’t provide too many specific instructions, but simply pay attention to your light sources, and overall composition. In this piece most of the light is in the center of the piece, so try to add more shadows to the edges of the canvas. Similarly, shadows can further the depth of the piece, so try to add more intense shadows in the back drop.

You can see my brush strokes in the image below, as well as the result:

Step 25

Now, you guessed it, create a new top layer called ‘highlights’. Repeat the same steps as Step 24, but this time use a white paintbrush, and set your blend mode to ‘normal’. Also reduce your brush opacity to around 2-3%.

I’ve indicated my brush strokes by showing them against a black background. As you can see, they’re very subtle, and focus mainly on the pillar areas, making them stand out more in the foreground, and helping to round them more.

Step 26

Now paste in an old paper texture that covers your entire canvas. Change the layer’s blend mode to ‘multiply’ and reduce it’s opacity to 50%. This should give your piece an even older feel, and tie it all together nicely.

And We’re Done!

I really hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback!

If you want to view the full sized final image, then click here:

FULL SIZED FINAL IMAGE.

Don’t forget! If you want access to the downloadable .PSD file for this, and every other tutorial at PSDFAN, then join our members area for just $4.95 per month.

You can view the textures below, and can download the full sized textures at the bottom of this page.

Download Them Free

You can download the full-sized textures totally free using the link below:

Free Wood Textures Set

License: Creative Commons Attribution

The Author

These textures were provided by Andre Oliveira, a talented photographer and artist. You can see more of his work at his DeviantArt Page or Behance Page.

As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:

If you want access to the downloadable .PSD file for this, and every other tutorial at PSDFAN, then join our members area for just $4.95 per month.

Images Used

The following images were used in the making of this tutorial:

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/886020
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1145386
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1173255
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1114569

Step 1

Create a new document (600X700px).

Paste in a rough looking texture. I chose one of the ‘color fog’ textures available right here at PSDFAN. You can download the entire texture set here: Colored Fog Texture Set. Stretch your texture to fit your canvas perfectly, and then call this layer ‘background texture’.

Step 2

Now go to image>adjustments>hue/saturation. Reduce this layer’s saturation to -80.

Step 3

Now go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the settings shown below. Reduce the layer’s opacity to around 20%.

Step 4

Now paste in a photo of some clouds, and place them at the top of your canvas. Remove the original sky background using the pen tool (or magic wand tool if it’s a solid color). This leaves only the cloud. Then duplicate this layer, and go to edit>rotate>rotate 180 degrees. Move this rotated cloud to the bottom of your canvas. Then merge these two layers together, and call the merged layer ‘clouds’.

Step 5

Now change your ‘clouds’ layer’s blend mode to ‘hard light’. Then duplicate this hard light layer and merge the two layers together. Reduce the opacity of this merged layer to 85%. Then go to image>adjustments>desaturate to grayscale the layer.

Step 6

Now select a texture from our Concrete Textures Set and paste it onto a new top layer.

Then change this layer’s blend mode to ‘multiply’ and reduce it’s opacity to 20%. Go to image>adjustments>hue/saturation and reduce your saturation to -85. If you feel that it’s necessary, go to filter>sharpen>sharpen, just to really bring out the details of the texture.

Step 7

Now create a new layer called ‘color gradient overlay’. Drag a linear gradient down vertically across your canvas. You can see the gradient that I used below. Then change this layer’s blend mode to ’soft light’.

Step 8

Now create a new layer called ‘gradient fade’. Use your rectangular marquee selection tool to create a thin, rectangular selection. Then fill this selection with a white to transparent linear gradient (going across the narrow width of the selection). Then change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’. Go to edit>transform>rotate and rotate the gradient to fit nicely across the top clouds in your canvas.

Step 9

Now duplicate this layer twice, moving each duplicate to a different part of your canvas, and rotating it, to make the gradients positioning appear random. Finally, merge all of your ‘gradient fade’ layers together, and use a large, soft eraser brush at a low opacity to erase their harsh edges (letting the end of each shape fade naturally into the main background).

Step 10

Now paste in an image of a girl jumping. This image was quite time-consuming to cut out, but it’s worth spending the extra time to get a good cut out. You can use either the lasso tool or pen tool to cut out your woman.

Step 11

Go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the settings shown below:

Step 12

Now go to image>adjustments>color balance and apply the settings shown below. This should help your woman blend better with your background.

Step 13

Now go to image>adjustments>hue/saturation and reduce your woman’s saturation to -25.

Step 14

Now cut out a photo of a bird wing, and paste this over your woman, joining the wing to her back. I also rotated the wing to make the angle more realistic, and went to filter>sharpen>sharpen to bring out the detail of the wing, as the original photo was a little blurred.

Step 15

Now use your eraser brush, and smudge brush, to gently blend the wing into the woman’s back. Then reduce your wing layer’s opacity to 0%, and use your lasso tool to cut away parts of the wing that are overlapping the woman’s hair. Then, with your hair selection in place, bring the wing layer’s opacity back up to 100%, and hit delete. This will give the impression that the woman’s hair is in front of the wing.

Step 16

Now go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the settings shown below. This will make the wings more intense.

Step 17

Go to image>adjustments>color balance and apply the settings shown below:

Step 18

Now duplicate your wing layer, and move the duplicate below your ‘woman’ layer. Go to edit>transform>rotate and rotate it so that it appears to be behind/beneath your original wing. Then go to image>adjustments>brightness/contrast and reduce your brightness to -60, and your contrast to -40.

Step 19

Now select your original wing layer and go to blending options. Apply a subtle drop shadow (settings below), in order to help give your piece depth.

Step 20

Now paste in a photo of a feather. In this example, the feather has a plain black background. There is far too much detail in the feather to cut it out using the magic wand, or pen tools, so we must use the color range tool.

First hide all layers apart from your feather layer. Then go to select>color range. And choose ‘reds’ and your color range. This will select only the red parts of your layer (i.e.: your feather).

Now hit ‘OK’ and then copy/paste your selection onto a new layer called ‘feather’. I wanted to make my feather slightly more bold, so I duplicated this layer, and merged it down with the original.

Step 21

The feather is obviously the wrong color to match the rest of our piece, so I go to image>adjustments>hue/saturation and apply the settings below:

Step 22

Then I go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the settings below:

Step 23

To finish up, duplicate your feather layer MANY times, and resize/rotate each feather, to give the impression that feathers are falling from the wings. To create a cool perspective, make the feathers that are nearer to you much larger, and apply a gaussian blur effect. Apply a lesser blur to those feathers in the ‘mid range’ of perspective, and no blur to the smaller feathers that are nearest to the angels wings.

Don’t forget! If you want access to the downloadable .PSD file for this, and every other tutorial at PSDFAN, then join our members area for just $4.95 per month.

I’m a big fan of music, and of course also of art/design. Therefore well designed gig or band posters have always seemed a great source of inspiration for me. The following 25 band posters are all highly artistic, and demonstrate a great sense of design.

A well designed band poster should evoke the mood, the drive behind the band, and really represent the band’s sound. I hope that you find the following examples as inspiring as I did!

Iron & Wine

This Iron & Wine poster combines the totally different images of flowers and a lion to create a beautiful piece of vector artwork. The attention to detail is superb, such as the lion’s nose, mouth and eyebrows, which comprise the shape of a wine glass.

Flight of the Conchords

This poster takes on an almost arcade-game feel, in it’s bright portrayal of the comedy-folk duo. The poster accurately captures of the light-hearted feel represented by the band, and uses some truly creative typography.

AC Newman

This poster uses a very washed out color palette to evoke a sense of calm. A simple color overlay gives the impression of the street being underwater, and the simply lines give a very natural feel, almost like a piece of etching.

Rooney and the Minglers

This poster is very simplistic, yet has a great attention to detail. Despite it’s basic composition, the designer has used subtle textures and varying typography to give a professional, yet retro feel.

Weezer

This poster uses extremely bright colors and abstract typography to catch the viewers attention. White space is utilized well, as the pink backdrop really defines the blue textual area.

Xiexie

This poster uses simple illustration and negative space to evoke a beautiful night landscape. The jagged edges create a sense of unity and order, which is supported by the muted colorscheme.

The Project

This poster evokes a very stylized yet hand-drawn feel, through a combination of stenciled elements and textures.

Rubic

This poster uses awesome illustrations, combined with simple colors and subtle halftone effects to achieve a very professional end result. The abstract illustration fits perfectly with the imperfect typography.

Franz Ferdinand

This poster combines a fun, almost childlike illustration with very strong typography. The strengths of this poster lie in the details, such as the excellence combinations of colors, and use of subtle patterns.

Peephole

I love the sketched feeling that this poster has too it, as well as the surreal heads of the birds, which creates a stylized, retro feel. Awesome work on the part of the designer!

Lomita

This poster is full of contrast, which helps the highly grungy design. Combined with this is simple, but stylish typography, with a hand-written appearance to it. The viewers eye naturally follows the lines of vision created by the typography seemingly spraying out from the bunny, and the entire design is encased by the grungy, dark border.

The Space Race

This poster interprets the band name very literally, but also very well. The rocket illustration is combined with ironically soviet influenced typography, and the entire piece has a very clear direction to it.

Band of Horses

Band of Horses are one of my favorite all time bands, and it’s good to see this poster doing them justice. I love the detailed, retro feel of the bottom half of the poster, and the way that the upper typography exposes a background photo is really engaging.

TOY

This poster uses very plain colors and retro patterns/typography to create a very old-style poster. The end result is extremely linear and uniform, with a clear hierarchy of type sizes.

Radiohead

This poster uses very angular illustration to create a stylish end result. The type appears to be an extension of the main illustration, and the whole piece fits together very well, in part due to the extended hands drawing the viewers eye all over the poster.

White Denim

This poster is extremely grungy, with a textured background and faded illustration. The illustration and text is broken up with erratic lines and impactful textures.

Death Cab for Cutie

This poster is extremely simple, only providing the band name, venue and date, plus a simple, almost child-like illustration. The illustration is eye catching, yet the overall simplicity ultimately draws the viewer’s eye to the informative text at the posters bottom.

Cold War Kids

Some posters are far too busy. This isn’t one of them. This poster makes excellent use of white space, and really draws the viewer’s eye to the band name and illustration. Very well executed.

Foals

This is another poster that makes use of retro-style illustration. I also love how the waves at the top of the poster are created through the use of negative space.

Modest Mouse

This poster is one of the most abstract uses of typography that I’ve ever seen. At first it just appeared to be an artistically positioned set of shapes, but the band name appears to you like an optical illusion. Nothing else is needed but white space.

The Builders and the Butchers

This poster is really stylish. I love the simple, yet powerful illustrations, and the way that the black text seems to echo outwards in larger, more obscure type. The main typography appears to be like a fence that the birds are standing on.

Tapes ‘N Tapes

Another poster that interprets the band’s name literally. The montage of colorful tapes creates a fantastic frame for the central text.

The Dirty Sound

This poster combines bars of bold color with a faded, retro illustration. The varying sizes of the bars creates a sense of perspective, pushing the hot air balloon out towards the viewer. Simple but effective.

LOW

This poster uses symmetry to great effect, and carefully combines faded, retro illustrations with a subtle old-style textured background. Ultimately the eye is drawn down the montage of illustrations to the band name and details.

Embodiment

This poster is an example of simply awesome vector detailing. The swirling vector shapes show a great attention to detail, which really pays off as the overall feeling is one of sophistication and artistic-tendencies, whilst the skull brings out something more sinister.

You can view the textures below, and can download the full sized textures at the bottom of this page.

Download Them Free

You can download the full-sized textures totally free using the link below:

Free Crush Wall Textures Set

License: Creative Commons Attribution

The Author

These textures were provided by Andre Oliveira, a talented photographer and artist. You can see more of his work at his DeviantArt Page or Behance Page.

Here is the final image that we’ll be creating in this tutorial:

If you want access to the downloadable .PSD file for this, and every other tutorial at PSDFAN, then join our members area for just $4.95 per month.

Step 1

Open up a new document, and paste in an image of a sunset sky. Call this layer ’sky’.

Step 2

Go to filter>sharpen to give your image more definition.

Then go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the settings shown below. This will give your sky more impact.

Step 3

Now go to image>adjustments>hue/saturation and reduce your saturation to -40.

Step 4

Now duplicate your ’sky’ layer and call the duplicate ’sky light’. Go to filter>render>lighting effects. Then apply the settings shown below.

Then go to filter>sharpen>sharpen. Reduce this layer’s opacity to 40%.

Step 5

Now create a new layer called ’sky gradient overlay’. Create a gradient ranging from blue, to pink, to white, to blue, to purple (see below). Then drag this gradient across your canvas. Reduce this layer’s opacity to 50% and change the layer blend mode to ‘overlay’. This should give your sky line tints of color and make it look more interesting.

Step 6

Paste in an image of a grassy bank. We want to get rid of the sky from this image, and make the sunset sky image blend nicely with it. To do this won’t involve any difficult masking techniques, but simply a bit of erasing. As we’re going for quite a soft looking image, you can simply use a medium-sized, soft eraser brush to eraser away the sky in your grassy bank image.

Step 7

Go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the settings shown below:

Step 8

Now we want to blend our grassy area with our sky better. To do this we need to match our colors. Go to image>adjustments>color balance, and apply the settings shown below:

Step 9

Erasing the top of the grassy bank worked well to help blend it with the sunset sky image. However, the edge of this bank is now a little too soft, and lacks definition. It’s amazing how much little details can help to define areas of photo manipulation like this. To define the edge of my grassy bank a little more, I select the smudge tool, set to 95% strength. Then I zoom in, and smudge out individual blades of grass all along my grassy bank. Just by smudging out several blades of grass, my grassy bank becomes much more detailed and refined looking.

Step 10

Now create a new layer called ‘grass highlight’. I want to make the center of my grass bank lighter, to give the impression that the lightest part of the sky is illuminating it.

Use a medium-sized, soft white paintbrush to brush over this central area of grass. Then change the layer blend mode to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 20%.

Step 11

I want to play around with the color of my sky to make it blend better with my grassy area, so I select my original ’sky’ layer and go to image>adjustments>color balance and apply the settings below:

I also choose to reduce the opacity of my ’sky gradient overlay’ layer from 50% to 20%.

Step 12

Now I’m happy with my main background, I can start placing in my martial arts figures. My first figure has his feet in grass, and this seems perfect for merging into the grass in my main composition.

To do this, I select my figure using the lasso tool, and make sure to select around the grass covering his feet/ankles.

Step 13

To make your warrior more intense, go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the settings shown below:

Step 14

Select around the man’s feet using the lasso tool. Then go to image>adjustments>color balance, applying the settings shown below. This will only alter the color balance of the grass around the mans feet, not the entire man. This is to make the grass color more similar to the grassy mound surrounding it.

Step 15

To blend the man’s feet into the grassy mound more, select part of your grassy mound using the lasso tool. Then copy/paste this onto a new layer over your man’s foot. Then use a small, soft eraser brush to carefully blend the pasted grass into the main background. To improve the realism of this technique use a 1px smudge brush to smudge out individual grass blades over the man’s legs. Repeat this technique with both of his feet, covering them with pasted mounds of grass.

Step 16

Now I want to add a subtle highlight to the warriors leg, to fit with the illuminated center area of the grassy mound, and highlights from the sky. To do this, I create a new layer called ‘warrior 1 highlights’. Then I use a small, soft white paintbrush to paint over this inner part of the warrior’s leg. Then I change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’.

Finally, some of the highlighted white area is overlapping into the background. As I only want the highlight to cover his leg, I option+click on the original warrior layer in my layers palette. This selects the entire warrior. Then I go to select>inverse to invert my selection. Then I return to my highlight layer and hit delete, leaving a perfect highlight on the inner part of my warrior’s leg.

Step 17

Now select a photo of a second man, and cut it out using the lasso tool or pen tool. Then paste it into your main canvas, and go to edit>transform>scale/rotate and resize/rotate the man to suit your composition.

Step 18

The levels are looking good, but I want to enhance the colors of this second man. I go to image>adjustments>color balance and apply the settings shown below:

Step 19

I go to image>adjustments>levels and just alter the levels of this second man slightly.

Step 20

Paste in a sword, and position it over your second man’s hand.

Step 21

Zoom in, and then reduce the opacity of your sword layer to around 20%. Use your lasso tool to select the area of the sword that is overlapping the man’s fingers, and then delete it. Then select the man’s fingers, and go to edit>transform>distort. Distort the fingers to make them appear to be wrapping around the handle of the sword.

Step 22

Now I want to create shadows cast from my two warriors. To do this, duplicate each warrior, and then move the duplicate to the area where you want your shadow to be. Then go to edit>transform>flip vertical, and edit>transform>scale to create a flipped image of each warrior that is less high than the original. Finally, go to filter>blur>gaussian blur, and apply a gaussian blur of 3.0px strength.

I also used a small, soft, black burn brush to brush in a subtle shadow onto the sword, where the jumping warrior’s hand would cast a shadow.

And We’re Done

You can view the finished image below:

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