BlogmyQuery – BMQ

In this tutorial, we’ll be looking at how to transform a photo of a person into a work of art – in this case, a highly illustrated sketch art piece.

Vector shapes and textures will also be added to our composition as this will give our sketch artwork more depth and character. Below are examples of what you could achieve even with the simplest of art forms (pop art etc) to create interesting and beautiful effects from a picture. The final images could used as e-cards, profile pictures/avatars, wallpapers and so on.

Step 1

I start with a new document with a white background layer. The dimensions of  your documents are of course entirely your choice depending on the size of the picture you’re working with. I’ll be using this picture from istockphoto.

Step 2

Remove the background of the image by creating a Layer Mask clicking the third button from the left. Its located at the base of the Layers Palette. Then press Ctrl+D to make sure that the foreground colour is set to black and with a Soft Round brush (B), (have its hardness increased to about 45
to 60 per cent) paint away to remove the background.

When done, Press Shift+Ctrl+Uto desaturate the ‘Man’ layer.

Step 3

Duplicate the ‘Man’ layer by pressing Ctrl+J and head on over to Image>Adjustment>Invert or just press Ctrl+Ito invert the layer. Also, change the layer’s Blend mode to Color Dodge. The image in the ‘Man inverted’ layer would apparently disappear at this point.

Step 4

The image in the layer will be given more visibility when we have it blur a little. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to about 14.2 pixels and this as a matter of fact, all depends on the results that
suits your likings. The result you get eventually, is nicely rendered sketch effect.

Step 5

To further enhance the pencil-like effects of our simulated sketch, select the duplicate the ‘Man inverted’ layer and go to Filter>Sketch>Graphic Pen. Make the adjustments as shown below:

Step 6

Set the layer’s Blend mode to Lighten and reduce its Opacity to about 23%. Name the layer ‘Graphics’.

B.
Not to make the Graphic Pen effect to brash, go to Edit> Fade Graphic Pen or press Shift+Ctrl+F and reduce the opacity of the effect down to about 60% until you’re satisfied with the results.

Step 7

For a new layer, with a Hard brush selected, paint the eyes of the in the image. Use any colour of your fancy. Set the Blend mode of the ‘Eyes’ layer to Overlay.

Step 8

We’ll now create custom pen strokes to enhance our sketch. Please do use your creative license here to express yourself. Well, with the Pen Tool (P) selected, create Anchor Points over the edges of the head. To create curves, just click and drag in the direction you want the curves created. That done, we’ll now add a stroke to the path. But first, run these checks: make sure your brush’s opacity is appropriate, the brush size should be set to about 2px to 3px and the foreground colour is switched to your desired colour.

Step 9

Still with the Pen Tool, right-click the path and select Stroke Path.

Step 10

On the Stroke Path Dialog box, select Brush and check Simulate Pressure. This creates a nice fading effect to your brush strokes. Use the Marquee Tool (M), to clear the Pen path and then hit Ctrl+D to deselect.

Ive disable the ‘Man’ layers to show you the strokes Ive made with Four
colours, thickness and varying opacities.

The final results:

Step 11

Now, we’ll add vector elements to our image. Select the Rectangle Tool (U) and on its Options bar, set the shape type to “Paths.” Draw a flat rectangle.

Step 12

Select the ‘Add Anchor Point’ Pen Tool and then create points at points on the rectangle. 2. Select the Direct Select Tool (A), and use it to adjust the anchor points to form curves.

Step 13

Double-click the vector layer for a Layer style and set the parameters below:

Step 14

In a new layer, draw an ellipse with the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Paint on the base of the selection with a white Soft Round brush. Reduce the opacity of the layer to about 43%. Add some other shapes to the umbrella – handles etc.

Step 15

Duplicate the Umbrella shape layer and right-click this copy and select the Rasterize Layer option.

Step 16

The Paint Bucket (G), can be used to change the colour of the shape. Reduce the the opacities of the both ‘Umbrella’ layers to 63% and 49% respectively.

Step 17

With the Custom Shape Tool selected, pick the ‘Circle Frame’ shape.

Step 18

Create a couple of circles in separate layers and at reduced opacities.

Step 19

Draw a circle and add a Gradient Overlay Style to it with the settings
below:

Step 20

Reduce the opacity of the circle to43%.

Step 21

Download these great looking halftone brushes from Env1ro. 3D halftones they’re called.

Step 22

Set the foreground colour to #ccccccand add these dots to you image.

Step 23

Add some other vector shapes of your choice.
- Swirlsdownloaded from www.brusheezy.com
- Treesdownloaded from snap2objects.com

Step 24

Its also a good idea to add texture your image as this deepens the entire outlook the composition. This rock texture was downloaded from freetextures.org. Place the rock texture over all other layers and
desaturate it. Set texture layer’s Blend mode to Color Burn and reduce its opacity to 69%.

Step 25

Create a Layer Mask for the texture and clear any trace of the texture from the man image.

Step 26

More texturing. Download these set of Grunge Texture brushes
fromART-D. Apply the brush and add a Shadow Overlay style to the brush mark.

Step 27

Erase areas of brush mark via a Layer Mask and this time, use a Spatter brush instead.

And we have our final result!

You can even take your artwork a little further as Ive done below. Just
imagine the possibilities! I hope this post would be of use to you.

The post Surprise someone with a Photoshop Fine Art Portrait appeared first on Design Reviver.

In this tutorial, we’ll be using Photoshop CS3’s 3D rendering features to recreate something close to Neytiri, the lead female character of the Na’vi race. In the James Cameron movie – Avatar. Just to point out, Photoshop CS4 offers more a robust 3D features; one of which is to paint directly on 3D models or objects. CS3 ’somewhat’ doesn’t have these capabilities among other things. However, we’ll get around this in our tutorial using a technique that hinges on the manipulation of texture maps of the 3D model.

Scenes from the Avatar movie:

Step 1

I started off with the free 3D program – Daz Studio 3. Loading the popular Victoria 3 model (there’s also the Victoria 4 model which offers higher resolutions), from Studio>People>Victoria.

The face here will be the main focus on manipulation for an Avatar-like character.

Step 2

Selecting the face with the mouse, Go to the Pose/Animate Tab, and click on the Parameters tab for the settings of the ‘Morphs’. Below, are the adjustments made for a face of a Na’vi humanoid. Unfortunately, there were no Morphs available for the nose.

This is the closest we can come to recreating a Na’vi face. Yes the ears needs to be a little higher and the nose a lot flatter. Like I mentioned earlier, there were no Morphs for the nose. Of course, this tutorial is primarily on how to paint or manipulate 3D objects/models in CS3. Also, I chose not to include any props (items such as hair and ferns for clothing) to the model. This is because when exported, they are rendered badly in Photoshop as they appear shredded.

Step 3

Next, click on the PowerPose tab to adjust the posture of the model.This is something easy to do by just a click on the ‘points’ on the body and dragging in the direction desired.

Below, I effected just a simple walking pose; with the positioning of the figure done, the model is all set to be exported in u3d format.

Step 4

Now to export the model in u3d format. Go to File>Export and in the export dialog box, name your model and save it as an u3d file. Do not save the model as an obj file as it does not come which the texture maps needed. That done, accept the Export settings.

Step 5

Open the u3d file in Photoshop and it will be loaded automatically into the main document from size view. To rotate our model, double-click on its thumbnail in the Layers Palette to make it active in 3D Transform mode.

Step 6

That done, a set of 3D tools appears on the menu bar – Options bar to be precise. Select the Rotate Tool (R) to turn the model in a front facing position. Hit Enter to apply the transformation.

Step 7

For the skin of the Avatar, download any zebra pattern texture and load it into Photoshop. Enter into the Free Transform mode (Ctrl+T) and use its Skew and Distort Tools to mash the stripes of the pattern into an
adjacent angle as possible. Head to Filter>Liquify and in the Liquify window, use the Bloat Tool to create uneven surfaces on the pattern.

Step 8

After applying the Liquify Filter, select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and drag it vertically at the right side of the zebra pattern. With the selection made, press Delete to remove the little portion selected and then, press Ctrl+D to clear the selection. Below is a straight line on one end of the pattern.

Step 9

Duplicate this layer and use the Flip Horizontally option of the Free Transform Tool to position the pattern copy in the opposite direction to the original. Press Ctrl+E to merge the layers into one.

Step 10

Press Ctrl+I to invert the colours of the zebra pattern. This is to make more white stripes visible than the black ones. For we need the ‘whites’ for our skin. Also keep this window open or minimize for later use.

Step 11

Now for the more interesting and crucial part of this tutorial. Below the model’s thumbnail in the Layers Palette is a list of textures for various body parts. Double-click on ‘texture 1_0‘ to bring up the texture map for the main body. Duplicate the main texture, ‘background’ as we dont want to make a mistake on the original texture that would prove irreversible when changes are made. So working on a copy is a safe bet. Below is the texture map of the main body all splayed out in a rather ‘freaky’ manner.

Step 12

Press Ctrl+U for Hue/Saturation and set the Hue to180 for a bluish colour.

The result:

Step 13

After the changes are made, press Ctrl+S to save. Close the texture window and voila! The model in the main window is automatically updated.

Step 14

Double-click on ‘texture1_2‘ under Textures in the Layers Palette and add the same blue hue as with the body. Select the Burn Tool (O), with an exposure of 15%and darken lightly around the edges of the face. Also, use the Clone Stamp Tool (S) to copy lighter portions of face while holding the ALT key and releasing it. Make copies over the nose to make it look flat like a Na’vi’s.

Step 15

Select the brush Tool (B), and set the its opacity 75%. Change the foreground colour to pink and paint the nose and the ear areas.

Step 16

Go to the zebra pattern window and drag the pattern into the texture window. Set the Blend mode of the pattern layer to Soft Light and opacity 65%.
Save and close the window.

Step 17

Double-click on ‘texture1_8‘ to display the eye texture and then duplicate it. Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make a circular selection over the iris.

Step 18

Paint with a yellow brush within the selection.

Step 19

Change the layer’s Blend mode to Overlay.

The result of our image so far:

Step 20

For the luminous dots of the Na’vi, enable the face texture once again and with a Hard Round brush, make dots over the face in a new layer. Notice I added a swirl-like pattern as well -just trying to be creative here.You can play around with the face adding your desired styling. The lips as well was painted with pink. Double-click the layer and for a Layer Style and select an Outer Glow style and increase its Spread to 4 and Opacity to 85%.

The result shows the markings nicely adapted to the contours of the face but however, its rather dull in appearance.This will be fixed when the brightness of the image is increased eventually.

Step 21

Over the 3D layer, create a Levels Adjustment Layer by going to Layer>New Adjustment>Levels. Make the following adjustments with the sliders as shown below:

Now isnt she a beauty? There’s actually controls to change the lighting of the model in the 3D Transform mode but these do not offer parameters to adjust their intensities or orientations. This is why I stuck with the Levels command instead.

Step 22

The skin of the Na’vi is unacceptably to smooth and so it must be roughen up a little by creating a texture over it. Download this stone texture from freetextures.organd have it dragged into the already open ‘texture1_0‘ window.

Step 23

Erase the stone texture around the body parts; it doesnt have to be so accurate just as long as the stone texture doesnt exceeds the boundaries of the body texture.

Step 24

Set the stone texture’s Blend mode to Soft Light and its Opacity to 65%. Use the Eraser Tool with an opacity of about 15% to fade the texture at chest, mid sections, palms and backsides.

The result:

Step 25

Finally, going back to the ‘texture1_0,’ the part and under arms was darken slightly with the Burn Tool. Below is the final result:

This is a cross section of the Na’vi model at various positions. Pretty impressive backside – I mean, the nicely patterned stripes obviously.

The Na’vi model at side views:

A background, Gradients, shadows and dry ground texture were added to the mix for a scenic composition.

From my portfolio, is my completed ‘Nubian II‘ artwork using to a degree, similar techniques from the tutorial to paint on the 3D model below. Other elements in the picture were manipulated entirely in Photoshop. Hope the basics of this tutorial sparks off something of a career in 3D in the digital art sphere.

By David El’ Ella

In this tutorial, we’ll be creating a highly dramatic scene with a disintegrating statue of an Angel. The end result would be an intense composition of the Angel seemingly coming to life as Gradients, blends, and a set of unique brushes are used to enhance the image of the Angel statue.

Step 1

We start off with a document size of 1200 x 900, a resolution of 140 dpi and a black background. Open and drag into the new document, a statue of an Angel. This one below can be downloaded from www.sxc.hu

Step 2

To extract the Statue from its background, we’ll use the Magic Wand Tool(M) and click on the background sky. Hit Delete to clear each selection made. If you prefer, the Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) can be used instead.

These result below:

Step 3

Use the Clone Stamp Tool to copy certain areas of statue and have them pasted over the an extension of the left wing of the Angel. Hold the ALT key when selecting plain area, then release and click on the wing to remove it.

Step 4

Press Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate the Statue and go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and set the Contrast to 80.This in effect, defines a lot more the highlights and shadows.

Step 5

We’ll now select the cross using the the Pen Tool (P). When done, right-click within the Pen outline and choose Make Selection. Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected cross and then, create a new layer. Hit Ctrl+V to paste the copied the selection into the new layer and name it ‘cross.’ Hide this layer for now.

Step 6

Select the Smudge Tool and set its Strength to about 50% to 65%. Use increased strengths (about 60%)for extensive
smudge(s).

Step 7

This step I must say would take a little time and series of ‘undo’ to complete. You need to employ a good eye for details. For the Eraser Tool (E), select a Spatter brush and gnaw away carefully the smudges close to the edges of the statue itself. Try using different brush sizes as well – 14 px to 65 px.

Step 8

Next, go on further to modify the Spatter brush by bringing up the Brushes Palette (Go to Window>Brushes if not visible) and select Scattering Brush Preset. Set the Scatter to 475% to increase its randomness.

Step 9

Now, methodically erase away the edges of the smudges into something like shimmers. The final result should like the statue disintegrating from its edges as shown below:

Step 9

Create a new layer and select the Gradient Tool (G). Go to the Gradient’s Options bar and select a Reflected Gradient and click the gradient to bring up the Gradient Editor. On the Gradient Presets, select Spectrum; Type as Noise; increase Roughness to 90% and check in Options, Restrict Colors/Add Transparency.

Step 10

Drag the Gradient Tool from the centre of the Angel Statue. Press Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate the Gradient effect.

Step 11

Lighten the rays a little using the Levels command (Ctrl+L) and add a Gaussian Blur with a Radius of 0.7px.

Step 12

On the ‘rays’ layer, set the Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 13

Make a new layer above the ‘rays’ layer and select a large Soft Round Brush (#cfd8f6). Follow up with a smaller white brush and paint over the previous one.

Step 14

Set the layer’s Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 15

On the ‘rays’ layer, use the Eraser Tool at an opacity of 75% to erase round the rays.

Step 16

For the fun part (well, for me) download the set of Debris brushes from qbrushes.net. Paint in separate layers on the left, (Brushes – D11 and D14) and a right, (Brushes – D17 and D17). Erase or fade at your discretion excess debris paintings.

Step 17

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and on its Options bar, select ‘Add to Selection’ to make make multiple selections at points of the debris.

Step 18

Go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur and set the Amount to 5; the Method to Zoom; the Quality to Best.

Step 19

Create a new layer and paint more debris on both sides of the Statue and blur as in Step 18.

Step 20

Download the Odysee brushes by Axeraider from axeraider70.deviantart.com. With a Foreground colour #92a0ea, select the the Odysee brush (Samplebrush 8). When painting a second ‘ghostly wing’, preferably in a new layer, press Ctrl+T to transform it; selecting Flip Horizontal make it face the opposite direction.

Step 21

In a new layer below all other layers but above the background layer, create clouds for it by going to Filter>Render>Clouds. Set the layer’s Blend mode to Color Dodge.

Step 22

Erase the top and bottom areas of the clouds in a way that the remaining clouds appears as stretch of clouds. The eraser’s opacity should be set at 70%.

Step 23

Set the foreground colour to #c0d5dd and select the Custom Shape Tool (U) from the Tools bar. On the Tool’s Options bar, select ‘Fill Pixels’ and ‘Circle Thin Frame’ from the Shape drop-down menu. Draw the shape in a layer above the ‘clouds’ layer.

Step 24

Set the blend mode of the drawn shape to Vivid Light.

Step 25

In a new layer above the statute, use a white Soft Round brush to paint around the head of the statue.

Step 26

Set the layer’s Blend mode Soft Light.

Step 27

Enable the ‘cross’ layer we hid earlier. Double-click the layer for a Layer Style. Adjust the values of the Color Overlay, Inner Glow, Outer Glow styles as shown below:

The result:

Step 28

We’ll add smoke to the glowing cross using the Smoke Brushes fromfalln-stock.deviantart.com. I used a combination of two brushes and erased slightly the edges of the smoke.

Step 29

For the ’smoke’ layer, add a Gradient Overlay Layer style. Edit the Gradient’s Color Stops as shown below:

The resulting effects:

Step 30

Above the ’smoke’ layer, paint over the smoke where top end of the cross is, with a white brush. Set this layer’s opacity to Soft Light. This adds a highlight to the cross.

And there we have it! TheAngelos! In old Hebrew tradition, there’s the belief, though referred to as unauthentic, of an Angel called Uriel that means ‘fire of God.’ In John Milton’s epic poem, Uriel is being described as the ‘Regent of the Sun.’

Below is a variation of the same composition.

By David Ella Ella

In this tutorial, we’ll be creating a dark composition that would be chiefly enhanced by Adjustment Layers and for other effects in the image, the use of Smart Object/Filters we also be highlighted.

Step 1

We’ll start by creating a new document with the size of 800 px x 800 px and a resolution of 140 pixel/inch. The photo below is one I shot myself (it seems a little under exposed) but you can find lots of free pictures of the dawn with a floating stretch of clouds.

Step 2

Drag the picture into Photoshop and resize it (well, this of course depends on the image you’ve decided to use) to fit our working window.

Step 3

The Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), was used to select and delete the base of the picture.

Step 4

Duplicate the ’sky’ layer and go to Filter>Extract to extract the clouds from the background. In the Extract Filter window, select the Edge Highlighter brush(B) and make the outlines as shown below:

Step 5

Follow up with the use of the Fill Tool (G) and fill the inner areas of highlights.

The extracted clouds:

Step 6

This picture of the moon can be downloaded from www.sxc.hu.

Step 7

Use your selection tool of choice to extract the moon from the black background. In this case, the Magic Wand Tool (W), was used here. Also use a soft Eraser brush with an opacity of 50% to soften the sharp edges of the moon.

Step 8

Press Ctrl+L for the levels Dialog box and lighten up the moon by just
dragging the white slider on the right.

The result:

Step 9

In another layer over the moon, paint with a black Soft Round brush around areas mainly where the craters are. Change the layers Blend mode to overlay. Merge this layer with the moon.

Step 10

Increase the brightness of the clouds with the Levels command making the adjustments below. Also place the ‘clouds’ layer on top of the ‘moon’ layer.

The clouds highlighted:

Step 11

This picture of a beach can be downloaded from www.sxc.hu by Chemtec. Resize the picture to suit the size main document and also have it placed over the ’sky’ layer.

Step 12

Erase the blue skies from the beach.

Step 13

Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and make a selection around the rocks.*Note that the selection at the base of the rocks shouldnt be very straight. It should follow closely the alignment of the rocks.

Step 14

Right-click the selection and choose Layer Via Copy to copy the rocks to a new layer.

Step 15

Adjusting the hue of the rocks, press Ctrl+U for the Hue/Saturation Dialog box.

Step 16

Also darken the rocks just a bit with the Curves command (Ctrl+M). Then merge the ‘rocks’ layer with the ’sky’ layer pressing Ctrl+E.

Step 17

Merge the moon, clouds, sky layers into one. Duplicate the newly merged ’sky’ layer and press Ctrl+T to enter the Free Transform mode. Select Rotate 180 degrees and then, Flip Horizontal.

Step 18

Go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur to blur the intended reflection of the sky.

The result below:

Step 19

Use the Free Transform Tool to scale the ’sky copy’ and the Distort Tool to spread the image for a flatter look.

Converting the ’sky copy’ to a Smart Object, provides a non-destructive way to edit an image without really altering the image itself but yet, attaining the desired effects set out. In our case we’ll be using Filters – thus, Smart Filters. This will enable us adjust or rearrange the Filter effects.

Step 20

Convert the ’sky copy’ to a Smart Object right-clicking the layer and selecting this option. Now go to Filter>Distort>Ocean Ripple and set the Ripple Size to13 and its Magnitude to 14.

Step 21

Below the ’sky copy’ layer is a sub-layer with the Ocean Ripple effect. Double-click on the little arrows its right to bring up the Blending Options. Reduce the Opacity of the Filter to 30%.

If you’re not satisfied with the result, you can always go back to the Filter itself to make the necessary adjustments.

Step 22

We’ll now add another Smart Filter which is the Bas Relief Filter. Go to Filter>Sketch>Bas Relief and adjust its values as shown below:

Step 23

As is in Step21, bring up the Blending Options of the Bas Relief Filter and set its Opacity to15%.

The final result with the Smart Filters below:

The final result with the Smart Filters:

Step 24

Over all other layers, add both a Color Balance and Curves Adjustment Layers (click on the third icon from the left below the Layers Palette). These are the parameters below:

The result:

Step 25

In a new layer, use a black soft round brush to paint around the edges of the image and some portion of the clouds. Also use the Smudge Tool to smear the paint work.

Step 26

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to about 82 pixels.

The blur result below:

Step 27

We’ll now add light from what would be something of a distant star. Set the foreground colour to #deeff5
and select the Ellipse Tool (U) and draw a thin line.

Step 28

Draw a second flat ellipse with a colour: #609ae8.

Step 29

Blur both ellipses with a Gaussian Blur with the Radius of 0.4 and 12 pixels respectively. Use the Blur Tool to fade both ends of the first ellipse as well.

Step 30

Merge both layers of the ellipses (Ctrl+E) and use the Eraser Tool with an opacity of about 5% to fade the light ray only at it edges. Create a new layer and place a white Soft Round brush over the line and follow up with a slightly larger, but light bluish color. Also use the Free Transform Tool to narrow the glow.

Step 31

Merge the glow with the line and increase its brightness just a little with the Levels command (Ctrl+L). Name the layer ‘ray.’

Step 32

Duplicate the ‘ray’ layer, flip it with the Free Transform Tool and set the
layer’s Blend mode to Overlay and its Opacity to 75%.

Step 33

Above all other layers, create a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer with the parameters below:

This is our final image! A dreamy night scape.

By David Ella Ella

We’re are going to immortalize the iconic Bob Marley on a brick wall – graffiti style. Graffiti has come a long way to the point that its argued by some to be respectable works of art for it was and still is considered as rude and destructive in the public sphere. On count, it is highly expressive and does lend to images/text powerful forms representation.Same goes for this tutorial where we’ll be applying Layer masks and Blend modes to merge a grunge-like image of Bob Marley with a brick wall.

Step 1

Start with a Bob Marley picture of your choice. Open a new transparent
document with the document size set to 1280 x 1024 px and a resolution of 140 inch/pixel.

Step 2

Go to Image>Adjustment>Hue/Saturation and increase the Saturation value to 100.

The reason for increasing the Saturation to the maximum was to vividly bring out the shadings of the face. I also had the picture resized to reveal potions of the transparent background.

Step 3

Head on over to Image>Adjustment>Hue/Saturation yet again or
hit Ctrl+U for the Hue/Saturation dialog box. This time, reduce Saturation to -90.

If I had just opted to desaturated the picture completely to gray scale, the picture would’ve appeared to have a faint bluish tint.

Step 4

We’d now fade the details of the image. Clicking on Image>Adjustment>Brightness/Contrast set the parameters below:

Step 5

We’d now apply a rough tile effect by going to Filter>Texture>Mosaic Tiles from the menu. Set Tile Size to 27, Grout Width to 4 (which determines the size of the cracks) and Lighten Grout to 7.

The result:

Step 6

We’ll now apply the Brick Filter effect over the Mosaic Tiles which
would of course blend all nicely and hence, create a more convincing rough
brick wall composition. Go to Filter>Texture>Texturizer and click
the drop-down menu for the Brick texture and set the parameters below:

The result looks better than having any one of the texture filters left out.

Step 7

Download this brick texture from www.sxu.hu
but if you do find a wall with smaller bricks, the better. I was interested in this wall because of how uneven the bricks were. Drag the brick texture picture to the main document window and place it below the “Marley” layer.

Step 8

It was delibrate to have parts of the brick wall to show through when
the Marley image was resized earlier. Also resize the brick picture by
pressing Ctrl+T to enter the Free Transform mode. Holding down the
Shift key, drag the corners of the picture to scale it down while maintaining
its original aspect ratio. Hit the Enter key when done.

Step 9

Set the “Marley” layer’s Blend mode to Hard Light and reduce its opacity to about 45%.

Step 10

With the Foreground colour set to black by hitting the D key, select
the Brush Tool (B) as a Spatter Brush. Increase its diameter to about 153
px and on the brush’s Options bar reduce its opacity to 90%.

Step 11

Click from the left, the third icon at the base of the Layers Palette to create a Layer mask for the “Marley” layer. Now paint around the edges of Marley’s head and his face, particularly around the chin areas. Don’t completely reveal the bricks (except for the edges of the image) while painting away.

Step 12

Select the Gradient Tool (G) and set the colours of Color Stops as shown below:

Step 13

On the Gradient Tool’s Options bar, set the Gradient to Radial and then
drag the tool from the center to the left side.

Step 14

Set the Graidient layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light and its opacity to 75%. And we’re through! Jah Rastefari mon.

MORE VARIATIONS:

Here, I’m playing around with Blend modes and opacities to come up with a
couple variations. The one below is a favourite of mine; the Marley image is a lot more
defined but yet it blends quite nicely with the wall. The “Marley” layer Blend type here was set to Hard Light and its opacity reduced to about 60%.

Moving on further, a Brick Texture Filter effect was applied to the brick picture to get the result shown below:

Now finally, this is another variation with the Blend mode set to Vivid Light. The details of the face here are more faded and the orange-brownish colour of the bricks shows through.Whatever your choice of the Blend modes Ive highlighted, it all comes down to your personal preference.

By David Ella Ella