BlogmyQuery – BMQ

In this tutorial, we’ll be creating an Autumn themed Calendar for this month of September. The style here is dark and grungy and the final result is appropriately titled the ‘The Fall.’ This being the season of falling leaves from trees. The techniques used to attain the final image are the application of Blend modes, the use of grunge brushes

Step 1

First off, open a new document Ctrl+N, and set its document size to 1280 x 768 px and the resolution to 140 dpi. The wood texture below was from www.mega-tex.nl. Drag wood texture into your working document window.

Step 2

Press Ctrl+U for the Hue/Saturation Dialog box and then reduce the Saturation to -42. This is to fade the wood’s colour a little. We don’t intend to make the colours of our composition too vibrant.

The result:

Step 3

Go to Filter> Render> Lighting Effects and set the Lightening parameters below:

The Lighting Effects result:

Step 4

Now to paint over the lightened wood texture with a grunge specific brush. Download a set of grunge brushes by ART-D. Select the ‘BB Grunge_9′ brush from the Brushes Palette and increase its size to 1166 px and the brush colour that is, the foreground colour to #1f1710.

Step 5

Create a new layer and paint just once over the wood image.

Step 6

Change the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light.

Step 7

Create a new Curves Adjustment Layer by clicking on the fourth icon from the left on the Layers Palette or go to Layers> New Adjustment Layer> Curves. Drag the midpoint of the straight line downwards to reduce the brightness of the image slightly.

We have now a dark wood surface that appears to be whittling away. Name this layer ‘grunge.’

This is the arrangement of the layers on the Layers Palette so far.

Step 8

Set the Foreground colour to #322c28 and from the Tools Panel, select the Rectangle Tool (U) and on its Options bar, select the ‘Fill Pixels’ icon.The square to be
drawn would be automatically filled with colour.

Step 9

Double-click on the ‘block’ layer for a Layer Style and select the Drop Shadow style. Set its parameters as shown below:

The Inner Shadow Layer Style adjustments:

Step 10

Create a new layer and with the Brush Tool (B) selected, right-click to choose a new grunge brush – ‘BB Grunge_7 ‘and ‘BB Grunge_9′ to be precised. Set the brush colour to #262321 and reduce its opacity to about 85%. Paint on the block not minding if you exceed its boundaries and then on the layer, right-click to select a ‘Clipping Mask’ to ‘fasten’ the brush painting to the block.

Step 11

Select a Soft Round brush and change its colour to #181412. Paint over the block as shown below:

Step 12

Head on to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to about 45.5 pixels. *Note:when the effect has been applied, there’s no need to erase around the edges of the block where the blur might have spread. Finally, set the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light.

Step 13

For a new layer, select the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) and draw a circle that just encompasses the lower right corner of the block. Use a White Soft Round brush with an opacity of 75% to paint within the circle. Press Ctrl+D to clear the selection.

Step 14

Apply a Gaussian Blur of a Radius of about 60%. This in effect, increases the light intensity at a point without affecting other areas of the image.

For this layer ‘light,’ reduce the blur’s opacity to 60%.

Step 15

We’ll now add text for the date by selecting the Type Horizontal Tool (T).With the Tool, drag to create a rectangular shape.

Step 16

On the Type Tool’s Options bar, choose the font type as ‘Agency FB‘; the style as ‘Bold‘; size to 24 pt and colour to black. Alternatively, these adjustments can be made on the Character Panel. Enable this if not visible already, by going to Menu bar and select Window> Character. Type in the numbers for the month of the September; hit Enter to go into the next row for another set of numbers and so on.

Step 17

For a new layer, type in the numbers “30, 31″ for the numbers of the previous date and “1, 2, 3″ for
the numbers of the next date (the text colour doesnt matter for now).

Step 18

To make the date correspond with the direction of light, we’ll add a Gradient to it. Double-click on the first date text layer and select a Gradient Overlay Layer Style. Edit the Gradient by changing the Color Stops to the colours show below:

Step 19

Reduce the Gradient’s Opacity to 85% and set its Angle to -72.

Step 20

Add a Drop Shadow style with the adjustments below:

Step 21

For the second date “30, 31, 1, 2 and 3″, add a Bevel and Emboss Layer style. Set its parameters as shown below:

Step 22

Still on the second date, add a Color Overlay Layer style and set its colour to #957f6fand reduce its Opacity to 85%.

The final result:

Step 23

Also type in the days of the week and on the Character Panel, set the font colour set to #181615.

Step 24

For the month and the year, type in “SEPT . 2010″ and the Character Panel set the font type to “Broken Ghost” (you can download it for free at dafont.com)and the font colour to #363535.

Below we have a font with uneven edges that tallies with grittiness of the whole composition.

The completed date for September:

Step 25

Select a Spatter brush for the brush and set its Opacity to 85% Erase a little the set of numbers last row and the last two numbers on the row before. The aim is to make the numbers appear scratched.

Autumn wouldnt be complete without leaves; these maple leaves were downloaded from www.sxc.hu.

Step 26

Drag any maple leaf you fancy into the main document window and use the Magic Wand Tool (W) to extract the leaf from its background. Just click anywhere outside the leaf and hit the Delete key to clear the selection and you’re done! You may have to use the Eraser Tool to clear any hint of white left on the leaf.

Step 27

Use the Move Tool (V) to position the leaf and with the Free transform Tool (Ctrl+T), you might have to scale the leaf down.

Step 28

For the ‘Maple leaf’ layer, add a Drop Shadow Layer style:

Step 29

Follow up with an Inner Shadow style making the adjustments below:

The result below:

Step 30

Select the Brush Tool as a grunge brush and paint just once over the leaf.

Step 31

Create a Clipping Mask for the layer by right-clicking it and selecting this option. Set the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light and reduce its opacity to 70%.

Step 32

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool, draw a circle and fill with a white colour and deselect or you could just use a Soft Round brush with the appropriate size and stamp a white brush mark over the leaf.

Step 33

Have the round white circle blurred with a Gaussian Blur and set the layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light. Also erase around the leaf to clear any paint outside it.

And this is our Calendar for September. Like I mentioned earlier, its titled “The Fall.”

By David Ella Ella

In our tutorial, we’ll be creating a shiny Pepsi can. For it to be convincingly realistic, a number of Layer Styles such as Gradients, Inner Shadows and Glows would be applied to a flat can shaped image.The resulting effect would be a 3D-like Pepsi can.

Step 1

We start off with a document size of 750 x 850 pixels, a resolution of 140 dpi and a white background. Head on to the Tools bar and pick the Pen Tool (P), then outline a shape of a can as shown below. You may want to enable Grids (pressing Ctrl+’), as guidelines as well. Also, an actual Pepsi can was used as reference for the most part of the tutorial.

The final outline:

Step 2

Right-click the can’s path and select Fill Path to add colour to the shape. I must add that, what the colour is, doesn’t matter at this point since we’ll be applying Layer Styles with a new set of colour.
The path has to be filled for Layer Styles to work or the layer would be indicated as empty.

Clear the path of the can shape with the Marquee Tool (M), by making a selection around the can and hitting Delete. Pressing Ctrl+D clears the selection. Duplicate this “can” layer for use later.

Step 3

Now, double-click on the “can” layer to bring up the Layer Style dialog box.
Select a Gradient Layer Style and edit its Gradient and Style (select Reflected) as shown below:

Step 4

Add an Inner Shadow Layer Style as well:

The final result for the “can” layer below:

Step 5

Select the “can copy” layer duplicated earlier on and below the Layers Palette, click on the third icon from the left for a Layer Mask. Select a Soft Round black brush with an opacity of 80% and paint away some of the mask of the ‘can’ duplicate.To get straight lines when painting, hold the shift key when painting downwards. Also reduce the opacity of the brush when fading/erasing the central section of the mask.

Step 6

To better blend the reflection we’re trying to create, go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to 4.0 pixels. And we get the result below:

Step 7

Create a new layer and name it “base.” We’ll now sketch out the base of the can with the Pen Tool as its been done below:

Step 8

From the options within the Pen Tool, select the add Anchor Point Tool and add more points to the outline and adjust them with your mouse or directional keys on the keyboard until the lines are
acceptably smooth.

Below is the final outline:

Step 9

Right-click within the outline (with the Pen or Anchor Point Tool still Selected), and select Fill Path for as ash colour to fill the base with. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool and make a selection over the base and hit Delete to clear the base’s outline. Press Ctrl+D to clear the selection.

We have the result below:

Step 10

In a new layer above the “base” layer, draw a rectangle with the Rectangle Tool (U) and fill with an ash colour – #e8eaeb.

Step 11

We’ll create a brushed metal effect here with this popular technique. Go to Filter> Noise> Add Noise and set the Amount 32.5%. Also have Monochromatic checked.

Step 12

Head on to Filter> Blur> Motion Blur and increase its Distance to 70 pixels.

Step 13

Hit Ctrl+T to enter the Free Transform mode. Right-click, select the Warp Tool and bend the just slightly the rectangle.

Step 14

Right-click the layer and select the ‘Create Clipping Mask’ to clip the layer to th “base” layer. Also hit Ctrl+E to merge the two layers as one. The layer should still maintain the name as “base.”

Step 15

Add a Bevel and Emboss Layer Style with the parameters below:

Step 16

Follow up with an Inner Shadow style:

Step 17

Still on the Inner Shadow Layer Style dialog box, select Contour and adjust the points of its Mapping as shown below:

Step 18

Add a Satin style and reduce its opacity to 18%, Distance to 15% and Size to 25%.

Step 19

Adjust the Satin’s Contour Mapping to something of a slope.

Now we have a realistic looking metallic base for the can. Though the
steps used to achieve this was a bit tricky execute.

Step 20

In a new layer, select a Rounded Rectangle Tool with its Radius set to 5px on the tool’s Options bar. Fill the shape with the colour #e8eaeb and clear its outline with the Marquee Tool.

Step 21

Follow Steps 11 and 12 for a brushed metal effect for the “rim” layer.

Step 22

Press Ctrl+T for the Free Transform tool – the Warp Tool to be precised. Bend the rim of our can just a little upwards from the points (handles).

Step 23

For a more polished metal look, burn and lighten the areas of the rim with the Burn and Dodge Tools (O) respectively.

The result produces a shiny metal appearance.

Step 24

We’ll also add an Inner Glow Layer Style to the rim as this gives the rim a softer edges without fading.

Step 25

I downloaded a Pepsi logo and positioned it at the middle of the can with the help of Guides. Just enable them by pressing Ctrl+R and with the Move Tool (M), hold and drag the margins (rulers)of the workspace to align the Guides that appear from them.

Step 26

Position the Pepsi Logo within the set Guides. That done, press Ctrl+; to clear the Guides and Ctrl+R to remove the rulers.

Step 27

The logo mustn’t be perfectly round and so the Warp Tool (Ctrl+T) would be used to narrow its sides just a little. The aim of this to make the logo appear as if its bent over the curves of the can.

The result:

Step 28

With the Burn Tool (Range set to highlights and Exposure at 25%), darken the sides of the logo.

The logo now blends with the darker shades of the can.

Step 29

For the “text” layer use the Horizontal Type Tool (T), to type out the letters below. But before then, on the Type Tool Options bar, change the font to Myriad Web Pro and the foreground color on the Tools bar to white.

Step 30

This font was chosen because, it came closest in replicating Pepsi’s. Anyway, hit the Ctrl+T to enter Free Transform mode and scale the text downwards only just slightly.

Step 31

With the Rectangle Tool (for a new layer), draw and fill a small vertical rectangles with white.

Step 32

Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to clip off a part of the “o” letter and clear the selection (Ctrl+D).

Step 33

Draw another small rectangle across the “o” for an “e”.

Step 34

Pressing Ctrl+T for the Free Transform Tool, more specifically, the Warp Tool, change the Warp type from Custom to Flag and its Bend to 30% at the Warp Tool’s Options bar. The “e” is given the signature shape of the original Pepsi logo.

Step 35

Right-click within the Warp and select Flip Horizontal to change the orientation of the Flag Warp to the way of how the original logo is.

Step 36

Before merging all these shapes with the text, the text must be rasterized by heading to Layer> Rasterize > Type. Then press Ctrl+E to merge the shapes the “text” layer. And With the Free Transform Tool, rotate and scale the text for a flatter look.

Step 37

Still within the Transform mode, have the text Skewed. That is, slanted forward on its axis.

Step 38

Select the Burn Tool, with an Exposure of 10% and darken the lower plane of the text.

Step 39

Type out the weight figures of the can in a new layer.

Step 40

Have the text slanted with the Skew Transform Tool.

Below is the final result:

Step 41

Create a new layer in between the “logo” and “rim” layers. Fill the layer with white using the Paint Bucket Tool (G) and then go to Filter> Pixelate> Mezzotint. Select the Type as Fine dots from the drop-down list.

Step 42

Add a Motion Blur with a Distance of about 230 pixels.

Step 43

From the Layers Palette, set the Blend Mode to Color Burn and reduce the layer’s opacity to about 45%. You’ll notice that the Blend effects does not show on the white areas of the image.

Step 44

Use the Warp Transform Tool to bend the ‘brushed’ effects so as to give the can a more rounded appearance.

The can now has a convincing brushed metal appearance.

Step 45

To make the brushed metal look not too distinctive, use the Eraser Tool (E) with a reduced opacity of  5% and carefully fade some portions of the brushed effects – do not erase completely.

The result:

Step 46

Now to create a couple shiny portions of the can at selected areas. Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool and on its Options bar, choose ‘Add to selection’ to create multiple selections (in this case, flat
circular shapes).

Step 47

Fill the selection with white using the Paint Bucket Tool and deselect the selection. Select the Smudge Tool at Strength of 50% and smear the white thinly across the can.

Step 48

Use the Eraser Tool to fade edges of the smudge.

Step 49

Create a new layer as the background layer and fill it with any colour; as the colour doesn’t matter for now. Add a Gradient Overlay Layer Style to the layer with the parameters below:

You’ll notice that the previous effects from Step 43 shows
through now and this is a good thing.

Step 50

Erase certain areas of the background layer with the Eraser Tool’s opacity set at 80%.

Step 51

Apply a Gaussian Blur to the layer with a Blur Radius of about 72.2 pixels.

Our Pepsi can now has an enhanced background. Something you’ll associate with an Ad for a product in a magazine.

Step 52

We’ll now fade the brushed metal effect at some points with the Eraser Tool.

Step 53

Create a “shadow1″ layer and select the Ellipse Tool to draw a flat circle. Fill it with black.

Step 54

Add a Gaussian Blur to the shape with a Radius of about 8.7 pixels.

Step 55

In another layer, draw another circle and fill with a black colour.

Step 56

Blur this circle a lot more than the previous one. This time with the Blur Radius set at 33.5 pixels.

This is the order of the layers so far in the Palette.

Step 57

Create a new layer at the top of the Layers Palette and name it “gloss.” Select a white Soft brush and paint the on both sides of the can – hold down the Shift key to constrain your brush stroke to a straight line.

Step 58

Set the “gloss” layer’s Blend mode to Soft Light and reduce its opacity to 76%.

Here another image with the “gloss” layer’s Blend mode changed to Overlay. I sort of like this blend for it give the Pepsi can a lot more radiance that corresponds with the intense light from the background. Well, we’ll stick with the above image – if you prefer.

Step 59

Finally, darken the both ends of the base of the Pepsi can with the Burn Tool for a more solid look. And we’re are through! Hope this kick-starts some fella’s career in the brand marketing field.

By David Ella Ella

In Photoshop its possible to easily create interactive photo albums or presentations; be it, Html tables to flash picture galleries for the web. A useful feature for creating online portfolios for personal websites or simple products showcase.

Step 1

First off, create a new folder for where all your images will be stored in and name it ‘Web Gallery.’ You could also use Adobe Bridge within Photoshop to source your images. But we’ll be sticking with the first method right now. Launch Photoshop and open a new document Ctrl+N.Go to File>Automate>Web Photo Gallery.

Step 2

In the Web Photo Gallery Dialog box, select the Gallery Styles as ‘Flash – Gallery 1.’ The thumbnail of every other Gallery appears on the right of the Dialog box.

Step 3

For your source files, under Source Images choose the folder you created earlier on when you click on Browse. Locate the folder, as in my case, the folder was stored in C://Documents and Settings>My Documents>Picture Gallery.

Step 4

For where the final output will be saved, click on Destination to locate your prefered folder or create a new folder by clicking on ‘Make New Folder’ and rename it as ‘Web Gallery’.

This is what the directories of where your folders are located would look like:

Step 5

Still within the Web Photo Gallery Dialog box, under Options choose General and the Extension as .html or .htm.

Step 6

Select Banner and type in the Site Name to whatever you want as your title. Fill in the other fields with information required.

Step 7

Choosing Large Images, you’ll be able able to set the size and picture quality of your images. The state of quality of your images determines their download time when they are live on your web server.Under Title Use you might want to check Title and Description or anything else. These options displays additional information on images when click on.

Step 8

For the Thumbnails (that would appear below the main images), set their Sizes to Large and resolution to100 pixels. Now click OK to generate the gallery.

Step 9

The web gallery launches automatically from your default web browser. If Internet Explorer is your default browser, you may encounter a problem.

Here, you’ll be confronted with a security warning restricting the use of Javascripts that the web gallery needs to run. Just click once on the security warning’s tab and on the pop-up that shows up, click on ‘Allow Blocked Content’ to get the flash web gallery running.

Below you have the flash gallery up and running. It also comes with a nice and smooth transition effect when navigating between images.

On the bottom right corner of the web browser window, are some simple controls . For instance, the button with the question mark when clicked on, reveals the metadata or information that you might have added or embedded in your image. Such information could include description, title and soon. These can be set under the Options: Security>Content: Custom Text. Here you’ll find basic text formatting options like font colour, size, type e.t.c.

You can also embed watermarks unto your images for copyright purposes by selecting Security under Options. (Note: the image below is not mine – its a free stock image from
www.sxc.hu. I’m using it for demonstration purposes alone for this post).

Other Customizations:

To add sound to your presentation or gallery, choose an mp3 file of choice and rename it ‘useraudio’ and have it copied. Head on to the directory where the Flash gallery style in use is (you may have to close Photoshop first). This should be inC://Program Files/Adobe/Photoshop CSx/Presets/Web Photo Gallery. Open the ‘Flash-Gallery 1′ folder and paste your mp3 file in there.

If you’re familiar with basic HTML coding, you further customize the outlook of gallery. Opening your ‘Web Gallery’ folder, select and right-click on the ‘Photos’ XML file and choose the Notepad or any text editing application you might have.

Everything editable in this open XML file. We are just going to edit the obvious – that is, the colour elements in the photo gallery.

For the gallery’s Background colour, change “#0F0F0F0″ TO “#FFFFFF” (white), the Banner’s colour to “#000000″ (black); here the gallery title, authors name,contact info and so on is turned to black. Save the file when you’re done.

The result below:

By David Ella Ella

This tutorial was inspired by a 3D rendered version of the Google Android logo that I came across. So, I decided to try out achieving relativity the same result with Photoshop – CS 2 to be precised. And the final image was outstanding to say the least. The interplay of light and shadows are key for a near-realistic result for a traditionally 2D program as Photoshop.

The Google Android logo:

Step 1

In the first step, we’ll create a new document with the size of 800 px by 600 px and a resolution of about 140 dpi. Then we select the Ellipse Tool (U) and draw a circle.

Step 2

Right-click within the circle and select Fill Path and choose the fill colour as #a4ca39.

Step 3

You may enable Grids for guidance if you choose by pressing Ctrl+’. Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and make a selection at about half of the circle and hit the Delete to remove the selected area. Press Ctrl+D to to clear the selection. Now create a new layer and select the Pen Tool (P) and create an arc below whats left of the circle. Adjust the Anchor Points with your mouse or direction key on the keyboard until you’ve obtained a smooth curve.

Step 4

Fill the arc with #a4ca39.

Step 5

With the Rectangular Marquee Tool, clear the pen outline and merge the arc with the circle by pressing Ctrl+E.

Name this layer ‘head.’

Step 6

Double-click on the head layer for a Layer style. Select an Inner Glow Layer style and set its parameters below:

Step 7

Follow up with a Bevel and Emboss Layer style and set the parameters below:

Step 8

Well now add a light shadow with the Inner Shadow Layer style:

The result below:

Step 9

In a new layer, select the Ellipse Tool and draw an Ellipse within the head. Fill with a the colour #e5f2b6.

Step 10

Press Ctrl+T to enter the Free Transform Mode and then choose the Warp Tool to spread out the ellipse a little more within the head. Press Enter when done.

Step 11

Add a Bevel and Emboss Layer style:

You get the result below:

Step 12

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to 4.8 pixels.

Now the droid’s head is looking more rounded with the light and dark areas.

Step 13

For a more shiny look, in a new layer, use the Pen Tool (P) draw something of an arc with the head as shown below:

Step 14

From other options within the Pen Tool from the Tools bar, select the Add Anchor Points Tool and of course add more anchor points adjusting and aligning them for smoother curves.

Step 15

Fill the curve with #.

Step 16

Head on to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to about 9.5 pixels.

Step 17

Draw another curve over the previous one and fill with white.

Step 18

Apply a Gaussian blur at a Radius of 2.7 pixels.

There we have it! A shiny and plasticy top.

Step 19

For a the little antennas of the droid, create new layers ‘antenna1′and ‘antenna2′ respectively. Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and set its Radius to 30 px. Then draw a thin rectangle and have it rotated diagonally with the the Free Transform Tool. Fill with colour: #a4ca39.

Step 20

Double-click the ‘antenna1′ layer to add an Inner Shadow Layer style to antenna. Just the Shading properties is adjusted here.

The result:

Step 21

Also add an Inner Shadow Layer style to the ‘antenna2′ layer with the adjustments below:

The result below:

Step 22

Go to the’ head’ layer and select the Burn Tool ‘O’ with its Highlights reduced to 25%in the Burn Tool Options bar. Create dark lines that would appear as reflections from the antennas.

Step 23

Once again, select the Ellipse Tool and draw two oblique circles for the eyes.

Step 25

Fill these circles with black.

Step 26

To make the eyes hollow, add a Bevel amd Emboss Layer style settings below:

The result:

Step 27

Enable the Grids once more and with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, draw a square for the body of the android.

Step 28

Press Ctrl+T for Free Transform Mode and right-click the selection to select the Warp Tool. Drag and bend the upper and lower lines for a cylinder like shape and the warp handles to adjust these curves as you see it fit. Hit Enter when you’re done.

Step 29

Fill with the colour #a4ca39.

Step 30

Add a Bevel and Emboss Layer style to the ‘body’ layer with the parameters below:

Step 31

For the Gradient Overlay style, set the colours of the stops for Gradient as shown below:

Step 32

Still with the Gradient Overlay, set its Angle to zero degrees and increase the Scale to 107%.

Step 33

Finally, add an Inner Shadow Layer style setting the parameters below:

Below, is the final result:

Step 34

With the Ellipse Tool, draw a flat circle behind the ‘head’ and ‘body’ layers and fill with black.

Step 35

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool and draw an arm for the android and fill with #a4ca39.

Step 36

Add to the ‘arm 1′ layer, a Bevel and Emboss Layer style:

Step 37

Follow up with an Inner Shadow Layer style:

Step 38

Select the Gradient Overlay style and set the Gradient colours as depicted below:

And we have below a nice rounded arm.

Step 39

Draw a second arm in a new layer which should be placed behind the ‘body’ layer. Also add as before, a Bevel and Emboss layer style.

Step 40

Make adjustments to the colours of the Gradient:

The result:

Step 41

To add more gloss to the arms in respect to lighting which is a primary element for an improved 3D look for our model. Sketch out a thin curve with the Pen Tool and fill with a white colour.

Step 42

Apply a Gaussian Blur with a Radius of about 2.0 pixels.

Step 43

Run over Step41 in a similar fashion for the second arm.

Step 44

For the legs of our model, use the Rounded Rectangle Tool set at32 px to create a short leg and then fill with #a4ca39.

Step 45

Apply an Inner Shadow style to the leg:

The result:

Step 46

Create another leg – obviously.

Step 47

Add for sure an Inner Shadow layer style:

Now both legs are complete.

Step 48

We need to create a shadow casted on the body of the droid by the first arm by using the Ellipse Tool as shown below:

Have the shape blurred with a Gaussian Blur at a Radius of 7.5 pixels.

The result:

Step 49

Over the head of the droid, paint a thin short strip of white and blur lightly.

Its alive!!! Probably not. Well, this is our 3D Android!

With an added background, the realism of the android is enhanced.

By David Ella Ella

We’ll be creating a gory image of a hand for a movie poster in this tutorial. I was inspired by a movie poster created by Swedish designer Marcell Bandicksson for the film titled, The Ruins. Here, we’ll employ the use of Layer masks and a combination textures
for a gravely image. Lighting and tone of the final picture would also important for an atmospheric effect.

Step 1

We’ll start by creating a new document with its dimensions set at 950 px by 1200 px and a resolution of 200 pixels/inch. Below is a saturated photo of a hand I shot myself (the amateur photographer that I am). You could also use your preferred picture of a hand as along as it has shadows casted on the palm and fingers.

Step 2

Select the Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) or any selection tool of your choice and make a selection around the hand and wrist. Right-click and choose Layer Via Copy to extract the selected hand from its background to a new layer.

Name the layer ‘hand.’

Step 3

Download this picture from www.sxc.hu by Cynthia and drag it into Photoshop.

Step 4

This is such as large picture and so we’ll need to have it cropped and resized as required. Select the Crop Tool (C) and have the part of the image cropped and then resize afterwards.

Step 5

With your selection  tool of choice, extract the main part of the tree – its trunk. That done, use the same tool to make a number of selections within the tree and hit Delete for each selection.We have the result below:

Step 6

Place the ‘tree’ layer under the ‘hand’ layer and go to Edit > Transform> Warp or hit Ctrl+T and select the Warp option. Dragging the corners inwards for the top mesh and outwards for the bottom mesh, endeavour to shape the tree trunk like a forearm. (I only made the hand transparent to show the tree trunk for the time being).

Step 7

Have the tree trunk duplicated (Ctrl+E) and placed under the ‘trunk’ layer. Also have some of the branches trimed off with a selection tool. Use the Warp Tool to extend it a little wide.

Step 8

For another layer, use the Pen Tool (P), to select a branch (or root as for this kind of tree; its confusing). We intend to create a network of branches both in front of the ‘hand’ layer and behind it.

Step 9

In Free Transform mode, use the Warp Tool to bend each individual branch you select and still within this mode, right-click to select the Rotate Tool to change the angles of each branch as desired.

Step 10

Select and extract some more branches and use some of the same ones and have them warped, resized (some to shorter lengths) and rotated until you have the image below. I however created three layers of root; ‘roots’, ‘root 1′ and ‘roots 2′.

Step 11

Select the Color Replacement Tool and make sure its set to a hard brush. Holding the ALT key, select a light part of the hand and go the ‘trunk’ layer and paint. Do so for other branch layers but leave some branches unpainted most especially the green covering of algae and scattered leaves.

Step 12

For the crucial part of this tutorial, we’ll now apply a Layer Mask to the hand by clicking on the the icon from the left. For the brush, select a Soft Round Brush with its color #ceececand paint to reveal the branches partially. Follow up with other shades of grey; with the black brush, reveal more of the center part of the hand and also the dark lines in between branches.

Work some more to reveal more of the branches.The wrinkles shown below shouldn’t be so vivid.When through, press Ctrl+E to merge the smaller strands of branches, the hand and the main trunk together.When done, press Ctrl+E to merge the ‘hand’ layer with the first ‘root’ layer.

Step 13

Download this texture Deadcalm (coincidently, a name that tallies with the theme of this tutorial) from graphicmania.net.

Step 14

Have the wood texture desaturated and rotated. Then place it over the hand and scale if necessary to cover up the hand.

Step 15

Click in between the wood texture layer and the ‘roots’ layer while holding down the Alt key to apply a Layer Clipping Mask.

Step 16

For the wood texture layer, set its Blend mode to Vivid Light and reduce its opacity to 65%. You may name this layer ‘dead wood.’

Step 17

Now to add another texture to make the composition grungier. I got this Stone texture from a cover disk of my 3d Arts magazine (2005) which was supplied by www.mega-tex.nl for free use. If you can lay your hands on a rougher stone texture the better.

Step 18

Place the ’stone’ layer over the ‘dead wood’ layer and apply a Layer Clipping Mask as done previously with the ‘dead wood’ layer. Set the layer’s Blend mode to Overlay and its opacity to about 50%.

Step 19

Now to make the composition a lot darker and gritty. Select the Burn Tool (O) and in its Options bar, set the Range to Highlights and Exposure to 45%. Now go on ahead to burn the edges of the hand and most part of
the branches/roots concentrating particularly at its base area.

Step 20

We’ll now lighten up the specific parts of the image with the Dodge Tool (O) as highlighted below:

The result:

Step 22

In our attempt to make the image horrific and detailed, we’ll use a set of Blood Splatter brushes from qbrushes.com.

I saw these brushes put to use in the Zombify your photos in less than 20 steps tutorial from psdfan.com

Step 23

These Blood Splatter brushes have large dimension and so endeavour to reduce their sizes when selected. For a new layer, use a selected range of these brushes as you see fit. Also have the brush color set to #120303 and reduce its opacity to 80%.

Step 24

Set the ’splatter’ layer’s Blend mode to Overlay and opacity to 75% as this would reveal some reddish brown undertone of the color.

Step 25

Use the Stone texture for the background and go to Image > Adjustment > Contrast/Brightness. Increase Brightness to +54 and Contrast to +5.

Step 26

Add a filter effect to the background texture which would be the Sprayed Strokes by going to Filter > Brush Strokes > Sprayed Strokes and set the parameters below:

Step 27

Go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and adjust the size and direction of the ellipse in the preview window.

The result below:

Step 28

We’ll now add a shadow to the underlying roots (not the top ‘roots’ layer). By double-clicking the ‘roots1′ layer, the Layer Style dialog box pops up. Select the Drop Shadow Style and set its parameters below:

We now have a subtle shadow casted that corresponds with the direction of light. You may also add a Drop Shadow Layer Style to the ‘roots 2′ layer.

Step 29

For the shadow of the hand itself, create a new layer and then select a black Soft Round Brush. Set the brush opacity to 90% and paint the rightmost side of the hand and sparingly around the last three fingers. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Blur Radius to about 8 px and add Noise (Filter > Distort > Noise) with its Amount set at 5.05.

Step 30

The image needs a little color adjustment and so we’ll be creating a new Adjustment Layer. By clicking on the Adjustment Layer icon below the Layers Palette, select Hue/Saturation and add the settings below:

Step 31

We’ve made the composition a little pale or bleeched if I may use the term and now the overall tone of the image needs to set with a Levels Adjustment Layer as depicted below:

And we have here a macabre dead hand (or is it?) image for your grimly delight if of course you’re a fan of such a genre.

For a complete movie poster, I added more details such as metaphors (the bleeding hand and blood splattered flower signifying love, life and death). I also included some text for the title and sub titles.

By David Ella Ella