Create a Feathered Crow Illustration

Source : http://psd.tutsplus.com
Apr 13th in Illustration, Photo Effects by Constantin Potorac

In this tutorial, you'll be taken through the process of creating this crow illustration. The tools and resources you will be using are just a few so this will be great practice for you to achieve real nice results while using a limited number of resources. Let's get to it!

Final Image Preview

Before we get started, let's take a look at the image we'll be creating. Want access to the full Psd files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.

Preparation

I have used a few images from stock.xchng and also used some brushes and images from DeviantArt. Take a look at the images you will be using before you start: feathers1, feathers2, feather3, crow, texture1, texture2, brush1, brush2, you can also find a lot more feather brushes on DeviantArt. And let's not forget the most important feather feather4.

Step 1

First of all, open up a new document. I have made my document very big and also used 300dpi so I can print it later. Now import paper texture1.

Step 2

Next desaturate the texture and then double-click the layer to enter the Blending Options Panel. Here you need to set the Mode to Overlay, Opacity 80%, Gradient as White to Black and Scale it to 129%.

Step 3

Import the second texture and from that texture extract only the crack. Desaturate the layer, then using the Eraser Tool (E) erase the excess.

Step 4

Cut out the crow from the image and import it to your document. Next, examine your stock image and decide what will be changed and what you need to keep from this original image. For the moment, make the image look better by darkening it. To do so first duplicate the "crow" layer, desaturate it and then set the layer to Multiply and lower the Opacity down a bit.

Step 5

Duplicate the layer again. Set it to Multiply again and set it to 40% Opacity. Also, you need to add some more shadows and light to the image using the Burn and Dodge tools (O).

Step 6

For the moment we are done with the first step of editing the crow. Now, group all the layers with the crow. Next create another group on top of that because another series of edits will be applied here.

The crow is taking shape but we need to make it look better. Darken the crow some more by duplicating the last layer you created in Step 5. Now let's bring the blue eyes back. Do this by creating a mask on the "crow" layer you just duplicated and brush over with some black to reveal the eye color. You could also make a selection and use some color settings to make them pop out as well.

Step 7

Now that we have the crow almost ready we need to start adding some brushes around it. Create a new group below the crow. In this group make a layer for each brush group. You do this so you can move each group in different places if you notice something is off. Look at the images below for reference.

Step 8

In this step, continue to add feathers, but this time you need to extract the feathers from the images provided. Open the image you want to extract the feather from and go to Select > Color Range. Select the color you want with the Eye Picker Tool. Sometimes the result can be a total mess, but you must try and get the most of your feather. Inverse the selection, copy it, then duplicate it. As you can see in the image below, I have used this piece two times and covered a good chunk with them.

Step 9

Continue adding more feather brushes behind the crow and also over the crow this time.

Step 10

Continue and add more feathers around the crow till you cover all the empty parts. Also, add another crow but this one will be smaller and reversed.

Step 11

At this point you have finished with the brushes. Next, use the same extraction technique for the feather images and get each one out of its background. This is the most difficult part of this tutorial as extracting feathers can be difficult. Below is an example of the extraction process for one of the feather images:

1. Erase part of the image that has a close color to the feather.
2. Use the levels and make the feather whiter. Use Select > Color Range and copy the feather.
3. Transform the image to Black & White and inverse it (Command + I), then duplicate it and set the duplicate to Multiply.

Step 12

Now that I have extracted that feather I will use it on the crow's head and add some more brushes next to it.

Step 13

Next use the same stock feather image and create a punk hairstyle (punk feather style).

Step 14

Now we'll add more feathers falling from the crow. Again, extract these feathers out of the background using the same technique as before, then place each feather into place.

Conclusion

In the end, add a few shadows for some of these feathers just to add a little more depth to the illustration. You can also play a little with the colors and curves, then you're done! I Hope you liked the tutorial and had a great time working on this. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

Subscribe to the Psdtuts+ Rss Feed for the best Photoshop tuts and articles on the web.

Read more...

How to Create a Hellacious Flaming Skull in Photoshop

Source: http://psd.tutsplus.com
Apr 14th in Photo Effects by Designious

In this tutorial, we'll go through all the steps of creating a flaming skull in Photoshop. We'll be using some images we shot ourself of flames, and a stock Designious vector skull to get us started. This tutorial covers some relatively simple steps and some clever photo manipulation techniques. Let's get to it!

Final Image Preview

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

Step 1

For this tutorial, I used Photoshop CS3, a skull from Designious.com (you could choose to use a free skull though, such as Skull Vector Pack 1) and some hi-res flames images. The high-res image files are available to Psd Plus members in the download pack. Though non-members are certainly welcome to shoot your own flame photos or find some stock to use here, so you can follow along.

To get things started, create a new document 210mm by 290mm with a 100% black background.

Step 2

Copy (Command + C) and paste (Command + V) the vector from Illustrator to Photoshop as pixels.

Step 3

On a new layer create an ellipse filled with dark red (#4c0400) that surrounds the skull. Next, apply a Gaussian Blur of 250px (maximum value), and place that layer under the skull.

Step 4

Let's prepare the skull for the flames. Select the white color from the skull. (Select > Color Range) and fill it with an orange-yellow color(#f9ae31), except the teeth and mandible that will be filled with light red (#e82b19).

Step 5

Select the red area using Select > Color Range and then contract using Select > Contract > with 4 px, then and Delete.

Step 6

Select the yellow color. Next use a Brush with Toll on 250-300 px, Hardness of 0, Opacity at 10-15%, red for the color (d02207), and gradually color from the interior towards the exterior, until you get a skull with a bit of glow.

Step 7

Lets try to add some volume to the skull. Use the Eraser Tool with a diameter of 200px, Hardness of 0, and Opacity of 70%, and erase some of the red. Here we establish the lighter and darker parts of the skull so we can see some volume.

Step 8

Now double the Skull layer. Select the skull closest to the background and apply a Gaussian Blur of 8-10 px to create a glow.

Select the area under the nose including the teeth. Now grab a 80px Brush with a color of red (#d02207). Brush color on the right and left sides creating a soft gradient that ads depth to the lower part of the skull.

Step 9

Now that we have a hot skull on our screen, let's start the fire! Open the files with the flames and prepare each of them to be used on our image as follows:

A. Open the flames files.

B. Go to Select > Color Range, and select the darker area of the background. Next, Invert the selection (Command + Shift + I).

C. Go to Select > Modify > Feather, and set to about 20px. Then drag and drop them into our main skull document.

D. Set the blend modes to Screen or Lighten.

E. For the flames that will have other flames on top of them, we'll need to adjust the color Balance. You can do this by going to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance (Command + B).

Step 10

Use the Free Transform Tool (Command + T) to arrange each flame into the desired position and the desired proportions.

Step 11

Notice that the teeth area looks a bit darker than the rest of the skull so using the Brush Tool(B) and yellow (d02207) you lighten some parts of the teeth so they can blend better with the flames.

Step 12

Use the Smudge Tool (R) on the flames near the eyeballs to make them touch the skull so that you create a smooth transition from the skull to the flames.

Step 13

Use the Smudge Tool (R) to make the yellow parts of the skull blend with the base of the flames.

Step 14

Use the Smudge Tool again in the red areas from the shadow where you try to draw a contour going towards the dark areas.

Step 15

Use the Dodge Tool (O) to enhance the glowing effect on the edges of the skull.

Step 16

Use the Burn Tool to work on the shadow areas of the contour so you can smoothen the passes from light to dark.

Step 17

Now for the smoke. To create the smoke, use the same flame images and apply the same techniques you did in Steps 10 and 11 to them. The difference here though is that you'll need to desaturate these images to make them look like smoke. You can do this by going to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation > Desaturate (Command + U), then set it to -100 for Saturation, and -16 for Luminosity.

Step 18

Now lets apply a 2px Blur filter on the smoke so it blends better. Do this by going to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

Conclusion

Now the sparks! Using a Brush of 3px with 100% Hardness and 100% Opacity you start drawing the sparks. You can alter some of them using the Smudge Tool (R). And that puts the finishing touches on this image.

Subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed for the best Photoshop tuts and articles on the web.

Read more...