Friday, October 26, 2012

Alien Invasion! A Photoshop Tutorial..


Alien Invasion!


So, I was looking at this photo of horrendous flooding and I though, Hey - let's make it even more horrendous!! SWEET!  

OK, here we go! Now is a great time to grab a few beers and set your Victoria's Secret catalog aside. Don't forget the page you were on as it may or may not come into play later. Most likely not. OK...download that low-quality image above and lets get to work!! 

To start off, I selected the top half of the sky and copy/pasted it onto a new layer. After that, I adjusted the Shadows/Highlights to darken up the mood a bit. After that, I used my buddy "google" (Seriously - TRY these guys. They're gonna be huge.) and did an image search for stormy clouds. I actually have a bunch of my own in a personal arsenal, but for the means of this tutorial, we'll use all fully accessible items. I then pasted the stormy clouds over the top of my scene, adjusted the values to a more purple tone and blended in the bottom half. 

End result went something like this:

Alien Invasion!
Next up, add more clouds! I went a little darker on the lower set of clouds. When all was set in place, I made a new layer (COLOR layer mode) and painted red everywhere I wanted it. 

A-Whabbap!

Alien Invasion!
And here comes the fun part! Using everyday items, we're going to create our spaceship in the clouds! Mine was actually made from the front of a corvette (top) and the bottom part was made from a canon camera lens! We'll call that the beam-emitter. Because damn, all aliens have huge beams. 

After the ship placement, I added some moody borders to the photo using multiply/overlay layers and brushed in a bit more red. 

 -(Meep.)

Alien Invasion!
Spaceship is in, now lets add a little light underneath the edge of it. Next, add a little dark shadowing around it with your linear burn layer mode. Use red. Also, I adjusted the shadow/highlights on the ship to give it a darker tone, and burned some of the ships edges for depth. 

Something like:

Alien Invasion!
Next up - A little mood lighting! I used a photo of the Capitol Building and completely darkened out any of the negative shading values (see below). I then overlayed the lights onto the ships base (using linear dodge), and added a little extra to the top where the top meets the clouds. 

Shooting for:

Alien Invasion!
Hey now! Let's add some BEAMS. take your brush tool and hold SHIFT to make a straight vertical line. Use a very light pink. Now, set the layer mode to linear dodge. You can see the outcome below. Lastly, copy the darkened clouds from the horizon line and add them around the entry point of the spaceship and the sky. This will give some MOOD. 

Yeah, mood:

Alien Invasion!
Same technique, but this time use a darker red and overlay it on the other, thinner beam. 

Larger beam, please:

Alien Invasion!
OK, it's time to get this thing rolling. We need a darker, more stormy atmosphere. This spaceship needs to be mean, so lets darken the sky, add some contrast to the clouds and darken the water by adding purple softlight and red overlay to the water base. 

Ahhhh, getting there:

Alien Invasion!
Darker! apply a multiply layer of the clouds over itself to give that sky some strength over the ship. burn underneath the ship as well so the cloud consistency carries through the horizon. Also, start applying more light rays from underneath the ship using the overlay layer mode. I used yellow to keep it fairly subtle. 

Ahhhh:

Alien Invasion!
OK you may have noticed in the last photo I started adding an "electric" look to the BEAM OF DEATH. This can be done through tiny lines treaks (done in orange or yellow) overlaying the thicker light coming from the base of the ship. I added some more lightning to the sides of the ship as well.... 

 -(Pobles.)

Alien Invasion!


A little more lightning, and some rings outside the ship. this was done using the brush tool and applying the layer mode as "linear dodge" over the other clouds. 

Womp!

Alien Invasion!
Add a little more light/shadow toning in the clouds. Next, again using linear dodge and a darker orange, overlay a large brush to the bottom of the beam to add some glow to the tree region. I added another thinner and stronger layer at the tree/beam meeting point to create an explosion effect. 

FYAH!!!

Alien Invasion!
Now let's bring in another cloud photo. Adjust the Variations on the clouds to bring in the red tone we want. Next, adjust the levels to emphasize the shadows (bring in the left triangle towards the center). Set the layer mode to Hard light. 

Like this:

Alien Invasion!
Almost done! Add a bit more ligtning to the sky and add more shadow burning to the water a edges of the photo. Shoot for this. 

Like this:

Alien Invasion!


Alien Invasion!
Ok that's it! Hope You had fun because i did :) K thanks and look at my YouTube Channel i'm just makeing some videos now thanks www.Youtube.com/TTGxBoeing 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Create a Futuristic, Grungy Metal Text Effect in Photoshop


A quick Photoshop tutorial on the making of a grunge-style TDK (The Dark Knight) wallpaper! Is anyone else here looking forward to this wicked film? :)
The Dark Knight Finished Photoshop Tutorial
(1680 x 1050 download)

Introduction

I’d like to point out that I was inspired to design this after seeing (and using) Louie Mantia’s The Dark Knight wallpaper, which you can find here. He also has tons of other amazing wallpapers that you can download in fullscreen or widescreen resolutions.
Obviously you know what we’ll be making in this tutorial, but you should know that you should at least have basic knowledge of Photoshop to follow completely through. We’ll be using a lot of the basics in Photoshop, including tools and layer-related stuff.

1. Making your Canvas

We need to start by making a new document in Photoshop. For this tutorial you should use the resolution that fits your screen – in my case 1680 x 1050! Bring some rulers onto your canvas in the center.
Select some appropriate colors then drag a radial gradient in the middle of your document.
Radial Gradient Screenshot
Colors used were #3d3b3c and #0e0d11.

2. Background Texture

Time to add a little detail to the background. Find and copy onto your canvas a nice, grungy texture. For this you can use paper, stone, abstract or whatever! A good place to start is CG Textures.
Start with a texture of some metal scratches. Copy it into your canvas, resize it then mess with the layer mode & opacity/fill. I tried Color Dodge with a fill of 30%.
Metal Scratches Texture Added
Get another texture, this time you can use something random. Again mess with the layer mode and opacity, use whatever comes out nice & to your liking.
Rusty Texture Added
(rusty metal texture added)

3. Bat Logo

Time to get a nice bat logo for our wallpaper. For this you might want to go to Google Images and search for a good-quality batman logo. Just remember, go for the new and much cooler batman logo, not the old corny one from the ’60s ;)
Since I’m no professional with the Pen Tool or Illustrator, I enlisted the help of my brother Simon in tracing the batman logo, and it came out perfectly:
Batman Logo Traced
If you want to download the batman logo used above, please feel free: Download Batman Logo PSD
Copy your bat logo onto the canvas and rasterize it (conver it to pixels). Now you may want to make a few duplicates of your original layer, just in case something goes wrong.

4. Metal Effect (Bat Logo)

Now we want to make our bat logo a bit more interesting. Do you have any ideas on how to do that? I personally had a great struggle with this part… but anyway, follow this and I’m sure we’ll come out with a decent metal effect ;)
Start by darkening up your logo a little bit (start with a base color of #878787). Now, head into the blending options for your bat layer and apply the following layer styles:
Remember: depending on what size document and logo you’re working with, you may need to tweak those settings. I now have a basic beveled effect:
Beveled Bat Logo (Layer Styles Added)
OK, not looking so great, yet!
Create a new layer (layer > new > layer) then merge this layer together with your logo layer, this will apply the layer styles to the pixels so we can start afresh. Find and get out the Burn Tool, set the settings to low (Midtones, 30%) and do a little bit of burning on the inside of the logo.
Light Burn Tool
Now, using the Dodge Tool with moderate settings (Highlights, 35%) do a little bit of dodge-work on the edges/corners of your logo.
Dodge Tool Corners
Get out the Burn Tool again, using the same settings as before, darken the middle area of your logo a little more.
Burn Tool Inside
Now it’s time for some more layer styles:
Again, depending on what sizes you’re working with here, you may need to alter the inner shadow/inner glow settings.
Layer Styles Applied
Not bad now! As done before, create a new layer then merge it with the layer applied with the layer styles. After this, darken up your logo a little more using the levels feature (ctrl+l).
Darkened using Levels
OK, we’re done for that part, but we want to add a little more metal to the logo (next step).

5. Metal Textures (Bat Logo)

Again, check out your texture resources and find some nice, rusty metal textures. To start with I used a ‘galvanized’ metal texture.
Copy your texture to the canvas, resize it then crop it to the bat logo pixels (using a layer mask).
Galvanized Metal Texture Cropped
Now, time to mess with some layer modes. For the first galvanized metal texture layer I used Color Dodge with 40% fill, then I duplicated this layer and changed the layer mode toOverlay and left the fill opacity intact.
Layer Mode Changes Made
Not really noticeable, hey? Anyway, to finish off I added one more texture on top, with a large rusty bit at the top:
Dirty Grunge Metal Texture
For this layer I used Linear Burn and 27% fill (please remember, all the textures used in this tutorial can be downloaded from CG Textures).
Rusty Metal Layer Mode Change
(click for larger version)

6. Finshing Effects for Bat Logo

OK, to finish off with the bat logo I think we should add a shadow and also one of those cool light rays in the background. For the shadow, simply apply an Outer Glow layer style to the main layer.
For the ‘cool light ray’ effect I was talking about, get one of your original bat logo layers (with one solid color) and apply Filter > Blur > Radial Blur with similar settings to these:
Radial Blur Filter Settings
Now we have a cool blur like this:
Radial Blur Effects
I think a good idea for a better effect would be to make the shape slightly bigger before apply radial blur, so it stands out on the sides a little bit more. Anyway, after you’re done with the radial blur, change the layer mode to Color Dodge and lower the fill if you think it necessary.
Layer Mode Changed
So, as you can see, on the left we have the final bat logo on top of the light ray in the background, and on the right is the final light ray with the layer mode changed.

Further Effects

As I write this I continue getting ideas to improve on the final product, but I can’t list them all! You should keep adding your own stuff to the outcome though, as you’ll always come across a better effect.
One idea is to create another light ray effect and place it on top of all the other layers, use a layer mode such as Overlay and erase away some of the inner area.
Additional Light Ray Effect
(additional light ray effect on the right, as explained above)

7. Additional Textures

If you want a much darker outcome, you should continue adding textures on top of the whole document (not just the shape or the background, but the whole thing) and continue playing with layer modes, fills, layer masks, etc.
Don’t forget the ole trusty but crusty brushes either!
The Dark Knight Finished Photoshop Tutorial

Thanks Guy's for putting up with the adfly but i need some way of makeing money so thanks and don't forget to look at my www.YouTube.com/TTGxBoeing for more help and Photoshop tutorials & Moding help!!  

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

HOW TO CREATE AN EPIC PORTAL SCENE IN PHOTOSHOP


Preview of Final Results

image

Create A Surreal Portal Scene with Powerful Lighting Effect



Step 1

Create a new document and fill it with any color you like. I use white color and the size of 1000×1000 px.
portal1[4]
Open background stock. Use Move Tool (V) to drag it into our document. I only use a part of this background that is near the sky but you’re free to choose the one for your liking.
portal1a[4]
Here is result after dragging:
portal1b[4]
Name this layer as “land” or whatever you want.

Step 2

There is a part of sky on the left edge I want to edit as I don’t think it looks very realistic. On land layer, I use Lasso Tool ( press L to active this tool) to make a selection on the right edge of background then right click this selection, choose feather as 0.5:
portal2[4]
portal2a[4]
Right click this selection, choose Layer via Copy and we have a copied part into a new layer. Move it to the left to hide the part which needs to be fixed then choose Edit-Transform-Flip Horizontal :
portal2b[4]
portal2c[4]
Click the button of Add layer mask at the bottom of Layer Pallete then use soft black brush to blend copied part with background:
portal2d[4]

Step 3

Press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N to make a new layer. To remove the birds on background, I use Clone Tool. Hit S to choose this tool with settings below and make sure that Sample All Layers is checked on property bar:
portal3[4]
Hold the Alt key to click on the source then spot over the birds. If you’re not familiar with this tool you may practice it with many good tutorials over the web. Here is my result:
portal3a[4]
portal3b[4]

Step 4

Open sky stock. You can use your own image but better choose a dark one with good contrast so it will save your time. Use Move Tool to drag it into our canvas to replace the sky of background. You can transform and resize it to fit the size of your picture ( press Cmd/Ctrl+T to distort it). Here is the part I’ve chosen after scaling. You can see that I place the bright part of this sky in the middle top to make the light shining from behind for the portal ( we’ll see in next steps).
portal4[4]
Add layer mask to clear the bottom of sky. Then name this layer as “sky”.
portal4a[4]

Step 5

I notice that there are some noise on sky part. To fix it, I duplicate sky layer ( press Cmd/Ctrl+J), go to Filter-Noise-Dust & Scratches:
portal5[4]
portal5a[4]
Then use soft black brush on layer mask to clear the any parts you don’t want to be blurred:
portal5b[4]

Step 6

Now we’ll use a cliff from a stock image to make the portal. Open cliff stock. You can use your own image if you can’t download this image from Photoxpress. Extract it with the method you like ( I use Polygonal Lasso Tool as it’s very easy in this case):
portal6[4]
Move it into our picture and place it in the center, remember to scale it as needed:
portal6a[4]
Duplicate this cliff and apply Flip Horizontal then move it to the right, position it as shown below:
portal6b[4]
Add layer mask for these cliff layers and use black brush with big hardness ( 70-80%) ( don’t use soft brush as it will leave very soft and unatural look for our picture) to clear some parts of bottom, the top, center. You can see how I applied this brush for each cliff layer ( now I name them as “portal part 1″ and “portal part 2″ – you can get them as portal doors):
portal6c[4]
portal6d[4]

Step 7

To make some depth for the portal , I make a new layer with Clipping Mask above each portal layer, set to Overlay and fill with 50% gray:
portal7[4]
Take Dodge and Burn Tool ( hit O) with Midtone Ranges and medium Exposure ( 50-55% – Dodge tool) and 20- 30% for Burn Tool to darken and brighten some parts of portal parts. I changed the mode to Normal to let you see how I applied these tools ( bright parts-Dodge Tool, dark parts-Burn Tool):
portal7a[4]
portal7b[4]
Overlay mode ( result of this step):
portal7c[4]

Step 8

In this step we’ll create shadow for portal parts. Make a new layer under “portal part 1″. Hold the Cmd/Ctrl key and click inside the thumbnail of “portal part 1″ layer to load its selection:
portal8[4]
Go to Edit-Fill and fill this selection with black:
portal8a[4]
Choose Edit-Transform-Flip Vertical then hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to transform this part:
portal8b[4]
Lower opacity to 30%:
portal8c[4]
To get the softer look for this shadow , choose Filter-Blur-Gassian Blur and set radius as 3 :
portal8d[4]
Add layer mask and use soft black brush with opacity and flow about 50% to blur shadow top and right:
portal8e[4]
With same technique we make shadow for another part of portal:

Step 9

To add more light for the portal as it’s shone from behind, I use Inner Shadow effect. Right click each portal layer, choose Blending options-Inner Shadow and fill with settings below:
portal9[4]
This is result we have:
portal9a[4]

Step 10

To fix some parts of the portal, I use Clone Tool again. Make a new layer on the top and use this tool to remove some unwanted parts as the screenshot below shows:
portal10[3]
portal10a[3]

Step 11

To change the light and contrast of picture, make a new layer and press G to active Gradient Tool. Choose Radiant Gradient with default color (black and white). Drag a line from center to bottom:
portal11[3]
portal11a[3]
portal11b[3]
Change the mode of this layer to Soft light 100%:
portal11c[3]

Step 12

To darken the land , make a new layer and I use soft brush with color #091425. Paint on the land and leave a small part around the portal. Put the mode as Multipy 100%:
portal12[3]
portal12a[3]
You can see the picture change the mood from day to night.

Step 13

Open light stock. I found a perfect stock image ( light of fire) for this tutorial purpose. Make selection around light part then copy it into our canvas, resize and transform it ( Cmd/Ctrl+T), position it onto the portal :
portal13[3]
portal13a[3]
Change the mode to Screen 100%. You can see most of dark part disappeared. I add layer mask to remove remained part and some parts of the light to make it look natural. You can vary brush size for different parts of it:
portal13b[3]
Duplicate this layer and apply Flip Horizontal for it. Use layer mask with same method to make these lights look like going out from the cleft between portal doors. Name these layers as “light 1″ and “light 2″:
portal13c[3]

Step 14

On light 1 layer, I make selection for a part of light and set feather =0.5. Copy this part into a new layer as we did in step 2. Move it above light layers. Place it on the top of portal. You can use Eraser Tool to clear any unecessary parts:
portal14[3]
portal14a[3]
portal8f[4]

Step 15

To make a more visible cleft between portal doors , make a new layer and use white brush to draw a line from the top to bottom of the cleft. Change the mode to Overlay 100%:
portal15[3]
portal15a[3]

Step 16

In this step we’ll add more light in front of portal. Make a new layer and use soft brush with color #ffd865 painting on this part and then set the mode to Overlay 70%. There is part I paint with brush 100% opacity ( in front of portal) and with 70% opacity ( around this part):
portal16[3]
portal16a[3]

Step 17

To make some light rays going out from the cleft, I use a new layer. Use brush with color #ffd865 to spot on the picture as shown below:
portal17[3]
Hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to stretch it longer:
portal17a[3]
Set the mode to Overlay 70% and you can use layer mask to clear any unwanted parts.
portal17b[3]
Duplicate this ray and move it to the right:
portal17c[3]
Duplicate and move to the center and increase opacity to 100%:
portal17d[3]

Step 18

Open man stock. Isolate the man, downsize and place him in front of portal:
portal18[3]
portal18a[3]
Name this layer as “man”.
Create a new layer under man layer. Use same techniques done in step 8 to make shadow on the land for the man. Call it “man shadow 1″:
portal18b[3]
To create cast shadow to make him really look like standing on the land, create a new layer between man and man shadow 1. Use soft black brush with very small size ( 3-5 px) to paint under man’s feet.
portal18c[3]

Step 19

To change color and light/darkness of the man to fit background I use some adjustment layers above man layer with Clipping Mask:
Go to Layer-New adjustment layer- Curves:
portal19[3]
portal19a[3]
Selective Color:
portal19b[3]
Hue/Saturation:
portal19c[3]
On Curves layer, use soft black brush to clear the unwanted effect on man arms:
portal19d[3]

Step 20

To darken the shirt as it’s too bright against the dark background I use a new layer with Clipping Mask and take brush with color #202229. Paint over the shirt and change the mode to Multipy 80%:
portal20[3]
To darken jeans I use brush with color #1b2030 painting on a new layer and set the mode to Multipy 100%:
portal20a[3]

Step 21

In order to make some glowing light for the man , first I use Inner Shadow effect. Right lick man layer, choose Blending options. I use a bright yellow for light effect (# fde6c6) :
portal21[3]
portal21a[3]

Step 22

To make this light more visible, I use three layers with Clipping Mask for the man. Take soft brush with very small size and color #ffd865 painting over man contour. You should do it gently and subtly and erase any unwanted effects. I change first layer to Color 100%, the rest as Normal 80% and Overlay 80%:
portal22[3]

Step 23

I use some adjustment layers which are set on the top ( non-Clipping Mask) to change color of picture.
Selective Color:
portal23[3]
Color Balance:
portal23a[3]
portal23b[3]

Step 24

To increase the darkness for sky, make a new layer on the top. Use soft brush with color #56707d painting on two edges of sky and put the mode as Multipy 100%:
portal24[3]
portal24a[3]

Step 25

In final step I use a Levels layer to increase contrast for whole picture, especially the light. Go to Layer-New adjustment layer-Levels, decrease the midtones but increase the shadows and highlights:
portal25[3]
Use soft brush on Levels layer mask to clear the contrast of sky and on the land:
portal25a[3]

Final Results

image
Thank You For Coming To Me For This Tutorial 
You can look at more help full Tutorial at www.YouTube.com/TTGxBoeing
You can also DownLoad This File Here  ------>  Portal.PSD Download