You’ll have to decide which are so overused they’ve become dull, those which still have life in them, and those that you can breath creativity into. This article is complete with a smorgasbord of resources and tutorials to show you how to pull these ideas off well and increase your stack of resources as well. Let’s have some fun!

A - Abstract Renders

Often artists make excellent 3D renders and use Photoshop to add a quick background and lens blur. It sounds easy to blend a 3D renders with a photo, but many artists don’t put that extra effort into it. 3D Shards, people, animals and correct lighting help make the piece more photo-realistic. Dynamic blur is a good technique to show a sense of speed or distance and is not used enough.

Resources:

• MrRoBiN Abstract render pack - Similar to what’s used in the piece below!
• Basic C4D tutorial - Abstract Renders in Maxon Cinema 4D (C4D)
• How to Integrate 3D Images into Dynamic Scenes - Psd Plus tutorial

Artist: MrRoBiN

B - Blender

"Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite" it is the most advanced 3D program which is currently free. Cinema 4D and 3D Max cost huge amounts of money, so this is perfect for those starting in 3D design.

It is becoming increasing more popular with the credit crunch in most countries. "It can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, com positing, and creating interactive 3D applications."

Resources:

• Download Blender
• Modeling a Human Head Part 1

Artist IceVampyr

C - Comic Strips

Comic strips can be drawn, made in 3D, painted and photo manipulated, so know wonder they are very popular on the internet. Some artists go for simple drawings with short funny punch lines, some go for books and make very high quality pieces.

It’s often the ideas that are overused, rather than the graphics! There are some great comics out there, such as the “Cyanide and Happiness” comics, which use simple art and short snazzy punch lines, but are great to keep reading.

Resources:

• More Cyanide and Happiness comics
• Garfield comics

Artist: Kris-wilson, for Cyanide and Happiness

D - Digital Geometry

Being able to create amazing 3D text quickly in Cinema 4D or any other 3D program has great advantages. They look much better than a simple bevel and emboss effect in Photoshop and often are the main focal in these works.

They are often completely overused by novice graphic designers, although practice does makes perfect. It is very hard to get an outstanding look from 3D text, but when it is done well, it sure pays off.

Resources:

• Fresh 3D text tutorial - on DigitalArts
• New way to create 3D text tutorial - on Computer Arts
• Flaming meteor text effect - an old but still great PSD tutorial

Artist: Nick Ainley of shinybinary.com

E - Expert Photography

When you can take a photograph of an object, which looks Photoshoped, you are clearly an expert or a very lucky photographer. Photography is an important step in creating most pieces of art, or at least finding photos to use for your digital manipulations. Taking your own picture may take longer, but they should be easier to edit and you can also take photos in front of a green screen allowing for easier extraction.

Resources:

• 23 Magical Photographs To Believe That Are Not Photoshopped

F - Fonts

Your computer often has a set of default fonts that many use, rather than downloading more each time they make something new. Times New Roman and Trajan Pro are often used. Check out great sites such as dafont for some amazing free fonts to add to your collection. Or if you need better tracking, alternate glyphs, or other pro font features, then you may want to purchase some fonts.

Resources:

• 1001 free fonts
• Lynotype.com

Check out justcreativedesign for their list of fonts you should know.

G - Gradients

Photoshop comes with a set of default gradients but it’s good to learn how to make your own. There are countless pieces which are colored by these default color, so consider opening up your gradient palette. Black and white, orange and purple and rainbow colors are some of the most common to break away from.

Resources:

• Free Gradients from myPhotoshopbrushes
• Working with gradient maps at Digtal Photography School

H - Honest Products

This is the photo manipulation of turning everyday products into the true reflection of what you are actually getting. "Sometimes, though, a company tries to create a brand that doesn’t really reflect what the product is really like." This is where Photoshop comes in and you can change the product to your true reflection of it. This is a concept you can have some fun with.

I - Impossible Objects

The Pen rose triangle, also known as the Pen rose tribar, is an impossible object. It appears to be a solid object, made of three straight beams of square cross-section, which meet pair wise, at right angles where the vertices of the triangle form. Have fun making your own impossible objects.

Resources:

• How to draw the impossible triangle

J - Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is the use of differing colors coming together to create different moods in a piece. An example of this would be blues and reds coming together, blue portraying ideas of life, peace and happiness which would juxtapose the red colors symbolizing death, blood and conflict, etc. These pieces can be found in space manipulations, as it is easy to split the colors into two.

Other examples:

• Speed space by Superiorgamer
• Gambit by Lotay
• Fiery Photoshop Space Explosion Tutorial here on Psdtuts

Artist: Matkracken

K - Kuler

Adobe Kuler is a well known program, it makes it possible to create, share and explore new color schemes. Kuler is not an overused graphics technique, it is more of a overused graphics tool. It is great for beginners to explore the world of color, as well as experts to try new ideas and keep their work fresh and original.

Resources:

• Download Kuler
• Explore color themes
• Using Adobe Kuler to Enhance Your Photoshop Color Workflow

L - Light Bulbs

What can we manipulate inside a light bulb today? How about a fish tank? There are a large amount of people seeing what they can place inside light bulbs. Fish, forests, spiders, people and cats have all been done. What is going to be next? This is fun to do, as light bulbs represent ideas, so placing things inside them work well for fusing conceptual elements.

Artist: mceric

M - Movement

On a digital camera you can turn the exposure time up, which allows for you to capture light streaks and movement. A good SLR camera will often cost you a good deal of money, so it’s more affordable and easier to stay inside Photoshop to add these effects.

Resources:

• How to create intense light streaks in Photoshop
• How to Create an Interplay of Abstract Light Streaks - Unique Psdtuts+ light streaks tutorial

Painting with light by stoiclee

N - Nebulas

Where you find a planet you almost always find a nebula. They are often placed in via brushes, but more talented artists can paint their own. The easiest and most realistic way to add a nebula is to get free images. The Hubble telescope web site takes many thousands of pictures of galaxies and is the highest quality source you will find, though be careful and make sure you read the terms of use first!

Resources

• Nebula Brushes - For the easy way out use these great brushes.
• Nebula stock images- Collection of stock images, you have to pay but they are sure worth it.

Artist: thalesduarte

O - Omega Code

The band Omega Code will release a limited number of 2300 posters, which are going to be printed and distributed around the globe along side their music.

23 artists were invited to illustrate, among them you can find names like Joshua Davis, Si Scott, Mike Cina, Michael Paul Young, Mate Steinforth, Matthew Curry, Nelson Balaban, Tom Muller, Motomichi Nakamura, Danny Franzreb, Robert Lindström, Andreas Pihlström, Chris Hewitt, Hello& Hikimori, Sebastian Onufszak, Animatório, Colletivo, Nacionale, Unstru, Tomás Peña, João Oliveira, Peter Jaworowski, Umeric and Doomedo.

The Omega Code symbol is the four overlapping triangles and one of the most popular graphics icons this year. Check out the bands web site. Check out other uses of the triangles here.

Artist: R0GUEART

P - Planets

Blending planets into a photo manipulations is hard work. Many artists make the photos and planet look like two separate layers. The most common solution to blending planets in is to add a thick layer of clouds or to place an amazing fractal on top.

Resources:

• Lunarcell - An amazing plug-in allowing "fractal, reality-based, or just strange worlds in seconds."
• Planet Renders - Don’t have time to make your own? These high quality brushes are perfect.
• Create Spectacular Concept Art in Photoshop - tutorial on this subject on Psdtuts+

Artist kire1987

Q - Quietus

Quietus is another term for death. Death is often placed inside photo manipulations in the form of skulls. They appear most commonly in a vector format, but you can manipulate peoples faces with skull photos. As well as looking cool, skulls are also a great way to scare a viewer. Adding skulls at the bottom of a dark pit suggests that someone or something is murdering people - always fun!

Resources:

• Vector skulls
• Skull stock photos
• How to Create a Hellacious Flaming Skull in Photoshop - a flaming Skull tutorial on Psdtuts+

Artist: iRoot made this spooky wallpaper

R - Reflection

Often if an artist has a space to fill, adding a completely pointless text reflection is perfect - right! Often a simple flip and reducing opacity occurs, but this is totally incorrect. In ordered to do a proper text reflection you have to take the lighting and the surface into consideration, you have to get the correct perspective. It does take some practice to make a good reflection.

Resources:

• Basic text reflection tutorial

Create a Layered Glowing Text Effect on Psdtuts+

S - Splatters

A splatter brush can save almost any artist in Photoshop. If you have ran out of ideas, grab the splatter brush, and you get a instant background! They are also very good to use as clipping masks.

Resources:

• 500+ splatter brushes
• Splatter vectors

Examples of use:

• Splattergraphics.com
• Merged with photos
• As a background

Or as a T-shirt like above, made by me.

T - Trees

Trees seem to appear in loads of photo manipulations today. They are a good way of showing nature, as well as beauty within a piece. Often the tree flows out of an object or wraps around an object.

Resources:

• Tree vectors
• Free stock images

"The music nature" is a striking piece by Ethernity

U - Understanding Physics

Understanding physics is one of the hardest things to do in graphics design, often when photo manipulating you are looking to make something impossible or out of this world. When you need to manipulate a picture on earth, getting the physics correct is important. For example, making reflections in puddles, speed of cars, lighting, gravity (not having objects floating), airbrushing and clouds all correct in one piece is hard work.

Resources:

• Photoshop Disasters
• 12 worst Photoshop mistakes

V - Vectors

"Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based on mathematical equations, to represent images in computer graphics." Vectors are very common but take a lot of time and practice, when starting out don’t choose the most detailed object you can find!

As we can see we have another artist who has based their piece on the idea of the shape of a triangle, and then have images appearing to pop-out, or have everything contained within a triangle. There are almost endless ideas which you can use with triangles. Play around and find what is right for you.

Resources:

• Go media - They are worth every penny.
• GraphicRiver - Growing collection of stock vectors

Artist: recycledwax made this fantastic vector

W - Water World

Placing objects underwater has never been such fun as with Photoshop! You can take almost any scene you imagine and place it in the depths of the ocean. Add a couple of fish with some bubbles, and there you have it!

Resources:

• Flood plug-in
• Learn to flood cities in Photoshop tutorial
• Learn How to Digitally Paint an Underwater Galaxy - Psdtuts+ advanced underwater tutorial

Artist: Mandrak made this fishy work

X - X-lines

I was struggling to find anything for X then a friend told me about something he called X lines. These are the abstract renders in general shape of an X. Although there doesn’t seem to be a name for them, they are common to see in many pieces. If you know the proper name for them, please let me know in the comments!

Artist: Strangeprogram

Y - Yes it is real….

Some people like to manipulate pictures and make them so real that people cannot tell. They give them a false backstory to go with them as well. These pictures can end up in the news before someone figures they are fake. This story was posted with the picture below:

"There was a family on holiday in Australia for a week and a half when husband, wife and their 15 year old son decided to go scuba diving. The husband is in the navy and has had some scuba experience. His son wanted a pic of his mum and dad in all their gear so got the under water camera on the go. When it came to taking the pic the dad realized that the son look like he was panicking as he took it and gave the ‘OK’ hand sign to see if he was alright.

The son took the pic and swam to the surface and back to the boat as quick as he could so the mum and dad followed to see if he was OK. When they got back to him he was scrambling onto the boat and absolutely shitting himself.

When the parents asked why , he said ‘there was a shark behind you’ and the dad thought he was joking but the skipper of the boat said it was true and that they wouldn’t’t believe him if he told them what it was.. As soon as they got back to the hotel they put the pic onto the laptop and this is what they saw"

It took a long time before anyone figured that it was fake and in fact just a photo manipulation.

Resources:

• Read more about the shark
• The accidental tourist

Z - Zip It

Again where is it possible to add a zip? It is as simple as finding a picture of a zipper and then using the clone tool to create a zipped edge against something. Then add a picture in underneath. Easy and effective, and it makes for a very common manipulation. Awe, so cute, kittens in live alligators luggage!

Credit goes to Caveatscoti for this gruesome picture.

Conclusion

I hope you had fun with this post! There are some ridiculous and overused graphic concepts shown here. Though you’ve likely found a couple nuggets of visual awesomeness as well! It’s up to you to wade through all the clutter of digital graphics and find that creative spark, which ignites your artistic passion!

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Learn to Combine Graphics and Techniques in this Psd Plus Tutorial

It’s time to finish off this illustration with part II of this two part series, as we get back on track with including any final elements. I’ll show you how to draw a few artistic doodles, integrate stock photos and use awesome online goodies.

Plus members can Log in and Download! If you’re not a member, you can of course join today! Below is the final image we’ll be finishing up in this tutorial.

Precise and Detailed Instructions Inside

Plus members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are some sample images from the tutorial.

PSD Plus Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here called ‘Plus’ that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! You’ll also get access to Net Plus and Vector Plus, too. If you’re a Plus member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed to stay up to date with the latest Photoshop tutorials and articles.

This fun photo treatment can be performed by almost anyone in short order, once some basics are understood of how the brain processes images. Let’s get to it!

Background 1: Understanding the Mind’s Eye

The mind is an interesting construct. I’m sure you have spent some time looking at optical illusions. Why do they work? Why is it that we see some things that aren’t really there?

At the risk of sounding a bit Zen for an image editing tutorial, the answer becomes clear when you remember that you are not actually experiencing reality when you look at the world. Instead, you experience an internal representation of data from your sensors (in this case your eyes).

When you were very young, your brain wrote the software that it uses to process image data from your eyes. The more reference data this software collected, the more solid its view of how things look became, and (importantly for this effect) how those different things appear in varied situations.

Background 2: Effects of Depth of Field on Perception

Your brain developed a fairly simple set of rules that it uses to determine what looks right with regards to size and position. Here are some of them that are pertinent:

1. Objects close to us have higher resolution than objects far away.
2. The object that has your central focus is seen clearer than one that is on the periphery of vision – even if the peripheral object is nearer to your eye.
3. The further away a scene is from you, the flatter it appears and the less detail it contains (comparatively) to close-by objects.
4. Very clearly defined objects are either: very close or very large.

Depth of field is a term that many of you will be familiar with. It describes how far away something can be and remain in focus. You can easily see its effect if you hold your hand flat in front of your eye, so you can see past it. Close an eye, then focus on something across the room and you’ll see that your hand fuzzes up a bit, switch focus back to your hand and it will be crisp while the background blurs.

What we do in this effect is selectively alter depth of field so specific parts of the image are blurry when they would not be in a real scene. We either break or flop the processing rules above, and your brain attempts to make sense of what it sees.

Background 3 – Effects of Lighting, Color and Detail on Perception

Also important to your software are the representation of lighting, color, and details in an image. Here are some rules your brain uses when it processes these variables from an image:

1. Real scenes are more detailed than man-built models. (Think of the difference between matchbox cars and real cars).
2. Real objects vary in their coloration more than model objects, and are often weathered. (toy companies use this often now, in battle-damaged toys, to increase their realism).
3. Lighting conditions are different between real objects and model representations. (Most models are seen indoors, under direct artificial light as opposed to in full spectrum sunlight).

Two notes before beginning. First, when I recommend specific feathering values (like 50px) I am basing these values on the images included for PSD Plus members. If you are using your own images, or the 600px wide versions here, your values may need to be lessened somewhat.

Second, I suggest saving the various selections we’ll make whenever this tutorial creates a selection area. I’ve saved them in the PSDs that come with PSD Plus membership, but it is a generally good practice that can save you a lot of time on any project, especially when making complex masks you might need again. The save selection dialog looks like the image below, and is accessed via Select > Save Selection.

Image 1: Applying the Diorama Technique to a Landscape Image

This is a picture I shot in Shinjuku, Tokyo in October 2008. Your brain is telling you a few things about it:

1. Almost all the picture is in focus, but there is not a ton of close-up texture and detail; the data was probably collected far away from the image contents.
2. It knows that you are mostly looking at large things – cars, buildings, et cetera; since they are small in this image then you must be far away.
3. The objects at the fore have slightly higher detail than objects further away, and the loss of detail is consistent with landscape references you’ve analyzed before.

Combined with the depth of field information it has gathered, your brain comes to this conclusion: You are looking at a scene of large objects, taken from far away.

Now that we know what rules our software uses to come to this conclusion, it’s time to break them.

Step 1: Selecting a Focal Point

Choose a portion of the image that you’d like to highlight. There is really just a single rule here: the selected focus should be in the mid-ground. Here, we will use the trucks on the street. Follow the instructions below.

Step 2: Creating and Feathering a Selection

There are several types of selections we can use for this technique, but in this case we’ll use a shifted oval. Since Photoshop doesn’t allow rotation of selection marquees, we have to use a path and then make it a selection.

Convert the work path to a selection.

Invert the selection and then apply a Feather, as indicated below.

Step 3: Applying Simulated Depth of Field

We’ll use the Lens Blur filter to blur the image in the area outside our focal point. The Lens Blur filter works outside the selection (i.e the selected area is left alone while the area outside the selection takes the effect), so do not invert this selection.

Step 4: Applying Lighting Effects

First, we open the curves dialog (Command + M or via Image > Adjustments > Curves). Drag the curve slightly upwards to blow out the image.

Next, we use the Omni light to simulate an all-over artificial light. You can access it from Filter > Render > Lighting Effects.

Step 5: Adjusting Color

Toys and models frequently have deeper color and are more vibrant than their real-world counterparts – partly because they are not subjected to the same dust and weathering and partly because kids like bright colors. This is easy to achieve by pumping up the vibrance and saturation a bit. Set Vibrance to +30 and Saturation to +40.

Step 6: Final Step for Image 1

You might notice that the previous step pumps up the blue in this image to a distracting level. After applying the Vibrance/Saturation settings, we fix this by using auto-color under the Auto-Color menu (Command + B), and our first image is complete!

Image 2: Applying the Technique to a Flightline of Airplanes

This image is an US Air Force file photo of F-22 Raptors on a flightline. It can be found here. What makes this image look real as opposed to a diorama of the same scene?

1. There is a high level of detail in all the objects shown.
2. The background is very detailed for how far away it is.
3. The lighting is consistent with sunlit aircraft.
4. The nearest aircraft is the most detailed, with rear aircraft losing details, as expected.

Really, it’s no different than our street scene. Where our execution will differ is in the precision and number of our selections. Where in the city scene it was enough to select a single feathered ellipse, here we must take care to mask the details of the aircraft in the middle, which will be our focus.

Step 1: Removing Detail

The image has far more detail than a model would generally have. Use the Clone Tool and Patch Tool to cover up excessive details like rope lines, tarmac imperfections, etc. You can work a quick and dirty in the back and foreground, since heavy blurring is on the way in later steps.

Step 2: Defining our Selections

On this image we will be defining four distinct areas for treatment – the fore, mid, mid-back, and far-backgrounds will each have their own masks.

Making the Foreground Mask

The foreground mask contains the foremost aircraft, as well as the ground beneath it. Use the polygon marquee selection tool to select an area as shown below, then invert the selection (Command + I) to make sure that everything in the foreground is selected.

Use Lens Blur with settings similar to those shown below. I’ve used a mild specular highlight setting to increase the brightness of some of the higher tones.

Use Command + D to deselect. Select the Pen Tool, and draw a path like below, then turn it into a selection like you did in the “Shinjuku Street” example. Feather the selection 50 pixels, invert the selection, then apply a Lens Blur with a radius of about 47. That’s all for the foreground.

Making the Background Masks

The far background mask contains the buildings and grass, but not the rearmost airplanes. The mid-back contains the rear tarmac and the rearmost planes.

Use the Polygon Select Tool to make a selection as shown, then invert the selection (Command + I). You don’t have to be super precise here; make sure you leave a little room around the vertical stabilizers of the rear aircraft.

Use the Refine Edge (Command + Alt + R) dialog to make sure that the far background does not intrude on the tails of the aircraft.

Apply a heavy Lens Blur (with a radius of 55) to the far-back selection. Invert the selection again. Use the Polygon Select Tool, with the Alt modifier key held down, to subtract from the selection so it looks like the marquee below. Try to be fairly precise near the vertical stabilizers and wings of the mid-ground aircraft, as we won’t be doing too much feathering here.

Feather this selection just 5 pixels, then invert it. Apply Lens Blur again with a 25px radius. Finally, Deselect using Command + D.

Step 3: Lighting and Coloring the Image

Open the Curves Adjustment Tool (Images > Adjustments > Curves or Command + M). Adjust the curve upwards to blow out the image slightly, as in the last exercise. Don’t overdo it.

Next, I’m going to use a wide spotlight from the Filters > Render > Lighting Effects menu, with the focal point located on the mid-right aircraft and with the direction of the light pointing the same direction that the sun points in the original shot.

We’ll pump the vibrance a little less this time, using the Image > Adjustments > Vibrance dialog. I used a setting of Vibrance 18 to make this final image. I did not modify the saturation, since the tarmac has a significant amount of brown in it as well as gray. Increasing the saturation would make it pop out too much.

Step 5: Final Detail Removal for Image 2

You may wish to spend a moment using the Blur and Clone Tools to reduce additional detail. In this final image, I spent a few seconds blurring out some of the details on the mid-ground airplanes (mostly small coloration differences on the tops), and cloning an unneeded shadow on the roof in the far-back. The final image two is below.

Afterword 1: Which Images Work Best with This Technique? Which Don’t?

Images taken from an angle and from above tend to work best for this effect, although I’ve seen some great examples from straight down as well. Shots taken directly from the side, and which lack good fore-mid-back separation, are not generally good candidates. A crowd of people taken from a balcony will work great. A picture of a person against a brick wall would be a poor choice.

Additionally, images that contain very few recognizable objects are not good. Also, many objects that are of similar size won’t usually work either. For the illusion to work, you brain has to process a disconnect, and if there is not anything it can reference, your brain will decide that the image is normal, and see it as such.

A normal person will almost always refer back to what they expect an object to look like. If you take a picture of an abnormally large object (say, a giant prop coffee cup), and photograph it in isolation, very few people will say “oh look, you took a picture of a giant coffee cup!” To the last, anyone asked to guess its dimensions will say it is a normal sized cup of a few inches across without the benefit of a contrasting reference point.

A good example of using this technique in reverse can be seen in any “I Shrunk the Whatever” style movie. You have probably never seen a normal-sized person next to a 40 inch tall coffee cup and donut sitting on a football field sized table. You have seen many reference images of a regular cup and donut. Having been primed that the movie is about people getting shrunk down, your brain creates an instant mental image of a very small person next to these common objects. Sometimes called forced perspective, we are using this technique in reverse when we miniaturize our scene.

Lastly, images with people in them where the people’s faces are clear and visible don’t lend themselves well to this technique. You are just too well programmed to see faces as real. Heck, we see faces even when they aren’t there half the time. When dealing with people in your images, it is preferable to blur their features a bit even if they are the object of focus think about action figures when going for this effect in shots where people are present). But in general, I recommend staying away from using people as your subjects.

Afterword 2: What Ruins the Effect?

Being too aggressive with blurring, hard edges between blurred and unblurred areas, blurring where none is expected (as in the vertical stabs of the middle aircraft in the last example) will all decrease the effectiveness of the illusion.

Being too over the top in your lighting and coloring will drop the brain out of thinking that it is a photo of a miniature scene and into thinking that it is a doctored image. Mostly, it becomes a distraction that the viewer will fixate on instead of giving in to the illusion.

Leaving excessive details can detract from the technique as well. Don’t go overboard, but do eliminate or reduce things not commonly seen in miniature – pavement cracks, distressed colors, etc.

In closing, the number one killer is choosing a bad source image. You will know quickly (within the first blur usually, or just on looking at it after you’ve done a few) whether an image is ripe for miniaturizing. If the effect isn’t popping after a short effort, analyze whether it’s your technique that is the issue, or just a bad choice of source material.

Thank You & Teach the Teacher!

Other than that, have fun with this! If you do some of these of your own, or have other suggestions on how to improve or add to this technique, please add them to the comments, with links to your creations. Tutorials are a two way affair, and I hope to learn from you, and hope you’ve learned from me.

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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. You can view the final image preview below or view a larger version here.

Preparation

All the photos I’ve used are taken from the stock.xchng site. Let’s take a look on them, before we start: the city, the flag, the texture 1, the texture 2, the texture 3, the grass texture, the can, the can 2, the banana skin, the old newspaper, the grass, the bushes, the bushes 2, the plants and the clouds. Also I’ve used one set of brushes, found on DeviantArt: Birds Brushes.

Step 1

Open the city image, which you intend to use, and save it under a different name. The first thing to do in order to achieve the appearance of the deserted, empty city, is to remove all signs of life, like people and lights. Use the Clone Stamp Tool and Brush Tool, which we’ll be useful for finishing the details. Both tools should be soft-edged and have a size of 5 to 10 pixels.

Step 2

Now, in order to create the appearance of destruction, several actions need to be taken. First, change the appearance of the dark, blue banner (center-left of the image). Use the Brush Tool to erase most of the gold letters, and use the Clone Stamp Tool to remove the lower part of the banner.

Step 3

Open the flag image, and separate the flag from the background. Go to Select > Color Range to select all the blue pixels and press Delete. Use the parameters as in the image below.

Select the Eraser Tool (large size and hardness set at 0%) and remove the side part of the flag.

Finally, make the image monochromatic (Image > Adjustments > Black & White).

Step 4

Place the flag onto the surface of the main image. Use the Move Tool to move the layer into the appropriate position and the Eraser Tool to remove the unnecessary pixels.

Then go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and set up as shown below.

Step 5

Use the following tools to finish the work here: Clone Stamp Tool, Eraser Tool, Brush Tool, Burn Tool, and Dodge Tool.

Also select the Brush Tool and treat all other banners and flags in a similar way.

Step 6

Transform the windows now. Use the Brush Tool to remove some of the glass and alter the details. Apply some transformations with the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and Move Tool if you want to.

Step 7

Review the whole main image looking for areas where changes need to be made. When transforming the details, first mark them using the Polygonal Lasso tool, and subsequently cut out, paste in as new layers and transform them with the Move Tool. Use the Brush Tool during the process, if necessary.

Step 8

The last stage of creating an impression of destruction is removing flowers from the street. Paint all the flowers over with black, using the Brush Tool. Make up the missing parts of the flower pots with the Clone Stamp Tool, and add the shadows using the Burn Tool.

Step 9

Now we need to work on the textures. Create a new layer and go to Filter > Vanishing Point to apply the texture 1 onto the surface of asphalt. If you don’t know how to use this filter, I recommend you read Alvaro’s tutorial Getting to Grips with the Vanishing Point Filter before starting this step.

Step 10

Change the Blending Mode of the layer to Multiply. Select the Eraser Tool and remove the unnecessary parts of the texture.

Finally place texture 2 onto the sidewalks in the same way.

Step 11

Overlay texture 3 over the buildings, in the way similar to the sidewalks and street, but do not use the Vanishing Point filter.

Step 12

The last texture to be overlaid on the street surface is the grass texture. Contrary to the previous ones, in this case set the Blending Mode to Overlay.

Step 13

Now we will use a large number of stock photos. They will help make our image more detailed and interesting. Place the images of the can, the can 2, the banana skin, the old newspaper, the grass, the bushes, the bushes 2 and the plants in the document, resize them and erase the backgrounds.

Select the Burn Tool and apply some shadows.

Next select the Brush Tool, change its Blending Mode to Color. Alter and adjust the new elements so that they coexist better with the texture and color of the main image.

Step 14

With a Brush Tool already selected, change its Blending Mode back to Normal and add the settings in the Brushes Panel as shown below.

Paint some blades of grass, trying to make this as realistic as possible.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation using the settings below.

Step 15

At the end, use the Brush Tool, Burn Tool and Blur Tool in order to add more flora, and make the image more appealing and consistent.

Step 16

Select the Burn Tool and add some hard shadows on all the walls.

Use the Brush Tool with the Blending Mode set to Color to add some
green smudges.

Step 17

Change the Blending Mode of the Brush Tool back to Normal once again, and add the settings in the Brushes Panel, as shown below.

Using a green color for the brush, add some flora on all the buildings.

Use the Burn Tool and Dodge Tools to make highlights and shadows. This will enhance the effect of three-dimensionality.

Step 18

Add some green and flora on cars, boards and flower pots using the same methods. Look at the third image to see all the successive small steps of working on the white road sign.

Step 19

Import the photo of the clouds into the document and place it in the bottom part of the image.

Next add a Mask to the Layer. Use the Pen Tool or the Magic Wand Tool to make a selection on the sky, next go Select > Inverse and Fill the selected area (of a mask, not an image) with black (using the Paint Bucket Tool).

Step 20

Go to Image > Adjustments > Black & White and use the default settings.

Use the Burn Tool and the Dodge Tool to change the contrast of the clouds, if you want to. Finally, select Brush Tool to paint the clouds with a new hue. First set the brush to a big size (about 150 pixels), hardness set to 35%, and Blending Mode set to Color, and use some pastel shades.

Step 21

Without changing any of the brush settings, add some warm colors to the buildings and streets. At this point, your image should look like the one below.

Step 22

Download the Birds Brushes set and open them in Photoshop. Add a few birds in the sky using a proper size.

Step 23

Now it’s time to add final effects to your image. At this moment you must have only one layer. Simply save your work as a JPG or go to Layer > Flatten Image to do that. Next go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and add the settings represented in the image below.

Step 24

Last but not least go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and set up as shown.

Conclusion

Well done! You’ve now seen the whole process of turning an image of a lively city into a state of decaying ruins. Let us hope this will never happen in reality. You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

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Here is a link to the written version of the tutorial How to Create a Flying Land Illustration On Fire and the video version is below.

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.

Video Tutorial

Our video editor Gavin Steele has created this video tutorial to compliment this text + image tutorial.

Resources

I would like to thank all the photographers and artists for the great images that they created and for the permission to use them, also I would like to thank the author of this piece Dreamland that gave us the inspiration to create this tutorial: Sky1, Cliff, City, Dragons1, Dragons2, Sky2, and Fire.

Step 1

Download the sky1 image and open it in Photoshop. Now we are going to make some color adjustments to this layer. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance and use the settings shown below.

Step 2

Next go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast and set -12 for Brightness and 33 for Contrast.

Step 3

Apply Curves by going to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves and create a curve as shown. Then fill the layer mask with black. Select a white, soft brush with the diameter of 300 pixels. Now paint with it over the lower left corner of the image. Take a look at the following image for reference.

Step 4

Open this image in Photoshop and use the Pen Tool (P) to cut out the mountain. Then use the Move Tool (V) to move it into your first document. Right-click on this layer and select Convert to Smart Object. Then go to Edit > Free Transform, scale this layer down, flip it vertical and rotate it. Take a look at the next image for reference. Name this layer "island."

Step 5

Now we are going to add five adjustment layers and we will clip them to the "island" layer. First go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast (5/Brightness, 64/Contrast), check the "Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask" option and use the settings from the following image.

Step 6

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance, check the "Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask" option and use the settings from the following image.

Step 7

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter, check the "Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask" option and use the settings from the following image. Set the blend mode for this layer to Overlay and the Opacity to 50%.

Step 8

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map, check the "Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask" option and use the settings from the following image. Set the blend mode for this layer to Soft Light and the Opacity to 60%.

Step 9

Select the Lasso Tool (L), set the feather to 10 pixels and create a selection like below. Now go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast and use -103 for Brightness and 63 for Contrast.

Step 10

Hold down the Command and select the "island" layer and its entire adjustment layer, then group them (Command + G). Name the group "island."

Step 11

Now you need to get rid of that rough stroke around the island that remained visible from the cutting. Create a new layer above all the adjustment layers. Command-click on the "island" layer’s thumbnail to select it, then paint with a soft brush using the color #140403 over the left side of the island.

Step 12

Click on the "island" group to select it, and then go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. Select a black, soft brush and paint with it over the right side of the island to delete that thin stroke.

Step 13

Select the "island" layer, go to Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise and use the settings shown below.

Step 14

Open this image in Photoshop, cut the castle and the buildings and move them into your first document. Right-click on this layer and select Convert to Smart Object. Then go to Edit > Free Transform, scale this layer down, rotate it and put it on the top of the island. Name this layer "castle."

Step 15

While the castle layer is selected go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. Select a black, soft brush and erase the bottom part of the castle.

Step 16

Now you are going to add seven adjustment layers and clip them to the "castle" layer. First, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image.

Step 17

Next go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter, check the Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. Set the blend mode for this layer to Overlay and the Opacity to 50%.

Step 18

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map, check the "Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask" option and use the settings from the following image. Set the blend mode for this layer to Soft Light and the Opacity to 30%.

Step 19

Now add some light to the right side of the castle. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option, and use the settings shown below. Then fill the layer mask with black, select a white, soft brush and paint with it over the right side of the castle. In the following image you can see where to paint with white.

Step 20

Now we’ll add some shadow to the left side of the castle. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. Fill the layer mask with black; select a white, soft brush and paint with it over the left side of the castle. Again, in the next image you can see where to paint with white.

Step 21

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. Then select a black, soft brush and paint with it over the bottom part of the castle.

Step 22

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. Fill the layer mask with black; select a white, soft brush and paint with it over the right side of the castle.

Step 23

Hold down the Command key and select the "castle" layer and the other seven adjustment layers and group them (Command + G). Name the group "castle."

Step 24

Create a new layer; select a black, soft brush and paint with it over the house as shown. Set the Opacity of this layer to 70%.

Step 25

Create a new layer, Command-click on the "castle" layer’s thumbnail to select it and paint with a big, black brush over the left side of the castle. Set the blend mode for this layer to Soft Light and the Opacity to 60%.

Step 26

Download this image, open it in Photoshop and use the Pen Tool (P) to select the orange dragon, and the Move Tool (V) to move it in your document. Right-click on this layer and select Convert to Smart Object. Go to Edit > Free Transform and scale this layer down. Then put it beneath the "castle" group. Name this layer "dragon 1."

Step 27

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and use a radius of 2 pixels. Then fill the Smart Filters mask with black; select a white, soft brush and paint with it over the dragon’s left wing. This will give the wing a movement effect.

Step 28

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use -57 for Brightness and 40 for Contrast.

Step 29

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. Fill the layer mask with black, select a white, soft brush and paint with it over the right side of the dragon. Then hold down the Command key, select the "dragon 1" layer and the other two adjustment layers and group them (Command + G). Name the group "dragon 1."

Step 30

Now you are going to create some lava. First go to Layer > New > Group, name the group "lava," and set the blend mode to Color Dodge.

Create a new layer inside the group, double-click on it to open the Layer Style window and use the settings from the following image. Then set the blend mode for this layer to Overlay. Now select a white, soft brush with the diameter of 2-3 pixels and start creating some lava.

Step 31

Continue creating the lava.

Step 32

Now you are going to create a breaking apart effect. Drag the "island" group over the Create A New Layer button to duplicate it. Then right-click on the new group and select Convert to Smart Object. Move this layer to the top of your Layers palette and put it inside a group. Name the group "breaking apart effect."

Step 33

Now select the Lasso Tool (L), set the feather to 0 pixels and make a small selection of the island. Then go to Edit > Copy (Command + C) and Edit > Paste (Command + V). This will put your selection into a new layer. Move the small rock where you want it to be using the Move Tool (V). Repeat the same process over and over again to create as many small rocks as you want. This tutorial has about 50 layers inside the "breaking apart effect" group and they are organized into two groups. When you have enough rocks, delete or hide the "island copy" layer.

Step 34

Download this image, open it in Photoshop, use the Lasso Tool (L) to select a dragon and move it into your document using the Move Tool (V). Right-click on this layer and select Convert to Smart Object. Go to Edit > Free Transform (Command + T) and scale this layer down. Then name the layer "dragon 2."

Step 35

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use -29 for brightness and 73 for Contrast.

Step 36

Now you are going to add some light to the dragon. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and create a curve as shown. Fill the layer mask with black, select a white, soft brush and paint with it over the dragon’s head and wings.

Step 37

Now you are going to add some shadow to the dragon. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and create a curve as shown. Fill the layer mask with black, select a white, soft brush and paint with it over the dragon’s legs and tail.

Step 38

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. Then hold down the Command key, select the "dragon 2" layer and the four adjustment layers and group them (Command + G). Name the group "dragon 2."

Step 39

Download this image, open it in Photoshop and move it into your document. Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All and drag a black to white gradient from top to bottom using the Gradient Tool (G). Set the blend mode for this layer to Color Burn and the Opacity to 30%.

Step 40

Bring the clouds image again into your document, go to Edit > Free Transform and scale this layer down. Set the blend mode for the layer to Overlay. Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All and use a black, soft brush to erase the edges of this layer.

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image.

Step 41

Repeat the previous step, but this time put the clouds in the left side of the image. Then group all these clouds layers and name the group "sky."

Step 42

Create a new layer, fill it with black, right-click on it and select Convert to Smart Object. Then go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare and use the settings from the following image.

Now there is too much red around the light. To correct this go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image.

Step 43

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast, uncheck the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. Fill the layer mask with black, select a white, soft brush and create some rays like below. Take a look at the next image for reference.

Step 44

Open "The Heavens 2" image in Photoshop and move it into your document. Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All, select a white, soft brush (or you can download some clouds brushes from the internet, like theses ones) and paint with it over the mask to create some clouds. Set the blend mode for this layer to Screen. Take a look at the following image for reference.

Step 45

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. Then go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. This will make the clouds look just like the ones from the background image.

Step 46

Repeat the previous two steps to create another cloud. Then group the two cloud layers and the four adjustment layers and name the group "clouds."

Step 47

Copy and paste another dragon into your document and scale it down using Free Transform (Command + T). Then go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. Select a black, soft brush and paint with it over the edges of the dragon’s wings to look like the light is going above the wings.

Set the blend mode for this layer to Linear Light. Then go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the following image. Group these two layers and name the group "dragon 3."

Step 48

Copy one more dragon from the original image using the Pen Tool (P) and move it into your document with the Move Tool (V). Right-click on this layer and select Convert to Smart Object. Go to Edit > Free Transform (Command + T) and scale this layer down. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and use the settings from the following image. Then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and use the settings from the following image.

Set the blend mode for this layer to Linear Light. Then go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast, check the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option and use the settings from the next image. Group these two layers and name the group "dragon 4." This new dragon will look like it’s flying around the land and the motion blur gives a very nice speed effect.

Step 49

Now you are going to create some flames coming out of the first dragon’s mouth. Download this image and open it in Photoshop. Then select one of those flames using the Pen Tool (P) and move it into your document. Go to Edit > Free Transform and scale this layer down.

Step 50

Create a new layer and draw some white lines over the flames using a soft brush. Double-click on this layer to open the Layer Style window and use the settings from the following image. Group the last two layers and name the group "fire."

Conclusion

You can view the final image below or view a larger version here.

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Each one of his illustrations has it’s own personal background story along with a whole group of emotions that are meant to be expressed. Adam also gives us a great tip on how to efficiently store all your idea’s and then use them when the time is right. Let’s have a chat with Adam!

1. Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

My name is Adam Spizak, I’m a polish illustrator and designer living in London, UK. I started my adventure when I was 15-16 years old on my Amiga computer. I was very impressed with Amiga’s art scene and I wanted to try for myself. I started by working on The X-Files and Metallica themed wallpapers for friends and I found it very enjoyable; now after almost 14 years I still do.

Sulfur

2. All of your art looks extremely cinematic and compelling because of the scenes depicted in your work. Do you usually write or create a back story to your illustrations?

Yes, the story is the only thing that gets me going – I also work as web designer and interactive developer so if I wouldn’t put story in my illustrations I wouldn’t probably enjoy making them.

Most of the time there are two paths of how I start – either I got a backbone of the story, an idea e.g what if I would have a guy in flames in place that looks like a prison cell etc. Once I start working on image I will build the story. The other path is when I got the story in place and all the important aspects of the image are planed – then just the execution.

The Fanboy

3. You have a unique talent for creating art that when complete screams with emotion. Most of your work has strong emotion when you look at it. Is this your intention when designing? And if so why?

Thanks, I try to be honest with what I do – the first idea after the story is there is: build something that I as a viewer would enjoy looking at, something with emotion and story to boost it up. There is a great number of very skilled designers who design rubbish, pointless designs just because they got the skills – that’s what I’m trying to avoid. I don’t have the best skills so I try to have the story.

The Hunt For Red Dwarf

4. Are you a self taught designer or have you been to a design school?

I do have a multimedia design degree, but that was long after I started working as a designer and was more about programming and internet broadcast so very different to what I do.

I’m a self taught illustrator. When I started there was no digital art magazines, no Psdtuts+, etc. I didn’t read or own any Photoshop books (even now, the only book I can say I’ve read was “Macromedia Flash 8 for professionals”) – so everything you see is what came from experiments and many failures.

The Twilight Surfer

5. Since every one of your illustrations is one of a kind, what advice would you give other designers who have problems coming up with original idea’s for their artwork?

When you get an idea – write it down, even if you think it’s overcooked and might be a cheesy one – still it can be useful somehow. I have a folder on my hard drive with ideas with sub folders named after a single idea (these folder are used as a base to store images useful for that illustration).  It sound simple but it does help a lot – you can cross over two/five/ten sub folders and get really crazy ideas for an image.

Get inspired – look at other people work and try to think: what if I take that and put it in a different setting – what would change? Etc. Asking questions about the design or even just about the idea can help you develop ten new more ideas, etc. Write them down. I know that these are very simple rules – but I work with junior designers in my day job and for many that’s the biggest problem. It’s not the technical side, but the managing of an idea – often they have to many thoughts and struggle to bind them into one cohesive idea, that simple managing can save you.

Pin Up 3000

6. “Eraser” is arguably the strongest piece in your portfolio. Can you please walk us through the creation of this design and also what do you intend the viewer to feel when they look at it?

I don’t think that this is the strongest piece to be honest, someone told me that it looks like scene from “Heroes” TV show. I wanted to have an illustration with two main characters and conflict/emotion between them. The first draft was based more on the idea of one guy holding hands around the other guys head and erasing his memory, but once I done some sketches and basic mock-up I thought it looked cliché and so typical.

Back to the sketch board – quick Q & A (as mentioned in question 4) – what if the first character would be in movement, that if the second if so powerful that he can erase your memory by sending high voltage lighting?

Once I knew I wanted to keep the scene dynamic I thought: what if the first character is passing the camera, how will that look – if he gets electrocuted will the viewer see tears and saliva, skin pores? I can just hope that the viewer is enjoying both the technical craft (most of the CG elements in this one are hand painted eg. lightings, saliva) but also the sense of action.

Eraser

7. No two pieces of yours are ever directed in the same route, so what is your source of inspiration that provides for endless amounts of great ideas?

I start my day with coffee and browsing all big design and painting portals – that’s my first hour, just that can be great source of mixed ideas for images. I love reading books and listening to some good music that’s a great source of inspiration for me (one of my first images, done back in the old days on my Amiga was Stilgar, a freemen from Frank’s Herbert “Dune”). I always had a vast imagination so sometimes I need to say stop, so I don’t wonder off to far. People that work with me every day can provide you (hello to my fellow colleagues) with some funny stories of how many really silly jokes and ideas I can produce in five minutes

Broken

8. Thanks again for providing Psdtuts+ with this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?

Thank you. Don’t be afraid to experiment and fail. The comments to my work that get me really angry are: “you could do something more in the style of the previous one.” The only reason why I still enjoy doing what I do is because I don’t listen to comments like that (but make sure you listen to constructive feedback).

Experiment, do what you feels needs to be done – not what someone is saying you should do, be brave, and don’t force yourself to mimic someone else’s style because it’s popular. Peace, Thanks.

The Heard of Darkness

Where to find Adam on the Web

• Adam’s Portfolio
• Adam’s Behance Portfolio

The Touch Of Necima

]]><img src="http://psdtutsarticles.s3.amazonaws.com/interivew_Adam_Spizak/p.jpg" border="0" />http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/adam-spizak-interview/feed/http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/adam-spizak-interview/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/psdtuts/~3/hMdd9EnG4k4/InterfaceChris KarlingFri, 03 Jul 2009 07:43:33 PDThttp://psd.tutsplus.com/?p=3920First off, props to Dan Wiersema (my friend and Creative Director at Guifx) for being the brains behind this tutorial. Concept and wireframe were both developed by him. He also helped me iron out the creases in terms of rating my work from beginning to end.

In this tutorial, we’ll create a main menu interface for a fictional iPhone game. We’ll go through setting up Photoshop to accurately display target screen size, setting up a wire frame for the project, creating a background, making a logo, creating rock texture for the sidebar, and wood texture for the saved games-box and buttons. We’ll also add creating greenery for detail and good measure. This is gonna be a long one, so patience is a virtue. Also, coffee helps!

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

Head over to pxcalc.com and follow the instructions. Doing this will allow you to view the design in it’s final size - The real life size of the actual iPhone screen - on your own computer.

Create a new document with a 480px width by 320px height, with a 164.83 pixels/inch resolution. Set color mode to RGB 8bit.

Step 2

I recommend creating a wireframe for your project like the one in the image below. The best way to do this is right clicking with your Zoom Tool selected and chose print size. If you followed Step 1, you will now be looking at your document at the exact size the end user will on his/her iPhone. This helps you determine how big the buttons should be in order to work sufficiently on a touch screen device. Note: Try physically clicking on the screen, and remember to take thick fingers into account.

Use the Rectangle Tool and drag out rough placement guides for the various elements. Keep the color of the shapes white and add a black 1px inner stroke. It’s also a good idea to mock the concept up using pencil and paper. Even if you’re not a good freehand artist (I’m not, but I still do it), napkin sketches help you keep your eyes on the prize!

Step 3

Create a new layer and name it "Background." Set your foreground color to #5e1114 and your background to #140306. Select the Gradient Tool, and with the settings pictured below drag from top to bottom like the arrow indicates.

Step 4

To the "Background" layer, apply the following layer styles.

Step 5

Reset your foreground and background colors to black and while by clicking the D key on your keyboard. Create a new layer and name it "bg_clouds." Now go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Set this layer’s blending mode to Overlay. Dab at it in random areas with the eraser tool, set to a 30-50% Opacity with a soft brush to create interesting highlights. Try to match my result below.

Step 6

Download this image from sxc.hu (Thank you Javier González). Call the layer "castle," resize it and place it roughly in the top-center of the stage. Set the layer’s blending mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 60%. Use the Eraser Tool to erase any harsh edges. Below is my result after this step.

Step 7

Okay, so far so good. Let’s start creating our logo. Grab your Pen Tool and create the outline of a dragon’s head. To do this you can either trace a random dragon image, or make up your own. This one will however end up with some heavy duty layer style effects, so try to keep the shape fairly simple.

There’s a wide variety of free shapes and dingbats you could use instead, if you don’t wanna spend time tracing or coming up with a dragons head. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Duplicate your shape 2 times (layer > duplicate layer…), so that you have 3 dragonhead layers. Name the bottom one "dragon_1," the middle one "dragon_2," and the top one "dragon_3."

Step 8

Time to make our dragon shine. This technique is heavily based on Elliot AKA TrueLovePrevails’ tutorial on how to replicate the warcraft logo style, so a huge thanx goes out to him for developing this fantastic technique, and for letting me use it. Click here to visit the original tutorial.)

Apply the following layer styles to each layer respectively, beginning with the “dragon_1″ layer

Now apply the following layers styles to “dragon_2″ and set this layer’s fill Opacity to 0%.

And again to “dragon_3″ and set this layer’s fill Opacity to 0%.

Step 9

Right, dragon looks good - check! Next up is the text.

Head over to Fontcraft.com and download or purchase Scurlock. Scurlock is free as a demo font, so make sure to read the terms of use, and do purchase a license if you wish to use this font for commercial purposes.

Select your Type Tool and set the size to 60pt. Type out the text "Dragon." Right-click the layer and select Convert To Shape. The reason for this is that we want to remove the underline of the “o.” To do this we use the Direct Selection Tool. Activate the vector mask by clicking the thumbnail and select all the nodes of the underline, then hit delete on the keyboard. If you can’t get them all in one go, hold down Shift to add to the selection.

Next, grab the Path Selection Tool and click the “o.” Go to edit > Free transform and drag the bottom center node down so the “o” looks like it belongs with the rest of the text. Now duplicate the layer twice, just like we did with the dragonhead. Name the layers from the bottom one and up "dragontext_1," "dragontext_2," and dragontext_3" respectively.

Step 10

Let’s hide the "castle" layer for now, since it’s of little importance to the layout, and mainly causing a bit of a distraction while designing.

Right-click the layer "dragon_1" and select "copy layer style." Now right-click the "dragontext_1" layer and select Paste Layer Style. Right-click the layer "dragon_2" and select Copy Layer Style. Now right-click "dragontext_2" layer and select Paste Layer Style. Change the shadow mode opacity under bevel and emboss to 43%.

Select "dragontext_3" and set the fill Opacity to 0%. Then apply the styles shown in the image below. When finished, repeat Steps 9 and 10 for the "Storm" text (naming the layers stormtext_#) and place the text roughly as shown below.

Step 11

Command-cick the vector mask thumbnail of "dragontext_2" layer to load the selection. You’ll see the marching ants appear around your text. Make sure "dragontext_2" is your active layer, as this will make sure we place the adjustment layer we are about to create just above "dragontext_2."

Now click the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer button located below your layers palette. From the list select Color Balance and apply the settings below. Afterwards, click Command + D to deselect. Now do the same for the "swordtext_2" layer.

Step 12

Details speak for themselves, so lets throw in some more text for added effect. Type out "Scroll of the Wicked" using the Scurlock font again, at a size of 18.5 pt. For the "Scroll" and "Wicked" text, set the text size to 14.5 pt. For "of the" text, use #C9C9C9 as the text color and apply the following layer styles.

Step 13

Hopefully you’re still with me. Let’s move on to the sidebar.

Using your Pen Tool, create a block-like shape like the one in the image below. Be creative here. There is no right or wrong when making stuff like this, so just throw a shape together without paying too much attention to detail. Duplicate this layer and call the the top one "sidebar_base." Name the bottom one "sidebar_perspective." Now apply the following layer styles To the layer "sidebar_base."

Step 14

Nudge the "sidebar_perspective" layer 6px to the left, right-click it and select Rasterize Layer.

Set the Burn Tool up using the settings below, and paint the perspective edge - keeping the light source from the concept sketch in mind - where the light is least likely to hit it. With the Dodge Tool, paint the opposite areas. When doing this for stone textures, I find that it’s effective to dab rather than stroke, as this creates the illusion of a rough surface. Finally, give the layer a drop shadow.

Step 15

Download this brush set by Lee Richardson. Create a new layer above "sidebar_base" and name it "sidebar_texture_1." Now, Command-click the "sidebar_base" layer to load the shape selection. Without releasing Command press Shift to add to the selection and click the "sidebar_perspective" layer. Next Grab your Brush Tool and select the second brush of the set you just downloaded. With your foreground color set to black, click once inside the selection and hit Command + D on your keyboard. Set this layer’s Opacity to 50%.

Step 16

Set your foreground color to #160A02 and create another layer. Name this one - you guessed it - "sidebar_texture_2." Repeat the process from Step 15, this time using the fourth brush of the set. It’s smaller, so you’ll need two clicks to cover the entire surface. With this layer selected, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set it to a radius of 1.5 then click OK. You should have something like the image below.

Step 17

Let’s add some imperfections to the rock surface. Create a new layer and name it "cracks." Select the Brush Tool and vary between a master radius of 2px to 5px, Hardness 60% to 80%, and keep the brush Opacity at 55%. Try not to worry about getting it right. The layer style will do most of the work, and the weirdest shape may turn out great. When you are happy with the cracks, apply the following layer style and become even happier.

Step 18

Create yet another layer, this one above the "cracks" layer, and call it "edge_bumps." Select the Pencil Tool with a master diameter of 1px and draw in some imperfections in black color along the highlighted line below. set the layer Opacity to 76%, then apply the following layer style to the layer.

Step 19

Create a new layer above the "edge_bumps" layer. Command-click the "sidebar_perspective" layer. Grab any one of Photoshop’s default spatter brushes and dab here and there down the edge, while still keeping the brush Opacity at 55%. Copy the layer style from the "edge_bumps" layer and paste on to this layer. Set the layers Opacity to 55%.

Step 20

Let’s move on to creating the wood. Make a shape like the one below for our big wooden saved games board. Set the color of the shape to #463118. Call the layer "saved_games_base" and apply the following styles to it.

Step 21

Using your Pen Tool, try to replicate the shape you see below, and place it below the "saved_games_base" layer. The important edges are highlighted in red. Name it "saved_games_perspective" and set the color of this shape to #14100D. Also, apply a drop shadow as shown.

Step 22

Download the first texture from this texture set by cgtextures.com. Drop it onto your stage and resize/rotate it until you like how it looks. Place it above and over the layer "saved_games_base" and rename it "wood_texture_1". Command-click "saved_games_base," then Command + Shift-click "saved_games_perspective" to add to the selection. Select "wood_texture_1" and click the add layer mask button, located underneath the layers palette. Set this layers blending mode to Soft Light.

Duplicate this layer once, name it "wood_texture_2," set the blending mode to Overlay and Opacity to 15%.

Step 23

Repeat Steps 20-22 for the buttons. Try to vary the gradient a bit, and use reflected instead of radial. To keep track of your layers, you may want to add the button layers to a group. Try to match the results shown below.

Step 24

Let’s lighten things up a bit. select the top layer of the document, and click the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer, just like we did in Step 11 for the text. This time select levels from the list, and drag the center node to 1.39, which is a little to the left.

Command-click the "stormtext_1" layer, now press Command-shift and click both the "dragontext_1" and "dragon_1" layers. Select the levels layer thumbnail and go to Edit > Fill, and fill the selection with black. Now the text and dragonhead won’t be affected by the levels layer.

Next we are going to add a brightness/contrast adjustment layer, using the exact same method we used for levels, including making sure the “Dragon Storm” TEXT ONLY this time is not affected by this layer by masking it out. Set the Brightness to 25 and Contrast to 35.

Step 25

With your Rectangle Tool, above the "wood_texture_2" layer, create a square shape like in the images below. Name this layer "inset_rim," now duplicate this layer and call the top one "inset_base."

Apply the following styles respectively, starting with “inset_rim” and using a Fill Opacity of 0%.

For “inset_base,” use the same settings and a Fill Opacity of 60%.

Duplicate both “inset_rim” and “inset_base” twice and place as shown in the bottom of the below images.

Step 26

Download "Livingstone" by PrimaFont from dafont.com. Type out all the text you see below, using #ECDECB as the text color. Size isn’t too important, just try to match roughly what is shown below. Then apply the following style to all of these text layers.

Step 27

Set your foreground color to #636363 and create a new layer below the buttons. Using your brush tool set to 85% Hardness with a master diameter of 1px, paint a O shape, like in the image below. See the marching ant selection. Duplicate it, and place the copies as shown.

Step 28

Do the above step for all the areas in the image below that has chains and apply the following style to all layers. It’s going to be many layers, so use groups to keep track of them.

Step 29

Let’s make the "castle" layer visible again. Since we’re moving in to the detailing stage of this project it’s nice to get a clear view of what the end result will be.

Now, using your pen tool again, with black set to your foreground color, create a shape like the one inside the saved games box below. Make it mainly square, but cut the corners to give it a more interesting shape. Call this layer "tablet". Apply the following layer styles:

Step 30

Using the font Livingstone again, type out the text you see in the saved games stone tablet below, and apply the following layer styles. When finished, duplicate the whole tablet and place it in the second box, as shown in the image below.

Step 31

Set your foreground color to #2E343A, and with your Pen Tool create a small diamond shape (about 10px by 10px). This is going to be the base of our rivets. Name the layer "rivet_inset," and duplicate it twice. Name the middle rivet layer "rivet_base" and the top one "rivet_style." Add the following styles respectively, beginning with “rivet_inset.”

Now apply the following layer styles to the “rivet_base” layer.

Now apply the following layer styles to the “rivet_style” layer.

Now duplicate the whole rivet three times and place one in each corner of the saved game box, just like in the image below.

Step 32

Create 4 small circles (about 4px by 4px) at the base of the saved games box, using the ellipse tool and #CCB55A as your foreground color. These will be the page indicators often found in iPhone applications. To the first three, apply these styles.

Change the color of the fourth circle to #FFA200 by double-clicking the shape color thumbnail. Then apply the following style.

Step 33

Time to dive into the last and probably the most difficult step. This could in fact be a whole other tutorial in itself, but I’ll try to keep it basic. I’m gonna try to explain this to the best of my ability using images, but it’s gonna be a learning by doing experience for anyone new to this technique.

• Create a shape, using the Pen Tool, that somewhat resembles a leaf. Doing this in a separate document is a good idea (see image 1 below).
• Rasterize the shape you just made, and grab the Burn Tool.
• Vary the settings for the brush (size and exposure) and try to replicate my result (picture 2).
• Grab the Dodge Tool and try to replicate the results shown, again varying the settings of the brush (picture 3).
• For good measure, also draw a line down the center of the leaf using the Burn Tool (picture 3).
• Use the Eraser Tool, set to a Hard Brush to further shape the leaf (picture 4).
• Zoom in and add additional detail using dodge and burn (picture 4).
• Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise, and use the following settings: Amount of 1%, select Gaussian and check Monochromatic (picture 5).
• Resize the leaf to the actual size you need it to be, and create a new layer above it. Now with a soft 1px black brush, draw in the veins. set this layers Opacity to 20% (picture 6).
• Change the foreground color to white and the brush Opacity to 70%, and draw in some highlighted areas around the veins (picture 7).
• Add a simple drop shadow using layer styles, and merge the whole leaf into one layer (picture 7).

Optionally you can also add an unsharp mask to the leaf if you want crisper detail. Settings would be along the lines of Amount 50%, Radius 0.5px and threshold of 0 levels.

Conclusion

Add greenery, here and there to make it look more interesting. You could go even further than I did and add some on the saved games box as well. Thanks a lot for following along with this tutorial and I hope you learned some new techniques. Below is the finished result.

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]]><img src="http://psdtuts.s3.amazonaws.com/289_Game_Menu/preview.jpg" alt="Preview" width="200" height="200" border="0" />http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/interface-tutorials/how-to-make-a-menu-interface-for-a-fantasy-themed-iphone-game/feed/http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/interface-tutorials/how-to-make-a-menu-interface-for-a-fantasy-themed-iphone-game/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/psdtuts/~3/qFUj63pIHsY/NewsAlex BeltechiWed, 01 Jul 2009 07:30:37 PDThttp://psd.tutsplus.com/?p=3638We have another Psd Plus tutorial exclusively available to Plus members today. If you want to take your illustrative compositional skills to the next level, then we have an exciting tutorial for you. Discover how to use numerous photo and design elements, then combine them to create an effective free flowing digital illustration. As usual, loads of great tips and techniques in this two part tutorial! You’ll see Part II come out next week.

Learn to Combine Techniques in this Psd Plus Tutorial

In this two part Psd Plus tutorial, we’ll take a look at another popular web topic. While the entire piece will be build around the main subject, we’ll add lots of eye-catching detail by using self made photos, free online resources, and hand drawn ornaments.

Plus members can Log in and Download! If you’re not a member, you can of course join today! Below is the final image after both tutorial parts.

For now though, we’ll get this far in this first part of this two part series.

Precise and Detailed Instructions Inside

Plus members can Log in and Download! Otherwise, Join Now! Below are some sample images from the tutorial.

PSD Plus Membership

As you know, we run a premium membership system here called ‘Plus’ that costs $9 a month (or $22 for 3 months!) which gives members access to the Source files for tutorials as well as periodic extra tutorials, like this one! You’ll also get access to Net Plus and Vector Plus, too. If you’re a Plus member, you can log in and download the tutorial. If you’re not a member, you can of course join today!

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the Psdtuts+ RSS Feed to stay up to date with the latest Photoshop tutorials and articles.

]]><img src="http://psdtutsarticles.s3.amazonaws.com/news_2009_05_24/preview.jpg" alt="preview" width="200" height="200"/>http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/news/how-to-create-an-abstract-body-portrait-part-i/feed/http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/news/how-to-create-an-abstract-body-portrait-part-i/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/psdtuts/~3/OWEvhoxh4Q4/Web RoundupsEmilTue, 30 Jun 2009 06:46:51 PDThttp://psd.tutsplus.com/?p=4013With another month in the books comes the roundup of the best content on the net for June. The tutorials featured this month explain basic and advanced techniques for Photo-Manipulation, as well as two types of digital painting tutorials - that each have very different
results.

There were also some very interesting and informative articles featured this month, for example who knew that Twitter could make you a better designer? Read along and find out how. Finally, we have a set of freebies that will keep you busy downloading all day!

Tutorial Wrap

• 

  Super Cool Water Color Effects

  Our first tutorial of the month focuses on using watercolor brushes as well as textures to create a nice looking design that gives off the effect that it is being painted with watercolor brushes. The effect is very easy to achieve and the author of the tutorial also gives us the brushes he used as well as the texture. This was inspired by more complicated and intricate versions of this type of style, but if you are into it this, then it’s a great start to mastering this type of design.

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• 

  Digitally Painting Portraits in Photoshop

  This tutorial focuses on digital painting techniques that would be associated with comics. The final product is a cross of
  realism and comic book art, so this if you have a tablet and are willing to sit down and paint, then you should check this tutorial out. It is very detailed, 6 pages worth of information. Everything that you would need to do this is included in the tutorial, so this is really something every aspiring digital painter should check out.

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• 

  Self Initiated Abstract Art Tutorial

  This tutorial focuses on something called Self Initiated art. This type of art comes about from low time and budget situations. And the author of this tutorial will show you how to take advantage of a bad situation and make something abstract and new. The author also promises that by the end of the tutorial you’ll have two new libraries of elements to use in your future art. A very interesting tutorial with a creative and abstract result that is worth checking out.

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• 

  Creating an Abstract Floral Explosion

  This is another fairly simple Photoshop tutorial that focuses on the use of stocks. Eight different elements are used in this tutorial to create a nice visual effect of an abstract floral explosion. The techniques used here aren’t very advanced, so this tutorial is geared for more of the novices to Photoshop. None the less every step is explained in good detail, so check this one out.

  Visit Tutorial

• 

  You Will Stand Alone Photo manipulation

  Like our last tutorial this one also doesn’t boast an amazing final product. What is does do is show the newcomers to Photoshop how to
  properly blend stocks together. The use of filters is also a big part of this tutorial, showing how filters can bring all the different stocks you have
  together. There is also a good attention to detail which makes this tutorial a good read for the
  beginners.

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• 

  Design a Space Dancer Scene with Nebula Textures

  This tutorial is a little more advanced then the last two. In this tutorial you will learn how to use textures to bring an immense
  amount of color to your artwork, in this case a Nebula texture is used. And after reading the tutorial you will see why they are great to use. On top of all of that the author focuses on explaining the importance of layer masks and filters.

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• 

  Drawing Fairy Tale Characters in Photoshop

  This tutorial will teach you how to draw and paint a character in Photoshop. You can say this would be the novice version to the Digital Painting tutorial we just featured. The author will teach you how to use the Dodge and Burn tools to color your character. This tutorial gets very detailed by explaining how to color different types of fabric on the character as well as facial features.

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(FREE!) Download Picks

• 

  Furry Monster Icon Set

  This icon set comes from the Spoon Graphics Blog, they feature a set of four furry multi-colored monsters. The icons are compatible with both Macs and PCs. Along with the icons comes a tutorial showing how to create these furry monsters yourself. So download these icons or make your own and personalize it with all the features you want.

  Visit Download Site

• 

  Twitter Icons For your Blog

  We all know the immense amount of popularity that twitter has right now. A lot of the most popular blogs have links to their twitter accounts, so if you want to do the same then these icons are for you. You will get a set of twelve icons varying in different sizes, and varying in context. Some of the birds have clever Twitter sayings like “Follow Me” or “Tweet It.”

  Visit Download Site

• 

  Grass Texture

  Here are some more textures from Bittbox’s popular texture Tuesdays. This week’s pick is a set of high-resolution grass textures. There are five different textures in the pack and each one is a different type of grass. The textures range from freshly cut vibrant green grass to dull old grass. Each texture is around 3000px by 2000px so they are massive and can be used for plenty of things.

  Visit Download Site

• 

  50 new and Beautiful Wordpress Themes

  If you are looking to start a new blog, then you must check this set of freebies out. It’s a set of 50 brand new Wordpress themes. There is a large variety of themes ranging from gaming to business. Each one of these themes has a very sleek design that is sure to be an eye catcher. So download a theme of your choosing and start blogging.

  Visit Download Site

• 

  Fresh Free Fonts

  This is a very cool freebie filled with four awesome looking fonts. The styles range from a grunge army font to a poker-face font, and more. There isn’t much to say about this, so check it out for yourself.

  Visit Download Site

• 

  87 Mind Blowing Nature Wallpapers

  The title says it all. These are really mind blowing scenery shots that will definitely be on a lot of desktops soon enough. We all know the beauty of nature, and now we have a small reminder about some of the wonders in this world. From animals, to
  beautiful sunsets, to flowers, everything is covered in this great wallpaper pack.

  Visit Download Site

• 

  Watercolor Icon Pack

  This is a unique set of icons that are brought to us by Tutorial9. They are cleverly designed so that the background of wherever you place them will seep through, giving it a real water color painted effect. The set contains 36 icons varying from the all popular Twitter to other things like mail and RSS.

  Visit Download Site

Article Wrap

• 

  How Twitter Helps Designers

  This is an interesting read because most Twitter users don’t associates it with becoming a better designer. But the author of this article begs to differ, he lists six solid reasons why the networking giant helps designers learn more about their work and become better.

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• 

  Hardest Part of Being a Graphic Designer

  Since our last article focused on the positives of being a designer, I figured it would only be right to shed some light on the negatives of being one. This article is an interesting because you get the answers from several designers, each giving their two cents about the topic.

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• 

  Web Design Polishing

  This article focuses on turning bland websites into something more vivid and attractive to the perspective customer. The author breaks it down into 10 different things you need to focus on, and he gives links to informative websites that focus on perfecting web design. So for the web designers out there, this one is a must read for you.

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• 

  18 Fresh Font Designs

  Here we have a little inspiration article for all the devoted typography nuts out there. This article features 18 fresh and new-age font designs that are catching the eye of many people right now. The type of font designs mentioned in this list are sure to inspire you, so check out all of the designs as well as their creators.

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• 

  Taking Design From Good to Great with Gradients

  This article focuses on the use of gradients to turn a bland design into something a lot more appealing to the eye. The author gives seven great examples of good gradient use, and also highlights the type of gradient used in the design. Along with all of that, the author gives her own demonstration of making a design and showing how much a gradient benefited the illustration.

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• 

  Improve Usability On Your Site On A Low Budget

  This article gives ten really great tips for the struggling website owner who needs to better their sites interface on a low budget. The ten solutions that are given are paired websites you can visit to learn more about the idea that is introduced in the article. Every website owner should check this out because everyone could make their blogs or websites a little more efficient, and who wouldn’t want to save money while doing it?

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• 

  Common Mistakes in Logo Design

  All of the logo designers should really read through this one because the author points out ten of the most common mistakes that a designer can make when creating a logo for a client. All of us probably have made these mistakes once or twice and the article shows us a simple and easy solution to these common issues. Some of the common mistakes include making overly complex logos and relying too much on color. Each mistake listed is illustrated with a logo so the readers can get a visual example of what went wrong.

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• 

  Designers Favorite Fonts and Why?

  Our last article of the month focuses on the favorite fonts of different designers. Jacob Cass, the author of this article sent out a “tweet” on Twitter asking designers what their favorite font is and why. And in this article the results are posted. 19
  different fonts are mentioned by a lot of different designers. So check this article out and see why you should be using some of these fonts.

  Visit Article

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