First download this picture:

Start a new document about 800X900px and make the background black.

Grab your gradient tool first

Start a new layer and drag your gradient on the screen until you get something similar to this

Open your picture of the girl and put it in the middle of your document.

Duplicate your face layer so you have a backup and hide one of them.

On the layer you did not hide hit ctrl+U on your keyboard to bring up your hue/saturation tool and use these settings:

Now she should look purple like this

Now use your level tool to darken her a bit by hitting ctrl+L on your keyboard and use these settings

Now on to the letters.

Create a new layer above all the rest and add the letters A-Z on your canvas using
separate layers for each one, I know this sounds time consuming but its not bad.
Randomly place them but keep them close together.

I am going to use the font called “viking”.

Now for each letter go through and use your transform tool (ctrl+t) on each letter and spin them all so they look more random

Now choose one of your letters to add these blending options to

Now right click on the letter you added them to and pick “copy layer style”

Then highlight all of your other letter layers together, right click them and click “paste layer style”

Now they should all look the same, similar to this

Now merge all those layers together and then copy the new layer a few times and move it over her face

Now duplicate a few more of them and make them smaller and also cover her face

Next duplicate a few more and place them around her face on the canvas.

Here is what I have

Now drag the picture of the face above all the layers and set its blending mode to pin light

After you do that there will be black area around the face so take a large soft eraser brush and erase to get rid of the black. I am using a 65px brush.

After that I have something like this

That is about it for this tutorial. There are many more things you can add to this to make it really good, but I am just trying to get you jump started in the right direction so have fun!

So download this image of a machine part and open it in photoshop

I just found a random picture to show you this simple method.

So after you open the image grab your pen tool

Make sure your settings on your top bar when you have the pen tool selected are set like this

Now with the pen tool I want to make a selection around the object we want to let stay in focus.

So zoom in on your image with ctrl+ and - to zoom out and start clicking with your pen tool to make a selection

Start clicking here

The straight lines in the image are the easy part with the pen tool but once you get up to the rounded area it takes a little patience

Once you make it all the way around the part in the image connect the pen tool to where you started then right click in the middle of where you went around the object with the pen tool and click “make selection”…

Next we want to use a little keyboard shortcut to invert the selection so it selects everything else in the image and not our part we want to focus on. The shortcut on a windows keyboard is ctrl+shit+i, which inverts the selection.

So use that shorcut and it should select the other part of the image

Here is the first selection

After you use the keyboard shortcut you will see an outline around the edges of the image

Now cut and paste that part of the image back in the document by using ctrl+x then ctrl+v to paste it back in.

Once you paste it back in hold down ctrl and click on the little image icon of the new layer we made and it will highlight around the object again.

Now the trick is just to add a little lens blur to what we cut out.

So go to filter>>blur>>lens blur

Make sure you keep the selection around the object so the blur doesn’t go outside of the selected area.

Use these settings:

Here is the before picture and the after picture

I hope you learned something from this simple method and utilize it on some of your own images.

Thanks for reading!

First lets gather our materials

Open up your plant photo and cut the main part of the plant out using whatever method is easiest for you. I experimented with using a layer mask and a quick mask but the easiest method for me was to use the pen tool so that is what I did.

Cut and paste that back in your image.

Now I am going to cut the plant in half so I can make it look like it has jaws. So use your pen tool to make a selection around one half of the plant like this

Now make it a selection and cut and paste it back on the canvas

After pasting it back in use ctrl+t to transform the object. Hold down ctrl after that and rotate it around to look like it has an open mouth.

Position it to where it looks the best

Time to fill in the white space that is left after cutting out the mouth. Grab your brush tool and pick the blue color closest to the white space and paint in back in the layer with the blue background.

Now that is filled in so we can merge the layers back together.

Just highlight your 3 layers, right click and select merge layers

I need to fix my plant up a little bit because when I moved the bottom jaw it doesn’t look like it is part of the plant near the stem.

So duplicate your layer so we have a backup in case you mess up. I am going to zoom in and use the smudge tool to make the plant look more real.

That looks like it did the job pretty well for me

Now its time to add the teeth so open up your animal teeth picture. I am going to extract the teeth with the pen tool

After you cut the teeth out paste them in our plant image and place them over the plant like this

I want the teeth to be more green so I am going to use the outline of the teeth to copy a portion of the plant and blend it with the teeth.

Hold down ctrl and click on the little icon beside your teeth layer

That will make a selection around the teeth

Click on your plant layer and copy the selection and paste it back over the teeth. You can see the plant over the teeth in the next screenshot.

Highlight your 2 layers and drag them into the blue area and set your top layer to the color blending mode.

I am going to edit the teeth layer a bit to make the top portion more straight across by using a soft eraser brush

Here are my newly shaped teeth

Now I am going to position them at the top of the plant and rotate them to align with the jaws.

To add the rest of the teeth I am going to copy some of the teeth we already have and position them all the way down the plant.

After I finished the teeth on the top I merged all of the layers I used to make the teeth together then duplicated them for the bottom. I flipped them horizontally and rotated them 180 degrees for the bottom jaw.

I am sure you notice how some of the plant is out of focus, but now the teeth we put in aren’t. To make this look like it is actually part of the image we need to blur the back teeth on the top and the bottom. Pick the layers, copy the teeth you want to blur by using a selection tool then go to filter>>blur>>blur more. Use that a few times.

Here is how mine looks:

Now I will add the unsuspecting bug and we are done! I also just found some other bugs from a stock photo site and added them.

Thanks for reading!

Here is my final outcome, I hope this shows you some simple techniques to help your creativity.

First download this image of a guy screaming

Cut him out with whatever method you want and place him

You can make this wallpaper whatever size you want, but I am going to show you
a 1024X768px in this tutorial.

So start a 1024X768px canvas and make the background black.

Place your screaming person in the bottom right corner of your canvas

Duplicate your layer

Move it behind your previous layer and then go to filter>>blur>>motion blur and use these settings

That should give you a cool little effect.

Duplicate the layer you just added the motion blur to and move it the the right or left a few pixels to add to the effect. Do that as many times as you want to get the effect you are looking for

Now before we move further we need to go on a little side project that won’t take long. I am going to show you how to create a quick brush to make our musical notes.

So start a 100X100px document and grab your shape tool

In the custom shapes there are musical notes and take a few of those and place them beside each other in the new canvas and fill up the space similar to this:

Now we are going to make it a brush so go to edit>>define brush preset and name
it whatever you want. I am naming mine musical notes.

Now create a new layer on our main canvas with our screaming guy. Hit x on your keyboard to make your foreground
color white.

In the new layer click from his mouth up in random spots to fill in the music
notes like this

Now add a gradient overlay to that with different colors. Just choose whatever colors you want, I chose mine
at random.

And a outer glow

Next duplicate that layer and remove the outer glow. Create a new layer below that and merge your current layer down with the blank one to make it editable.

Now go to filter>>noise>>add noise

Make a new layer above that and go to filter>>render>>clouds and set it to vivid light.

Next choose these two colors as your background and foreground

Fill your new layer with the bright green then go to filter>>sketch>>halftone pattern with these settings

Rotate it 90 degrees and fit in over your whole canvas.

Then go to filter>>distort>>polar coordinates.

Set the layer to saturation.

That should give you a pretty cool effect.

Now add some text in the top, pretty large to fit over our notes in the top

Create a new layer above that and change your foreground color to black. Hold down ctrl and click on the text icon beside your text to highlight around it.

In your new layer use your notes brush to fill in the outline of the text we just made.

Next add a gradient overlay to that layer and pick all the colors that match the notes it goes across

Add an outer glow with the color black so you can start seeing the text.

Then duplicate that layer. Merge it down so its editable and add noise to it with the filter.

Here is my final outcome, I hope this shows you some simple techniques to help your creativity.

*Quick Note: Click on Images for Larger Versions

Start a 1024X768 document and in a new layer fill in with a mid-dark blue color. The color I used is #083078.

First lets start with making a base for the snow globe.

I am going to use my pen tool to make the first half of it then fill it with black.

So here the first half of the simple base shape I made with my pen tool.

Now make it a selection

In a new layer fill it with black.

Now duplicate that layer, flip it horizontally, and move it to the the left to make a whole base.

Now you should have something like this

Merge those two layers down

I want to make the top and bottom a little more rounded so I will use the warp tool on it. Before that duplicate the layer and hide it so you have a back up in case you don’t get the result you want.

Once in warp mode grab the top middle of the base and pull it down a little to give it a curve.

Do the same with the bottom

I am going to add a few more touches to the base.

Put a rounded black rectangle at the top using a 10px radius

Move it down and curve it like we did before

I am going to make a little larger one under it too.

You can stop there, but I am going to add a wood grain to the base by making all the parts of it a brownish color, adding noise and using the motion blur filter.

Now start a new layer, hit x on your keyboard to change the foreground color to white and grab your gradient tool. Choose a radial gradient from white to transparent.

Now make a white gradient ball in the middle of your screen like this

After that use your perspective tool on the gradient

Click on the bottom right and drag inward so the gradient looks like this

Here is my final result

First of all here is the face I found to change into a joker…

I am going to work with the full size picture so open up the picture in
photoshop and make a new layer above it.

First I want to add the white makeup on the face.

Change your color to white and grab a 45px soft brush. Paint over the areas
that the brush will fit in leaving the mouth and eyes. Use other sizes of
the brush as well so you don’t color over anything you want to leave in view.

Here is the part I did with the 45px brush

Now the rest using a 35px brush

Now set that layer to soft light.

Duplicate it and set the next layer to hue.

That should give you a pretty nice white makeup look.

Here is mine:

Next we will move on to the black makeup on the eyes.

Create a new layer and use the same technique as we did previously. Use black
as your color and be careful not to color over the eyes.

Here is my result:

Now set your new layer around the eyes to soft light

Duplicate that layer and set it to hue

Duplicate that layer and set it to soft light again

Here is that result:

Now on the last one you duplicated get your eraser brush out.

I am using a 35px soft eraser brush. Erase around the eyebrows so they stand out
more and other areas to make it look more realistic.

After that I have this

Now for the red paint on the mouth and cheeks.

Create a new layer and pick the color #993939 which looks like this

Now take a 45px soft brush and cover the mouth and cheek area in random spots
so it looks like it was put on by hand.

Create a new layer above that and pick the color #767171

Now color the exact same parts you did with your reddish color

Ok one more time create a new and choose the color #200505

Yet again color over the same areas

Now change all 3 of the layers blending mode to overlay

As you noticed the lips are covered as well but we just want to erase the paint
off of them.

So take your eraser brush and erase each layer off of the lips

I think that looks pretty realistic what about you?

Now I want to add some scars to the sides of the face similar to that in
batman.

For the scars I experimented with a few things but I got the best result when
I used a picture of a crack in concrete.

Here is the picture:

Shrink the picture a bit and either cut out the crack with your pen tool or
erase all the parts other than the crack

Now I am left with this:

Now I am going to take that and fit it in my picture on the left jaw first
like this

Erase the parts that go off the face and past the lips

Make sure there is no edge around the crack once you erase.

Once you do that do the same for the other side or copy the same one and
flip it horizontally and put it on the other side.

Set the blending mode to luminosity on both. Also set the fill to 66%.

Here is my result from that

For some final touches I am going to use the burn tool on his face to bring
out some more shadows.

So grab your burn tool and pick about a 93px soft brush and set the range to shadows.

I am going to do some random burns, one between the eyes and forehead, one
under the left eye and cheek, and some on the right cheek. I also added a little
shadow under the nose.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned some new techniques. Thanks for
reading.

My result

Start out with a 1024X768 canvas size since that is pretty standard with a white background.

First I am going to make 4 black boxes on my screen and distribute them across the canvas evenly like this.

Next add a simple gradient overlay to each one through your blending options. Basically I am going to add a bright to darker of the same color.

My first gradient looks like this

Here are the rest altogether

Use whatever color you like or take a screenshto of the previous image and use these colors.

Select your first block in your layers palette and then control+click on the little icon beside “Layer 1″

This will make a selection around the block.

Once you do that create a new layer above the block.

Now its time to get your gradient tool ready for use. Click on your gradient tool in your tools and choose a radial gradient.

Set it to transparency and use these colors

In your new layer drag your gradient tool over the other layer but still leave some of the layer behind showing. Make small dots, large dots, and random sizes like this:

Now go to filter>>liquify and use these settings:

Along with those settings use a smaller brush to to achieve a realistic result.

Once you set that take your mouse and make downward motions on the layer.

Make sure you keep the edges in tact.

Here is my result from that

Use the same technique on the other 3 blocks.

My result:

Next I am going to make each one looks like the wind is blowing a corner of them up by using the warp tool.

Merge your first silk block together and then use the keyboard shortcut on the layer ctrl+t to transform it. After that right click on it and hit warp.

Drag either corner similar to this:

My result from that:

As you can see when you zoom in the edge of the curtain is slightly pixelated so I am going to use the pen tool or polygon lasso tool to select the edge of it and delete

Now it should look more crisp when you go back to regular zoom level.

Now I am going to add a shadow to the bent part of the image so make a selection around the edge like this

Start a new layer. Get your brush tool with the color black, about 45px size, set the opacity to about 80%, set the flow to about 60% and go around the edge with it to make a slight shadow.

As you can see I have a harsh edge at the top

I am going to erase that with a large soft eraser brush

Now set the opacity of your shadow to about 60%.

Use that same technique on all the others as well.

My result

Here is my final result:

Here is an example of how it could look on a website

First start off with an 800X300px canvas.

Create a new layer and fill with a mid color gray.

I am using this one:

Next get your gradient tool. Set it to linear and have it going from white to transparent as the color. Also set the opacity of it to 30%.

Start a new layer and move than halfway down your canvas hold down shift and drag downward like this:

You should get a result similar to this:

Now drag your gradient again a little bit above the previous line but drag more so that the glow is larger.

Try to get a result similar to this:

Start another new layer and get your gradient tool again, except change your gradient color to black Keep all the other gradient settings the same.

Now a little down from the top of your canvas do the same thing with this gradient as you did with the other white one.

Try to get a result like this:

Next we are going to use the burn tool. So get it from your tools palette and set the brush to 65px soft, range to shadows, and 23% exposure.

Now choose the first layer you made with the mid gray color and while holding down shift on a windows keyboard drag your mouse horizontally from left to right underneath your white line. Go pretty far below it, almost to the bottom of the canvas.

Try to get a result like this:

To get the result drag your mouse 2 times across the whole canvas.

Now go back to your top layer where you used your darker gradient and drag in some more spots to darken up the upper portion a bit.

Now that you have your basic shelf made, now is the time to add some icons or lettering for your menu. I want to add a few 3d icons along with some text.

Usually the first thing on a site menu is “home” so I am going to run you through a quick little house icon.

So start a new layer and get your shape tool. Grab the shape that looks like a pentagon:

]]> http://www.time2photoshop.com/create-a-3d-shelf-style-menu-in-photoshop/feed http://www.time2photoshop.com/create-a-custom-action-in-photoshop http://www.time2photoshop.com/create-a-custom-action-in-photoshop#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:40:13 +0000 admin http://www.time2photoshop.com/create-a-custom-action-in-photoshop Whether you know it or not photoshop has a really handy feature called actions. With these you can create an action to automate a task you want to do in photoshop. This will allow you to save time on a mundane task that you need or have to do over and over. I am going to show you how to use actions by making a custom 3D Box action that will create a 3D box. This tutorial will walk you through how to create, use, and save actions.

First you want to make sure that you have your actions palette showing in photoshop so go to window>>actions in your photoshop menu. If it is checked then you should see it already, if not, check it.

Next we need to create a new action set. On your action palette click the little
arrow at the top right and click on “New Set”, then in the window that pops up,
name it 3D Box or whatever you want.

Now you should have a new action set in your palette called “3D Box”.

Now we are going to add an actual action to the set. The first action I want is one that will actually start a new file, pick the canvas size, make the background transparent, and add a guide to the canvas.

Yes you can actually make that happen in one step! But we have to run through the steps first to make it happen.

To make the action click on the little arrow again and go to “New Action” or click on the little “New Action” icon:

Once you click action name it “New File” or whatever you like, then go through the steps you would normally do.

Make sure you have your 3D Box action set chosen:

After you name your action photoshop will start recording. Now go through these steps:

File>>New with these settings:

Then make a new layer and make your background transparent by clicking the little eye beside your background layer.

Now add a 75px vertical guide to the canvas by going to view>>new guide and set it to 75px:

Now click the stop button at the bottom of your action palette:

I am going to show you some simple ways to create bling text with perspective.

First I am going to create a new file and make my canvas 580X200px and make a new layer. In my new layer I will write “Time2Photoshop”, but write whatever you want. I am using a font called MotterFemD which I just chose randomly. Here it is if you would like to have it.

Download the font HERE.
Just right click and save as.

Just write whatever you want in the middle of your canvas with the color black because we are going to use a gradient overlay to change the color of it anyway. screenshot1.gif Now add these blending options to your text by right clicking on your text and clicking “blending options”:

Use these settings:

Stroke

Gradient Overlay:

Inner Glow

Outer Glow:

Now you should have something that looks like this:

Now I am going to add a simple gradient behind the text in a new layer. So make a new layer behind the text and grab your
gradient tool:

Make the gradient linear and use these colors:

Hold down shift so you will get a perfectly straight line and drag from the top of the canvas downward.

Try to get something like this:

Now its time to add the bling. I am just going to use a simple 20px sized white soft brush. Make a new layer above all the others, choose your brush and click in random spots in between your text. I am just going to click once in each spot with the mouse.

My result: