Design Magazine

http://cs5tutorial.net/creative-photoshop-animal-king-photo-manipulation-tutorial/

Step 1: Open the Napoleon image & Crop it

First of all open the painting of Napoleon. It is a famous painting done in 1806 and it can be used as it’s copyright has expired and it is now in the public domain. It was found it on Wikimedia Commons which is a good site for such images.
Use the Crop Tool (C) to crop the steps off the bottom of the image to improve the compostion and bring more attention to the head.

Step 2: Add Lions Head

Import the image “Male Lion”. Using Free Transform (Ctrl +T) resize the image and rotate it slighty so that it fits well on the body

Step 3: Blend lion head into body

Add a layermask to the layer with the lion’s head either by Layer > Layer Mask > Reval All or by clicking on the Add layer mask icon on the Layers window. You can paint in greyscale in the layer mask. Using a black brush hides the image at the corresponding position on the layer while a white brush will reveal it. Different shades of grey can be used for different opacities. Use a Soft Black Brush around the lions head on the layer mask to hide the surrounding scenery. You can use the ] to increase brush size and [ to decrease brush size.
Use the Dodge & Burn tools to adjust the lighting of the lion head.
Then sharpen the image by using Filter >Sharpen > Sharpen to get the lions head the same sharpness as the background
A lions head is bigger than a human head so it will cause more of shadow on the body. The lion stock already has a prominent shadow with a clear path on it to follow. Use the Polygonal Lasso to select an area below the head where the shadow is likely to fall. Use a soft brush in the Eraser tool to erase parts of the shadow to make it more realistic. Set the layer to Soft Light and turn down the Opacity to 50%

Step 4: Making the throne more jungle

Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N). Outline the edge of the throne using the Pen Tool (P) ( make sure the pen tool is in path mode). Right click on path and select make selection…and fill selection with a green colour. Use the eraser to get rid of areas of green which are blocking objects which would be infront of the throne. Set layer to Color mode.
Right click the above layer and select blending options. The settings used are in the image below. The patterns used are photoshop defaults under the texture fill category.

Step 5: Add vegetation on the throne

We are going to add more vegetation around the throne to make it look more jungle. Firstly add some flowers to the greenery on the throne to make it look more regal. To do this select select the greenry by Ctrl + left click on the layer containing it. On a new layer brush on some flowers using a 3px round brush on 30% opacity to brush in the flowers, the brush settings are shown below. Play around with the colour and opacity of the brush to get different shades of flowers.

Step 6: Add vegetation around the the throne

Open the image “Potted Plant”in a new document. Use select > colour range to select the white in the image. Adjust the fuzziness so that as much white is selected without much of the plant being selected. Ctrl + Shift + I to selected inverse. Add a layer mask, this will mask out the white part of the image. The pot part of the image is not needed so using a black brush on the layer mask hide the pot and the shadow of the plant. Then drag the layer into the main document and resize it using Free Transform (Ctrl +T),

If there is a white line around the leaves select the layer mask (Ctrl + left click ), select inverse (Ctrl + Shift + I) and feather (Ctrl + Alt + D) by 2 pixels. Delete this selection to get rid of any excess white lines around the leaves.
Repeat the above steps with the “Potted Flower” and the “Palm” stock.

Step 7: Arranging and blending the vegetation

The palm leaves are going to be above the throne while flowers are going to rest at the feet of the throne with the leafy plant standing behind the flowers. Arrange the plants into their respective positions making sure the flower layer is above the plant layer.
Duplicate the layers with the vegetation to build up the thickness of the vegetation. Use the black brush on the layer mask as needed to make sure the duplicates blend well with the originals.
After achieving the right thickness and distribution of the different vegetation merge all layers of the same type of vegetation for ease of use. This can be done by selecting all the layers using Ctrl + Left Click and right clicking on the layer and selecting Merge layers.
Play around with Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to make the colours of the vegetation blend a bit more. The leafy plant and the palm leaves will need to be desaturated slighty as well as made a little darker as they are more in the background of the image.
Erase parts of the vegetation that are blocking objects that would be infront of them in the image.
Use the Dodge & Burn tools to adjust the lighting of the vegetation.

Step 8: Add a Crown

Theres no king without a crown. Import the “Crown” image to a layer above the lions head and using the Pen Tool (P) select the black area and get rid of it. Using the Free Transform (Ctrl +T) resize the crown to an appropriate size.
Make the crown fit the lions head using the Perspective (Edit > Transform > Perspective) and Warp (Edit > Transform > Warp) Tools
Use the Dodge & Burn tools to adjust the lighting of the crown.

Step 9: Add some skulls

As the King the lion is dominant over man and beast and to symbolise this we are going to add the skull of a man and the skull of an animal either side of the throne. A cow’s skull will be placed on the golden pedestal on the lions left. Cover the globe that is there with the surrounding red cloth using the Clone Stamp Tool.
Import the “Cow Skull.” Remove the white background of the skull using the Pen Tool (P) and use the Free Transform (Ctrl +T) to resize the skull to an appropriate size.
Make the skull fit on the pedestal using the Perspective (Edit > Transform > Perspective) & Warp (Edit > Transform > Warp)Tools
Using Image>Adjustments >Brightness/Contrast… reduce the brightness and the contrast of the skull.
Use the Dodge & Burn tools to adjust the lighting of the skull

Step 10: Add the human skull.

A human skull will be placed on the golden pedestal on the lions right. The globe only needs to be partially covered as globe can be used as reference for the lighting on the skull. Cover the edge of the globe surrounding red cloak using the Clone Stamp Tool. Cover only part of globe that the skull wouldn’t be infront of.
Import the “Human Skull” image. Remove the white background of the skull using the Pen Tool (P). Use the Free Transform (Ctrl +T) to resize the skull to an appropriate size .
Make the skull fit the pedestal using the Perspective (Edit > Transform > Perspective) & Warp (Edit > Transform > Warp)Tools just like in the previous step
Using Image>Adjustments >Brightness/Contrast… reduce the brightness and but increase contrast of the skull. And using Image>Adjustments >Hue/Saturation reduce some saturation of the skull.
Use the Dodge & Burn tools to adjust the lighting of the skull
Use a soft black brush of low opacity to shade the edge of the cloak and to make the skulls shadow.

Step 11: Add an advisor for the king.

Import the “Snake” image.
Remove the white background of the snake using the Pen Tool (P). Use the Free Transform (Ctrl +T) to resize the skull to an appropriate size . The intention is to make the snake twirl around the lions cane.
Copy and paste the straight part of the snake on to a new layer. Arrange it using the Free Transform (Ctrl +T) to move it and rotate it so that the snake starts to look as if it is wrapped around the cane. Duplicate the straight part of the snake till the snake starts to look as if it is wrapped around the length of the cane and is dissapearing into the kings cloak.
Use a soft round eraser to smooth the harsh edges of the duplicate so that the parts of the snake starts blending into each other.
Once all the different duplicates are blended together merge them into a single layer.
Using the eraser remove parts of the snake which would be behind the cane.
Use the Dodge & Burn tools to adjust the lighting of the snake.

Step 12: Adjusting the base image

Lions are thought of as being very strong animals so we are going to make the body parts of the king larger. For this we will be editing the intial layer (make sure to duplicate the first layer as an insurance). Use the Bloat Tool (B) in the Liquidify Filter (Shift + Ctrl + X) on the intial layer to make the large muscle areas of the body even larger.
Use Dodge & Burn to even out the lighting on the base layer.

Step 13: Overall adjustments

Select the uppermost layer and then create a new Adjustment Layer by Layer >New Adjustment Layer > Black & White. Play around with the dials for the different colours until the black and white preview is balanced brightness wise. then set the adjustment layer to Luminosity and the Opacity to 50%
Create a new layer above the adjustment layer (Shift + Ctrl + N). Do Ctrl + A to select all the canvas and (Shift + Ctrl + C) to copy merged. Paste this into the new layer you have created using Ctrl + V.
As the final step use the Reduce Noise Filter (Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise) on the copy merged layer to make the image smoother and more like a painting. Play around with the settings to get the feeling that you desire but make sure the Strength is very high (7-9) and the Preserve Details very low (1-10%)

Final Result

http://cs5tutorial.net/how-to-create-an-abstract-floral-explosion-in-photoshop/

Step 1: Creating a New Document

First of all, create a new document at 1000x1000px and use a white background.

Step 2: Insert The Fiddle

Make a selection around the violin image. The Easiest way to do this step is by using the Magic Wand tool ( see settings below, make sure you activate the add to Selection button (circled on left) and check the (Contiguous option). Click several times to select all of the background area, which is colored white. Then Inverse the selection (just press Ctrl+Shift+I).
Press Ctrl+C to copy the violin (which is now selected), and then paste ( Ctr+V ) it to the document we created before. Adjust the size by using Free Transform Command (Press Ctrl+T).

Step 3: Add The Leaf Image

Open the rose image. Using Polygonal Lasso tool, create selection around the leaf. See image below.
When you’re done with selection, copy and paste leaf image over the violin’s layer in the other document. Clear the white color around the leaf by using Magic Wand tool (just click the white color and then press Delete). Deselect by pressing Ctrl+D.
Drag the leaf layer (Layer 2) below violin’s layer (Layer 1). Using Free Transform command (Ctrl+T), adjust the size and rotate it to right a bit. Press Enter when you’re done.

Step 4: Color Adjustment

Editing would be simpler if we rename layers by it’s content, so feel free to do so. I’ll refer to layers by name to make things simpler from this point on. Just rename layer 1 to “violin” and layer 2 to “leaf”.
Select the violin layer, then press Ctrl+L to bring up the Levels dialog. Adjust Input Levels valueas shown below to increase the contrast. Click OK when done.
Activate the leaf layer, use the Levels command to make increase the leaf’s contrast. Then use Hue/Saturation (Ctrl+ U) command to adjust leaf’s color to make the greens more vibrant, green, and saturated. See image below for details.

Step 5: Arranging Leaves Part.1

Duplicate the leaf layer by pressing Ctrl+J. With the leaf layer copy still selected, adjust the position and rotate it right a bit. See image example below.
Repeat this duplicating process until you get 5 leaf layers. Play around with the size, rotation and position of each leaf layers until you get a very nice layout. Remember, we’re using the Free Transform function, so be sure to touch up on the Transform functions if you’re having trouble.

Step 6: Shadows and Highlights

Click the original leaf layer (It should be the bottom leaf layer). Select the Burn tool. Pick a soft round brush and adjust the brush diameter around 30 to 40 px. Reduce the Exposure value to 25%. Now use it to create shadows like shown in this example.
Now we need to make highlights using the Dodge tool. Make sure you pick a soft round brush and reduce the Exposure value to 25% when doing this.
Repeat this process for all of the leaves layer. You should be end with leafs that have much more depth than when we began.

Step 7: Duplicating Leaves

This kind of illustration always ends with a lot of layers, so it’s a better idea to keep these layers organized within layer groups. Below, you can see the simplest way to create a layer group and rename them after.
Now we’re going to balance the composition by duplicated the leaves on the right of the violin to show on the left as well. Rather than starting from scratch, you can just duplicate the group we just created by right clicking on the leaf right layer group, then choosing Duplicate Group from the popup menu.
Name the layer group duplicate’s: leaf left. With the layer group leaf left still selected, click menu Edit> Transform> Flip Horizontal, all leaf layers should be flipped to the left now. Using the Move tool, drag the layer group leaf left so the leaves are positioned on the violin’s left side.

Step 8: Arranging Leaves Part.2

Duplicate layer group leaf left, rename its duplicate to leaf-FL. Drag layer group leaf-FL over the violin layer.
Re-arrange the leaves using Move tool and Free Transform command. Try to make the leaves’s layout like the one below. Because the leaves are different from before, you should re-define the shadow and highlight area of each leave. Use Dodge and Burn tool to do this.
Duplicate layer group leaf-FL, and then rename the duplicated layer group to leaf-FR . Flip the leaves via menu Edit> Transform> Flip Horizontal. Place these leaves on the bottom right of violin.

Step 9: Arranging Leaves Part.3

Duplicate leaf-FL layer group once more, then rename the duplicated group to leaf-BL. Drag this layer group below layer group leaf right.
Re-arrange the leaves using Move tool and Free Transform command. Arrange the leaves’s layout like the one below. Again, redefine shadows as needed, and duplicate this group so that there are leaves along the back left and back right of the violin.

Step 10: Adding the Rose

Open the rose image again. Select the rose petals, using any selection tool you like. The fastest way is using Quick Selection tool ( available only in Photoshop CS3/CS4 ), but you can also use Magic Wand or polygonal lasso tool.
When done selecting, copy and paste the rose
image over the leaf-FR layer group. Adjust rose’s size and then place it down with the leaves.
Rename layer 3 (rose’s layer) to rose. Bring up the Levels Dialogue (Ctrl+L), then adjust theinput levels value until rose’s color becomes more vibrant as shown below. If you’re not satisfied with the result, use the burn and dodge tools to bring out the shadowns and highlights in the Rose.

Step 11: Adding a Blood Drip

For my piece, I’d like to add some flare to the Rose with a drop of blood falling from it. Open the blood image, select it using any selection tool you like. When done, copy-paste it over the rose’s layer.
Rename layer 3 to blood. Now drag it down so it placed below rose’s layer. Adjust the blood’s size and then place it below the rose.

Step 12: Expanding Canvas Size

By using Crop tool, make a rectangular selection like this one below. Then adjust the control point so it’s out of the canvas. Press Enter to finish this step (only effective within Photoshop CS above). The canvas should be expanded right now.
If you don’t have photoshop CS yet, expand canvas size from the Image > Canvas Size menu.

Step 13: Shadow layer

Create a new layer above the violin layer. Name the new layer “shadow”.
Grab the Brush tool. Pick a soft round brush with 65px diameter size. Set the Mode to Normal and reduce Opacity to 25%. Start drawing shadows for the leaves (make sure you set the foreground color to black) using the Brush tool. See the example below.

Step 14: Using Floral Brush

Create a new layer below the violin layer. Name the new layer to floral. Load the Suddendly Spring Brushes and make sure you set the brush Opacity back to 100%.
Use these brushes to create some flower shape around the violin. Vary the brush size and shape until you get a nice result.

Step 15: Alter the Floral Color

Create a new layer between the floral and violin layer. Name the new layer to floral color. Set foreground color to red and background color to black. Then use Filter> Render> Clouds to create a red and black cloud..
To put the clouds inside the flowery shape( floral layer ), simply press Alt+Ctrl+G (make sure you still have the floral color layer selected). Now floral color has become a clipping mask, the clouds will now appear inside the floral shapes.

Step 16: Adding Debris

Load the Debris Brush. Then Create a new layer above floral color layer (if the new layer becomes a clipping mask, simply press Alt+Ctrl+G to cancel it). Name the new layer, debris. Use the debris brushes to create some debris around the leaves and violin. For better result, vary the brush size and color so it matches the environment.

Step 17: Coloring Background

Grab the Gradient tool. From the option bar, choose foreground to background color and make sure you activate the linear gradient button. Change the foreground color to #C4DF9C and background color to white. Select the background layer, then use Gradient tool to create the gradient (drag it vertically from bottom to top).

Step 18: Adding Paper Texture

Load the Crushed Paper Brush. Pick pure pea green (#8dc63f) as the brush color.
Show the Brush Pallette by pressing F5. Then open the Brush Tip Shape option. Adjust brush Diameter to 1400px and Change the Angle to 90. Use this brush to create the crushed paper texture (still on the background layer).

Step 19: Adding Smoke

Load the Smoke and Ink Brushes. Pick white as the brush color. Now use it to draw some mystic smoke around the violin. If the smoke is too bright, undo your work and then try lowering the brush opacity before you draw the smoke again.

Step 20: Adding Smoke

Load the Flower Tattoos Brushes. Pick some of this brush to create an ornament below the violin. For better result, vary the brush color. You may end up like this example below.

Step 21: Adding Text

Almost done! I’m going to name my piece, and maybe you’ll choose to do the same. Using the Horizontal Type tool, add some text above the ornate markings created previously.
And you’re done! Hope you enjoy the tutorial and learned something new here!