photoshop

Easy Hulk Logo on Illustrator and Photoshop

marcos333 — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:10:57 +0000

Being a great fan of comic books, I always loved the visual identities used for some famous characters. Most super-heroes logos are like a incorporation of many aspects of the characters and their superpowers. I always liked Hulk logo as everytime I look at it I always remember his famous quote "Hulk Smash".

This is a intermediary tutorial, so it's not as long and it's not as hard as my usual tutorials. As always, a tablet will be pretty handy here, but in case of not having one, you still can do it with a mouse, you're just going to have a bit more of difficulty on some parts. Anyway, hope you guys have fun and understand the simple dinamics behind this logotype formation.

Step 1

First I did a really simple rough, making 2 lines and 4 columns to simbolyze the letter tracking. Then just draw the 4 letters on a really squared version, tryin to make then quite similar.

Put it on Illustrator and use the round rectangle tool with a 0,5 cm radius to create the letter shapes. I rather use some smoother shapes as this, than just simple and sharp rectangles, because it looks less flat.

After you done all the letters, you should select them all use the pathfinder option called Unite in order to make all pieces just one.

You can also adjust some corner by creating another round rectangles over it and using the pathfinder option called Minus Front, this will get the type a all round appearance.

I used a sans serf typeface for the lettering, this one it's called Gotham Black, but you can pretty much a use a similar sans serif heavy typeface.

Outline it (command + shift + O / ctrl +shift + O), adjust the tracking between the letters as we're going to apply a offset path and so they should not overlap each other. Ok,now go to Object > Path > Offset path and set the offset to 0,2 cm.

You should get something like these, now let's apply a soft gradient using the gradient tool (G).

Step 2

Let's make the cracks around the lettering, it's quite simple, but it will be easier If you use the pencil tool (N) an a a tablet, as the irregularity of it it's easier to get this way then using a more flat tool as the pen tool (P).

Now it's time to add the reflexes to it, the logic it's simple: Put the lights on the top of every crack, at first I mays not make any sense, but just take a look at the samples bellow and you understand it.

Let's repeat the same procedure on each one of the big letters, but this time let's make it more detailed. It should look like a brick based shape, so first you're going to draw horizontal lines, then the vertical lines. Later using the pencil tool (N) add some cracks and ajust the lines to look more irregular.

This is a bit boring on the beginning, but as you understand the dynamic behing it, you will start doing it faster.

Using the same lightning rule applied on the lettering, do it again on the big letters. Remember: the light comes from the top, so most lights should be directed to this side.

Step 3

Now that we have the vector type ready, let's open photoshop and add some textures and effects. First make a black background using the paint bucket tool (G).

Paste the type as a Smart Object and select it by command + click / ctrl + click on its layer.

Then make a new layer and using the paint bucket tool (G) fill it with a neon green. Duplicate this layer (command + J / ctrl + J).

On the first one (the one on the top) you're going to apply a motion blur (Filter > Blur > Motion Blur) with this settings. Then, set his blending mode to Soft Light.

On the second one you're going to apply a radial blur (Filter > Blur > Radial Blur) with this settings. Don't forget to put both behind the smart object layer.

You should get this:

You can also add a soft outer glow on the type smart object (Layer Style > Outer Glow).

I used this grunge texture to give a a more realistic appearance to the image, you can download it right here. So first I paste it and used the smart objetc selection to create two new layer with it (command + J / ctrl + J).

On the first one I used the blending mode called Multiply and set the opacity to 50%.

On the second one I used the blending mode called overlay, in order to lighten it. Don't forget to put the one with the Multiply on the top and the overlay one bellow to get his final effect.

Conclusion

Download the Adobe Illustrator File

Download the Adobe Illustrator file used for this tutorial

About the author

My name is Marcos Torres, I'm Graphic Artist from Porto Alegre, Brasil. You can get to know more about me by acessing my Personal Website or by following me on Twitter: @marcos333. You can also see some of my last projects at my Flickr.

Sponsored Links:

The Avengers Poster in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:20:09 +0000

Super Bowl is always a great time to see some nice movie trailers and previews. One that caught my attention was for the new The Avengers movie. I am looking forward to watching this movie but I also was looking forward to trying to recreate that poster in Photoshop.

So in this tutorial we will show you how to create the shine effect of The Avengers poster using only Photoshop. We will pretty much play only with Layer Styles and the Brush Tool (B).

Step 1

First thing to do is to find the Avengers logo. Just search on Google and you will find a vector version. Then in Illustrator you will have to create 2 new versions using the Object>Path>Offset Path. Use negative value for the offset. I used 2mm for both inner and outer versions.

Step 2

Copy one by one from Illustrator to Photoshop so you will have 3 layers, inner, middle and outer. Hide the inner and middle and let's start creating the effect with the outer shape.

Step 3

Go to Layer>Layert Style>Bevel and Emboss. Use Inner Bevel for the Style, Chisel Hard for the Technique, 140% for the Depth, 50 pixels for the Size, 3 for the Soften. For the Shading use 175º, 32º Altitude and for the Gloss Contour use the same I am using in the image below. Also change the Highlight Mode to Color Dodge with white for the color at 70% Opacity. For the Shadow Mode use Color Burn with black for the color at 100% Opacity.

After that select Color Overlay. Use #32333a for the color.

Step 4

Make the middle symbol visible again and duplicate it. Hide the duplicated version for now.

Step 5

With the middle version selected go to Layer>Layer Styles>Bevel and Emboss. Use Inner Bevel for the Style, Chisel Hard for the Technique, 200% for the Depth, 20 pixels for the Size, 3 pixels for the Soften. Then for the Shading use 175º for the Angle, 32º for the Altitude. Then for the Gloss Contour use the same as the image below. For the Highlight Mode use Color Dodge with white for the color at 80% and for the Shadow Mode use Color Burn with black for the color at 70%.

For the Color Overlay use the same as the previous step.

Step 6

Go to Layer>Layer Style>Inner Shadow and then use Color Dodge for the Blend Mode with white for the color. For the Opacity use 80%, for the Angle use 175%, for the Distance use 20 pixels and for the Size use 30 pixels.

Step 7

Make the duplicated layer visible again and apply the same inner shadow as the previous step. Also for the color overlay use #21262f.

Step 8

Make the inner symbol layer visible. Then go to Layer>Layer Style>Gradient Overlay. Use #031532 for the darker color and #a4c2d6 for the lighter.

Step 9

Select Stroke and then use a gradient from light blue to white with 4 pixels for the size and inside for the position.

Step 10

Now it's time to add the shine effects. That is quite simple it's pretty much basic shapes masked. In this step just create 3 black ellipses and maske them so they will be visible only on top of the inner symbol

Step 11

Now add a new layer on top of the others and start painting some shadows using the Brush Tool (B) with black for the color. Note that this shadows only apply for the middle and outer symbols. Also note that some areas it the shadow gets blurry. You can do that by either using a soft brush or using the Blur Tool.

Step 12

Add a new layer and group it into a folder. Change the Blend Mode of the folder to Color Dodge. Select the layer and then with the Brush Tool and white for the color paint some highlights (1-5)

Step 13

Add some new hightlights if necessary, in this case I highlighted the bottom part of the arrow (1-2).

Step 14

Add the text you want using the Text Tool (T) and then using layer styles apply a linear gradient like the image below.

Conclusion

Select all layers and duplicated them, them merge all the layers into one. Go to Fitler>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 for the radius. Change the Blend Mode to Overlay at 50%. Duplicate this layer and change the Blend Mode to Screen. The last thing here is to duplicate all the layers again and merge them into one so you can add some noise to the image.

The design is quite simple as you can see and this was just an exercise. There's still quite a few fine tunes to be made, especially the contours. But now it's up to you.

Download the Photoshop file

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. You can get in follow us via Twitter at @abduzeedo

Sponsored Links:

Easy Wax Seal in Illustrator and Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:41:12 +0000

A few weeks ago I was having my Maker's Mark and decided it was time to do the wax effect they have on their brand using Photoshop. After looking for some references I found some references and started creating a wax seal using Illustrator and Photoshop.

So in this tutorial we will create a Wax Seal effect using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. The whole process is pretty much done using Layer Styles and won't take more than 45 minutes to be achieved.

Step 1

Open Illustrator and with the Ellipse Tool (L) create 3 circles.

Step 2

Using the Type on Path tool to use one of the circles to add a text following it. I added "Approved by Abduzeedo" and "Design-Inspiration-Tutorials". After that for the outer circle use the Warp Tool to distort the circle like the image below.

Step 3

Select the outer and the bigger inner circle and then using Pathfinder you subtract the center area to have just the melted wax area. Then copy that in Illustrator and paste in Photoshop in a new document.

Step 4

Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Ineer Shadow. Use Multiply for the Blend Mode, black for the color, 30% for the Opacity, 90º for the Angle, 20 pixels for the Distance, 0 for the Choke and 75 pixels for the size.

Step 5

Select Inner Glow. Use Overlay for the Blend Mode, 45% for the Opacity, White for the color, Center for the Edge, 1 for the Choke, 30 pixels for the Size and use the same contour as the image below.

Step 6

Select Bevel and Emboss. Use Inner Bevel for the Style, Smooth for the Technique, 150% for the Depth, Up for the Direction, 30 pixels for the Size, 10 pixels for the Soften, 90º for the Angle, 32º for the Altitutde. For the Highight Mode use Screen for the Blend Mode, white for the color at 65%. For the Shadow Mode use Color Burn for the Blend Mode with black for the color and 20% for the Opacity.

Step 7

For the color overlay use Burgundy for the color.

Step 5

This is the effect you will have after the first set of layer styles.

Step 6

Create a circle using the Ellipse Tool (U) add a circle underneath the wax effect we created in the previous step.

Step 7

Duplicate the circle and apply the same layer styles but let's edit a few styles.

Step 8

Here is a list of the layer styles for the circle that will be on top of the other layers. The idea is to make the circle less unifor as it was really made with wax.

Step 9

With the Eraser Tool (E) you can delete some parts of the circle as well. Again the idea is make it less uniform.

Step 10

Add another circle in the center of the wax effect.

Step 11

The layer styles will be pretty much the same but here is the screenshots of the new layer styles.

Step 12

This is the effect you will get after the layer styles.

Step 13

Copy the text from Illustrator and paste in Photoshop. Scale them to fit the design in Photoshop.

Step 14

Again the layer styles here are pretty much the same with a few adjustments in the Bevel and Emboss and Inner Shadow values.

Step 15

The text with the layer styles will look something like the image below.

Step 16

Time to add the Abduzeedo Symbol.

Step 17

Here the layer styles again will have pretty much the same as the wax in the first steps howver the Bevel and Emboss will be completely different especially technique. We will use Chisel Hard.

Step 18

Here is the symbol with the Layer Styles.

Step 19

Select all layers and duplicate them, after that merge all the new duplicate layers. After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 px for the Radius.

Step 20

Import a sand texture and place on top of the other layers. Mask the sand texture using the wax shape.

Step 21

Change the Blend Mode of the Sand texture to Overlay. Make sure your texture is in grey scale, otherwise go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate.

Step 22

Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue and Saturation. Reduce the Saturation to -20.

Step 23

Now just place a paper texture in the background. The one I am using is from Polina Katritch and it's called old paper background. The image is courtesy of Shutterstock.

Conclusion

This is another one of those effects that can always be tweaked and improved. I had an amazing time playing with this and I am sure you can improve upon it by adding your style. Now it's up to you.

Download Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Realistic Letterpress Effect in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:45:07 +0000

For the first tutorial of 2012 we wanted to have a really good one and the most important thing a very easy one because our goal for this new year is to provide good tutorials with simple techniques that achieve great outcomes. In this first case we will explore ways to create letterpress effect using Photoshop only.

So in this tutorial we will show you how to create a super easy and realistic letterpress effect using Layer Styles in Photoshop. The process is super simple and I am sure that you won't take more than 45 minutes to achieve the same result.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. I am using 2560x1600 pixels for my so I can use this design as wallpaper. After that make sure you have a black background.

The secret to create a cool letterpress effect is to use different typefaces, sizes and styles next to one another. As you can see on the image below I started with the number 2012 and then add rectangles underneath each number. Adjust the rectangles depending on the typefaces. Try to make them slightly irregular in terms of alignment.

Step 2

Select one of the rectangles and go to Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow. Use black for the color, multiply for the Blend Mode, 120 for the Angle, 5 pixels for the Distance and 18 pixels for the Size.

Step 3

Select Bevel and Emboss now and then use Inner Bevel for the Style. Chisel Hard for the Technique, 1000 for the Depth, 2 for the Size, 90º for the Angle, 5º for the Altitude, White at 58% Opacity for the Highlight Mode with Color Dodge and black at 75% Opacity for the Shadow Mode using Darker Color.

Step 4

Select Color Overlay and then use Soft Light for the Blend Mode with a dark grey for the color. Here is the trick. For each rectangle use a different shade of grey so they won't look the same.

Step 5

Select Pattern Overlay. Now it's a very important part. We need to have convincing texture to give a realistic look to our design. The texture I use is by Supertrooper called The surface of the old metal, visible rust. Courtesy of Shutterstock. So open this texture in Photoshop and go to Edit>Define Pattern. Then back to our design work, go back to the Pattern Overlay and click on the Pattern option. Select the one we just created from the photo. Change the Scale to 50%. This value will vary depending on the size of your pattern

Step 6

Here is the rectangle effect with the layer styles. Now let's work on the types.

Step 7

Select the number 2 and go to Layer>Layer Styles>Drop Shadow. Use black for the Color withe Color Burn for the Blend Mode at 25%. For the Angle use 90º with 5 pixes for the Distance, 0 for the Spread and 5 pixels for the Size.

Step 8

Select Bevel and Emboss. Use Emboss for the Style, Chisel Hard for the Technique, 625% for the Depth, Up for the Direction, 3 pixels for the Size, 0 for the Soften. Also use 90º for the Angle, 50º for Altitude. Then change the Gloss Contour using the one like I am using in the image below. For the Highlight Mode use Screen with white at 40% Opacity. For the Shadow Mode use Darker Color with black at 74% Opacity.

Step 9

For the pattern here let's use another texture. This one is by maxstockphoto and it's called Metal plate background texture. Courtesy by Shutterstock.

Step 10

Here is the final result of the text effect with layer styles.

Step 11

Repeat the same steps for the other numbers.

Step 12

To make it a bit more realistic and old let's use some dirty brushes to destroy a bit of the rectangles. Select the rectangle and then go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Then with the Brush Tool (B) and a grunge brush start paiting on the edges with black for the color. Use the image below for reference

Step 13

Here is how the effect will look like after apply the mask on the other rectangles.

Step 14

Repeat the same thing to add more words to your design. In my case I added Happy New Year 2012 and the Abduzeedo Symbol.

Step 15

Change the background layer to a radial gradient with a dark grey in the center.

Step 16

Copy the metal texture we used for the text and then paste right on top of the background layer. After that change the Blend Mode of the metal texture to Multiply.

Conclusion

You can select all layers and then duplicate them. After that merge all the new layers into a new one and apply a Gaussian Blur with 5 pixels for the Radius. Then just change the Blend Mode to Overlay at 70% Opacity. Duplicate the layer and change the Blend Mode to Screen at 40% opacity.

That is it! As I mentioned in the beginning of the tutorial, it's a very easy and straightforward technique but the result is quite nice. Now it's up to you to try it with different textures and colors. I would love to see some versions with white background as well.

Download Photoshop File

Click here to Download the Photoshop File used for this tutorial

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Medieval Metal Text Effect in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:56:11 +0000

Last week I saw the movie Immortals and before the movie I was walking around at the movie theater checking some poster. I saw the Immortals poster, as well as some old Harry Potter and all have the same kind of metal text effect. With that in mind I decided to come up with a Medieval Metal Text Effect using Photoshop.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a nice metal text effect using just layer styles. It's a simple tutorial and won't take you more than 30 minutes to go through the step by step.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and start a new document. I am using 2560x1440 pixels for the size. Fill the background layer with grey #464646.

Step 2

Search for some metal textures. I used some for Shutterstock. The one I used is from Kompaniets Taras called seamless silver metal texture with empty place for your text or image. Use Multiply for the Blend Mode

Step 3

Add a new layer and then select red and yellow for the background and foreground colors. After that go to Filter>Render>Clouds.

Step 4

With the layer selected go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Select the layer mask thumb and then change the background and foreground colors to black and white. With the layer mask thumb selected go to Filter>Render>Clouds. You will apply render clouds filter to the mask.

Step 5

Group the layer into a folder and then add a mask to the folder and apply the same render cloud filter to this new mask.

Step 6

Change the Blend Mode to Overlay.

Step 7

Add the text you want to use for this design, the one I am using was created in Illustrator and I used the font called Roman SD.

Step 8

Now it's time to create the bronze effect. To do that we will use Layer Styles. Basically we will use Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Inner Glow, Bevel and Emboss, Color Overlay and Pattern Overlay.

Step 9

For the Pattern Overlay create a metal pattern before using the same metal pattern used in the step 2.

Step 10

This is the result after the layer styles. It's pretty much done now and you can apply that to all sorts of symbols.

Step 11

Let's add some more details, this time I used a knight from a Shutterstock image called 4 Metal medals background by granata1111.

Step 12

Apply the same layer styles, the only difference is in the Pattern Overlay that this time we will apply Overlay for the Blend Mode.

Step 13

This is the effect after the layer styles. It looks god but still need some little refinements.

Step 14

This is an optional step but it always add some little magic to this kind of artwork, I am talking about Lens Flare. You can search on Google Images or Shutterstock to find one you like, I am using an image that I found on Google Images, you can download it here.

Step 15

Let's add a vignette effect, to do that is very easy. Add a new layer and fill it with black using the Paint Bucket Tool (G). After that with the Eraser Tool (E) and a very soft and rounded brush, erase the center of the image.

Step 16

Select all layers and duplicate them, after that group all the new layers into a new one. The keyboard shortcut for that is Command(mac)/Control(PC) + Alt + Shift + E. With the new layer selected go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 for the radius. After that duplicate the blurry layer. Use Overlay Blend Mode for the one that is underneath and Screen Blend Mode for the one that is on top. Also change the opacity of both layers to 50%.

Conclusion

Here is the final result. As you could see the effect was create with basically layer styles. It's a impressive how powerful layer styles are and the different kind of effects you can create. So now it's up to you to try and play around with them to come up with your own effects.

Download Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

Sponsored Links:

RAWZ Light Effects in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:51:19 +0000

Last Friday we launched our new way for users to submit work for the Daily Inspiration at Abduzeedo. We call it RAWZ or Abduzeedo Raw Inspiration. Anybody can submit their work and we will select some to be featured on Abduzeedo. We also created a logo in Illustrator and then this cool effect in Photoshop, inspired by Tron.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create the RAWZ light effect in Photoshop. It's a beginner/intermediate tutorial and it will take you 45 minutes to go through it. I hope you have fun doing it as much as I had.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. With the Paint Bucket Tool (G) fill the background layer with black.

Step 2

To create a carbon fiber texture is quite simple. Create a new document and using the Rectangle Tool (U) create squares in black, grey and dark grey like the image below. That will be the base for our pattern. Notice that the size is really small.

Step 3

With the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) create a square selection like in the image below.

Step 4

Go to Edit>Define Pattern. Name it Carbon Fiber. That was it for the pattern part.

Step 5

Back to the document of our design, add a new layer and fill it with black too. Then go to Layer>Layer Style>Gradient Overlay. Use dark grey for the colors. The darker one will be at the bottom. Also change the Blend Mode to Multiply.

Step 6

Select Pattern Overlay, then for the Pattern select the Carbon Fiber we created in the previous steps. Also change the Scale to 60%.

Step 7

Here is our carbon fiber background.

Step 8

Import the logo you would like to use. In my case I am using the RAWZ logo I created in Illustrator.

Step 9

Go to Layer>Layer Style. Select Drop Shadow. For the Blend Mode use Color Burn at 50% Opacity, 90• for the Angle, 2 pixels for Distance and 5 pixels for the Size.

Step 10

Select Stroke and then use 3 pixels for the Size, Inside for the Position, 95% for the Opacity and then for the color use #5c7a92, #000000, #5c7a92, #5c7a92, #000000, #5c7a92. For the Style use Linear and for the Angle use 90º.

Step 11

Here is the logo with the Layer Styles.

Step 12

To create the neon light in the middle is quite simple. I did that in Illustrator and imported to Photoshop.

Step 13

Select the layer you want to apply the neon effect and go to Layer>Layer Style. Select Drop Shadow. For the color use black, with Color Burn for the Blend Mode at 100% for the Opacity. For the Angle use 90º and then 2 pixels for the Distance and 3 pixels for the Size.

Step 14

Selec Outer Glow. For the Blend Mode use Screen, for the Opacity use 100% and blue (#00a2ff) for the color. Change the Spread to 0 and the Size to 9 pixels.

Step 15

Select Inner Glow. Use Lighten for the Blend Mode with cyan for the color. Also select Edge and change the Size to 10 pixels. Over the Quality change the Contour to the same as in the image below.

Step 16

Here is the result after the Layer Styles.

Step 17

Add a new layer and group it into a folder. Change the folder's Blend Mode to Color Dodge and then with the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft brush, 0 hardness, and then paint some spots ver the neon to create those light spots you can see in the image below.

Step 18

Add a new layer inside the folder with color dodge and fill it with the carbon fiber pattern. Create a marquee selection of the neon layer by clicking on the thumbnail of the layer holding Command (Mac)/Control (PC), then with the layer with the carbon fiber pattern selected, go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection. That will create really nice light effect on the neon.

Step 19

Here is what we have gotten so far.

Step 20

Select all layers and duplicate them, after that merge all the new layers into one and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 pixels for the Radius.

Step 21

Duplicate the blurry layer again, and change the Blend Mode of the one that is underneath to Overlay and the one on top to Screen.

Step 22

Group both layers into a folder and change the Opacity to 50%.

Step 23

Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter. Use Cyan for the Filter with 50% Density.

Conclusion

Here is the final result. As you can see, the whole process is quite simple and this technique is very versatile, I use it all the time. The cool new thing I believe we learn here is how to create the carbon fiber background. So now it's up to you.

Download Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Vintage Typography Experiment in Illustrator and Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 02:20:17 +0000

We all love typography and especially the vintage/retro ones. There's something on those artworks that catch our eyes and makes us really crazy about them. Despite the fact that some are quite old and done with rudimentary process the quality of the design is amazing and that's why books are the best way to get inspired by those and especially trying to learn how to do that using modern tools like Illustrator and Photoshop.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a nice vintage/retro typography based on an artwork from the book New Vintage Type: Classic Fonts for the Digital Age. The whole process will take you 2-3 hours, but it's quite simple. However it requires time. I hope you enjoy it and keep practicing always.

Simple Sketch

Step 1

Open Illustrator and create a new document. The size doesn't even matter because it's vector and we will finalize our work in Photoshop. Type the words "inspiration" and "speaks'". Use uppercase. For the speaks, create 3 different text objects, 2 for the S and one for peaks. Make the Ss bigger than the peaks like the image below.

Step 2

Select the word peaks and go to Object>Envelop Distort>Maker with Warp. Select Ark Lower. Use - 25% for the Horizontal.

Step 3

With the Ellipse Tool (L) create 3 ellipses like the image below. Note that some have thicker strokes than the others.

Step 4

Agai with the Ellipse Tool (L) add 2 circles. One at the top and the other at the bottom of the ellipses.

Step 5

Select the Blend Tool and click on the top circle, then on the botton one to create the blend. Edit the number of steps until you have something like the image below. This values might change depending on your design.

Step 6

Create an ellipse in between the 2 big ones, this new ellipse will be the path for the circles. Delete half of the ellipse then. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) select the line that the blend follows and then select the half of ellipse let. Go to Object>Blend>Place Spine. Now the circles will follow the ellipse spine.

Step 7

Duplicate the blend and flip it vertically using the transform tools via pathfinder (View>Pathfinder).

Step 8

Add more text, in this case I added by ABDUZEEDO. Also add 2 lines one at the top and the other at the bottom.

Step 9

Keed adding more elements, this time I added a rounded rectangle using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Then I typed ABDUCTED BY DESIGN.

Step 10

With the Rectangle Tool (M) create 2 rectangles, the top one thinner than the bottom and position it next to the big ellispe.

Step 11

With the Spiral Tool create a spiral to use in the end of one of the rectangles.

Step 12

With the Ellipse Tool (L) create a ellipse to fill the end of the spiral.

Step 13

Now with the Star Tool add one star, then duplicate it twice to have 3. Align and ditribute them uniformly.

Step 14

Now just duplicate elements to have the center part as the image below.

Step 15

Again with the Spiral Tool create spirals for the lines of the By Abduzeedo element.

Step 16

Select the elements of the By Abduzeedo part and go to Object>Envelop Distort>Envelop with Warp. Use Arc with the same 25% Horizontal.

Step 17

With the Line Segnent Tool (\) add 2 lines and then with the Blend Tool create a diagonal pattern like the image below.

Step 18

The select the Inspiration Speaks part and group them. Duplicate it once and change the color to white. Move this new copy so it is beneath the black text, and also move a few pixels down and right. After that duplicate this white layer and move it a few more pixels down and left, but then cut it (Edit>Cut). Select the diagonal pattern and go to View>Transparency. You will see 2 thumbs, one with the pattern and another empty. Double click on the empty one to enable the clip mask, then copy the white text in place (Command + F). That will mask the pattern with the text object.

Step 19

This is the final vector object we have. Notice that I also duplicate the By Abduzeedo part. It's up to you here, the idea is try different things :)

Step 20

Open Photoshop and import the vector image. You can do that by copying and pasting or exporting a bitmap from Illustrator. In my case the latter was the fastest one, so it was the one I recommend. Also I added here a image of the Abduzeedo logo I created in Pixelmator a long time ago for testing and place it in the center of the ellipse.

Step 21

Go to Image>Adjustments>Invert. Now we have a black background with white elements.

Step 22

Duplicate the image and with the new layer go to Filter>Sketch>Contê Crayon. Use 13 for the Foreground Level, 10 for the Background Level, Sandstone for the Texture, 150% for the Scaling and 5 for the Relief.

Step 23

With the Brush Tool (B) and some vintage/dirty brushes from Eduardo Recife (http://www.misprintedtype.com/v4/) start painting with black and white over the image. Also add a new layer and start paiting with white only. Tip: Go to Window>Brush (F5) and then create a brush activating the Shape Dynamics, Scattering and Transfer. That way you can paint of the image without looking too uniform.

Conclusion

Here is the final image, you can exaggerate a littel bit because my idea here is use this design on top of an photo, then using Screen for the Blend Mode, all the black will be transparent and only the white will be shown.

As you can see, the design process is quite simple and it's all about trying and practicing. Now we understand a bit on how this vintage elements are creating, therefore we can start creating our own. The typography books were indeed very useful.

Another Version

Download Tutorial Files

Download Illustrator and Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Reader Tutorial: Flaming Car in Photoshop by Lincoln Soares

abduzeedo — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 04:56:23 +0000

This week’s tutorial we will show you how to create a flaming car. We saw this effect before and it’s quite simple but it’s a good exercise and the result is quite good. You can also apply this effect on other images.

So let’s do that.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. Make the background with a mix of black and red (#160000). Then with the image of a car with no background. For this first step the idea is get the outlines of the car for our image. To do that, it's pretty easy. Create a new layer by duplicating the car's layer. Rename it to "Base" and hide the original. Go to Image>Adjustments>Invert.

After that go to Filter>Stylize>Find Edges. Repeat the same thing again in order to have another layer but for the Blend Mode use Hard Light. After that you can merge those 2 layers into one.

Step 2

Your image will look like this:

Step 3

Now that we've gotten the cars outline we will have to apply the light effect on it so it will look like a flaming car.

In the same layer that we created in the step 1, let's apply a Gaussian Blur. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. The value will vary depending on the resolution you are working on. In my case I used 1.6 for the Radius. After that change the Blend Mode to Scree.

Duplicate the the layer keeping the same blend mode, however let's apply a Gaussian Blur again, go to Fitler>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use 3.6 pixels. Rename this layer to "Top". Duplicate the layer we created in the first step and merge it down with this one. Then duplicate the first layer again and rename it to Red and go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation. Select Colorize and change the Saturation to 100. The Blend Mode of this layer will be Overlay.

Let's repeat this again to create the yellow version. Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation and use 40 for the Hue. Do the same again to create an orange version, then for the Hue and Saturation use -22.

After that change the Opacity of the yellow and orange layers to 50% and put them inside a folder. You can do that by selection both and going to Layer>Group Layers. Then with the group select go to Layer>Vector Mask and then delete the outlines on the rear part of the car.

Step 4

Our effect is pretty much done. Now let's duplicate the original layer that we hid on the step 1. Select it and go to Image>Adjustments>Hue an Saturation. Select colorize and change the Saturation to 100. Put this layer in a folder and rename it to Car.

Step 5

Add a new layer and name it "Superior Line" before starting adding flames and other light rays. With the Brush Tool (B) with Hardness 0 add a line following the tires skid marks and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. I used 4.5 pixels for the radius. After that go again to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation. Use +76 for the Hue. Tip: You will have to do that for the right side tires and the left ones as well.

Step 6

Now let's start mixing some images in our composition. Get some flame images ad start adding them in your image. Notice that the flame images I have they are all in black background, that way you can use Screen for the Blend Mode and the black will be transparent.

Step 7

Keep adding more flames.

Step 8

Here I added another flame image. You can change the perspective of the image by going to Edit>Transform>Perspective. Once again use Screen for the Blend Mode, and if you wan the effect to be stronger, just duplicate the layer.

Img8

Step 9

Select one of the flames that you used for the skid mark and move it so it is underneath the car. Do that for the front and rear part of the car.

Step 10

Almost done. Let's add a few more details. Add a new layer and then with the Brush Tool (B), use a rounded brush with 0% Hardness to create some little spots of fire following the skid marks. Make sure you use different sizes for the spots like the image below.

Step 11

Duplicate the layer and go to Image>Adjustment>Hue and Saturation. Select Colorize and change the Saturation to 100 and the Lightness to -50. After that change the Blend Mode to Overlay. Duplicate that layer again and go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation. Change the Hue to 76.

The next thing here is add an image of smoke like the image below.

Conclusion

That's it, our image is done. It takes a little time and work but the technique is quite simple. The end result is quite nice as well. I also hope you liked my first tutorial here at Abduzeedo. If you have any questions or want any asset I use here you can reach me at designsoares@hotmail.com

I am very happy to contribute with Abduzeedo, a blog that has helped me quite a lot.

Download Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

This tutorial was written by Lincoln Soares, an art director from São Paulo, Brazil. Lincoln has been working for over 5 years and you can check out more of his works at http://behance.com/lincolnsoares. You can also follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lincolnsoares.

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Create a Zee Vintage Label on Illustrator

marcos333 — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 05:48:43 +0000

It seems that the past 3 years had a boom of retro design, starting with the "cosmic neon lightning" 80's aesthetic that I think most of you are already bored about. Not just because it became a trend, but also because everyone with a photoshop could emulate one. So here's the thing, this new retro wave more focused on 50's and 60's design and illustration seems to be really different, why? Because most of it is hand drawn, and when it to comes to drawing, you wouldn't believe how many designers can't do it.

Let's assume, the last 20 years were pretty revolutionary to design since the computer took a big role on productivity and creation. But he also created patterns and made things more similar, some designers can't even work "old school", since they rely too much on the computer and that's not good. Drawing is a really personal rechnique, you will ever found two persons who will drawn a flower the same way, even with they pratice it. I think that's a thing this trend is rescuing. But, before someone asks, today's tutorial it's not about drawing, it's more about emulating, but sure you should thing about this subject.

Step 1

First of all, let's open Adobe Illustrator and create a new canvas with 21 x 21 cm (8,27 x 8,27 inches).

You probably already know I'm addicted to guides, they're quite useful to get layout orientation, but not exactly a need to. But If you want to use some, just unhide them (command + R/ ctrl +R) and pull from each axys to the position desired.

You should divide your layer like these, use command + L / ctrl + L to create new layers.

Using the rectangle tool (M) make this big square that fits over the canvas.

Make a rectangle inside, using the previous tool.

And another black one inside the white one. You can use the pathfinder option called Minusfront here, but it's not really necessary.

Step 2

Make this thin rectangles around the borders, use the align tool to help you out.

Then go to the pathfinder panel and choose the option called Minus Front.

Uisng the ellipse tool (L) make a circle with the center exactly on the edge of the black square. If you're using guides this will be way easier to posicionate.

Again, using the Minus Front option, get ride of this part on the square.

Repeat the same procedure on the other corners.

Using the ellips tool (L)let's make this circles filling the space the orther one took. Select the cirlce and the frame, then go to the pathfinder panel and choose the option called DIvide.

You're going to get this:

Just repeat the same proceure on the other corners.

Step 3

You probably already kno the hard gradient trick (aka. hachures), he can be really handy when trying to create a stylish frame. Using the polygon tool create a triangle. Then resize it using the selection tool (V) to make it thiner.

Tunr it black and make a group of at least three triangles that fit the white rectangles space on the frame.

Copy and paste on the other spaces.

This is a new trick a learn recently: create a square using the rectangle tool (M), then use the pucker tool on it, just set all the options to be lesse heavier.

You should get these flower shape:

Place it on the corner, then create another one inside of it with a white fill. Also add a circle inside of the last one.

Let's make a circle using the ellipse tool (L), then another one but in the corner.

Also make some leaf shapes using the pen tool (P). Copy and paste all this shapes on the other corners.

Step 4

Let's make the type, you can get this font here. First make a circle using the ellipse tool (L), then use the type on path tool, you can find it on the text type menu, it' pretty easy to use. I just wrote "Design and Web Development", then press command + O / ctrl + O to turn the type into curves.

I just copied the previous flower ornament and changed the colors to give contrast. Paste one on each extremity of the type.

Let make a circle using a white fill and a black stroke on it.

Access the stroke panel and choose to use a stroke inside the path, also add 7,53pt dashed line on it.

Using a black fill, I wrote "by" using the same type.

I dig a lot those old icons used on books and ad's with a more simplified shapes. So, as a way to symbolize the Design and Web development, I decided to use a brush and a eye. Let's start by the eye, make two circles, one with a fill other with just a stroke.

More two circles inside of the white one.

Make this dashes around the iris using the pen tool (P).

Let's make a brush, first draw this pieces using the pen tool (P).

Using the previous tool, let's add this reflexes.

Now duplicate all the shapes and just right-click on it, go to Transform > Reflect, turn the Vertical Axis.

Step 5

You can grab Snake Oil Font at Legacy of Defeat, I must say I'm addicted to this font. First you should write "ZEE", then curve it before anything command + O / ctrl + O.

Make a lot of thin rectangles using the rectangle tool (M), then use the align tools to keep an order on them. Doube-click on the letter of the type (not the shadow areas) and duplicate it.

Make a clipping mask all over the rectangles using the letter shape (command + 7 / ctrl + 7), repeat this procedure on other letters.

Also added a simple detail using the pen tool (P).

Step 6

Let's a make a trapezium using the rectangle tool (M), then adjust it using the direct selection tool (A). Duplicate it and sue the option called Unite.

I made tis folds on the ribbon by simply using the pen tool (P) and space between the shapes.

Add some of the hacures used previously. Just don't forget to add a clipping mask on them and using the direct selection tool (A) leave a space between it and the original shape.

You probably already familiar with the blend tool. In order to get a hard gradient using it, you just need to make two rectangles, one large and one thin. Then click on the tool icon and a panel will pop up, set spacing as Specified Steps and use just 5.

Grab the result and place it on the ribbon letting, duplicate it and reflect it. Then finally add a clipping mask over it.

OLd trick: Write Est. 2004 using this font. Then write agian over using a black fill, just to make a hard shadow.

Step 7

We need to add some grain in order to give that used look. We will need a little help from Photoshop so. Open it and make a squared canvas, place the whole art as a Smart Object.

Get this book texture here, using the magic wand (W), select the texture of it randomly. Back to the Smart Object layer, use this selection and create a mask, if necessary use invert the selection (command + I/ ctrl + I).

Conclusion

Trying to simulate vintage design is more about rethinking how people would create such graphics in a era without computers and, of course, lots of references. Most of the things done on the 50's and 60's were hand made, even If they look really sharp and clean, the methods and techniques were pretty basic. So part of trying to reach this aesthetic is to going back to what i call fundamental: drawing technique. If you don't know how to draw what you do on the computer, you should definitely worry about, because a good designer can't rely only on a tool. That's it. thanks for you time, hope you enjoyed it.

Download the Illustrator File

Click here to download the Illustrator file used for this tutorial.

Download the Photoshop File

Click here to download the Illustrator file used for this tutorial.

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Nike Hair in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:50:55 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I was playing in Photoshop in a Saturday afternoon and decided to create something using hair texture and photos. I was thinking about just a text with that but then I had this crazy idea of playing with the NIke Air brand to create the Nike Hair Ad in Photoshop. This idea is heavily inspired on the work of Glenn Jones AKA Glennz, always playing with real brands :)

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a funny photo manipulation to create the Nike Hair ad. The tutorial is very simple and won't take you more than 30 minutes.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. I am using 2560x1440 pixels and white background. After that get the Nike logo online. It's pretty easy to find, just do a Google Image Search

Step 2

Once you have the Nike symbol it's time to use some hair photos. The one I am using is by 1809056 Ontario Ltd and it's called long brown hair style on white. Courtesy of Shutterstock.

Place the image on your document and make sure that the Nike logo is on top of it. We will use it for reference.

Step 3

With the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) select the area of the hair image you want to use only. Delete the rest of the hair.

Step 4

Go to Edit>Transform>Warp. Start deforming the image so you can sort of make the hair follow the nike symbol.

Step 5

With the Magic Wand Tool (W) select the nike symbol. Then select the layer with the hair photo and group it (Layer>Group Layers). With the group selected go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection.

Step 6

Now that you have the base for the nike hair idea you will have to make it look more real. The secret here is start adding some hair on the edges of the symbol to make it less uniform. To do that is easy. First select the hair image again and delete the white background. Use the Magic Wand Tool (W) again and select the white part. Go to Select>Refine Edges. Enable the Smart Radius and select the brush icon. Paint over the hair and then press okay. After that just delete the selection and you will have extracted the white background of the layer.

Step 7

Start mixing some parts of the image with your logo especially the edges. The sort of tail is pretty easy (1) just add a part of the image and adjust with the warp tool again. Now the curve on the left requires more work. Notice that the edges are not perfect. So to do that just select the Brush Tool (B) with a very small and rounded brush. Then select the group with the hair and click on the mask. Now start painting on the mask with white color like as you were creating some hair.

Step 8

Select all layers and duplicate them. After that with all the duplicated layers selected go to Layer>Merge Layers. You can use the keyboard shortcut for that: Command(mac)/Control(pc) + Alt + Shift + E. With the new layer selected go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 pixels for the Radius. Change the Blend Mode of this layer to Soft Light.

Step 9

Add a new layer and then with the Brush Tool (B) and black for the color paint a little shadow underneath the symbol. You can use gaussian blur to make it very soft like the image below.

Conclusion

Just add the word Hair using Futura Condensed for the font and our funny Nike Hair image is done. As you could see the process was extremely easy. The most important thing is always the ideas. Creating funny representations of brands is a good exercise and we can always learn a lot from that. Now it's up to you, I would love to see what you can come up with :)

Download Photoshop File

Download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Captain America Shield in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 03:09:21 +0000

I haven't had the chance to watch Captain America in the theaters yet, however I've seen the poster all over San Francisco. Every time I see it I think to myself that would be awesome to create that shield in Photoshop. This morning I woke up and decided that I would do that :)

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create the Captain America shield using Photoshop. The whole process is quite simple and won't take you more than 45 minutes.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. I am using 2600x2600 pixels. Fill the background layer with black using the Paint Bucket Tool (G).

Step 2

With the Ellipse Tool (U) create a circle in the center of the document using red (#d51a37) for the color.

Step 3

With the Magic Wand Tool (W) select the area of the circle and then add a new layer on top of the red layer.

Step 4

Fill the new layer with white using the Paint Bucket Tool (G).

Step 5

Go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Make sure you have black and white for the background and foreground colors. Use 150% for the Amount, Gaussian for the Distribution and select Monochromatic.

Step 6

With the marquee selection still active go to Filter>Blur>Radial Blur. Use 40 for the Amount, Spin for the Blur Method and Best for the Quality.

Step 7

Go to Image>Adjustment>Levels. Change the Input Levels using 103 for the black, 1.00 for the grey and 192 for the white inputs.

Step 8

Change the Blend Mode to Darken at 100% Opacity.

Step 9

Repeat the same thing now to create the grey circle of the shield.

Step 10

Repeate the same steps to create the 3 other circles and the star. Notice that for each object I created the radial brush effect.

Step 11

Time to add some realism to the shield. First thing to do is use Layer Styles. Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Drop Shadow. Use white for the color, LInear Dodge (Add) for the Blend Mode, -4º for the Angle, 5 pixels for the Distance and 4 pixels for the Size. Also change the Contour for the one I am using in the image below.

Step 12

Select Inner Shadow. Use Linear Burn for the Blend Mode, black for the color, 90% for Opacity, 45º for the Angle, 5 pixels for the Distance, 0% for the Choke and 3 pixels for the Size. Alos use the same Contour style I am using in the image below.

Step 13

Select Stroke. Use 2 pixels for the Size, Inside for the Position and black for the color.

Step 14

Apply the layer style on all circles and the star. You migh have to make a few adjustments depending on the size of your design.

Step 15

Time to add some textures. The one I am using is courtesy of Shutterstock and you can find it at http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-20761540/stock-photo-metal-plate-backgro...

Step 16

Apply the circle mask on it and also change the Blend Mode to Soft Light.

Step 17

Import a new texture, this one is from DeviantArt and you can find it here http://wojtar-stock.deviantart.com/art/metal-texture-4-60021019. Also paint with white using the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft brush. This white will be important for the blend mode in order to create some highlights.

Step 18

Change the Blend Mode to Color Burn at 30%.

Step 19

Add a new layer and using the Gradient Tool (G) with the Angle Style, fill the layer with a gradient using black and white. As you can see from my image I created a custom gradient for this effect.

Step 20

Change the Blend Mode to Overlay at 80%.

Step 21

Duplicate the layer and change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge at 30%. Then go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. Select the Brush Tool (B). With a very soft brush and black for the color start painting the areas you want to hide. In our case the areas 1,2 and 3)

Step 22

Add a new layer on top of the others and then create a marquee selection of the circle area. Then go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Make sure you have black and white for the background and foreground colors.

Step 23

Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light at 50% Opacity.

Conclusion

Select all layers and duplicate them, after that merge all the new layers into a new one via Layer>Merge Layers. With the new layer selected go to Image>Adjustment>Desaturate. Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light at 50%.

As you can see the whole process was quite simple, we used basic filters and textures. The secret was the Blend Modes to create the light effects necessary to give realism to the scene.

Download the Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial.

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Colorful Photos of Bicycle Couriers by Alain Delorme

AoiroStudio — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:38:22 +0000

This is a great example of taking a simple picture, reinvented and retouched into a beautiful set of pictures taken by France based photographer Alain Delorme. The theme from this "Totems" set is to target the complexity of what the bicycle couriers have to carry on their everyday basis in which making them the true heros of Shanghai of the modern times.

To have more information about Alain Delorme, you can check out his website at AlainDelorme.com.

About the author

My name's François Hoang and my alias's Aoiro Studio. I am a self-taught freelance graphic designer from Montreal, Canada. I've been designing for the last 4 years and really have a huge passion for creative work that makes a difference in our world. If you wanna requests some posts; I can be found on Twitter or feel free to contact me.

Sponsored Links:

Dark Knight Rises Poster in Photoshop

abduzeedo — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 05:36:31 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I saw the new Dark Knight Rises poster and I love it. The concept was beautiful, using negative spaces to show the Batman symbol. As usual I started to think about ways to do that in Photoshop, then last Saturday I started looking for assets and trying to put together the first concept. After a couple of hours searching for images I found good ones and had a nice start.

Today, Sunday, I woke up 6:30 in order to finish this piece and of course share with you my process. As you will see in this tutorial, the technique behind is pretty simple and straightforward. I didn't want to create exactly the same because I know it's impossible due the assets and I believe the original one was done using 3D.

So in this tutorial I will show you how to create the Dark Knight Rises poster in Photoshop. Be ready, it might take you a few hours, but the result is really nice and you will be able to apply this technique in other future projects, I am really sure of that.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and create a new document. I am using a portrait mode for the poster, the size is 2550x3500 pixels. After that fill the background layer with grey (#b0adad).

Step 2

The next step is find the Batman logo. Search it on Google, it's pretty easy to find. Once you have the logo, place it in your canvas like the image below. The color doesn't really matter, we will use for masking reference.

Step 3

As I said in the beginning this tutorial is a big photo collage, in which the most important thing is finding the right assets. In this part we have to place some buildings. I found quite useful images on Shutterstock and you can check them out here:

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-20863036/stock-photo-modern-buildings-in...
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-346534/stock-photo-three-corporate-build...
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2286315/stock-photo-corporate-buildings-...
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-80798674/stock-photo-corporate-buildings...

Step 4

Start placing the buildings using the batman logo for reference of position and size.

Step 5

Here we have covered all canvas and the logo is our negative space.

Step 6

In order to create all the shatters and destruction in the original poster I used some other images from Shutterstock that I had downloaded while back. It's good to have these assets because you can always reuse them later. This one can be found at http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-73243228/stock-photo-abstract-character-...

Step 7

Just copy some shatters from the image and start placing in your scene. You can resize and rotate them, or even create a brush. I was lazy so I was copying and pasting them.

Step 8

In order to make the effect more realistic it's necessary to add some motion blur to these shatters. So for every block go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. Use the building perspective for Angle reference.

Step 9

Here you have the scene with the shatters.

Step 10

Everything was too clean an perfect in terms of textures and colors. So in order to solve that I placed a big concrete texture on top of the other layers with Multiply for th Blend Mode. Don't worry about colors yet, we will get there in a few.

Step 11

Select all layers but the background and go to Layer>Group Layers. After that with the Magic Wand Tool (W) select the batman symbol. You can hide the batman symbol layer right after that.

Step 12

With the group selected go to Layer>Layer Mask>Hide Selection Now the buildiing and the shatters will be hidden on the area that th batman symbol was. It looks good but it's too perfect. So in order to solve that let's use the Brush Tool (B) and create a brush using a grunge brush. Just Google for grunge brushes in Photoshop. Tip: Reduce the spacing, use Shape Dynamics and Scattering in order to make a brush that is perfect for destruction effects.

After that start painting in the mask with black and the new brush. The idea here is destroy the edges of the batman symbol to make it very subtle.

Step 13

Add a layer on top of the others and then with the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft brush, start painting the edges of the canvas with black to create a vignette effect.

Step 14

The image still was too clean in my opinion, so I added a few more shatters and also paint some of the white windows with black using a grunge brush. The idea is make the image really destroyed. Another detail is when you are make the edges of the batman symbol less uniform, try to make it was the buildings were really falling a part. So keep some windows and structure of the building visible. Use the image below for reference.

Step 15

Time to fix the color problem. There are many ways to do that, but my idea is find a quick fix. So go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue and Saturation. Change the Hue to 195, the Saturation to 8 and the Lightness to -7.

Step 16

Now go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels. Use 29 for the black input, 1.00 for the grey and 155 for the white input. Tip: both adjustment layers have to be on top of the other layers.

Step 17

Here is the image after the adjustment layers. It looks really nice aready.

Step 18

Here lets add some clouds in the sky. Just use any clouds image you find, desaturate it and place it using multiply for the Blend Mode. If you place it on top of the other layers, use the same mask you are using for the buildings to show only the batman symbol area.

Step 19

Add a new layer behind the buildings layer and the with the Brush Tool (B) and a very small brush with black, start painting some sort of lines on top of the building like in the destructed areas.

Step 20

The original poster had some rocks falling from the sky. So let's add some rocks too. I used another image from Shutterstock for reference, you can find it here http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-24964786/stock-photo-zoom-of-gravel-gray.... I just selected one rock copied and pasted it in my design.

Step 21

Paste the rock in your design and select it. After that go to Edit>Define Brush. You will create a brush with the shape of the rock. Edit the brush and for the Shape Dynamics make sure you have Flip X and Y selected, also Size Jitter. Select Scatter too in order to make the brush very random.

Once you have the brush done, start painting some rocks falling from the sky. Follow the perspective and make the ones on top smaller than the ones close to the bottom of the page. You can see I used white for the color, don't worry about that, we will fix this issue with Layer Styles.

Step 22

Go to Layer>Layer Style>Pattern Overlay. Select Multiply for the Blend Mode and for the Pattern select Black Marble (it's a default one).

Step 23

Select Color Overlay. For the Blend Mode use Multiply and for the color use a dark grey.

Step 24

Now select Inner Shadow. For the color use White; for the Blend Mode use Color Dodge; for the Angle, this is really important, depending where the rocks are, use an angle that follows the perspective of the building they are in front of. In this case 121º. For the Distance use 28 pixels, for the Choke 0 and for the Size 25 pixels.

Step 25

Here are the rocks with the layer styles. Notice that the adjustment layers are on top of the rocks layer as well. Another important thing here is to apply motion blur (Filter>Blur>Motion Blur) to the rocks as we did for the other layers in the steps 7-9.

Step 26

Add more rocks in your design. Remember the inner shadow angle will vary according to the location of the rocks.

Step 27

Select all layers and duplicate them, after that merge all the duplicated layers into one. The shortcut for that is Command(mac)/Control(pc) + Alt + Shift + E. Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light at 50% Opacity. Duplicate this new layer and change the Blend Mode to Screen at 100% Opacity. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 pixels for the Radius.

Conclusion

Delete pretty much the whole layer with the screen mode, leave just a few areas around the batman symbol to create a sort of glowing effect. The design is practically done.

As you could see, most of the process was messing with layers and adding some blurs. The most difficult part is finding the right assets, once you find them it's putting everything together and adjust them to make the image look real. It's a really nice technique and I love this posters and recreate them to learn new things and practice Photoshop more. Now it's up to you. Have fun.

Download the Photoshop File

Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Quick Tips: Instagram your images using Photoshop

AoiroStudio — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 07:41:00 +0000

Instagram reinvented the photo sharing on our social media structure. It's a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your pictures to friends and family. And what I like the most about Instagram, are the various schemes that offers you to filter your pictures with your own little touch.

My all-time favorite Instagram filter is the "Nashville" and today, I will show you a quick tutorial about how to achieve that same effect on your images. It's a very simple effect and very easy to accomplish in Photoshop.

Step 1

Open your image in Photoshop and double-click on the background layer to make into a layer and named it Nashville.

For this tutorial, I've used an image from Patrick Smith from Patrick Smith Photography. You can check more of this work on his Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography.

Step 2

Create a new layer and fill it with the color (Red: 247 , Green: 217 , Blue: 173) and leave the opacity to 100% and your blending options to "Multiply".

Step 3

Click back on the "Nashville" layer and click Image > Adjustments > Curves. First go into the green channel and put the output to 37 and then go to the blue channel and put the output to 133.

Step 4

After click Image > Adjustments > Levels, change the gamma (the middle) to 1.36 and the input to 236.

Step 5

Now let's play the contrast by going to Image > Adjustments > Brightness / Contrast. Put the brightness to 6 and contrast to 51. Don't forget to uncheck "Use Legacy" if it is checked.

Step 6

Give another curves to the image by again going to Image > Adjustments > Curves. But this time go to the green channel and put the input to 13 and in the blue channel, put the input to 88.

Step 7

To give more depth let's change again the contrast by going to Image > Adjustments > Brightness / Contrast. Simply enter the brightness to -6 and contrast to 33.

Step 8

Give another one last curves touch by going to Image > Adjustments > Curves. Go to the red channel and put the output to 4 and in the blue channel, put the output to 14. Lastly merge all the layers to visible.

Final Words

That's it! This is how we create the "Nashville" filter from Instagram in Photoshop. At this point, the rest is up to your creativity to experiment different concepts to finish this image.

You can also use the same technique for your own images and also create an action in Photoshop. By creating an action, you'll just have to play the action instead of redoing all the steps!

Download the Photoshop File

Download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Filter Forge Contest Winners & Free Patterns for Download

nathanbweller — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:24:37 +0000

A few weeks ago we held a design contest sponsored by Filter Forge with the prize being a free copy of their software up for grabs to the top three contestants. However, just in case you didn't catch that first post, here's a brief explanation of who/what Filter Forge is: Filter Forge is a high-end graphic software allowing you to create visual effects, enhance photos, generate textures, and process images. It features 7500+ free ready-to-use realistic and abstract textures and effects, and a powerful visual editor to create custom ones. Filter Forge can operate as a standalone application or as a plug-in for Photoshop and compatible hosts, under Windows or Mac OS X.

So, without further ado, here are your Filter Forge contest winners:

Jerry Maninang

Gaggo Ponti

DOTY (email address, didn't send name)

If you are one of the above three winners I will be sending your email addresses to Filter Forge today so that they can send you the serial numbers that validate the trial software you downloaded! Congratulations!

Additionally, I'd like to mention that Filter Forge has some new free patterns that everyone can download. They recently released "Freepack 6" which contains nine seamless patters. I've include some samples below. [Download here]

About the author

Hi, my name is Nathan Weller. I'm a Columbus Ohio based artist, blogger and freelance consultant. I manage business development here at Abduzeedo. If you'd like to partner or advertise with us, email me at nathan[@]abduzeedo.com. I also write for some other cool blogs and post everything I write on twitter. If I'm not working then I'm either tinkering around with personal projects or posting cool stuff as I find it on my Tumblr. If you're passionate about art or even an artist yourself, I'd love to connect and learn about what you do :)