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JAN292013

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by James Qu

THE CREATION OF“APOCALYPTICA”DIGITAL ART INPHOTOSHOPPOSTED IN PHOTO EFFECT

This tutorial is written exclusively forPSD Vault by Olga Dabrowska.

In this Photoshop Tutorial, I will show you how Icreated apocalyptic scene using various stockphotos in Adobe Photoshop CS5, with a littlehelp of Adobe Lightroom 4.

I will not explain basic actions used here so it ismeant for intermediate to advanced PS users.Most of steps for this walkthrough use basicskills like cutting out objects from background,changing colors and using gradient fills, scaling,transforming etc. As every artist has their own

method for these, I am showing overall workflowto create such scene.

Final Image Preview: (Click to Enlarge)

To complete this tutorial, you will need thefollowing stocks:

Model

City of Shanghai

Background

Sky

http://bloodlust-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/1185400#/dn4wpe

http://fav.me/d29m9gx

http://fav.me/d3hwvmd

Dead bushes

Skull

F18 Hornet

Textures:

http://fav.me/d2btip9

http://fav.me/d1rlzx7

http://lostandtaken.com/blog/2012/6/25/10-digital-noise-textures.html

http://resurgere.deviantart.com/art/Package-Muddy-2-23183257

Brusheshttp://www.daz3d.com/utilities-resources/brushes-effects?vendor=659

Step 1 – MODEL

For this scene I needed modern looking modeland while browsing through huge stock galleryat deviantart.com I found this wonderful shot ofa girl that perfectly suited my needs.

The pose shows worrying, fear, uncertainty and

these we need to create a vision of end of theworld. While cutting out model I always copybackground of the photo [Ctrl+J] and insert newlayer between background and copy, filled with50% grey. This lets me see mistakes at theedges. As said, I won’t go into details of cutting,I used Pen Tool to select the model, createdselection based on the path, inverted selectionand hit [Ctrl+X].

I didn’t worry about the hair as I repainted itcompletely. There are many ready made hairbrushes in the internet but I prefer to paint itfrom scratch, using model hair as base so bestfor me are any spatter brushes, their opacity andsize set to pen pressure.

Of course, I am using tablet. Here is model afterlevel adjustments (to make more contrast), colorbalance (set to show more saturation) andpainted hair. Ready to be pasted in thebackground that is yet to be created.

Step 2 – BACKGROUND

Creating background from many photos isexciting and fun work. Let’s make newdocument 3000x4000px 300dpi and startpasting roughly your chosen photos.

Set your light direction at this moment! I usedpart of background with stones to make nicebase for the model, photo of Shanghai that hadjust the perfect perspective and several photosof various skies. Sky layers are below all layersand every time I wanted to remove part of thesky to preserve interesting cloud or anotherarea, I used layer mask to be able to restoreparts should I change my mind.

Top part of Shanghai photo has been erased, aswell as sky. Sky photo http://fav.me/d29m9gxhas been put in Overlay mode with opacityaround 70-80%, this created nice lighting rightaway.

Always try to play with layer modes when youwork with sky – some photos can be usedpartially and some can be used as a whole invarious modes only to create good light, like inthis case.

As photos have different coloring and they needto be blended well, I adjusted levels and colorbalance for each new layer and at the end usedgradient fill layer [Layer-New Fill Layer-Gradient Fill] and used warm yellow color withlinear gradient put on top of all backgroundlayers. During my workflow I use many gradientfills with low opacity and colors picked from theimage to unify photographs I use.

The result, after playing with opacity and layermode of gradient fill that in the end was put inSoft Light mode.

Side note: get friendly with layer masks andadjustment layers. They let you modify justabout any aspect of the layer and get back tooriginal state should you change your mind. Butwarning – they make huge psd files!

Step 3 – MODEL +BACKGROUND

Simply copy-paste your model on top ofbackground layers but below last gradient fill(the yellow one). The model instantly getswarmer coloring but still looks bad, we’ll work onthat later.

For now we need to make her stand on theground rather than float so create layer maskand with soft brush, black color, make parts ofboots invisible.

If too much, invert colors hitting X and paint withwhite, revealing boots. When you’re satisfied,create new layer below the model and paint

shadows with soft brush, dark warm brown colorpicked from the ground on which the model isstanding. Put the layer in Soft Light mode, copyif too light and lower opacity of this copy. Nowthe model is standing.

Step 4 – MODEL COLORS

The model has colder colors than backgroundand since we decided on light coming from left,slightly from top, we are going to do two thingswith one layer: change colors to warm withouttouching their hue and create instant correctlighting on the model.

To do this, create new layer with clipping maskabove the layer and paint with mid-brown coloron the right side of the model. Use some texturebrush for variety, soft brush would make for adull effect. Set this layer to Soft Light and playwith opacity – we want to make the model lit andwarmly colored, not too dark. Below comparisonof layer effect – normal mode on the left, softlight on the right.

Step 5 – SKULL

Adding little elements makes for a nice effect ofvariety so I took the skull, cut out, pasted andscaled down referencing the model’s head tokeep realism.

Blending: layer below skull painted with darkbrown, used Motion Blur with some low numberand angle to make it more real. Then applied myfavourite gradient fill (remember to makeclipping mask based on skull layer) with coldcolor from blue-green palette. Direction of lineargradient must follow light direction of wholeimage so shadows will be obviously on the right(gradient fading to top left). Set it to Soft Lightand done.

Why I used blue/green? Because it’s opposite tobrowns and oranges on color wheel and usingcomplimentary colors creates instant „right” look.Try it! It’s my old rule from painting years –shadows are cold when lights are warm and theother way.

Step 6 - FOREGROUND

Time to make some interesting foreground. Idecided to add dry bushes to increase the visionof apocalypse. 3D rendered bushes are just fineand easy to use. Copied and pasted them invarious combinations on top of all layers (belowmain gradient fill again, just like with the model)and adjusted their colors with Levels, Hue-Saturation and Gradient Fills (each bush has it’sown adjustment layers set for easy control ofend effect).

To create a little depth of field and make overallimage less flat, I used Gaussian Blur on busheslayers (you can merge them in one if you’rehappy with your adjustments), using approx. 6px radius.

Step 6 - MODEL – BOOSTLIGHTING

To boost lighting on our model, create new layerwith clipping mask above model layer and paintwith soft brush and warm yellow color areas hitby light like edges of legs, arm, bridge of nose.Shown below layer effect – normal mode andSoft Light with opacity set to 50%. It gives morereality.

Step 7 – MODEL – BLENDINGTRICK

Usually figures in photomanipulations lookpasted no matter how you match colors etc. buthere’s little trick that makes wonders in a matterof seconds and allows to create convincing lookof unified image. Select model layer, copy it with[Ctrl+J] and put copy under original.

Adjust Hue-Saturation to make this copy purewhite and set it to Soft Light or Overlay,whichever looks better. What we aim for here ismaking gentle glow around the model thatnormally appears on photographs because ofthe light scattered around. Below – white layerwith added Gaussian Blur that I highlyrecommend for this step. Radius approx. 30-40depending on the size of your document, makeit blurred but not too much.

Step 8 – BURSTS, BOMBSAND OTHER

Time to add destruction. I used excellentresource by deviney at daz3d.com but there aremany similar brushes and elements in theinternet, for example these ones

http://fav.me/df7989

http://fav.me/ddjjcp

http://fav.me/d1qchrw

http://fav.me/d2am3wh

http://fav.me/d5gsnvt

Carefully place various burst and smoke/fireeffects on layer above background layers.Remember that yellow/orange/red elementsneed balancing with cold blue/grey smoke. Workzoomed out to see how it looks like and positionyour layers for best balance. It takes time. Whathelps is flipping image horizontally every once ina while to see it with fresh eye.

As the background is not in focus of this imagenaturally, I blurred all added elements with

Gaussian Blur with small radius. I also addednew layer above city layer and with texturebrush and warm midbrown color added sometexture imitating decay to the buildings. Layer isset to Soft Light with opacity 90%. Below –normal mode to show where I painted texture.

Close-up of destruction elements below. Someof them can be put in Overlay mode to enhancesaturation or Multiply to mute effect, all youneed is playing with these settings and adjustopacity/mode to your liking.

Step 9 – F16 HORNET

Small element that will add more war feeling toour apocalyptic image. Hornet has been cutusing pen tool and placed in main document,scaled down and rotated a bit. Fire has beenadded to engines, just small but useful element.

It is also advised to add new gradient fill layer tothe hornet to match instantly color and lighting,in this case it is dark warm brown linear gradientset to Soft Light and direction set to fadetowards light direction in the image. It alsoblends element into background.

Step 10 – MODEL AGAIN –ENHANCING CONTRAST,IMPROVING BLENDING

Often I get back to various elements of thephotomanipulation during the work, adjustingthem until I’m happy with the result and in thiscase I noticed that model is still looking a bit flat.

To get rid of this effect I added new layer with

clipping mask to the model layer and withtexture brush and midbrown warm color, paintedareas on the right side of the model and inareas hidden in shadow. Set this layer toOverlay and as a result I have now nice contrastand enhanced lighting effect, making the modellook more 3D and blended better. Notice howthe glow layer below works for the overall effect.

Also bottom part needed to be reworked a bit, Itook advantage of layer mask left on the modellayer and revealed a little more of the boots,darkened them with Burn tool and also addednew layer below the model to paint on shadowson the ground. Shadow layer has been blurredwith Motion Blur as previously and set to SoftLight. Now the model is really standing firmly onthe ground.

Step 7 – TEXTURING

After checking and finally adjusting all layershere is final result ready to be textured:

Below used textures along with their layermodes and opacity. I always use severaltextures and lower opacities, erasing some

areas too. In this case I chose textures addingmore decay effect. They are mostly in blueshades because blue is complimentary toorange that overwhelms the image and it needsto be balanced.

Note: try to choose textures that already havenicely placed lighting, matching lighting in yourimage.

Below comparison of the image before texturingand after applying 4 textures in various layermodes. One of textures added nice pseudo-lightning effects on the right.

Step 8 – LIGHTROOM STEP

This step is not mandatory, you can do theseadjustments in Photoshop itself but I prefer touse Lightroom for its better ability to controlsubtle differences in colors, shades and overaltoning of the image.

First copy all merged layers by hitting[Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E]. It’s best to do it with very toplayer selected. Now [Ctrl+A], [CTRL+X],[Ctrl+N], [Ctrl+V] – and flatten resultingdocument. Save as high quality jpg. Open upLightroom and import your flattened image.

Hit Develop and adjust Hue/Saturation, Toneand Presence sliders to bring out more bluetones in the image. Here’s my result:

Note: if you can’t use Lightroom you can do thisin Photoshop with your merged layer on top ofall, adjusting Color Balance, Levels andHue/Saturation as well as Exposure. Irecommend using adjustment layers for thisstep, with clipping masks of course.

Step 9 – FINAL TOUCHES

As you can see, after Lightroom adjustmentsimage looks much more interesting and it’sbecause we have complimentary colors in justthe right areas – warm, vividly orange burstsand navy blue sky in colder palette. But this is abit too obvious to my liking so after pastingedited image on top of my main document, Ilower its opacity a little, just this bit to still seeblue/orange contrast, in this case 50% did justfine.

If you feel like doing this, you can adjust Levelsor Curves to bring more lights, Exposureadjustment layer also works for this step.

And if you’re happy – flatten document andyou’re done!

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Thanks for reading my walkthrough. I hope it isuseful and inspirational to you. If you have anyquestion, please leave me a comment below!

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