Tutorials

As I have been distracted by being quite literally chained to my desk, I decided to return to outer space for a tutorial as I didn’t have an image in mind to start out with.  It’s a variation on a theme I’ve already explored, only this time using a photograph of clouds rather than generating clouds using Photoshop filters.

My results?

I wanted a green nebula, but as you can see it doesn’t work quite as well as the blue.  The advantage of this, however, is that I can there are plenty of stock photos of clouds or similar patterns that can be used to give the nebula a specific desired effect.  Or, in a pinch, I can always go out and take my own cloud photos.  Those taken during a lightning storm could yield interesting results.

A friend fancies himself a musician, and asked me to consider making an album cover for him.  With that in mind, I decided to try this tutorial.

Since I don’t actually have a decent picture yet of his band performing, I used this stock from BeckyStock on DA.

My results?

In retrospect, I should have gone with picture that showed more animation and brighter colors.  It’s a good image, just not right for this particular project.

It occurs to me that it’s best to make a place feel inviting.  With that in mind, I’ve decided to try this tutorial.

I found his dungeon wall a little boring, so I went with my own.  I did, however, use his font suggestion.  My results?

If you like the wall, please feel free to use.  It’s a composite of various images from CGTextures.

Today I’m going back to just playing with special effects.  In my undersea work, and for that matter some of my space work, there is the need for bubbles / gobs of molten stuff.  Thus, I went with this tutorial.

My results?

Nice, crisp, clean, and exactly as advertised.

After a break from Photoshop, it’s time to play again.  In the story I’m working on, a couple of old photographs play an important role in the plot, and my cover design will eventually involve said photographs.  Thus, I decided to use this tutorial.

My stock came from the wonderful Malleni-Stock on DA.  My results?

Nice effect, good patina.  I think if I redo the project, I may add some coffee stain like marks or other ‘damage’.

I have a composition in mind, but I want the finished results to have a watercolor feel to them.  Thus, I decided to try this tutorial.

My stock image came from Deviant Art, courtesy of GraySho.   Go check out his gallery, he has a lot of nice work.

My results? 

Nicely surreal, but I think I should have used the clone tool or some adjustments to fix the bits of lens flare.  The purple bits kind of stand out on the rock.   Still, a much, much better result than simply using Photoshop’s ‘watercolor’ filter.

I’m sticking with manipulating people for just a while longer, and I’m still a bit inspired by Halloween.  Thus, today I used this tutorial.

My stock came from the wonderful Kechake-stock over on Deviant Art.

My results?

I did tweak the results a bit using some masks, getting rid of the sharper lines of the skull and fading the hair a bit into the background.