Create a Sci-fi Scene Using Advanced Shading Techniques in Photoshop – Tuts+ Premium Tutorial

Posted by on Feb 3, 2012 in Blog | 10 comments

Applying the right atmosphere and lighting to your artwork can be a tricky task. In this Tuts+ Premium tutorial, author Wojciech Pijecki will explain how to create a mechanically enhanced subject, in a sci-fi environment, using advanced shading techniques in Photoshop. This tutorial is available exclusively to Tuts+ Premium Members. If you are looking to take your photo manipulation and retouching skills to the next level then Log in or Join Now to get started!

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Tuts+ Premium Members can login now for instant access to this tutorial. Membership to Tuts+ Premium gets you access to hundreds of exclusive premium tutorials, top selling ebooks, in-depth courses, member forums, and much more. To learn more about Tuts+ Premium, Take the Tour or Join Today.



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10 Comments

  1. Wojciech Pijecki | February 3, 2012

    Applying the right atmosphere and lighting to your artwork can be a tricky task. In this Tuts+ Premium tutorial, author Wojciech Pijecki will explain how to create a mechanically enhanced subject, in a sci-fi environment, using advanced shading techniques in Photoshop. This tutorial is available exclusively to Tuts+ Premium Members. If you are looking to take your photo manipulation and retouching skills to the next level then Log in or Join Now to get started!

    View the Tutorial

    Tuts+ Premium Members can login now for instant access to this tutorial. Membership to Tuts+ Premium gets you access to hundreds of exclusive premium tutorials, top selling ebooks, in-depth courses, member forums, and much more. To learn more about Tuts+ Premium, Take the Tour or Join Today.


  2. Grant Friedman | February 3, 2012

    We recently showed you the first sneak peek of Photoshop CS6 by Senior Photoshop Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes. Today, Photoshop Product Manager Zorana Gee released a new video showing even more features of CS6. In this video Zorana will explain two really nice enhancements to Photoshop; Background Save and some performance tweaks to Liquify.

    The first feature that Zorana shows is Background Save. This is a feature that many users have been asking for. It will allow you to save your file and then continue working while the file is being saved.

    Another fantastic feature that Zorana demonstrates is a performance tweak to Liquify. If you’ve ever worked in Liquify, you know that you can’t expand your brush beyond 1500 pixels. This is frustrating if you’re working on a really big image. In this video, Zorana works well beyond 1500 pixels. In addition, the Photoshop team has also improved the performance of Liquify so that it doesn’t tile. You can now use Liquify in real-time with no lag.


  3. A.J. Wood | February 3, 2012

    Layer comps are a great way to organize content inside Photoshop files. They allow you to save multiple design ideas in a single PSD while reducing the need to create duplicate layers. As you’ll see in this tutorial, layer comps can flow from Photoshop to InDesign making your workflow even more efficient. Let’s get started!

    Tutorial Assets


  4. David Appleyard | February 3, 2012

    Each month, we bring together a selection of the best tutorials and articles from across the whole Tuts+ network. Whether you’d like to read the top posts from your favourite site, or would like to start learning something completely new, this is the best place to start!

    Psdtuts+ — Photoshop Tutorials

    • Create a Pimped Out Truck Using Photoshop and Point and Shoot Photos

      Create a Pimped Out Truck Using Photoshop and Point and Shoot Photos

      Making modifications to your car or truck in Photoshop can be a lot of fun. In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a pimped out truck modification using photos taken with a simple point and shoot camera, with no advanced lighting setup. Let’s get started!

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    • Create an Elephant Sundae Using Photo Manipulation Techniques

      Create an Elephant Sundae Using Photo Manipulation Techniques

      Photoshop is great at seamlessly combing photos to create an entirely new scene. In this tutorial we will create an elephant sundae using several stock photos. Let’s get started!

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    • The Incredible Digital Art of Michael Oswald

      The Incredible Digital Art of Michael Oswald

      In this article we will be featuring the work of Michael Oswald. Oswald is a digital artist with a unique style. His technique involves a combination of photo manipulation and digital painting techniques and the results are often stunning. Let’s take a look!

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      • Nettuts+ — Web Development Tutorials

    • Sublime Text 2 Tips and Tricks (Updated)

      Sublime Text 2 Tips and Tricks (Updated)

      Sublime Text 2 is one of the fastest and most incredible code editors to be released in a long time! With a community and plugin ecosystem as passionate as this one, it just might be impossible for any other editor to catch up. I’ll show you my favorite tips and tricks today.

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    • An In Depth Analysis of HTML5 Multimedia and Accessibility

      An In Depth Analysis of HTML5 Multimedia and Accessibility

      In this tutorial, youll learn how HTML5 helps to provide you with several ways of presenting your media content to users. As a result, youll increase the availability of your media to users with different
      needs and requirements, making it more accessible.

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    • Writing an API Wrapper in Ruby with TDD

      Writing an API Wrapper in Ruby with TDD

      Sooner or later, all developers are required to interact with an API. The most difficult part is always related to reliably testing the code we write, and, as we want to make sure that everything works properly, we continuosly run code that queries the API itself. This process is slow and inefficient, as we can experience network issues and data inconsistencies (the API results may change). Let’s review how we can avoid all of this effort with Ruby.

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      • Vectortuts+ — Illustrator Tutorials

    • How to Illustrate a Microscope in Illustrator

      How to Illustrate a Microscope in Illustrator

      The microscopes is a symbol of our civilization. Throughout this tutorial on how to illustrate a vector microscope you’ll take advantage of numerous Illustrator tools. You will learn how to use blends, art brushes and 3D rendering in Adobe Illustrator. Let’s get started!

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    • Create a Picture Gallery in Illustrator

      Create a Picture Gallery in Illustrator

      This work is a common project created together with Iaroslav Lazunov and Alexander Egupov. We have used 3D rendering, Blends, Opacity masks, making this three-dimensional stage with vanishing points. Learn every step in how to create this picture gallery work.

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    • 13 Important Resources for Learning How to Design Typefaces and Full Fonts

      Important Resources for Learning How to Design Typefaces and Full Fonts

      If you’re serious about creating a typeface design, then you’ll need some solid resources to get started. Learn effective typeface design workflows, how to take an initial spark of an idea from sketch, through Illustrator, into Fontlab, and then work your creation into a complete and custom font design. Here are multiple tutorials that show you how to create fonts in Illustrator and Fontlab, and you can also dive into articles that describe the foundation of quality type design with ample inspirational examples.

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      • Webdesigntuts+ — Web Design Tutorials

    • A Beginner’s Guide to Pairing Fonts

      A Beginner’s Guide to Pairing Fonts

      Pairing fonts can be a challenge. Selecting two or more fonts which work well is one thing – selecting two which work together to achieve your typographic aims may have you reaching for the aspirin. Let’s see if we can alleviate any headaches. This guide will help you get started with font pairing for the web.

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    • Design a Series of Smart Banner Ads in Photoshop

      Design a Series of Smart Banner Ads in Photoshop

      With the continuous growth of the Internet, online marketing has gotten bigger every year, and along with it, the advertising industry. One major factor in all this craziness is buying and selling ads.

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    • Twitter Bootstrap 101: Introduction

      Twitter Bootstrap 101: Introduction

      Twitter’s Bootstrap is an excellent set of carefully crafted user interface elements, layouts, and javascript tools, freely available to use in your next web design project. This video series aims to introduce you to Bootstrap; taking you all the way from downloading the resources, to building a complete Bootstrap-based website.

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      • Phototuts+ — Photography Tutorials

    • HDR: Love it or Leave It?

      HDR: Love it or Leave It?

      There are few techniques in the photography world that divide our community as much as HDR. High dynamic range images, or HDR images, are a special type of composite image that combines several images at different exposure settings in order to create an image with increased dynamic range. The look provided by HDR is loved by many, and disliked by perhaps just as many. In today’s article, we’re going to take a better look at what HDR is, and get some opinions from photographers using HDR.

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    • 50 Inspiring Images of Cars and Motorcycles

      Inspiring Images of Cars and Motorcycles

      Cars and motorbikes have been around for 100 years. Throughout the century, they have looked beautiful, satisfied our need for speed and become a symbol for thrill seeking. Today, we’ll look at photos ranging from brand new Ferrari’s to classic muscle cars.

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    • Quick Tip: GIMP Portable – Take Your Editing Software With You

      Quick Tip: GIMP Portable – Take Your Editing Software With You

      While a number of smartphones now offer photo editing basics (and a plethora of apps to expand things even more), the portability of a solid photo editing program has been hard to come by. Photoshop is a monster in regards to space requirements and its ability to work on any system where it is not expressively installed. Picasa can be fairly ‘lightweight’ but lacks many of the more advanced photo editing tools. So what about GIMP?

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      • Cgtuts+ — Computer Graphics Tutorials

    • Modeling, UVmapping And Texturing A Low Poly T-Rex In Blender, Part 1

      Modeling, UVmapping And Texturing A Low Poly T-Rex In Blender, Part 1

      In the first tutorial of 2012 you’ll learn how to create an awesome low-poly dinosaur using Blender and Gimp. In today’s post artist Karan Shah will walk you through the entire modeling process step by step, and show you how to create an optimized model suitable for use in any game engine.

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    • Create A Realistic Explosion In Maya Using Maya Fluids

      Create A Realistic Explosion In Maya Using Maya Fluids

      Today you’ll learn to animate and shade fluids, understand all of the major attributes, learn how adding fields will allow you to gain better control over your simulation, and how to light and render the final animation.

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    • SpeedTree To UDK: The Complete Workflow, Part 1 Creating The Tree

      SpeedTree To UDK: The Complete Workflow, Part 1 Creating The Tree

      Due to the shear number of polygons often required to make believable 3D trees, creating realistic ones for use “in-game” can be a challenging, time consuming task. SpeedTree from IDV aims to change all that with it’s intuitive UI, ease of use and powerful toolset. Making believable trees and plants has literally never been easier!

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      • Aetuts+ — After Effects Tutorials

    • “Dominoes” CameraTracker and Cinema 4d Case Study – Day 1

      Dominoes” CameraTracker and Cinema 4d Case Study – Day 1

      In this tutorial we’re going to go over the principle functionality of CameraTracker from The Foundry, learning basic workflow, optimizing results, aligning the ground plane and exporting this data from After Effects to Cinema 4d.

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    • Make An Amazing Motion Reactant Flame – Tuts+ Premium

      Make An Amazing Motion Reactant Flame – Tuts+ Premium

      Using just a few video elements of torch flames, we composite a burning hand by using a series of null objects and expressions to drive a time lagged displacement effect to simulate fire burning from a moving source. We use the Puppet tool for the distortion and throw on some tracked lighting effects and a displacement map for the Heat. This principle can be used to add realistic, fluid motion to any tracked object.

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    • 10 Key Tips To Becoming A Successful Video Freelancer

      Key Tips To Becoming A Successful Video Freelancer

      Youve watched thousands of tutorials. Youve put in countless hours and spent many late nights working on personal projects. Youve finally come to the conclusion that this may just be something you would like to do for a career. It can seem a little intimidating at first, because how are you going to convince someone to pay you to do this? Up until now youve been your only client. How do you get more? Im going to share my insight and experiences on how to successfully launch your freelance career this year!

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      • Audiotuts+ — Audio & Production Tutorials

    • 8 Free Professional Quality Audio Unit Plug-ins for Mac

      Free Professional Quality Audio Unit Plug-ins for Mac

      Lets face it, software is expensive. While there are hundreds of free plug-ins available online, more often than not two problems will arise: One, most of them are for PCs leaving us Mac users feeling left out. Two, most of them are vary poor quality.

      While I do agree with the saying, “The tools are only as good as the artist,” I also believe the opposite is true; that at some point the artist can only be as good as his tools are.

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    • Quick Tip: Drum Processing Part 4: Tips and Tricks

      Quick Tip: Drum Processing Part 4: Tips and Tricks

      This short series of quick tips is designed to give you a good overview of the audio processing techniques involved in creating a professional sounding drum beat for use in house, electro and breaks in Cubase. In this final part we will look at a few ways to add even more life to your drums.

      Here is a sample of the type of beat you could expect to end up with at the end of this series of tips:

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    • Quick Tip: Use the Doubling Technique for Quick Drums

      Quick Tip: Use the Doubling Technique for Quick Drums

      It’s 3:30 in the afternoon when your phone rings. The head of a music library is calling and she needs your help. They have a commercial for an A-list client that needs music, and they want you to submit an entry. You’ll get $10,000 if you land the gig.

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      • Activetuts+ — Flash, Flex & ActionScript Tutorials

    • Create a Microphone-Controlled Flash Game: Code

      Create a Microphone-Controlled Flash Game: Code

      In this mini-series, we’re creating a spaceship game where the main control is via the microphone: shout louder to make the ship fly higher. So far, we’ve created all the required graphical elements for the game. Now, it’s time to work on our code. We’ve got a lot to do, so let’s get started!

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    • Why Bother With jQuery? A Guide for (Former) Flash Developers

      Why Bother With jQuery? A Guide for (Former) Flash Developers

      If you, like many Flash developers, are looking into using HTML5 for your web apps, you’ll almost certainly have come across jQuery. It’s a very popular JavaScript library, used by a large percentage of the most visited websites – but what’s all the fuss about, and should you use it?

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    • An Introduction to the HTML5 Gamepad API

      An Introduction to the HTML5 Gamepad API

      As HTML games begin to gradually increase in popularity, vendors are starting to introduce some exciting new APIs to make gaming that little bit sweeter for both us developers and our end players. One of these is the GamepadAPI, which allows you to connect your good old console gamepad into your computer and use it for browser based games, plug and play style. Let’s dive in!

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      • Wptuts+ — WordPress Tutorials

    • The Rise of HTML5 in WordPress

      The Rise of HTML5 in WordPress

      2011 was a big year for the advancement of HTML5 in the web development community. It became pretty widely adopted, especially for the mobile web. There have been major projects that help developers use HTML5, like Paul Irish’s HTML5 Boilerplate (technically 2010, but popularized in 2011) and books galore!

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    • Reusable Custom Meta Boxes Part 3: Extra Fields

      Reusable Custom Meta Boxes Part 3: Extra Fields

      In Part 1 and Part 2 of our custom meta box template tutorial series, we learned how to create a field array to loop through and create a custom meta box with your standard fields. Now let’s throw in a bit of JavaScript for some fancy, but highly useful fields.

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    • The Ultimate Quickstart Guide to Speeding Up Your WordPress Site

      The Ultimate Quickstart Guide to Speeding Up Your WordPress Site

      Give your site a boost! Implement crucial optimization techniques that will improve not only your ySlow score, but your Google rank too. In this tutorial we will cover all aspects of W3 caching, ySlow, Google page speed, CSS sprites & htaccess rules, to achieve a high ySlow score like i have done on my blog.

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      • Mobiletuts+ — Mobile Development Tutorials

    • iOS SDK: Creating an Awesome Carousel

      iOS SDK: Creating an Awesome Carousel

      Engage your users with stunning carousels. We’ll look at how easy and clean it can be to implement scrollable, interactive carousels in your iOS applications. With high configurability, you can have 3D, flat, rotating, and endless scrolling arrays for data, images, or buttons.

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    • PhoneGap From Scratch: Introduction

      PhoneGap From Scratch: Introduction

      Want to learn how to use PhoneGap, but don’t know where to get started? Join us as we put together “Sculder”, not only a tribute to an excellent science fiction TV series, but a fully-fledged native mobile application for the believer in you!

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    • Mobile Flash is Far From Dead: Setting the Record Straight

      Mobile Flash is Far From Dead: Setting the Record Straight

      In light of recent announcements from Adobe, there has been a lot of confusion over the state of the Flash Platform – specifically in regard to Flash content on mobile devices. This article seeks to clarify many of the misconceptions that exist by addressing the main points of confusion around these announcements regardless of the initial, monumental, and absolutely unbelievable blunders from failed public (and private) relations messaging and general marketing surrounding these announcements.

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  5. Grant Friedman | February 3, 2012

    The Photoshop team is looking for their next evangelist. They just announced a contest asking for Photoshop users to submit their own hidden gem tutorial, and we would like the winner to be a Psdtuts+ reader or author! A hidden gem video needs to explain a lesser known feature or workflow of Photoshop. Each video would need to be 2 minutes or less and would need to mention “hidden gems.”

    To see more examples of what a hidden gem video would look like, take a look at Bryan O’Neil Hughes’ series. The winning entry will win a trip to Photoshop World. For more information take a look at this post and the video below. Rules are listed here. Good luck!


  6. Grant Friedman | February 3, 2012

    As you know, each month, we round up some of the best Photoshop-related content from around the web. This month, there was some excellent Photoshop tutorials to choose from so please take a moment to review our favorites from January 2012.

    Photoshop Tutorials

    • Ice Cube With Cherry Inside

      In this tutorial AlfoArt will explain how to create an ice cube with a cherry inside.

      Visit Tutorial

    • Realistic Letterpress Effect in Photoshop

      This tutorial from Abduzeedo will explain how to create a realistic letterpress effect in Photoshop.

      Visit Tutorial

    • Sharp Fold Text Effect

      This tutorial from textuts will explain how to create sharp folds in text with Photoshop.

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    • Create Hand-Drawn Animation

      This tutorial from Computer Arts will explain how to create hand-drawn animation using Photoshop’s animation features.

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    • Create an Awesome Cinemagraph in Photoshop

      This tutorial from Net Magazine will explain how to create an awesome cinemagraph in Photoshop.

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    • Making of "The Confrontation"

      This digital painting tutorial from on CG Arena will explain how to create a ôconfrontationalö artwork in Photoshop.

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    • Super Easy Pewter Style Metal Text Effect in Photoshop

      This tutorial from Spoon Graphics will explain how to create a metal style text effect in Photoshop.

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    • Making of "Fishman"

      This tutorial from 3D total will explain how to create a stunning ôfish manö using 3DS, Zbrush, and Photoshop.

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    • How to Hold a Stylus

      This tutorial from Ctrl+Paint will explain how to properly hold a Wacom stylus.

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    • Sneak Peek of Photoshop CS6 and Camera Raw 7

      This video by Photoshop Sr. Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes gives us a sneak peek of what Photoshop CS6 and Camera Raw 7 will look like.

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    • Easy Wax Seal in Illustrator and Photoshop

      This tutorial from Abduzeedo will explain how to create a wax seal in Photoshop and Illustrator.

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    • Love Me – Photoshop Manipulation Tutorial

      This tutorial from PSD Box will explain how to create a love themed photo composition in Photoshop.

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    • Making Of "Discovering a Muse"

      This digital painting tutorial from 3D total will explain how to create this beautiful painting in Photoshop.

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    • Useful Photoshop Layer Styles Tips and Tricks

      This article from Inspiration Feed will show some excellent layer style tips and tricks.

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    • Painting Effects with Adobe Camera Raw

      This hidden gem video from Photoshop Sr. Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes will explain how to give your work a painted effect using Camera Raw.

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  7. Callum Chapman | February 3, 2012

    The use of textures can dramatically improve your print design work. You can (if used sensibly) add more depth to your work, whether your work be business cards, advertisements or posters. The results of using texture in your print design projects can be completely different every time, depending on various factors such as what textures you use, how many textures you use, and how you apply them to your work.

    This post showcases a great selection of print design projects that make good use of textures; making the work more visually appealing. The showcase is followed by a small selection of useful links and resources.

    This article was originally published in March of 2009.

    Textures in Business Cards

    Although there are thousands of textured business cards out there, it’s not very often you’re actually given one. Most business cards are very simple, which is usually suitable for the company they are representing, although there are a lot of simple cards being used to represent companies that could do so much more with their corporate image, such as landscaping and construction agencies. Below is a selection of great textured business cards.

    Chuck Tingley

    The use of texture in this card is incredible. A little bit of grunge mixed with paint and splatter marks is (usually) never a bad thing, and the composition of this card shows how to do it perfectly.

    Artams

    Redbox Media

    Redbox Media use a subtle grunge texture in the red of their business card to make it just that little more appealing. The digital texture of the lined paper and coffee stains, combined with the ‘hand-drawn’ style typography make this card very unique.

    Magouya

    Marko Manojlovic

    Well, it’s quite obvious what the texture is used for in Marko Manojlovic’s card. Although very simple, it’s interesting and definitely appeals more than a standard plain card!

    Matus Macej

    Colokial

    Colokial use texture in their business card to give it a worn-out and stained “tropical” look. It works very well with the color scheme of the logo and that little touch of Spot UV makes it so unique!

    SeedVibe

    Hypno Liberate

    The texture used in Hypno Liberate’s card adds a lovely vintage look to the design, matching the corporate brand of the company well.

    DigitalMedia

    Textures in Printed Advertisements

    In my opinion, textures are used to their greatest advantage in print advertisements such as billboard posters and postcards. Taking a look at the selection of superb designs below; you can clearly see the huge difference adding a little bit of texture can make.

    Jones Soda Ad

    Got 2 Be

    This fantastic advertisement for a hair product is incredibly clever and is made up (almost) entirely of hair texture. The addition of someones face in the bottom center of the poster makes it a little comical, too.

    Zippo Hero

    Smoke Shave

    This great poster to encourage people to stop smoking has a great three-dimensional look to it which was created using textures. In fact, without the textures in this poster, there’d be nothing left!

    Pepsi Max

    Pepsi Max

    These clever Pepsi Max posters (see other one above) show a depressed lonely calorie, advertising that Pepsi Max is a one calorie per can soft drink. The use of textures make the illustrations much more interesting to look at, and just gives them that extra “Oooomph”!

    Musou Music Publishing

    Hugo

    OXY

    Midwest Trader

    The use of an old stained piece of paper in this poster makes it individual and much more interesting. The way it works so well and merges in with the model and birds is superb!

    Days Of The New Show

    Textures in Poster Design

    A lot of the creative posters below actually rely on textures – without the texture in the images, some of the designs would be fairly simple and quite boring to look at. The following collection shows that texture really can bring your work to a completely new level!

    First Date With Alice

    “First Date With Alice” has an excellent yet simple composition and a beautiful, bright color scheme. The texture makes the poster a lot more interesting, adding different shades of color to the main shapes in the center of the poster.

    All We Need To Know

    The Creative Mind

    This poster makes use of subtle texture to just a little more depth in the background of the piece.

    Magic Tree

    Saint Design

    Giant Mutant Centipede

    Like in the Pepsi Max advertisement posters showcased earlier in this post, this poster uses textures to add new life to the otherwise flat vector illustrations. The extra noise gives it a that little extra detailing it needs to keep you looking at the poster for a longer period of time.

    Type and Grid

    Squares

    Light grungy textures are using in the posters “Squares” to give it an interesting background and to add a little extra noise to the model and other various shapes used in the composition. Without it, the overall feel of the poster would be completely different.

    Chinawhite Dancer

    A Part Of Me

    First of all, I have to say “wow!" What a great poster! The vibrant colors mixed with the grungy textures and superb lighting effects make this a stunning one, definitely worthy of going on the office wall!

    Typography

    Global Warming

    Future Imperfect

    Retro Vector

    This Abduzeedo poster uses texture to add a retro look to the otherwise plain background. A slightly grungier texture has been used to make those clean-cut abstract shapes fly into a completely different dimension!

    Some People Refuse 2 B Default

    Sour

    Axygene

    Last but not least, this great poster titled “Axygene” uses plenty of different textures to bring the poster to life, as well as using a grungy eraser brush to remove areas of the right-angled corners.

    Links & Resources


  8. Nacho Riesco | February 3, 2012

    Photoshop is a fantastic tool to help 3D artists save time and improve the look of their renders. In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to combine ZBrush materials and lighting render passes to create a stunning metallic textured skull. Let’s get started!

    Tutorial Assets

    The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.

    Before You Begin

    While this tutorial uses both Photoshop and Zbrush, we won’t get too in depth with the Zbrush steps as 3D isn’t the focus of this site. If you would like to learn more about ZBrush, head over to our sister site Cgtuts and have a look at their ZBrush category. For the purpose of this tutorial we have included PSD files that were exported from Zbrush so that you can follow along with the Photoshop aspects of this tutorial.

    Step 1: Composing the image in Zbrush

    For the first few steps, I’ll give you an explanation of what I did in ZBrush. I won’t get too in-depth as that isn’t the focus of this tutorial. I sculpted the models and placed them on the viewport in the position I wanted them to be rendered. In this case, I composed the image using the 2.5D capability of ZBrush. Then, I dropped the different tools on a 2.5D canvas, moving, scaling and placing them into the right position. I don’t usually like to make preliminary sketches. I do most of my work directly on the canvas.

    Make sure to set your canvas size in ZBrush as twice the size as you want your final image. Then, you can use the AA button before exporting the image for good anti-aliasing results.

    Step 2: Settings materials and light in Zbrush

    For this image I set two different lights, global and rim, and three materials, two for the metal, one for the textured worn finishing, and other chromed, and one more material for the bone part. I also used a flat material render for use it as a mask to isolate the background, which we use later.

    Step 3: Start composing in Photoshop

    Zbrush exports documents as PSD files by default, then I open one of the materials renders and start adding more layers.

    My idea is for the skull to have a worn metal effect but over a polished surface, as if the passage of time has added layers of dirt and rust. So I added a new layer with the image of textured metal on top of the “chrome” later, after that I copy the same layer, right click > duplicate layer, and set the blending mode to Hue and adjust the opacity to 50%.

    Step 4: Adding some destruction

    In this step we are going to make the "tricky" part of this image, add a Layer mask to the "Texture" layer and use a textured brush (no300, no400, or no250 brushes from the assets) and black color to paint on it, thus create the scratches needed to reveal the chrome surface and give the effect of worn metal layer.

    After that, we are going to add the shadows to highlight even more stains and create more surface realism, for that we will add a Layer Style to the "Texture" layer as a Drop Shadow as shown in the picture.

    Step 5: Adding the bone part

    For this part we need the bone material render from ZBrush. Put it on top of the rest of the layers and name it "Bone," then we have to make a mask to reveal just the part that we want, add a Layer mask to the "Bone" layer and paint it with black. I used the Brush Tool (soft round brush) because it is a small and regular area that is easy to define.

    Step 6: Adding some texture and shadows to the bone part

    To add texture to your surface, use overlapping layers set to soft light. You can vary the opacity depending on how much you want to emphasize the effect. In this step, I used texture brushes with a layer mask. You can also use the burn tool using a textured brush to apply the desired effect.

    Then, I added a new soft light layer set to 35% opacity and painted in some black using a textured brush to add some irregularities to the surface.

    I then created the “bone shadows” layer and set it to multiply at 100% opacity to paint in some shadows into the eyes.

    To avoid painting on undesired metal parts Copy and Paste the same Layer Mask that we used to isolate the bone part.

    Step 7: Adding the secondary light

    I usually like to add a secondary color source light to add some atmosphere to my images, it enhances the feeling of location and add strength to the image impact.

    Then I add the rim light render from Zbrush as a new Lighten layer "Rim Light"; when I am building the image, I usually don’t have very clear idea of which kind of scene I want to render, then I play with the color of that light, Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation > Colorize, and I see how it works with different color schemes, the result will influence on the final mood of the image.

    In this case I set the color to a red light which is coming from below, then I add a Layer Mask and paint a gradient from top to down to turn off the light on the upper part, I set the opacity of the layer to 75% to integrate it a bit more.

    Step 8: Adding the background

    Add the background that we included in the assets above and apply a layer mask as shown below using the ZBrush mask render.

    Step 9: Integrating the background

    To integrate the background we are going to need to add some layers and adjust their blending modes. Add 3 news layers as shown in the layer stack in the screenshot and apply a layer mask as shown. You can then paint highlights and shadows using white and black colors using the layer’s opacity to adjust the lightness/darkness of the layer.

    Next, we are going to integrate the cables with the background. Create a new layer, name it "Background shadows" and change the blending mode to Multiply, 100% opacity, then do as before with the Mask layer, copy it and apply it to this new layer, and with a soft round brush paint some curved strokes to achieve the cables shadows.

    Step 10: Adding some steam effect

    The brushes found in the tutorial assets above includes some very interesting smoke, cloud, and fog brushes which we are going to use to add some toxic steam.

    Create a new layer and name it “Ambient steam.” Se the blending mode to normal at 100% opacity and paint some strokes with brush number 566 onto the lower part.

    Step 11: Toxic juice

    Here we add the toxic liquid that drips down from valves, add a new layer, name "Toxic liquid", blending mode Overlay 100% opacity, we need a soft round brush, adjust size to fit stroke to the valve exit, pick a bright green color and paint from there to down, keep pressed the Shift key to have a straight line while you trace, after that, use the Erase tool, with the same soft round brush, to remove a bit of the lower part, use this tool adjusting opacity less than 100% to fade it down.

    Now we are going to add some toxic vapors and add some brightness to the toxic liquid, create a new layer, name "Toxic vapor", blending mode Normal, 100% opacity, pick brush number 300 Rising smoke, and with the same green we used before paint some vapor clouds coming out from the valves, then we repeat same process as before, soft round brush, pressing Shift key and paint a straight line, in this case decrease a bit the brush size and pick a lighter green.

    Step 12: Merge Layers

    When I have a considerable number of layers I like to "restart", merging them and have a new base to work with, but I keep original layers for future changes or corrections if necessary, keeping them organized in a group folder.

    Then select all the layers, duplicate them, and merge the duplicates together. Name the new layer “Toxicskull.” Now place all the unmerged layers into a group as shown below.

    Step 13: Levels and color corrections

    Let’s add some adjustments to this piece by adding adjustment layers. You can use your own judgment here in terms of settings.

    Step 14: Start adding light sources

    To add some atmosphere, create a new layer and name it “red light.” Set its blending mode to normal with 80% opacity. Use brush number 300 rising smoke-1 and paint some fog in the bottom left corner.

    Step 15: Adding more light sources

    In this step we are going to add another light source. Add a new layer, name it “top light.” Set blending mode to Lighten with 55% opacity and apply a white to black gradient as shown.

    Step 16: Adding metallic highlights

    Use the Dodge tool to lighten up areas that you want to add highlights. Then, on a new layer use the number 500 Flare brush to paint in some flares. Use different brush sizes depending on how big the reflecting surface is.

    Step 17: Adding extra shadows

    In this step we’re going to add some extra shadows to give some parts more depth and detail. Here, for example, I see that screws need some shadows, then I add a new layer, named "Extra shadows." Set to Multiply blending mode, at 40% opacity, pick the Brush Tool and with a soft round one and black color paint shadows where necessary.

    Step 18: Add impurities to air

    To add some impurities into the air, use brush number 200, the Ash brush, it works very well and I use it a lot. Add a new layer, named "Impurities," Normal blending mode, 100% opacity, pick pure white color and paint in those areas where the light has more intensity, light illuminates those small particles floating on the air, paint using different brush sizes.

    But this is not enough. We will add an extra effect to our atmosphere, create a new layer "Impurities copy", paint a bit more with same brush, but now try to choose areas where light is visible, then apply a Gaussian Blur to the layer, Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur, a small amount 1.2 pixels is ok, with this extra step we will add a sense of depth to the image blurring air particles which are closer to our point of view. One tip is, if you want to remove some of this particles erasing them, pick a kind of brush with a shape of cloud, fog, smoke, etc.

    Step 19: Vignette

    I usually add a vignette to my images; I think that it adds an extra of bit of attention and strength. To do this, make a selection of the entire image using "Backgroundl" layer, Command/Ctrl + left click on the layer, then add a new layer, name "Vignette" Normal blending mode, 100% opacity, and stroke that selection, Edit > Stroke, use black color, 6 pixels wide inside, then blur it, Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and apply a big amount, over 30 pixels is fine.

    Step 20: Refine jagged edges

    To refine the ant- aliasing, grab the Smudge tool and adjust it in two ways, set the Strength to low values, between 1 and 5, and adjust brush size very small, between 5 or 9 pixels. A soft round brush will work well, and smudge the edge doing several passes always following the direction.

    Step 21: Add depth of field

    There are different ways to add depth of field to an image, in this case we are going to apply it manually, because the only part I just want to blur are the background wires, grab the Blur Tool, adjust Strength to 30%, and blur them softly.

    Conclusion

    I like to finish my images with one last layer, the noise layer, I add it for two reasons, one, I like the noisy surface, and it helps to homogenize the entire image, integrating the background with the extra painting layers added during process.

    Create a new layer named "Noise." Set blending mode to Multiply at 100% opacity, fill it with white and go to Filters > Noise > Add Noise. Set noise to 12% or whatever looks best.


  9. Grant Friedman | February 3, 2012

    If you have ever searched for speed paintings on Youtube, you’ve probably seen the work of Nico Dimattia. Dimattia is an exceptional digital painter from Argentina who has received worldwide attention on his Youtube channel with his amazing speed painting videos. In this article we will feature some of his videos and artwork. Let’s take a look!

    Wolverine

    Slash

    Toy Story 3

    Iron Man 2

    Radio Head Tribute

    Megan Fox

    Chuck Norris

    ALF

    Spider Man

    Mad Hatter

    Arnold Schwartzenager

    John Malkovich

    Ben Stiller

    Bumblebee

    House

    Paris Hilton

    Robert Deniro

    Sarah Connor

    Sheldon

    Stan Lee

    Will Smith


  10. Mark Mayers | February 3, 2012

    In this Tuts+ Premium tutorial, author Mark Mayers will create a post-apocalyptic photo composition that will take inspiration from movies such as Planet of Apes, where an astronaut finds himself marooned on Earth thousands of years in the future only to find scattered relics of mankind. This tutorial is available exclusively to Tuts+ Premium Members. If you are looking to take your photo composition skills to the next level then Log in or Join Now to get started!

    View the Tutorial

    Tuts+ Premium Members can login now for instant access to this tutorial. Membership to Tuts+ Premium gets you access to hundreds of exclusive premium tutorials, top selling ebooks, in-depth courses, member forums, and much more. To learn more about Tuts+ Premium, Take the Tour or Join Today.