With Photoshop, you can create a unique and custom Photoshop brush using any photo you have to fit your design needs, particularly if you are trying to create a website. All you need to do is to familiarize yourself with the following three steps for you to create your own Photoshop brush:

1. When in Photoshop, open an existing photo or design.

2. Select the whole image or just an area of the image that you would like to create a brush for.

Making sure you’re on a solid white background (because the white will become transparent), click the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and select the full image, or part of the image, that you want use to create a brush from. If there happens to have a colored background, you can use the Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) to help select the part of the image you want to create a brush from.

3. Edit > Define Brush Preset

With your selection now made, go to Edit > Define Brush Preset (sorry no hotkey!), enter a good name to help distinguish it from your other brushes and you’ll have your brand new brush! You can now select this brush just like any other brush.

More Tips in Customizing Your Own Photoshop Brush

You may want to use your customized Photoshop brush in many other ways, so here are some more tips to help you enjoy your new brush. Go to Window > Brushes and experiment on the Brush Presets.  You can combine multiple Brush Presets if you want to or just select any of them to suit your needs.

You can also save your custom brush for you to use in case you need them again.  Just go to Brush Pallete Menu > Save Brushes > Name your New Brush.

Now go and create as many brushes as you ca! Never waste your time looking around and downloading for brushes that do not really suit your graphic and web design needs. We hope you enjoyed this tutorial look forward to seeing what you’ll come up with.

Sometimes, following a tutorial can be better for limiting your play time but also for seeing the tools in action.

The following list includes tutorials for CS5 as well as for earlier CS versions of Adobe Illustrator. Try some of your favorites and see the incredible uses available with the Warp Tools.

Tutorial Series from Lynda.com

Part 1: Introducing the Warp Tool

Part 2: The Twirl, Pucker, and Bloat Tools

Part 3: The Scallop, Crystallize, and Wrinkle Tools

In this tutorial available with the purchase of a membership, learn all of the Warp Tools (Warp, Twirl, Pucker, Bloat, Scallop, Crystallize, and Wrinkle) while creating this winged horse image. The entire tutorial is broken into three separate parts with each video focusing on a specific set of the Warp Tools.

How to Wrinkle Flowers in Illustrator

Learn how to wrinkle flowers in Illustrator quickly and easily.

Create a Sketchy Hand Drawn Camera Illustration

Draw a camera that looks hand-sketched using the Wrinkle Tool.

Create a Simple Paint Brush Icon

Design a paint brush icon using tools such as the Wrinkle and Ellipse Tool with this easy to follow tutorial.

Illustrator Abstract Vector Art

Use the Warp Tools to create abstract vector art in Illustrator.

Vector Super Bouncy Balls

This tutorial shows an easy and fun way of drawing bouncy balls using the Warp Tool, Smoothing Tool, and more.

Draw Realistic Liquids in Vector Art

Create this beautiful vector artwork using the Warp Tool, Mesh Tool, and layer blending.

Warp Tool in Illustrator CS5

See the warp tool at work in Illustrator CS5 in this tutorial for creating vector artwork from an image of a pear.

Simple Warping Effects in Illustrator

Design simple shapes using the Warp Tools.

2 Part Illustrator Tutorial from AI Vault

Create a Disco Environment with Twirl Tool, Crystalize, and Envelope Tool: Part 1

Create a Disco Environment with Twirl Tool, Crystalize, and Envelope Tool: Part 2

Create a disco ball using the Twirl and Crystallize Tools as well as the Envelope Tool in this two part tutorial.

Create a Quick Grassy Hill

Learn how to create a grassy hill using the Crystallize Tool in Illustrator.

How to Create Vintage Vector Bottle Caps

These vintage bottle caps are fun to create using tools such as the Crystallize Tool and Star Tool.

Create Hair with Warp Tool

Watch this talented designer create hair out of an oval shape using the Warp Tool.

How to Create an Undersea Abstract Wallpaper

Draw an undersea illustration, complete with a shark, using different Warp Tools.

How to Use the Warp Tool in Adobe Illustrator

Learn to draw the Windows logo using the Warp Tool in Illustrator.

Create a Painterly Apple

Draw a beautiful painted apple using the Bristle Brush, Warp Tool, and more in Illustrator CS5.

How to Create a Landscape Wallpaper for Your Desktop

Draw a detailed landscape wallpaper using Warp Tools and more.

Craft a Dramatic Landscape Vector Environment

Use the Warp Tool to create a wavy effect on the grass in this detailed tutorial.

Grunge Borders in Adobe Illustrator

Create an awesome grunge effect on a photo using the Twirl Tool.

Create a Wood Grain Texture

This wood grain texture tutorials shows how to create the look used in these images using different Warp Tools.

Designing a Vexel Banner

Use items such as the Warp Tool in Illustrator and Brushes in Photoshop to create a vexel banner.

Japanese Style Floral

Design this beautiful Japanese style illustration in this step-by-step tutorial. Use the Warp Tool to make realistic flower shapes.

Make a Fairy Tale Inspired Magical Hand Shaped Vine

Using a combination of the Warp Tool and Mesh Tool, create an awesome fairy tale vine shaped like a hand.

Use the Warp Tool in Adobe Illustrator

Learn to create a silhouette out of an oval shape using the Warp Tool.

The Final Result

If you follow this quick tutorial this is what you should end up with:

If you would like you can download the PSD source file here:
Download: Block-Shine-Tutorial.zip

Step 1 – Create New Document

Create a new Photoshop document. Make it 600 x 400 pixels.

Step 2 – Set Background

Make your background layer black. Shift + D will reset your Foreground and Background colours to Black and White respectively. Then hit Shift + Alt + Backspace, that will fill your layer with the Foreground colour.

Make a new layer and create a white radial gradient from the center of the document. Drop that layer’s Opacity down to 25%.

Step 3 – Add Type

Set your Foreground colour to white then select the type tool. Chose your font and type whatever you want. The font I used was Rockwell.

Step 4 – Create the Layer Style

To set up a Layer Style right click on the text layer and find Blending Options from the menu. (Right Click Layer > Blending Options)

Drop Shadow:

Colour: #000000

Inner Shadow:

Colour: #FFFFFF

Gradient Overlay:

Colour: #000000 to #D9D9D9

This is what you should see after you have applied the layer style.

You could stop here, or we could kick it up a notch!

Step 5 – Shiny Layer

1. Select the pen tool and draw a white shape over top of your text.
2. Ctrl + Left Click on the white box with a T in it to select the text layer.
3. Select the the white shape layer. Than go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.
4. Drop the Opacity of the Shiny Layer down to 60%. Than repeat these steps for any other text you have created.

Step 6 – Adding Colour

Create a New Layer and add a colourful gradient. Set the layer’s Blending Mode to Multiply.

Step 7 – Texture

Find a nice subtle texture online. I usually find what I’m looking for on Lost and Taken. Once you get your texture, create a new top layer and paste in your texture. Adjust the size and colour of the texture as needed then set the Blending mode to Overlay.

You could always take this further by adding reflections and/or a background pattern.

Everyone has their own way of getting things done when it comes to Photoshop, so you don’t need to follow this word for word… experiment a little, too!

Step 1: Find the Right Images

I was rummaging through some old photography of mine and came across a few photos from Laos and Thailand. When I took these photos, I had no idea they would end up in a photo-manipulation project… so take photos when you’re out and about. You’ll never know when they can come in handy.

This Buddha from a temple in Thailand really caught my eye so I decided to use it as the base for the design. Some people like to plan things out ahead when building a design like this, but on this particular project, I just dove in not knowing what the end result would look like.

I also used some designs from a piece of pottery and a wall painting that will eventually make up the platform Buddha is sitting on.

The last piece that is necessary is the background. I used a great sun texture from PhatPuppy.

Step 2: Image Extraction

Extraction can be time consuming and can take some patience, but the end result is well worth it. Extraction is the process of separating your image from the background. I used a layer mask technique that allows you to brush over the photo to hide and reveal areas.

I took the Buddha image and used the Crop Tool (C) to chop off everything but the statue itself, eliminating any extra space that will be trimmed off anyway. I created a new layer below it and painted it a solid color. I prefer hot pink because it contrasts with almost anything. Add a layer mask to the Buddha by clicking on the Buddha layer, then click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette.

You’ll see a white box appear to the right of your layer thumbnail. Click on it to make sure it is selected so you don’t paint on your base image. Use a circular black brush and change the hardness to a low percentage. You might want a hard edge depending on what effect you are going for, but for this particular piece I wanted the image to seem subtle and natural with no awkward edges. Use [ to decrease the size of your brush and ] to increase it.

Start tracing around the outer edge of your design with black and you’ll start to see hot pink showing through. Black paint will hide the image and white will reveal it. To get some of those tricky corners, like where the finger tips meet the palm, I’ll roughly hide the outside edge with black, then switch to a small white brush and reveal the fingers from the inside.

Once the entire piece is masked out, open a new window (cmd+n) and make the dimensions for your largest wallpaper. I usually start with 1920×1200 pixels at 72 dpi. Click and drag your element into the new document.

Step 3: Begin Building Your Composition

I will leave the extraction of the platform for a bit later. It’s time to start piecing the extractions together. Hide all of your extracted images and leave the background texture. My own trick to find the center of the canvas is to double click on the base layer, hit ok to unlock it from being a background. Then hit cmd+T to activate the free transform tool. A tiny cross will appear in the center of the canvas. Hold cmd+space bar to trigger the zoom-in tool, and click and drag around the cross to zoom in. Then you can drag out a horizontal and vertical guideline from the edges of the window. Zoom out and you have the exact location of your horizontal and vertical centers.

I re-sized and fitted the texture and Buddha so everything sat nicely in the center of the page.

For the next step, I created the radiating aura around my extracted Buddha friend. The arrows from the clay pot were already in a circular formation, so instead of extracting the entire ring of arrows, I just extracted one and recreated the circular effect with some shortcuts. Let’s focus on the outer ring of arrows first and then it can be duplicated and reduced in size to make the inner circles without losing resolution.

The arrow was a little distorted and off balance, so I placed it at the top/center of the canvas and used the transform tool (T) to skew it slightly into a more vertical shape. With the arrow layer selected, hold down the option (alt) key, and click and drag the arrow downward while holding shift. This creates a duplicate arrow and holding shift will keep it vertically aligned with the original while dragging. I pulled the new arrow down to the bottom of the page and rotated it 180 degrees. I used cmd+T and rotate with my mouse while holding shift for alignment.

I selected both top and bottom layers by right clicking (control+click) on and top arrow, select its layer, then hold down shift and right click on the bottom arrow to select that layer. I used Transform (cmd+T) again to make sure the cross hair in the middle lines up exactly in the center of the canvas. Duplicate the two layers (Shift+cmd+L) or right click on one of the highlighted layers in the Layers Panel and click Duplicate Layers. Hit cmd+T to activate the transform tool again. Hold the Shift key and rotate your duplicated layers so they are on the horizontal alignment guideline and hit enter.

Next I selected all four arrows, duplicated and repeated the rotation. If you do this a few times you’ll get a full circle of arrows that are perfectly aligned with the center of the canvas. Select all of the duplicates in the layers panel, right click on the highlighted layers and select merge layers.

The original color of the pottery design clearly didn’t work with the sun background so I selected the new ring of arrows and went to image > adjustments > desaturate. This sapped all of the color out of the ring. Next I boosted the brightness and contrast by going to image > adjustments > brightness/contrast. I kicked up the brightness to 60 and the contrast to 100 to make sure the arrow was nice and stark.

In the layers panel, I changed the circle layer from Normal to Overlay and change the opacity to 50 percent. The arrows now sink into the background nicely. I repeated this process with a different style arrow from the clay pot and scaled it down a bit to create the second inner ring.

Now there are two rings… One larger and one smaller, both having a 50 percent overlay applied to them. I selected the two ring layers and duplicated them. Then selected the two duplicates and hit cmd+T for the transform tool. While holding the shift key, I scaled down the rings so they sat nicely inside the first two rings. Now there is a third and fourth ring. Repeat this process to get as many rings as you need. For me, four was enough.

Step 4: Tune up Buddha

Bringing back the Buddha! I couldn’t decide whether to make the statue light and bright or a little darker and godlike. I liked the idea of making it seem a little more surreal, divine, and maybe even a bit ominous.

To get that divine touch, I gave Buddha’s eyes a bit of an enlightened all-knowing glow. I zoomed way into the eyes, created a new layer, took a white paintbrush and generally covered the whites and pupils. Then I created a layer mask with the Add Layer Mask icon in the Layers Panel, and began to hide/reveal the edges of the eye with black and white paint. With the soft brushes, you can get a nice, smooth eye shape. I clicked off the right mask thumbnail and back to the left thumbnail on the eye layer. Double click the eye layer and the effects panel will pop up. I gave the eyes an outer glow with a lightened blend mode and 90 percent opacity. I selected a lighter color from the background for the glow. Now we have a pair of eyes fit for a god.

This image looked a little blurry from my original photo, so I sharpened it up with filter > sharpen > unsharpen mask. It is easy to overdue the sharpening filter, so go easy with it. I gave it a 110 percent sharpen with a radius of 1 pixel and a threshold of 2 levels.

To integrate the gold statue into the background better, I desaturated the image with image > adjustments > desaturate. The black and white Buddha looked a bit bland, so I bumped up the brightness and contrast (image > adjustments > brightness/contrast) with a brightness of –10 contrast of 50. This darkened the statue a bit and eliminated some mid-tone grays. Gave the Buddha layer a linear burn blend mode in the layers panel to blend him into the fiery background. The color was still a bit off, so I added a bit of red with image > adjustments > hue/saturation or (cmd+U). Clicked on the colorize check box in the bottom right to give the statue a general color overlay and I dragged the Hue to more of a reddish color. Bumped the saturation down to +12 and the lightness to –5.

I ran into a problem with the arrow circles showing through the blend mode of the statue. To fix this, I duplicated the Buddha statue layer and placed it under the original. Changed the blend mode back to normal on the new layer. I then duplicated the background texture and dragged it above the duplicated Buddha, sandwiching it between the two layers. Now, if you hold down the option key and move your mouse to the thin line between the texture and the bottom Buddha, your cursor will change to two circles that link together. When you click the mouse, it will automatically create a clipping mask with the two layers. You can also get this effect by selecting the texture layer and going to layer > create clipping mask. Now the Buddha is masked off behind the original to prevent anything from showing through.

Step 5: Add a Platform

The statue was looking pretty good at this point, but I needed to give him something to sit on. To add the platform, I had to extract a wall painting from one of my photos. It was distorted and did not look very nice. First off, I needed to align the edges to be more vertical. I dragged out a vertical guideline from the side of my window frame. Select the layer and hit cmd+T to transform it. Right clicked on the image and selected Skew. I dragged the top edge of the image to the right and aligned the paintings right edge to the guideline.

I rotated the image 90 degrees counter clockwise and dragged it into the wallpaper canvas. The image was still smushed horizontally like a squeezed accordion, so I hit cmd+T again and dragged out the right edge to balance it out more. Then I used the same extraction technique as before with layer masks.

Once the platform was extracted, I desaturated it and really bumped up the contrast (image > adjustments > brightness/contrast) to 100 percent. I wanted the highlights to shine and the shadows to dim. There was only one side of the platform at this point, so I duplicated the layer, cmd+T, right clicked on the image and clicked flip horizontal and created the left side. I fit both the right and left side together so they made a nice connection in the middle. Make sure it looks perfect before duplicating two layers and merging them together because you don’t want to have to re-correct an error twice. I duplicated the two sides so I could keep them separate if I needed to come back for an edit. I hid the two halves because I didn’t need them anymore. Now that the platform was merged, I gave it a linear burn blend mode in the layers palette so it matched the color style of the statue. Brought the Buddha layer back again and aligned it so it appeared as if he was resting on top of the platform.

I added a personal touch to the design and placed my BrandleDesign logo with the ancient Tibetan script of Om Mani Padme Om underneath the platform. I wanted it to appear as if they were a part of the platform itself, but hovered nicely at the base. To do this, I used the original image of the wall painting as a resource to grab the wall texture and gold paint. I dragged a two-color version of my logo onto the wall texture and selected one of the logo colors with the magic wand tool (w). I went to select > similar to grab the other green segments. It might help to hide your background so the magic wand doesn’t pick up any similar colors outside of the piece you’re focusing on. Copied and pasted the selection. I repeat this with the second color to make two layers that are segmented out from each other.

Hid the original logo, took the outer color and dragged it over a gold portion of the background image. Held down command (cmd) and clicked on the thumbnail image of that color layer in the Layers Palette to make an exact selection of it on the canvas. Then I hid the color layer so the gold background and the selection was all that was remaining. I selected the background image in the layer palette and copy/pasted (cmd+c, cmd+v) a new layer filled with gold.

I repeated this step with the second color of my logo and the Tibetan script but used the textured wall instead of the gold paint for a background. I re-aligned the two logo segments into a new, colored, textured version of my logo. I dragged it onto my wallpaper canvas and repeated the desaturation and brightness/contrast changes that I used for the platform. I scaled it down and fit the logo and script at the base of the platform.

Step 6: Add a God-like Aura

To get the platform, logo and Tibetan script to show properly, I repeated the technique used to prevent the arrow circles from showing through the Buddha statue. However, this time I duplicated the Buddha layer, the platform layer, the logo and script layer, then merge them all into one. Moved this newly merged layer so it sits above the arrow circle layers and below the original layers that were just duplicated. Duplicate the background sun texture, move it just above the “all-in-one” layer and create a clipping mask (option+click the line between the two layers in the Layer Palette). Now the entire image is floating above the background without the aura arrows showing through. I also added an outer glow effect to this layer to give a little extra god-like aura to Buddha and his platform.

Step 7: Dodge and Burn to Add Dimension

Everything seemed to be looking pretty good, so I began to polish things up and used the burn and dodge tools to give the design some more dimension. When you are applying the burn and dodge tools, make sure you have the layer you want to tweak selected.

I used the dodge tool first, gave it a 6 percent exposure on the highlights and used a very soft brush. I gently and swiftly brushed over highlights on the statue. I lightened areas that I though needed to be brighter, then switched over to the burn tool and did the same with the shadows.

This technique is very noticeable on the platform and can really add dimension to something that started out flat on a wall. I dodged the areas that I wanted to pop forward and burned areas that I wanted to recede into the background. I paid close attention to the area just below where Buddha sat, and heavily burned the platform to create a shadow reflecting over the sphere.

The Final Result

I added a quick artist signature in the bottom-right corner, saved it as a new document and flattened the entire image. Don’t make the mistake of flattening the image and saving over all the hard work you’ve just done. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and found these techniques useful. Class is over!

You can download the wallpaper here, and let me know your comments! I would love to hear what you all think.

We will be learning the basics of smoothing and brightening skin. This tutorial is very helpful for beginners of Photo Retouching. Its a great start to using different tools, and eventually with practice you will become an amazing retoucher!

Photoshop Skin Retouching Tutorial

Photoshop Skin Retouching Tutorial from Michelle H. on Vimeo.

Before and After

Resources

SXC.hu

Write for us

If you are interested in writing a tutorial for Inspiredology, or writing a showcase post, email us. We would love to hear from you…

muellerchad@gmail.com |   @chadmueller
dertmobile@gmail.com |  @dertmobile

Inspiredology is about inspiration, and some tutorials are inspiring, but they are more about teaching and learning the techniques. Our previous round-up of “16 Photoshop Tutorials to make you a better designer” was a great post, and thought we could follow that format and just dive a but deeper into Icon Design.

Icon design is more popular now then every before, with the popularity of mobile apps, and internet based apps. Icons are becoming a powerful tool to help users understand functions and actions within an environment. With these tutorials, we hope that if you are a beginner or a seasoned pro you will have learned a new technique or been inspired to start designing your own icons.

How to Create a Photorealistic iMac and Magic Mouse

Create a Chalkboard Icon Using Photoshop and IconBuilder

How To Create a Detailed Apple iPad Icon in Photoshop

How To Create An Academy Icon From Simple Shapes

Create A Briefcase Icon

Create a Stylized First Aid Icon in Illustrator

How to Create a Golden, Vector Compass in Illustrator

How to Create a Gearbox Settings Icon Using Simple Shapes

How to Create a Van Icon in Photoshop

Create An Aperture Style Camera Lens Icon

iTune Icon

How to Create a Transparent Battery Icon

Create a Glossy Volt Icon in Photoshop

Create a Detailed Vintage Television Icon in Photoshop

How to Illustrate a Brain Icon for OSX and Vista

Quick Tutorial: Create A Sleek Bevel Styled Icon With Just a Few Illustrator Tools

Create a Cute Panda Bear Face Icon

Design The iTunes Icon For The iPhone And iPod Touch

Create a Simple Storefront Icon

How to Create a Photo Realistic Camera

How to Create an Envelope Icon in Photoshop

Things you’ll need:

1. Modern, powerful, computer: I run a Quadcore Mac stacked with ram, because power is king because of the processing needed to complete these images, and high res imagery, combined with complex visual effects & multiple layers make this a tough task to complete on yo mama’s Quadra 950 to be sure.
2. A copy of your favorite photo manipulation software: I use Photoshop exclusively (not that I have some kind of deal with Adobe or anything (hint hint)), but in my opinion, it’s the best product on the market for this type of work.
3. Time: I have none. Hopefully, you have some.
4. Finally, you’ll need to consume a big ole’ bottle of pure creativity – nuff said.

Once you have all of these things, you’ll need to find your base image, this will be the first stumbling block on your road to visual world domination, and at it’s worst, the image in your brain just won’t be possible due to scarcity of the correct stock to make it happen. Remember: the key to a great artistic experience is adaptation.

Don’t get upset and throw your digital brushes out with digital turpentine… be open to change., if it’s not going to work exactly as you planned, so be it, find an image that will work and move on.

The project was simple; create an event within the confines of a lab. “Hmmm… lab?”, I said to myself, “but my work usually happens on a larger scale”. (This was going to be tough) So, I got some help, brainstormed a bit, and came up with this idea of an all knowing master puppeteer, pulling the strings of world disasters… the very-science of world destruction and social breakdown.

Big Brother Run Amok.

First off, the scientist; what can we do with the scientist to reinforce the idea that he’s controlling the world’s disasters? I wanted the scientist to be playing with something – an oil rig maybe? Nope. I decided on a plane – an object that is used frequently throughout my work, and with a quick stock photo search and I found my plane. Make a quick path around your plane – copy – place. With a little erasing (layer masking) of the parts of the plane that might be covered by the scientist’s fingers, plus some dodge and burn action for strategic shading, we’re there.

Next, I needed a space to hold my disaster. I needed a container or dish of some kind. But just simply searching, “Medical dish” on your favorite stock site doesn’t do much – essentially, you get 1,000,000 petri dishes., and that’s not going to work for this project. The base image did have a existing basic, square, metal, “dish” that was holding some sort of transistor looking things, so I extended the “dish” walls outward and covered up the transistors. All you’re doing here is simply cloning  the edges of the dish, extending them out, making a larger dish.

So, for the main disaster part… of the disaster, I decided to take a busy freeway scene and crack it in half, having vehicles dropping off into a deep crevasse. Head over to your favorite stock photo site again, I like ThinkStock & iStock Photo, and find yourself a freeway shot you like, with lots of traffic, cars, trucks, etc. Note: The trickiest part of this, and all comp. images actually,  is finding the right stock on the right angle.

Now, you want to “fit” your tiny freeway into the dish. Do a selection of the main area, plus the grass, dirt, buildings, whichever, and place it into the file on a top layer. You need to work the freeway into the space, so go to layers > and add a multiply effect, this will show you the underlying structure that you need to fit the freeway into. Follow the edge of the dish plus the trees, etc, with the pen tool and using the existing environment ie: trees, buildings, etc, will give your image a realistic feel by rising or pouring our of the dish, so-to-speak.

Crack time! Everything is right with the world… so far, but now it’s time to crack some road. Go ahead an draw a quick path across the freeway taking in to account, once again, the environmental elements. I had a big element to overcome in this particular instance… a building, just off to the right, which I figured would be covered over or out of the frame completely -  alas, I was wrong. So, once you have drawn your crack (did I just write that?) you simply make the selection, cut and paste the section of road right back into the piece, and o to your move tool and angle this section of road a bit, so it looks like it’s falling away. Admittedly, I could’ve done more here.

The really cool thing about this section of road in my piece was the cars…. since the road is falling away, the cars are going to be sliding off as well. To create this illusion, select these cars, copy and paste them, individually, back into the file. You now need to angle the cars, and delete any excess pixels from around them. This is a small detail which arguably, might even get missed by the viewer… but if people see it, it will add to the effect as a whole.

NOTE: Make sure you don’t forget to recreate the road that would be under the cars you just clipped out and flung across the freeway.

Going back to the elements in the scene that may cause issues with your crack (ha ha), ie: the building in mine.

What to do? DESTROY IT!! It has to go. It’s on the fault line and it’s going down!! But how do I you do this?

At this point, again, you need to find some images destroyed buildings – bits, pieces, busted up stuff. Type “Building demolition” into your fav. stock image site search field and viola!

Hint: You can always find good examples of destroyed buildings when you search in the right places. “building demolition”, even, “Construction sites” and “excavation” are all great searches.

Once you have your images together, you need to blend them together using the eraser tool, layer mask, copy/paste, various brushes, dodge & burn plus the clone tool to create the perfect building falling to pieces. A great side effect to the awesome demo shots you’ll find is that there will be dust in these shots, guaranteed, and dust adds a huge amount of realism. In my piece, I deleted the big building and created a new, destroyed building.

The base image is a ruined home, flattened but wrecking ball so to make it look like it’s happening in real time, use your clone tool to pick some  bits and pieces of debit from your sourced images, paint them into the areas of destruction. Rotate the whole thing slightly, to add some drama. Finally, paint-in some dust clouds, again, from your sourced  imagery. A good trick is to take your smudge tool > set it to a low tolerance, and “pull” some of the dust downward. Large pieces of debit would be falling from the building, pulling clouds of dust behind them; this technique adds realism to the piece bigtime.

To create the great crevasse, you need to create the earth between the crack to make it realistic; a rough cliff side will work well for this – seeing as though a cliff side IS one side of a crevasse. In my image I found it easier, and just as effective, to place the cliff side on a layer beneath the freeway. Then, it’s just a case of dodging and burning just under the edge of the freeway to create a “hang over”. The actual road surface is strong and less porous than the earth beneath it. Therefore, as the earth falls away, there will be some surface remaining or hanging over the missing earth… thus a shadow will occur. Making his shadow work, again, generates a huge amount of realism by creating depth. Obviously, to finish off the effect, select your burn tool and go nuts on the bottom section of the crevasse.

Launching cars and buses off and into the abyss is easy. BUT WAIT! You can’t use any shots of any vehicle that’s just straight on. You must only use cars that are on cool, unnatural angles, top views & 3 quarter. The vehicles must have the illusion of falling… so it’s back to the photostock site to search. Once you find the shots you like, go ahead and clip them out, cut & paste them in place. Remember that the falling traffic will create shadows against the crevasse walls. Dodge and burn the walls just a few millimeters away from the vehicles. If you want to show that some of the cars were moving faster than others a the the time of the “event”, burn further away form the vehicle, thus creating the illusion of greater air between the car and the canyon wall.

Cracks. Anytime you have a huge chunks of earth falling into the abyss, there will be giant cracks to go along with it. I like to use good old fashioned sidewalk cracks or cracks in pavement, whatever stock you can find. Try to get a shot with lots of little tiny cracks as well as big ones. This technique works and it’s quick. Simply take the shot you wish to use, rough select, and with the “magic wand”, cut the shape out and drop it into your working image. Now, use a multiply layer to add depth and deepen the colour of the cracks, after that, simply delete the pasts you don’t like or that don’t work for you.

It’s now time to tackle the Inspiredology.com brand within the piece. I originally opted for a name tag laying on the table in front of the scientist, but at the end of the day, that was a tad obvious, so we went with Mr. Chad Mueller’s idea… news clippings of past disasters scattered about Big Brother’s table; this would go a long way in reinforcing the “world domination” idea. Nice one, Chad! The effect was done by first finding scrap news clippings & strategically placing them on the table. I then made a new layer in the same shape of the overall layer of the clippings, and filled it with white, then using a Multiply opacity layer on the news clippings

I gave it the same colour as the rest of the objects around it, while the white base acted as a color fill so we don’t see the table beneath. Then, just clone out the original text and add the Inspiredology brand… the only thing left to do in regards to this part of the process was to delete the areas of the clippings that would be covered by objects on the table… ie: Bottle and wire.

Only a few more steps left. Using a large, soft, brush,  select your Blur tool and blur around the outside of the world that we have made within the dish, the idea here is to focus this “strategic clarity” to certain parts of the image only. Obviously, the roadway / crevasse is a good place to start, then the plane and part of the hands of the scientist, and in this case, the Inspiredology.com brand. The technique is a take on the popular “tilt shift” technique people have been playing with lately. The idea that if you blur the edges, you’ll make a small center of focus, the image then takes on a toy-like quality, essentially a manufactured depth of field.

To reinforce the idea of a toy-like world in the hands of a mad scientist, we want to enhance/push the colour of the world we’ve created. Go to Image > Adjustment > hue/saturation, and set your saturation to about half , 50 or so.

Lastly, it’s on to my secret weapon for overall colour and texture tuning. This will really bring it all together and give you a wash of colour so every piece has the same tint, at least a little bit.

Ready… Here it is…

You didn’t expect me to tell you all my secrets did you?
Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
Happy Destruction!!

Choosing a wood-grain

When choosing a wood-grain here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Use free or royalty-free stock photos or take your own!
• The bigger the better, try finding something that is at least 2,000 pixels wide.
• Try to find something that does not have too many distinctive marks (i.e. knots in the grain).
• For the purpose of this tutorial: something that is not planked because you can quite easily repeat that on your own.

For this tutorial we will be using maidu_color.jpg, which you download at: http://www.defcon-x.de/texturen/holz/maidu_color.jpg

The Steps

1. Open maidu_color.jpg in Photoshop. Then Create a new document which is 5000×5000 pixels at 72dpi. It is important to work big and size down later for your needs. Note: If you have not noticed, our stock image is 720dpi. If you are going to potentially use this for print then I suggest you make the new document at least 300dpi (print standard resolution) but for the purpose of this tutorial I will be working in 72dpi (web standard resolution). Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S) RepeatableWoodgrain.psd Remember to Save throughout the tutorial, I won’t be reminding you!
2. Select all (Ctrl+A) on the maidu_color.jpg document, Copy (Ctrl+C), and Paste (Ctrl+V) into the RepeatableWoodgrain.psd document. Your screen should look something like this:
   
3. Rotate the image 90 degrees clockwise. You can do this in one of two ways: Select the free-transform tool (Edit > Free-transform or Ctrl+T). Holding Shift, Click and Drag the corners of the texture 90 degrees clockwise and Commit Transform (Return or Ctrl+Enter) or Select Edit > Transform > Rotate 90º CW. Whichever you decide to use your document should now look like this:
   
4. Now we are going to balance out the shadows on the texture. The right side of the texture is a tad darker than the left. We will want to lighten that up because when repeating shadows and highlights can stand out and look tiled. You can do this any way you wish but in this tutorial we are just going to use the Dodge tool. Select the Dodge Tool (O). With the settings on default (Range: Midtones, Exposure: 50%), increase your brush size to around 1800px and a Hardness of 0. With your cursor over the right side, Click once until the shade evens out. You may want to lighten the whole texture, this is entirely up to your eye and taste. When you are satisfied you will have something like this:
   
5. Before we continue, let’s take a moment to see what our texture looks like repeated. Ctrl + Click on the texture layer (Layer 1). Select Edit > Define Pattern. A dialogue box will pop up, type in TextureTest1 Click OK. Hit Ctrl-D to Deselect our selection. Hide Layer 1 then Create a new layer and Select Edit > Fill. If it is not already selected, Set Use: to Pattern and Click on the arrow box next to Custom Pattern. Select our new pattern and Click OK. You’ll find that it already looks good repeating vertically but horizontally it needs some work.
   
   Delete Layer 2.
6. Now let’s tile our texture. Un-hide Layer 1. With the Marquee tool (Ctrl+M), Select about 1/3 of the left side of the texture:
   
   Cut (Ctrl+X) and Paste (Ctrl+V). Photoshop will automatically paste onto a new layer for you. Select Layer 1 and, using the Move Tool (V), Move the remaining texture to the left of the document. Select Layer 2 and, using the Move Tool (V), Move the smaller texture over the large one, over lapping it about half as wide as the small texture:
   
   Using the Move Tool (V), Move the small texture up or down vertically, aligning the two textures.
   
   Almost there!
7. Now we want to blend the textures so you cannot see the left edge of the small texture over the large texture. With Layer 2 selected, Select the Erase Tool (E). Make sure the settings are set to: Mode: Brush,  Opacity and Flow: 100%. Right-click and set your diameter to around 900px, Hardness 0. Now, Click and Drag up and down along the seam until the textures are blended. You will need your cursor only about this far over the small texture so you don’t blend too far and erase too much of the small texture:
   
   Your texture should now look like this:
   
8. One last thing before we finish. We’re going to crop the edges of the texture because many times stock photos don’t have straight edges and this will show up in our repeatable background. First, Select Layer 2 then Ctrl + Click Layer 1. Now both layers are selected, Hit Ctrl + E, merging the layers into one. Then, Ctrl + Click what is now called Layer 2 and Select Image > Crop. Hit Ctrl + Alt + C to open Canvas Size. Type In for Width: 2806 and Height: 2205 then Hit OK and Proceed.
9. And that’s it! From here you’ll want to edit the image according to your needs. You will probably want to size it down to use it as a web site background. I suggest no smaller than 800 pixels wide to have a nice repeating effect. You can repeat step 5 to test your texture. Here’s an example of what the repeatable texture will look like on a web page:
   

6 Quick’n’Dirty Photoshop Text Effects From Scratch

Reader Tutorial: Typography Wallpaper in Photoshop

Magic lighting effect in Photoshop

Color Correction Basics in Photoshop

Create a Dream Design with 3D Typography

Photoshop Space Tutorial

How to Create a Somber Composition in Photoshop

Create a Dark and Surreal Poster Using Your Own Portrait

How to Create High Quality Metal 3D Text in Photoshop

Using Light and Shade to Bring Text to Life

Make a Retro-Space Typography Poster with Colorful Lights

Seamless compositing

Create a Spectacular Grass Text Effect in Photoshop

Make a Freezing Cold Snow-themed Abstract Piece

Create an Abstract Retro-Pop Wallpaper

Drawing Skulls with a Wacom Tablet

Creating the Brush

Step 1: Open Photoshop and create new file

For creating the Bokeh effect, first we have to create a Bokeh Brush. So start with this.
Open Photoshop and create new file (File>New) with following details.

Step 2: Setting up the Brush

Now select the Elliptical Marque Tool (M) and draw a circle (Press Shift and Draw) to fit in the canvas. Go to Edit>Stroke and add the centered stroke of black with 5px. It will look like this.

Create a new layer (Shift + Ctrl + N) and (if you have deselected) (Ctrl + Click) the small thumbnail in the layers panel of the previous layer. Fill this new layer with black and change its opacity to 30%. Press (Ctrl + E) to merge the layers.

Step 3: Saving your new brush

Okay, we have created the brush. Now go to Edit>Define Brush Preset and give a name to your brush like Bokeh Effect and save it. You can now see the newly created brush in your Brush Panel (Windows>Brushes or F5).

Creating the Bokeh Effect

Step 4: Create a New File and Start editing

Create a new file (New>File) with the following details and create a new layer (Shift + Ctrl + N).

Select your brush from the Brushes panel (F5), change the foreground color to #0054a6 with a brush size of 40px. Now change the brush setting as follows.

Step 5: Creating the Bokeh

Draw some Bokeh circles with the above setting and change the opacity of the layer to 30%.

Step 6: Adding Blur Effect and more Bokeh circles.

Select the layer and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Add the blur with radius 5px.
Create a new layer (Shift + Ctrl + N). Select your brush and change the size to 91px. Draw some Bokeh circles on the new layer.

Add Gaussian Blur to this layer with 3px radius.

Step 7: Last step

Select the previous layer and add Gradient Map (Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map) or (Windows>Adjustments>Gradient Map) as shown below.

Now add you logo or name and you have successfully created a Beautiful Bokeh Effect.
You may play with different colors and create more awesome effects.