2torial Blog|photoshop tutorials, website design tutorials and graphic design articles and tutorials

A great resource for free Photoshop brushes.  Use them for Backgrounds, logos and Graphic design.  To use these brushes, download the .abr and place it in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop\Presets\Brushes then fire up Photoshop. The brush should be visible in the brushes option area.  Note: for Vista x64 users the brush directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Photoshop\Presets\Brushes.

Here is the link:  http://myphotoshopbrushes.com/brushes

The author of this tutorial calls this a “making of” piece where he explains how he achieved this matte painting but if you know a little about Photoshop you’ll want to check this one out. The end effect is really nice and a cool effect using matte painting.

See the tutorial here.

Its not quite Halloween but I wanted to write a tutorial on turning a photo of a face into a Zombie or Horror face. Lets start by opening a photo that is a somewhat closeup of someones face.  You can use the one I’m using by downloading it here:  [Face] . Here is the dried mud texture I’m using for the face: [Dried mud].

Ok, with the picture loaded up in Photoshop, double click the background layer in the layers palette to activate the alpha channel and name it Background. FYI – If your not sure where the layers palette is, go to Window>Layers and select it to open the layers palette,  you’ll see that the picture you loaded will be the background layer.  Select the pen tool and set it to path in the above tool bar. Zoom in on the face to about 300% and trace around the face with the pen tool.

Read the rest of this entry »

In this tutorial, we’ll build a couple of  alien planets with space scene (click the thumbnail at left to see the final or at the end of this post). Start by opening a new document in Photoshop. Make the background black and the dimenision 1500×1000. Create a new layer in the layer palette and name it Planet. Select the rounded marquee tool from the tool bar and hold down shift and drag a circle in middle of the canvas. See the final for a better idea of the size of the planet relative to the scene.

Read the rest of this entry »

Former Computer Arts Graduate Showcase entrant Pete Harrison uses Photoshop’s Displacement filter creatively to modify a photograph, using a variety of shapes and Blending Modes to add extra depth and interest.

Link to .PDF tutorial is at the bottom.

Go to tutorial.

I’ve always liked the look a picture fading into a line drawing so here is a quick and easy Photoshop tutorial of this cool effect that is seen quite often in print ads. First, open the image in Photoshop that you want to apply the effect to.  Next, in the layers palette right click on the image and make a duplicate copy.  (note: all of the following work is done to the copy (or duplicate) layer) so, With the copy selected in the layers palette, apply the “find edges” filter by going to filter>stylize>find edges.

Original:

Read the rest of this entry »

In this tutorial we’re going to use the vanishing point filter and a displacement map to make the 2torial blog header banner appear like it was painted onto an old stone building years ago.  We’ll also use this filter to get rid of the two windows on the second story of our picture. Then we’ll use one other example of the displacement map on a brick wall using a slightly different variation of this displacement map tutorial. If you want to follow along with me, here are the resource files I’m using:

Brick Wall

Stone House

Read the rest of this entry »

Import the alien.psd we made in part 1 into After Effects as a composition.  Double click on the alien comp and it will open up a new timeline with all of the Photoshop layers visible.

Go to Composition>Composition Settings and make the duration of the comp 5 seconds. In the timeline select the two text layers and hit A on your keyboard to expose the anchor property. Adjust the values so the anchor point is at the bottom of the text, then you’ll have to re-position the text back to the middle and move it just below center. To prevent the text layer from jiggling all the way down, we’ll split the layer in two and add the expression at the split (time of impact when the text drops).  Move the timeline indicator to 0;00;00;08 , Lock Layer 1 and select the two text layers then to go edit>split layer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a simple yet effective image effect that is often used in print ads. An image’s main object extends out into the white area so it appears as if it is popping out of the picture and the ad text is placed in the white section. Obviously this effect can be used with almost any object in a picture but seems to work best on less “busy” images with one or two objects that really stand out. I’m going to use a hot air balloon for this tutorial. If you want to follow along with me, you can download the image I’m using here: Hot air balloon.

Here’s the final:

Read the rest of this entry »

In this tutorial, we’ll make a cool chrome text effect in Photoshop then import the .psd into After Effects as a composition and customize the built-in Shatter effect to make the text appear as if its crumbling apart. A very cool effect that can be used on pictures and video as well.

Here’s the final:

-
Read the rest of this entry »