Tag Archives: photoshop layers

Digital Wings – (Danny Bennett) | Digital Art

By Dave Piper | November 18, 2009 - 7:46 pm | Dave Piper - Latest Work, Photoshop tutorial Leave a comment

The main idea behind this project was the angel wings. I have been wanting to find some good angel wings for quite while. I really wanted to build some proper ones of my own.

Our Model is Danny Bennett, who is playing the role of the devil.

This one is a little harder than the last

Step one !

Build some wings! Last year I was down in London, walking around the Natural History Museum, I grabbed a few photos that I could use at stock photos for some projects just like this one.

Having a good stock libary is a very important tool in the birth process of any project. The first step was to strip back all the things I didn’t want to use in this photo. Using the EXTRACT tool I freed my bones wings that would become the main shape of the wing and give me a proper shape to work from. Once the wings were free I used the STAMP tool to smarten back up the wings. For me building things up in layers in the main object here.

Once I have my bone wings, I used the PERSPECTIVE tool to shape the wings ( you can use any tools you like.) Using two Wings shaped to show the top of the wing and the under-feathers ( I can build up the feathers and colours to show the different sorts of feathers) I want real looking wings, yet wings that can not attached to any normal bird, after all, we are making Angel wings ! I created a few patterns using brushes and started to work on the wings to give them texture and depth. Using about 4 or 5 layers in different shapes and sizes, using blurring effects to blend them I started to build them up. Remember, you only have to build one wing !

Once you have your wing, ( mine took quite a time to build ) you can spin a copy over to make your full set. Maybe again shape them to give you a shape you like when you have your full wing span. Most people never colour angel wings, its up to you though. Since you should have all your wings elements in at least 3 layers ( top layer, middle layer, bottom layer, the top layer being the bigger feathers at the bottom of your layers ) They should be really easy to colour. Make a Layer section for each wing section, Flip the layer into some nice blending mode and colour, Simple. Using a Layer mask, remove the bits to show off the parts of the wings that have colour and give them a realistic looking layer system. I have built some quite Gothic looking wings with sharp feathers and lines. I used some photos of Bats and Insect wings as my references.

So you have some KILLER wings.. Lets make our Angel.

Our Model is Danny Bennett , but use anyone of anything you like !! Get your self a cool photo, Cut them out and attach. Simple. This is your first chance to see how your wings really sit and what they look like. After I had placed Danny infront of the wings, they looked light and unreal. I added some heavy black feathers that curl over. and gave some darker colours to the underneath. Go away, Have some tea and come back to have a look at what you have with some fresh eyes.

So now after your break, What have you got. Is it any good ? what changes would really make this photo POP out ? I decided the end of the world was about the right setting for my new Demon. After a quick flick over my stock image gallery, I pulled out some good stuff that I was going to use as my background. Pull them all out, open them all up and place them over the screen. work out where they can go, where they fit best and look good. I have used a flaming Demon and a Sewer Drain. The ideas behind this setting are taken from a comic book.

Once you have your background layered up and blending all sorted. ( I have about 20 layers just for the background ) Use Alt+Ctrl+E to merge them, Group up the layers you don’t want and clean up your layer stack. Keep stuff named and grouped, Colours are cool to use too ! I would expect you to have about 40-50 odd layers at this stage. A cool tip is to drop some DOF (Depth of Field) in the photo, mask out the layers that are far away and use a nice LENS BLUR to work in a nice look.

Bring in the final element, (top layer elements, that are not affected by your background light sources ) In this case is only Dan with his new wings. Place him where you feel fits in the photo. Remember the golden rules. Work in thirds and you can not go far wrong. If you need to edit the top layer ( Dan ) now is the time, clear up skin, tones, curves colours and anything else you want to fiddle with. I decided that Dan wanted to be Hell Boys little son, So painted him red. ( new layer>Sat blend>mask layer>paint out> Done.)

So your done! you should have your New Born Angel with a pair of stunning wings !! Now is a good time to go to town and edit your photo as if you have just taken a snap of the world burning. Not 100% sure why the Angel is posing for a photo while there is a Flaming Demon behind him, but that’s art

Final Photo

Thanks to Jak Flash, George Eko and Danny Bennett

Stock photos from Div Art

thewolf1607

tankphoto

Fire Wings- (Emma Kate Dawson) | Digital Art

By Dave Piper | November 9, 2009 - 10:07 pm | Dave Piper - Latest Work, Photoshop tutorial 8 Comments

Mini Guide to how I made this.

Photoshop CS3 ,

Stock Photo taken by myself,

I just wanted to show how quick and simple a couple of photos can be used to create some dramatic photo-manipulations. This one has yet to be named, It took less than an hour. I guess if you have used photoshop before at some level, you should be able to follow this. If not. sorry !!

There are roughly 8 or 9 steps, I have tried to keep it nice and simple. Using a process of layers and masks it should be pretty easy to follow. Remember, using masks, is great for going back to re-edit steps at later levels. Photoshop is designed to edit in a non-distuctive way.

To start with, open up your main photo element, make sure you have a clear focus on where you want to go and ensure you have enough room to work with. Any simple photo edits should be done now. The photo I used was a pretty good starting point, I used the stamp tool (key short-cut (s)) and did some quick free hand work to clean up the back drop. There is not a lot of point in doing any make up changes or skin changes at this point as I know we are going to use lots of colour in the final photo.

I wanted to keep some light background clouds and tree line, using the mask layers remove the bits you dont want.

Using another layer and another stock photo, I added some more baseline details, the layer was flipped into screen mode (blending layer). This dropped out the darker sections of the photo and gave me just the details i needed. Create a mask and remove the bits you dont want.

Create a couple of new layers, I used 3 or 4. Using the brush tool, add some funky details. I grabbed some custom brushes, created some layer styles and combined them down into a group, then flipped them in to Colour Burn mode. I kept most of my small details away from my Treeline on the bottom layer and away from the main subject. If you just Google for Photoshop brushes you can find loads of great freebies out there. Next step is to add some colour.

Open up another layer ( try and keep them named and group them !) I used a golden gradient set at a 45 degree across the photo to give stronger colours at the edges. I think the layer was in screen mode, or overlay. Have a play around, see what fits for you. If you want, mask the layer, highlight areas or darken others. Remember, using masks is the only way you should be doing this. Next step is to add the main element, the wings. Don’t worry to much about your main photo getting hidden. Everything is masked, or maskable. we can go back and sort this later.

Using the stock photo of the flames (try i-stock or something), I cut out one section, created another layer, flipped it over, grouped them and duplicated them a couple of times. Once I had a couple of wings, I used some motion blur, made some bigger and layered them up to give me a fuller wing shape. Once I was happy with the shape. Once again the mask tool was used to leave some flick of flame across the photo. So we should have almost our photo coming to shape at this point. For my photo, a really strong facial look was important so i could not leave my model under the flames. I went back the very first layer (the stock photo of Emma), duplicated it and brought her onto the top of the stack and masked out the the background.

Once I have my photo its time to make the fire burn. I find its much better than having to worry about colour as I go. Using some photo filters, curves and levels ( all using masks to place where I want the certain changes to fit on the photo), I brought in the sides and started to enhance the flames. I use the rule, of masking every single layer. Its very rare a change I make will look good on the whole photo.

This paper look texture, flipped into overlay, or colour burn, or what ever funky layer style will give you a great look and save you a whole bunch of time . Using textures combined with a mask is fun and effective. From here, I edited up the skin, the border with another set of levels and curves. Added my logo, added some smoke to the flames and gave Emma some evil skin. Simple ! Oh some cool motion blur around the feet with some flames around the feet. There is no limit to the things you can add ! Just remember to use lots of layers, masks and you wont go far wrong.

Send some sample of what you can come up with ! All the elements used are below !!