Create scorching Photoshop effect

It’s summer blockbuster season, and this image recalls a still from a superhero movie or big-budget television series.

In this tutorial, Photoshop maestro Fabio Sasso demonstrates how to fake a human torch using little more than stock imagery, a little patience, and a lot of Photoshop know-how.

Sasso will talk you through honing your use of layers, tweaking the same image several times and layering up the central model. You’ll use layer styles and adjustment layers to build up effects and achieve a subtle, polished finish.

Sasso also has plenty of tips on how to seamlessly blend stock photography, using the Warp tool, simple Photoshop effects, and some layer masks. Throughout the tutorial, you’ll be subtly applying blending modes until you reach the impressive effect shown above.

All the images you’ll need can be bought at a low cost from Shutterstock, or you can easily substitute your own photos if you’d prefer.

Step 1
Open Photoshop and create a new document measuring 1,920- x-1,200 pixels. In the Background layer apply a Layer Style (Layer > Layer Style) and use a Gradient Overlay, setting the blending mode to Normal, the opacity to 100%, and the style to Radial. Increase the scale to 150%. Now for the colours use 040302 for the darker colour, and 1b140b for the lighter.

Step 2
Now let’s add a photo: buy the image from Shutterstock at tinyurl.com/l3netx, or use a similar photo of your own. Then use the Pen tool (P) to create a path to extract the man from the background. Convert the path to a selection by holding Cmd/Ctrl and clicking on the thumbnail of the path.

Step 3
Duplicate the image onto a new layer and use a big, soft brush to erase part of the arm, painting over the mask. Name this new layer ‘model arm’, and the initial layer ‘model’.

Step 4
Duplicate the ‘model arm’ layer and go to Filter > Others > High Pass. Set the radius to 10 pixels, and the blending mode to Hard Light.

Step 5
Now duplicate the ‘model’ layer, naming the new layer ‘model glow’. Go to Filter > Stylize > Glowing Edges. Set the edge width to 6, the edge brightness to 7, and the softness to 7.

Step 6
Still in the ‘model glow’ layer, delete the rest of the body, leaving only the arm. This will be the highlights of the fire. Also, change the blending mode to Screen.

Step 7
Add a new layer, naming it ‘model mask’, then select Filter > Render > Clouds, setting black and white as the foreground and background colours, respectively. Go to the Paths palette and load the path you created in step 2. With the selection loaded, go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.

Step 8
Delete the rest of the body in the ‘model mask’ layer, leaving only the hand, then go Layer > Layer Styles, and select Color Overlay. Pick an orange, change the blending mode to Linear Dodge, and set the opacity to 88%. Use an orange for the colour and change the Blend Mode to Linear Dodge (Add). Change the layer’s blending mode to Color Dodge.

Step 9
Add another layer on top of the others and name it ‘smoke’. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Again make sure you have black and white for the background and foreground colours. Change the blending mode to Color Dodge and with the Eraser tool (E) set to a big, soft brush, delete most of the areas of the layer, leaving only the part close to the arm that you’re going to set on fire.

Step 10
Select Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color, then click on the layer to open the Layer Style dialog box. Select Gradient Overlay and change the blending mode to Overlay. For the colours, use orange and a very dark orange; set the style to Radial and keep the scale at 100%. Move the gradient so the lighter part is on top of the model’s hand.

Step 11
Select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map, and change the blending mode to Soft Light.

Step 12
Now let’s add some flames. To do this, we’ll need another stock photo. You can buy the one used here at tinyurl.com/mpk9b3, or use a similar photo of your own. Start copying parts of the flame and pasting them over the model’s flaming arm. Set the blending mode to Screen, and then go Edit > Transform > Warp, and distort it to match the model’s arm.

Step 13
Now let’s add a fireball. Again we’ll use another stock photo – you can buy the one used here at tinyurl.com/mltl7m. Change the blending mode to Screen and select Image > Adjustments > Levels. Increase the white input a bit so that the colours match with the other flames. To finish the piece, you could make the eyes burn, or create some rays of light – for instructions on how to do this, see Sasso’s tutorial on creating movie posters in Digital Arts, October 2008 (or at tinyurl.com/n3mmtn).

Fabio Sasso

Creating an Abstract Watercolor Wallpaper

There are plenty of ways to create a Watercolor Effect in Photoshop. Some are very cheesy and you can easily tell that a simple filter has been used. In this tutorial, we will be using Layer Masking. It is one of the most fascinating and powerful Photoshop method, to use layer masks in your designs.

Preview of Final Image

Let us start off by creating a canvas of 1920X1200 pixels, in RGB mode. I found a picture of Jim Morrison (you can obviously use any of your favourite characters, or your own picture for that matter). I found the picture here. Copy and paste the image into our canvas. Use transform and scale it to fit our canvas by holding down the Shift-Key. This keeps the original aspect ratio of the image and it does not look stretched.

Even though the picture I am using here is a small resolution one, it will not matter much since I will be using some filters that will remove any sort of pixelation. Adjust Brightness/Contrast and then duplicate the layer.

Apply Watercolor filter from filter gallery to the duplicated layer. Name this duplicated layer as "Watercolor Filter".

Select the original layer and NOT the "Watercolor Filter". Go to Image > Adjustments > Threshold. Name this original layer as "Threshold Effect".

Set the Blending mode to Multiply, and merge both, "Watercolor Filter" and "Threshold Effect" layers. So, we now have a "Merged Layer".

Now open some images I took from the Media Militia Sampler Pack, download it here.

Get to the "Merged Layer". Select and copy the image into the layer. Add a Layer Mask to "Layer 1". Alt + click on the layer mask, and you will see the canvas is in white. Paste the image here, and Ctrl + I to invert the colors. This way, the layer mask hides the Blacks, and reveals the Whites. Click back onto the layer and we can see our image.

Use some paper textures from Bashcorpo, you’ll find it here. Set it to Linear Burn mode.

Clone some areas in the "Layer 1" using the Clone Tool. This makes the image look more complete.

Finaly, add some more watercolor splashes from the Media Militia Sample and add a fancy text, oriented like what I have in this image below. Now you have an abstract watercolor design. You can use your creativity and innovate more on this effect. Hope you had fun in this tutorial!

Age Progression - Photoshop Tutorials

Men and women age a little bit differently but since I've only aged female celebrities thus far, I'll just focus on women for this tutorial. I’ll be using the image of Katie Holmes that I did for a past W1K contest, as an example.

Step 1: Choosing an Appropriate Photo

When deciding to age-progress a celebrity’s face, I try to select a picture that is touched-up as little as possible.



I find that candid shots, or any shots that have not been taken in a studio, work best because the resulting harsh lighting reveals more of the skin’s details i.e. slight bags under the eyes and faint wrinkles. The appearance of such details makes it all that much easier to visualize how your subject will age. Visualizing what the end result will look like brings you one step closer to aging her face realistically.



In Katie’s case, we can see very faint horizontal lines on her forehead, fairly obvious lines under her eyes and lines bracketing her mouth.

Step 2: Collecting Reference Material

Reference material is key in my method of aging. Keeping Katie’s face in mind, I scoured the Web, looking for faces of old women who either resemble Katie and/or share the same facial expression. Here, Katie is smiling with her face positioned at a 3/4 angle so I tried to gather as many pictures of old women who are smiling in the same manner or close to that. I then opened up the picture of Katie in Photoshop and pasted the found images around her face on a separate layer, spread out to provide easy visual access.



Another kind of reference I like to use but is usually hard to find, is pictures of the subject’s parents. I managed to find a couple of reference pictures of Katie’s mother online and they really helped me to decide whether or not to give Katie a double chin. Since her mom has quite a bit of mass under her chin, I decided I would apply that to Katie too.

Step 3: Thinning Brows

Now the fun begins! The first thing I like to do is to thin out the subject’s eyebrows and eyelashes. The older people get, the thinner their hair gets - either because hair falls out and/or because it dries out as it greys.



So to achieve this, I like to use the Clone Stamp tool at 100% with a relatively small brush size depending on the size and resolution of the image. I sampled the surrounding skin to thin and reduce the number of hairs.

Step 4: Mold the Face

Next, I like to add the basic sags to the skin. I do this in the Liquify mode. I tried to create sagging effects to the cheeks, jowls and the cliff just above the eyes by using the Push tool. For the eyes, I tried to be subtle; otherwise she may end up looking somewhat ghoulish.



From what I’ve learned about the aging process, I know that while bones cease to grow, and in fact shrink, cartilage does continue to grow. As a result, the end of a nose may appear larger as a person grows older. So while I was still in the Liquify mode, I used the Push tool to extend the length of the nose slightly. Then I used the Bloat tool to also enlarge it slightly, being careful not lose the essential quality or character of the nose. Go too far and it may not look like Katie anymore.

Step 5: The Aforementioned Double Chin

Based on her mother’s pictures, I then added a fairly massive double chin. I initially used the Airbrush tool with some fairly broad strokes, sampling the colors that were already in the area of her neck. I then worked in the details with a finer brush size. Also, keep in mind that I was also using the other reference photos of older women to guide me.

Step 6: Wrinkle Up the Eyes

For me, the most important parts to get right are the eyes. They can make or break the project. Done wrong and the picture may no longer be identifiable as one of Katie Holmes anymore. I sought out the fine lines around the eyes and I tried to imagine how they would progress into wrinkles. I then extended them in length and width accordingly. Referencing the pictures of old women helped a lot with this step.



I used a combination of the Stamp tool and Brush tool. I wish I could explain my technique at this point in a more clinical manner but mostly I relied on my artistic instincts. I emphasized the wrinkles around the eyes by widening and deepening the lines slightly and increasing the contrast by darkening the recesses and lightening the edges. Also, I extended wrinkles to the cheekbone areas. I then applied the same technique to the wrinkles around the mouth and to the forehead.

Step 6: Reducing the Lips

In this step, I work on the lips. As people grow older, the outline of the lips tends to recede. Using the Stamp tool, I sampled the skin surrounding the lips and thinned them out.



While I was at it, I also added a few vertical wrinkles above the lips to give her a bit of a "prune" effect. We just want a hint of that, so don’t carve out deep lines; deep lines would only be necessary if she was puckering her lips.

Step 7: Planning Out More Wrinkles

Here, on a separate layer, I faintly outlined or sketched, with a relatively thin brush size, areas that I may or may not add more lines and wrinkles to. It’s easy to get carried away with the addition of wrinkles. So, I stopped, took a step back and assessed where to take to image. For me, it's essential and a great test to see what best works.

Step 8: Touching Up the Wrinkles

Based on the previous step, I added wrinkles where I thought they were needed most.



Overall, I found that the wrinkles and lines seemed a little flat in comparison to the rest of Katie’s features. They needed more definition so that they could pop out more. So, I highlighted the raised edges of the individual lines with the Brush tool and with a lighter skin tone.

Step 9: Hairy Lips

Facial hair becomes an issue with most women as they age. For some strange reason they lose it in the brow area and grow it back around the mouth area. I didn’t want Katie to be the exception so with a very fine brush size and the Brush tool, I added hairs to her upper lip.



I tried to make it as subtle as possible. Hairs too thick or dark would draw the viewer’s attention straight to her mustache and I didn’t want that. I also added more wrinkles to the area below the corners of her mouth.

Step 10: Refining the Neck

I decided that the neck was too smooth for a woman of 75 years of age. So I added finer wrinkles to that area. Also, I added more mass and weight to her jowls with the airbrush by increasing the value of the tones in those areas thus creating more contrast between surface planes.

Step 11: Adding Age Spots

A key component to effective aging of a face is the addition of age spots.



So at this point, I sampled one of the darker skin tones on her face, and on a separate layer that was set to Multiply and 30% opacity, I brushed them in and tried to create irregular shapes (there IS no perfect age spot). You can add as many as you like; the amount varies from person to person. I decided to be conservative with Katie.

Step 12: More Refinements

I took a little break from it and came back to it later to possibly get a better perspective on it. When I looked at it, at this point, I decided that certain areas needed refining and added detail. This is the beauty of working with a high-resolution file; I can zoom in real close and deal with a wrinkle up-close and personal.



Unless their teeth were subjected to regular whitening, most people’s teeth yellow with age. Gums also recede, showing less gum and more bone. And so with that in mind, I sampled a yellowish-brown color and on a new layer that was set to Multiply and 30% opacity and painted that color to the teeth with the Brush tool. Her gums didn’t show to begin with, so receding the gums here wasn’t necessary.

Step 13: Preparing the Hair

The finishing touch here is greying the hair. I began by creating a mask defining the area of the hair. I used the brush for this and tried my best to define as many loose strands of hair that I could.



With this mask as a selection, I then created a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and reduced the saturation to –63.



I then created a new adjustment layer based on the same mask and adjusted the Brightness/Contrast to brightness +9 and contrast –36. As a result, I found that the darker areas were too pale and caused a loss of depth and so to adjust that, I then selected the mask and scratched out the darker areas with a 5px brush size at 50% opacity so that they could show through from the original image.

Step 14: Hair Raising

The next step was to raise the hairline and thin out the hair. Hair loss is common with both sexes.



I sampled the area at the top of the forehead and extended the skin area above the original hairline.

Step 15: Greying the Hair

A lot of details of the hair were lost in the previous step so with a thin brush size at 80 percent opacity I drew in fine grey hairs, sparsely laid out.



Patiently, slowly, stroke by stroke I added more and more hairs until I was happy with the amount of grey I had added.

Step 16: Finishing Touches

Finally, I took a step back, refined a few wrinkles here and there ET VOILA!



I hope this tutorial was insightful. It may not be the most technically detailed tutorial but it gives you a good idea of the process I go through to get the job done. Hopefully, it will help you create your own trophy-winning images for future Fountain of Age contests!