Cloak amp; Dagger

I found this inspiration at this website, however, I have not found any tutoirals on how to do this. :{

I contacted the artist who created it, however, I got no reply. I guess that is because I wasn't a paying customer.

Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone knows how to do something like this; or if anyone knows of a tutorial on how to do this.

To see what I am talking about go to here http://www.ryuneo.com/manipport.htm and starting at the top left row, go to the 3rd picture and click on it. That picture will open up in a new window.

Now if my directions are self-explanatory you will see a picture of a man who has a skin texture of baked mud. Notice how the mud hugs the contours of his face, as if his skin were made of this stuff. :B

I want to know how to do that. I tried it on my own and I used several ideas that I could come up with. However, none of the end results look natural. [confused]

I want to know how to do this. Please help. 8))

Rick

He is a member of the boards here, try to PM him I'm sure he would help you

Cloak amp; Dagger

Uhhh... That is too risky. I contacted him at his website and I got no reply. I have to take into consideration that he is protecting his artistic knowledge from the general public.

Some artist are like that. However, I am sure that he is not the only one out there that knows how to do that.

MsOz

Yet you expect us to break the protection of his artistic knowledge for him??? That's some nice consideration, I must say!

Try a tutorial search, keep experimenting. When you gain enough Photoshop experience from practicing and following texturing and displacement tutorials, you'll probably figure out your own technique without compromising any of us...

Cloak amp; Dagger

Yikes. I really made that sound vulgar didn't I. ;\

He is not the only person that I have seen create work like that. He was the only person that I was able to contact. If you don't know how he created such an effect then you have not compromised his artistical knowledge.

If you know how to do this then you are not stealing his idea, you are only sharing your knowledge with me. Thus no harm is done. Unless I didn't articulate that correctly and in the process offended another person.

Ah. For the record I am not asking for anyone to show me how to duplicate his work. I am basically just interested on how to create that skin texture effect so that it looks like it is actually the subjects skin. I have tried my own but everything I have attempted has ended in failure. Really disastrous failure. |

Bacardi

Basically you have a layer with the face on it, and another one with a texture on it. The texture layer is blended with a blend mode that makes the face shine through, and a layer mask sees that the see-through is only applied to specific places.
Are you familiar with these options and techniques?

Cloak amp; Dagger

Yes. In my desperate search to learn how to do this I did find a tutorial that helped. The problem was I was using pictures with too much information on them.

To solve this I had to:

* Convert the image to black and white.

* Then convert it back to RGB.

* Then place an image in a new layer (i.e. Stone, leaves, etc.).

* Then set the image in the new layer to overlay. I also find that multiply, color burn, and darken work well also.

However, maybe you can help me with the next obstacle. When I did this project it looks really good. However, my image looks like the subject has tattoos of leaves all over her, I used a picture of fall leaves, how do I make some of the leaves look like they have more depth. \:]

The leaves look like tattos. I want some of them to look like leaves that were attched to her. I am not complaining about the present out come, I am just trying to make it more sophisticated.

MsOz

You might try placing selected leaf copies on individual layers, and using layer styles of bevel and emboss, and then arrange the layers on her face.

PS - Congratulations on learning one of the most important things you will ever do with Photoshop: Search for what you are looking for. You'll usually get results much faster and more in tune with your individual needs by learning to do a proper forum or web search. Between that and simply experimenting with the program to become familiar with the tools you are using, you are now well on your way to becoming a PS guru! [righton]

huma

Wise words, MsOz.

Cloak & Dagger, one way to add depth would be to select certain leaves and paint in shadows unto the subject. Airbrush is good for this. Keep the opacity low and build up the shadow. A copied embossed layer would also work, especially if you set the blend mode to softlight.

Cloak amp; Dagger

Well, I made my first attempt at this and this is what I came up with. I don't like the insect I placed on it, however, this was the only insect I had to work with. Also, it was the same color as the leaves so it didn't show up that well. That is way I added a gradient map to it.

For the more indepth leaves I duplicated the leaves layer and set the blening mode to 100% Normal. Added a layer mask to hide the layer and then used the brush to reveal a few of the leaves. Then I added a drop shadow.

For the insect I would have prefered to use a butterfly. Placed it on one of her eyes and then lowered the opacity just enough for the eye to show through it. However, this was just a practice run.

This I have tried this special effect on other pictures. It doesn't always work. You have to adjust the levels to take out a lot of information, and if the first thing that fades to black is the eyes, that is a sign that this picture is not going to work with that effect. My question to all this is, "Why do you have to remove all the information in order for this idea to work?"

Anyway, enough of my rattling on and on, it is time to display the work of my hands.