#m:pstutorial

Information:

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

What You’ll Need: Photoshop (I will be using Photoshop CC 2017)

What This Goes Over: A detailed explanation for making PSDs.

Let’s Begin . . .

The very first thing you want to do is locate a picture that you would like to use. In the past, I started with any picture that I found aesthetically pleasing, but recently, I have started with any picture of a POC that I find aesthetically pleasing. This makes it so that I can ensure my PSDs are POC friendly and will not make them appear lighter. I’ll be starting with a photo I have already made a PSD for, aka THIS image from egotisticalgold. Open up your image in Photoshop. 

Create a new group. You can do this through Layer > New > Group. Rename the group to whatever you like. Your layers section should now look like this:

Awesome. Now, the first layer that I normally do varies. Sometimes I’ll do a Brightness/Contrast layer, other times I’ll do a Curves layer. Really, this one has no logic to it. It all just depends on what I feel works. I’m gonna do a Brightness/Contrast layer first. Here are my settings:

You don’t really need to do anything too extreme here, especially because you can always switch it up later. Next, we’re going to do a Curves layer. Now, once you open the new layer, press the little eyedropper with the white tip. It should look like this:

Now, with that selected, press on the WHITEST part of the image. Then, click the little eyedropper tool with the black tip. It should look like this:

Now, instead of selecting the whitest part, select the BLACKEST part of the image. In layman’s terms, this is a simple way to color correct, especially images that are whitewashed. It’s good for telling photoshop which points should be white, and which parts should be black. Now, continue on with how you want your curves layer to look. Mine looks like this:

Now, let’s add a Levels layer. Mine looks like this:

Now, let’s compare the progress:

To most, the images may look the same, but they are different. The first layers don’t necessarily have to create major changes in the image. A lot of that may come later with different layers. Let’s move on.

Add a black and white Gradient Map layer, then, change the blending mode to exclusion. Looks a little funny, right? Don’t worry, we’re going to fix that. Change the opacity so that it’s around 10%-20%. My settings look like this:

Note that exclusion is a relatively powerful tool, so having the opacity at a high number really isn’t necessary. 

Now, add a new Color Balance layer. For this, you want to make very small changes. Sometimes less is more. Also, we’ll only be utilizing the midtones and shadows. Here are my settings:

Add a new Exposure layer. Your settings will definitely vary based on your personal taste, especially for this. Here are mine:

This is usually when I add a new Levels layer. This is what my settings look like:

Whew! That’s already a lot, isn’t it? Let’s take another break to compare what we started with, to what we have now:

Now we’re getting somewhere! Okay, so now that we have a “base” PSD filled with the more basic parts, let’s move forward. 

Add Photo Filter layer. Automatically, the color should come up as an orange color. If not, the hex code for the orange I’m using is #ec8a00. Make the density 25%, then change the blending mode to Soft Light, and the opacity to 10%. This will begin our process of warming up the skin tone and making sure it isn’t whitewashed. 

Now, add a new Selective Color layer. These are my settings:

An optional part of the Selective Color layer includes increasing black colors to make them darker. This isn’t necessary, but I did it because I enjoy the look of solid blacks. These were my settings:

Unless your image is severely whashed out, you really don’t need to do a lot of this. Now, add a Vibrance layer. My settings:

Now, add a Hue/Saturation layer. These are my settings:

Make the cyans, blues, and magentas the same as the green Settings. Everything is zero, but the saturation is at -10. 

As a side note, I do not recommend using vibrance layers or hue/saturation/layers to balance out create a more vibrant image. Sometimes overdoing it can create a very grainy effect. Use hue/saturation to make minor adjustments to individual colors, but use selective colors to REALLY enhance them. 

Now, add another black and white Gradient Map layer. It’s going to be the same exact settings as the previous one, so if you want, just duplicate it and move it up. If not, here’s the settings again. 

Okay, now let’s add another Exposure layer. These are my settings:

Okay, now let’s compare what our images look like with the original, the first check we did, the second check, and our current image. 

I added an extra Selective Color layer. Here are my settings:

That’s about it, but if you want to brighten it, add a Brightness/Contrast layer. Here are my settings:

Now, add a Curves layer. Mine looks like this:

Now, doing this MIGHT whitewash the image a bit. If that’s the case, just add a new Selective Color layer. These are my settings:

If you’re still concerned about whitewashing, add another Photo Filter layer. Do the exact same orange as the last and set it to soft light. Then, make it about 30%.

Great! So this is the bare bones of the process I go through when making PSDs. I usually go back and forth to make sure it goes well with other images and I test how compatible it is. Here are some examples of the PSD we created today, all using the same PSD:

I hope you found this helpful. As always, you can send me a message if you’re confused or would like me to further explain something! 

Information: 

Difficulty Level: Intermediate What You’ll Need: Photoshop ( I will be using PS CC 2017 ) What This Goes Over: In this tutorial I will be walking you through step by step in a tutorial on how to use the textures in this pack. 

Let’s Begin . . . 

Preperation: The first thing you need to do is find what image you’re going to be using as a base as well as the texture you want. I’m going to be using this image by Laura Makabresku to attempt to recreate an old promo graphic of mine. This is where you want to implement any of the PSDs you plan on using and if you’re creating a graphic, try to create that first before getting into the animated textures. You don’t have to, but it’s a lot easier to handle if you do. For mine, I’m going to use an old and basic PSD of mine which you can download here. I applied my action as well so now my image is sharpened and looks like this:

It’s a little boring, right? So I’m going to add a few textures to make it look better as well as some text, a fill layer, and maybe even distort the actual image. This is my result: 

With a graphic like the one we’re making, you don’t have to go too crazy with the textures. You can if you want, but take it from someone who's worked with Photoshop for 5 years — you don’t want to overwhelm your viewers. Textures are great, but when you’re adding an animated one on top of normal ones, it can get chaotic really fast. So now we’re going to move onto the next part. 

Applying Your Texture

So up until this point, you’ve most likely been working under the “Essentials” side of Photoshop. In the upper right hand corner, you’ll find a button that looks like this: 

Click that and then click the “Motion” option. This should bring up your timeline. Your frames may not appear but once you click the button that says “Create Frame Animation”, they will. Open up the animated texture you’re going to use. I’m going to be using one of the fire textures. Once your gif is open, you’ll see all the frames in the timeline. Count how many there are and create the same amount of frames in your edit by pressing this button. 

Next, you want to make sure that your frame delay is the same for both your edit, and the animation. To do this quickly, highlight all of your frames in your animated gif and press the little button that looks like this: 

Press “Other” and enter in your frame delay. You may need to change the timing until you like it. For mine, I liked the way 0.05 looked and that’s typically what I usually do anyways. Whatever number you’ve entered, go into your edit and make all of the frames that same exact number for the frame delay. Change your format into the timeline for both of your images by pressing this button:

Now, go to your animation and highlight all of the layers that are there and right click on them. A little window thing should pop up and press “Convert to Smart Object”

All of your frames should now be compressed into one single layer. Drag the frame animation window into it’s own so your screen looks something like this:

Take your smart object from your animated texture and drag it over to your edit. Your texture should now be in the same document as your edit. Use CTRL + T to transform the size of the smart object until you think it looks good. The best way to transform your layer while still maintaining the dimensions of it and not distorting it would be to hold the SHIFT key down while you resize it from the corners of the layer. If you do it on the sides or the top or bottom, it doesn’t work. It has to be the corner. This is what my document now looks like. 

Now, this part varies from person to person as well from image to image. With your smart object still selected, you can begin to play with the blending modes which look something like this:

For my image, I put the blending mode at Screen with 100% Opacity and Fill. Like I said before, this varies from personal preference and intent on the Photoshoppers behalf of how they want the image to look as well as the images themselves and their coloring. Also, remember to save it as a .GIF and keep in mind that Tumblr has a file size limit which is 10MB. If your file exceeds this, the gif will not work. In that case, just delete a few layers or make the image itself smaller until you get to 10MB or below. If you’re using this tutorial to make .GIFs for your theme, you can get around the size limit by following this tutorial. This is my final product: 

First, you’re going to want to create a new document. You can do this by pressing File > New. I made my document 150x150 px but you can make it any size that you want. Now, we should have a new document. 

After that, create a new shape. You can do that by pressing the image that looks like the one circled below:

Now, you want to customize the size and color of your shape. The settings should be located on top of everything. This is what my settings look like:

Once you have all of that figured out, just press anywhere in your document to create your shape. Make your shape is in the center of your document. After that, delete the background layer. This layer should be labeled as “Background” and will also have a little image of a lock on it. 

Now, find a PNG file (image with a transparent background) of whatever person you wanted to use. You can do this by doing a search via Google Images or Devianart. Or, if you’re more advanced and know how to delete the background of an image, you can make your own. I’m just going to be using a PNG of Katherine Mcnamara which can be found here. 

Once you’ve decided and saved the one you’re going to use, open it up in photoshop and drag it over into your document. Transform your image until you’re satisfied with how it looks. Like I always say, you can do this by pressing CTRL + T to transform it as well as the SHIFT key while you drag the corners of the layer to make it smaller/larger (holding the SHIFT key will maintain the dimensions of the image and not distort it). 

We having something like this now:

This is typically where I apply any actions or PSDs. So I’m going to sharpen the layer of Katherine Mcnamara and put on my usual PSD. The action can be found here but unfortunately, I can’t link you to the PSD download. 

It looks 100000% better now. But we’re not done yet. Get your marque tool ready and make sure it’s set to the elliptical setting. 

You’re gonna customize the size of your circle again. Make sure your size is equal to the size you made your original circle shape. Mine was 110x110 px so this is what my settings look like.

Fantastic. Now, click anywhere on your document. Move your marquee around to make sure it aligns with your initial circle.

Now, right click on the document and Select Inverse. If your icon looks anything like mine, the top of the person’s head is sticking out. You want to erase everything outside the circle EXCEPT for that part. 

That’s pretty much all you have to do. If you want, you can add doodles to it as well. @dear-indies has a tag with a bunch of different doodle packs over here. This is the end result:

The background of my theme is white so you can’t see parts of the doodles, but here is what it’ll look like on the tumblr dash: