Create a Mysterious, Dark Horror Scene with Crack Brushset in Photoshop

In this tutorial, I will show you the process I took to create this Mysterious, Dark Horror Scene with Crack Brushset in Photoshop. This is an intermediate level tutorial so some steps can be tricky,  but why not have a try!

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Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

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OK let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need to the following stock:

Crack Brushset

Model – ~stox-and-bunz

Space Brush

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1400px * 800px, fill the background with black colour. Load the Crack brushes in Photoshop and paint some crack texture on a new layer, and erase the edges with a soft eraser:

Create a new layer and once more paint some crack texture, erase the edges until you produce something as shown below:

Duplicate this layer twice and move them to the position shown below:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

Load the model image into Photoshop, cut out the girl and paste it onto our document: (Resize it to fit our canvas size)

Erase the edges and the right arm with a soft brush:

Add the following adjustment layers to the girl via clipping mask:

Black and White

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

Now we’re going to render some cloud around the girl and the crack wall. You can either use the cloud filter or use cloud brush to achieve this effect.

Add some cloud on the top cracked wall, erase the edges as shown below:

When you render cloud, make sure you utilise the free transform tool (distort, warp) functions to alter its shape. For more details about cloud warping, check this post out.

Also add some cloud overlay to the following area:

Cracked Floor

Over the shoulder:

Feet area:

Hint: make use of layer blending mode and opacity for better outcomes.

and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

Now let’s add some red blood particles into the image. We can use the space brush we downloaded, paint an area as shown below:

Then use the liquify filter (forward warp tool) with the following setting on those particles you just painted:

and here is the effect after the liquify filter:

Duplicate this layer a few times, and place them around the canvas. Of course you can resize and distort those duplicated layer if you wish.

Optional: You can also use white colour and repeat the step above to add some particles around the girl’s upper body:

Step 5

I decided to add some vexel hair on the girl. I won’t be going through the detail in this tutorial (If you wish, go to this tutorial for exact steps of vexel hair)

One thing I would like to point out is:  when you draw the work path, make sure you following the shape of the girl’s face:

Add the following two adjustment layers on top of all previous layers created:

Mask on colour balance adjustment layer:

Levels:

Mask on Levels adjustment layer:

Here is the effect so far:

Step 6

We’re almost done. For some final touchups, you can flatten the image, duplicate the background layer and apply the following radial blur filter to it:

Of course we don’t want the whole image to be blurred, so add a layer mask on it:

We can also create a ghost figure by using Wave Distort on a duplicated background layer:

Erase the majority of this distorted layer and leave only the head portion, flip this layer horizontally and change its blending mode to “vivid light”:

Paint some lights and shadows underneath the distorted figure:

We can also produce some sort of vanishing effect for this girl’s area by having some cloud over it:

Then change the blending mode to “color burn” for this cloud layer:

and here is the final effect: (click to enlarge)

That’s it! I hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!