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Home»Abstract»Create a Realistic Break-Apart Effect with Debris Brushset in Photoshop
Abstract

Create a Realistic Break-Apart Effect with Debris Brushset in Photoshop

By James QuApril 26, 20095 Mins Read
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In this tutorial, I will show you an interesting technique I use to produce realistic break-apart/disintegration effect in Photoshop by using debris brushes, with a watercolour background attached. There are many tutorials on the web showing techniques about break-aparts but, it never hurts to learn more :)

It will be a bit boring if the whole tut is just to break something apart, so I also combined a bit of photo retouch techniques along side and hopefully they can be useful to you as well. Together we will be using layer blending options, masking, the pen tool, adjustment layers and of course, brushsets. Have a try!

Here is a preview of the final effect:

break-apart-final-3

Alternative version:

break-apart-final2-1500

OK let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Female stock

Debris Brush

Watercolor Brush

Step 1

Create a new document sized 3100px * 3600px with White background. Open the “Female Stock” image in Photoshop, use Pen Tool (or whatever selection method you prefer) to make a working path around the model:

pen-tool

pen-tool-1

pen-tool-2

pen-tool-3

If you chose to use Pen Tool, make sure to make a selection after you close the path (by right-click inside the path with Pen Tool selected):

mark-selection

After clicking “Make Selection …”, keep the Feather radius to 0px and tick the “Anti-aliased” checkbox as shown below:

selection-fea

If your selection isn’t perfact, you can hit Ctrl + Alt + R and bring up the refine edge option and apply the following settings:

refine-edge

Then copy and paste the selection on our document and name this newly-created layer as “model”, resize and position it as shown below:

1-position

Step 2

Duplicate the “model” layer twice. Then on the first duplicated layer, change the blending option to “linear burn”:

2-linear-burn

Add a vector mask and grab a soft round brush, gently erase the portion as shown below:

2-mask

2-mask-layer-1

This is the effect after apply the layer mask, you can see the dask parts are now gone:

2-after-mask

Then on the second duplicated layer, change its blending mode to “Screen”, then also grab a soft round brush and apply the following mask onto it:

2-screen-mask

2-mask-layer-2

Here is the effect so far:

2-effect3

Step 3

I decided to add some black and white adjustment to the model however preserve the yellow and orange parts of the image.

So we can go to Layer > New adjustment Layer > Black and White and apply the followng options:

3-bw1

On the mask of this adjustment layer, use the Eraser tool with a soft brush to erase the following part of the image:

3-mask2

I also feel like to preserve the lip colour for the model, so I used the Eraser Tool (with a opacity of 40%) to gently erase the lip part on the mask of this adjustment layer:

3-lip

And you will have the following effect:

3-effect3

We can adjust the lighting contrast a bit for the model. So go to Layer > New adjustment layer > Curves and apply the following settings:

3-curve1

And here is the effect so far:

3-effect-21

Step 4

Now we’re on the break-apart bit of the tutorial! Firstly load the “Debris Brush” into Photoshop, then create a new layer called “break apart” on top of all other layers:

4-break

Grab one of the brush in the “Debris Brush” set, use a colour match the background colour (in this case it’s white), then use the lasso tool with 100px feather to draw a selection in the area you would like to break apart, simply paint over it:

4-lasso-tool

Duplicate this “break apart” layer, hit Ctrl + I and invert the colour on the duplicated layer:

4-invert

Add a layer mask on the duplicated layer, this time use the Eraser tool with the Debris Brush, eraser the area and reduce the density of the black part:

4-erase-2

Also use the Warp Tool (Ctrl + T and right-click choose Warp) to add a bit of motion:

4-warp

Also tidy up the bits and pieces arund the hair with a soft eraser:

4-erase

Here is the effect I have after apply the above steps:

4-effect3

Step 5

Now we can use the watercolour brush to add some background for this image. Create a new layer just above the background layer, load the “Watercolor Brush” into Photoshop and simply paint over it (great chance to use your creativity!)

Here is what I have after the painting:

5-effect3

We can futher add some colour onto our image. To do this, simple create a new layer on top of all other layers, set its blending option to “overlay”, use a big soft brush and paint over it.

Here is my effect so far:

5-effect-2

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! You can of course add some of your own texture or filter effect and see what the end results are!

Here is my final image for this tutorial: (I slightly adjusted the colour balance and curves ) – Click to enlarge:

break-apart-final-3

Alternative version:

break-apart-final2-1500

Hope you enjoy this tutorial, drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Cheers and have a nice day!

brush effect intermediate photo
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James Qu
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James is a seasoned Photoshop expert with over 25 years of experience, mastering the software since its 5.0 version. As the driving force behind PSD Vault, he authors the majority of its in-depth tutorials and insightful articles.

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55 Comments

  1. ricardoFx on April 27, 2009 12:07 AM

    nice effect @james;
    maybe can use this cool techniqqqqqqq.
    thx dude!

  2. wiresskylines on April 27, 2009 1:56 AM

    nice..^^ i really appreciated all your photo effects..^^ it is easy to understand..

  3. joyoge designers' bookmark on April 27, 2009 5:48 AM

    nice effect thanks for the helpful tut..

  4. jorge on April 27, 2009 5:59 AM

    que buen efecto, gracias por compartir el tuto

  5. photoshop image masking on April 27, 2009 3:03 PM

    I love the tutorials. Would love to see more. Thanks!!

  6. psaddict on April 27, 2009 5:51 PM

    Nice work!

    Added to http://www.psaddict.com

  7. huwaw69 on April 27, 2009 11:15 PM

    Wow cool effects it looks professionally done…

  8. moih60 on April 28, 2009 1:50 AM

    good tut ..thanks and go on

  9. Moes on April 28, 2009 5:35 AM

    Fantastic tuturial….very, very nice work…tks

  10. Jay on April 28, 2009 12:17 PM

    Can you drop me an email : jay_menard@hotmail.com… I’ll maybe have a jo for you! :)

    Thx

    Jay

  11. MICHELLE on April 29, 2009 6:02 PM

    how do i add a vector mask? i’m just starting to work my way around photoshop.. i need your help in this one :( .. thanks..

  12. photo retouching on April 29, 2009 9:13 PM

    A really long tutorial, but well worth the wait as the result is great!

  13. admin on April 29, 2009 9:47 PM

    @MICHELLE: you can go to Layer > vector mask. In CS3 there is also a small icon down the bottom of the layer palette to add a mask.
    Hope this helps

  14. Josh on April 30, 2009 8:29 AM

    Thanks for sharing. This is great!

  15. jenny nguyen on May 27, 2009 12:58 AM

    it’s amazjng… :D

  16. joel on June 3, 2009 4:27 AM

    Hi it’s amazing
    can I send my photo to you , it’s my mail photosho_1@yahoo.com
    Because I wanna work on it but i couldn’t do like you .
    you do proffesional man !

  17. joel on June 4, 2009 9:01 AM

    hi , can i send my photo and make it so for me plz .
    cuase i can not do like you man !
    this is my mail : photosho_1@yahoo.com

  18. iki on June 20, 2009 7:12 AM

    dude,there is no new adjustment layer called Black & white in CS2,,poor me!!btw awesome tutorial man…i’ll ask you again if i could borrow your brain and your creativities..lmao :D

  19. Matt on June 26, 2009 10:38 AM

    @iki – Duplicate the layer (Ctrl + J) and go to Images -> Adjustments -> Black and White, that’ll end up being the same thing.

  20. R.P.GALLAGE on June 26, 2009 6:42 PM

    I’m a Sri Lankan.It was so usefull for my creativity.
    Thanks.

  21. aakash kulshreshtha on June 26, 2009 10:07 PM

    hi, this is awesome creation in photoshop
    its rare
    its a good tutorial

  22. Draysen on June 28, 2009 4:55 PM

    Well I want to do this with MY photo, not this, and I’ve followed the steps on this with my photo to Step Two, Part two where you got to erase some parts. what the frig. this is complicated especially when its NOT your photo. someone should make a tutorial of this but explain how to do it on a photo you choose.

  23. Gabriel on June 30, 2009 8:05 PM

    Elo may i noe how do u make the alternative version as
    i dunno how to create the ‘wall’ behind the model ..
    Btw,its an awesome tutorial.Bravo man

  24. Reza on July 1, 2009 8:44 AM

    Hi dear friend,

    I put this tutorial in image mode in my website…

    you can see it…

    and i want a thing! Put the zipped file the up of this great tutorial…

    http://dlallworld.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/create_a_realistic_break_apart_effect/

  25. Amber on July 28, 2009 10:37 PM

    Hey!

    Very nice tutorial, I used it on an image.
    Uploaded it at ImageShack:
    http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/4725/paintinggirl.jpg

    Keep up the good work!

  26. future-eng on August 11, 2009 1:18 AM

    this is wonderful tutorial .. i read it 3 times and get a fantastic results

  27. Evan Skuthorpe on August 11, 2009 1:33 AM

    That’s great. I love the final effect so will try this myself at some stage. Cheers!

  28. Casper on September 6, 2009 9:24 PM

    Hallo, I come not futher than stap 4 by the tutorial apart. can you help me? please help!

  29. nesa on January 15, 2010 9:39 PM

    a bunch of thx

  30. amr on February 24, 2010 12:16 PM

    very very nice tut i hope for more
    i found out if u use the glossy blood splatter instead of debris it gives a totall awesome new effect

  31. Caden Davidson on February 26, 2010 6:46 PM

    Hmm… having a lot of trouble with your tutorial. Maybe it is because I am on a mac, but when i follow your beginning steps strictly, does not show the same results. Would be nice to see a video version, or a more detailed tut for I am having trouble following this one ><

  32. Aaleen on March 2, 2010 3:02 PM

    I’m sorry, if may be something wrong on my end, but when I try to unzip the debris brush I get an error saying “! F:\Aaleen\Downloads\Debris_Brush_Set_by_zigabooooo.zip: The archive is either in unknown format or damaged”

    If anyone could help me that would be sincerely appreciated.

    Thanks for the amazing tutorial though, I’m sure if I can get started on it after unzipping the file I will be completely satisfied.

  33. machinedaddysnd on March 8, 2010 4:07 PM

    very nice tutorial, would luv 2 c more

  34. machinedaddysnd on March 8, 2010 4:09 PM

    Amber u did a great job keep it up

  35. Name (required) on July 5, 2010 7:54 PM

    hieee d tutorial ws fab…cn u upload more….

  36. MrKing on July 29, 2010 7:42 AM

    how do i do the vector mask thing in step 2

  37. Makil Shah on September 1, 2010 8:26 PM

    I’m pakistani
    HallO….! ur design iz v.v.v Nice i like ur work .
    its rely oWaum yr.

  38. 爱国者 on September 13, 2010 9:57 PM

    非常厉害 ,谢谢分享

  39. Mohawk on September 18, 2010 5:52 PM

    Cool.. thnx for sharing this technique! Hope this site stays on forever
    to help those new to photoshop and also those who might have forgotten certain techniques here and there.

  40. tedc on September 21, 2010 4:00 AM

    Looks great to me… I think the warp effect is cool

  41. STEF on October 2, 2010 4:58 AM

    Good tutorial…but i still got confused with it. Work on the explaining part and you’ll be ok!

  42. WARZYinside on October 16, 2010 5:10 PM

    NICE ..

    LIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKE

  43. bread maker on October 18, 2010 9:14 PM

    Omg this is absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing this tutorial, I like it very much :)

  44. white on November 8, 2010 3:16 PM

    super good

  45. rhaenyc on November 9, 2010 6:10 PM

    can you tell me,how the exactly i must do to ” Grab one of the brush in the “Debris Brush” set, use a colour match the background colour (in this case it’s white), then use the lasso tool with 100px feather to draw a selection in the area you would like to break apart, simply paint over it:” in step 4. i use cs4.

  46. klip izle on December 18, 2010 2:09 PM

    heeyy > this, is, the, incredible….!! thanks much much.

  47. Portland Web Development on April 8, 2011 8:49 PM

    Really its an awesome work. Thanks for the step by step instruction.

  48. Neel_6427 on February 16, 2012 4:26 PM

    Someone please help me please make me 1 pic…4 me :(:(  if any 1 want help me den mail me neel_6427@yahoo.ca will send my pic there..:(:(:(

  49. michelle on February 29, 2012 5:45 PM

    so nice!!!!

  50. Kambone3 on May 1, 2012 6:34 PM

    a video of some more of your work would be outstanding

  51. Namrata on June 18, 2012 7:38 PM

    really liked it

  52. temmy on October 15, 2012 2:36 AM

    thanks bro

  53. Matt on June 4, 2013 5:10 AM

    grab a soft round brush, gently erase ? poor explication if u are not advanced photoshop user you ll get NADA

  54. Robin Isteak on August 7, 2014 5:21 AM

    It’s really realistic break apart effect. hair masking work is outstanding.

  55. bennyqibal art on May 16, 2016 2:37 AM

    Absolutly awesome

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