In the post, I collected 15 Awesome (Fresh) Free Photoshop Brushsets to Spice Up Your Design. They’re fantastic Photoshop brushes that will suit a wide range of occasions, check them out :)

Photoshop Audio Lines Brushes

Fortune Brushes

Digital Smoke Brushes

Tree Silhouette Brushes

3D Halftone

Arrow Brushes

Veruct brushes

InkDrop — Sample brush Set

MB-Linear

SpaceBrushes HD v1 – HD Space Brushes for Photoshop

TypeShape Brushpack

Splatter Brush

Negativity Brushes

Fake Glitter

Abstract Toolkit

That’s it for this post! Hope you enjoy this collection and find them useful :)

Till next time, have a great day!

Along the way, we will be using two techniques mentioned in Previous two tutorials:

• Make Perfect Selection for Human Object by Utilising Channel Mask Technique in Photoshop
• Create Beautiful Hair-like Abstract Lines to Decorate Your Design in Photoshop

Plus a bunch of other Photoshop tricks.

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

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $4.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 40+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive! Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

OK let’s get started!

You will need to the following stocks for this tutorial:

Model by *Dxlogic

Star Brushsets

Step 1

Create a new document sized 950px * 1250px, fill the background with black colour. Load the model image into Photoshop and extract the model out: (for more details the method I use to extract the model, check out this tutorial)

Resize and paste it on our canvas – don’t worry if you miss a few hair, this is not important for this tutorial (we’re not designing a megazine cover):

Tidy up the image and get rid of the unwanted part under the heel as shown below:

Use the Smudge Tool with 3-5% strength to smooth the leg skin a bit:

Now use the Dodge and Burn Tool (set strength to around 10-15% for both), apply to the areas shown below: (the overall contrast of the original image is good, so this step can be optional)

Also tidy up and erase the edge with a soft eraser so the image blends into the background:

Here is the effect so far:

Step 2

Let’s adjust the model further. Add the following 3 adjustment layers to the model layer as clipping mask:

Curves

Vibrance

Colour Balance

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

Now load the star brushsets into PS. Create a new layer just above the background layer, paint some star pattern on the bottom of the canvas, use the free transfrom to adjust its shape if necessary:

Paint some shadow for the model on the star floor:

Now if you combine the free transform tool and the star brush together, you can create some interesting effect as shown below:

Attach it to the model as shown below: (duplicate the layer once for brighter effect)

We can also distort and reduce the size of the star brush layer, and apply the smaller star pattern around canvas to create some micro effect:

Decorate those smaller Star Pattern around the canvas: (behind and in front of the model)

Step 4

Now let’s create an abstract shaped brush to add some random pattern to our image. To do this, create a new document sized 200px * 200px and fill the background layer with black. Draw a work path as shown below:

Stroke this path with a 1px hard brush:

DO NOT tick the “Simulate Pressure” setting in this case:

Ctrl + left-click on the thumbnail image of this path layer, go to Edit > Define Brushset and create a new brushset”

Press F5 and bring up the brush window, apply the following settings to this brush we just made:

Now paint some randam pattern around girl with this dynamic brush: (Quick Tip: as you paint, use a soft eraser tool to erase some portion of the pattern to create depth)

Step 5

Now let’s create a quick eclipse effect. Create a new layer called “Eclipse” and use a soft white brush to do a single click:

Then grab the eraser tool, reduce the brush size a bit comparing with the white dot we drew, then incrase the brush hardness to around 70%, and reduce the brush opacity to around 60%:

In the position shown below, do two left clicks to produce the eclipse effect:

Duplicate this eclipse layer a few times, rotate and postions as shown below:

Step 6

Now we can add some abstract hair line to the image as shown below: (For detailed tutorials about how to create those hair lines, please refer to this tutorial)

Add a new layer called “focal points” on top of all previous layers, grab a soft white brush do a few clicks on it:

Change the blending mode of this layer to “overlay”, here is the effect:

Now you can use the colour balance adjustment layer to add some custom colour scheme to the image. I won’t limit your imagination with my own settings, go wild with colours :)

After you’re done with the colours, flatten the image, duplicate the background layer, then apply the following Reduce Noise settings:

As you can see, the image now become a lot smoother, plus we get this glowing, painting style effect: (As shown below)

The Clothes now shine on the image:

The legs now look smoothers, glowing:

Of course you don’t want to the whole image to be glowing, so use the layer mask to hide the portions you don’t want glowing effect.

Lastly, we can also paint some more star around the eclipse planet to spice up the image even further:

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

That’s it! Hope you enjoy this tutorial and find it useful :)

Till next time, have a great day!

In this post, I will showcase 25 Awesome Photo Manipulative Artworks Fresh from the Design Community (Flickr, DeviantArt, Behance and Creattica). Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as I did and find that bit of inspiration you need. Enjoy!

You can click on the images to view the original image on source site.

That’s it for this post! Hope you enjoy it and find it inspirational :) Till next time, have a great day!

Hope you enjoy those works as much as I did and find them inspirational! Meanwhile, if you have some cool designs and would like to be featured here on PSD Vault, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group.

If you like those works, then show those awesome designers some support! Click on the image to visit the author’s flickr page and drop them a comment :)

Here goes the list, enjoy!

That’s it for this post! Hope you enjoy it and find it inspirational! Remember, if you have some cool designs and would like to be featured here, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group and sumbit your work there.

Until next time, have a  nice day!

In this post, I hand-picked 25 Fresh and Ultra Creative Text Effect Artworks to Spark Your Imagination. Those works are from the creattica.com community and are of high standards. I always go there to take a look at their showcases when I’m lack of inspiration :) So if you’re interested, head over and take a look!

Here goes the list, enjoy!

Note: You can click on the image to view its source on creattica.

That’s it for this post! Hope you enjoy those text effect artworks and find them inspirational!

Till next time, have a great day!

Hope you enjoy those works as much as I did and find them inspirational! Meanwhile, if you have some cool designs and would like to be featured here on PSD Vault, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group.

If you like those works, then show those awesome designers some support! Click on the image to visit the author’s flickr page and drop them a comment :)

Here goes the list, enjoy!

That’s it for this post! Hope you enjoy it and find it inspirational! Remember, if you have some cool designs and would like to be featured here, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group and sumbit your work there.

Until next time, have a  nice day!

Hope you enjoy those works as much as I did and find them inspirational! Meanwhile, if you have some cool designs and would like to be featured here on PSD Vault, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group.

If you like those works, then show those awesome designers some support! Click on the image to visit the author’s flickr page and drop them a comment :)

Here goes the list, enjoy!

That’s it for this post! Hope you enjoy it and find it inspirational! Remember, if you have some cool designs and would like to be featured here, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group and sumbit your work there.

Until next time, have a  nice day!

Here a preview of the final effect: (click to enlarge)

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

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

Rock

Waterfall

Tree 1

Tree 2

Hawk

Step 1

Create a new document sized 900px * 800px, leave the background colour as white.

The way I intended for this artwork is somehow the overall shape would resemble a number “1″ shape. So Firstly I create a 3D text model using Illustrator (I won’t demonstate the steps to create this 3D effect as it’s irrelevant to this Photoshop tutorial) to use as a model for this abstract effect.

You can download a copy of this image and paste it on your canvas, by clicking the image below:

Of course the final effect won’t include this 3D text, however it gives a good starting point for the abstract effect I’m going to make.

Load the “Rock” texture into Photoshop, grab the Quick Selection tool and select a random piece of rock according to the settings below:

Important: Tick the “Auto-Enhance” option on the top toolbar for the Quick Selection Tool, this will help improving the edges of the selection.

Select Random Rock Pieces from this rock stock image:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, resize, rotate and fit it onto any position you like on the text:

Select another different piece from the rock texture using the quick selection tool:

Paste it onto the canvas, and after you paste it, make sure you use a soft eraser to get rid of any edge roughness, so as to blend it with the background and other rock texture.

Hint: Use the Chalk brush (comes with Photoshop by default), with a 40% flow and opacity to erase the edges. You will find it quite effective in situation like this.

Repeat the select, copy and paste routine, make sure you select a different piece of the rock texture each time, until you cover the whole 3D text as shown below: (Erase the edges with soft brushes along the way)

Also use the dodge and burn tool to darken and lighten some areas of the rocky texture so we have some lighting dynamics and increase the depth of the image:

Please note that the above screenshots only provide an indicative guide, you will need to experience the effect yourself as the textures may differ from mine to yours.

Step 2

Load the “Waterfall” stock image into Photoshop, use whatever selection method you prefer to cutout the waterfall portion, copy and paste it on our document, name this layer as “waterfall”, resize and fit it to the portion as shown below

use soft brush to erase the edges of the waterfall so it blends with the rock and the background:

Add the following Curves adjustment layer on top of the waterfall layer: (make sure to select “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Duplicate the waterfall layer once, flip it horizontally and put it to the lower position as shown below:

Add the following Curves adjustment layer on top of the waterfall layer: (make sure to select “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

We can also do some tiny adjustments for the overall effect. So add the following two adjustment layers on top of all previous layers:

Vibrance

Curves

Here is the effect so far:

We can now hide the original 3D text layer cos we won’t be needing it anymore.

Step 3

Load the “Tree 1″ texture into Photoshop. Cut the tree portion of the image with Channel Masking technique (if you’re not familar with this technique, please refer to Step 3 of this post for detailed explanation) and paste it onto our document. Name this new layer as “tree 1″, resize it to a small size and fit it on top of the rocks:

Make sure you erase the edges of the tree layer as depicted below:

Add the following Curves adjustment layer (make sure to select “use previous layer as clipping mask” option) on top of the tree layer to bring out some extra lights:

We can also add some grass texture on to the bottom of the tree for more details. So grab the lasso tool with a 40px feather to select a piece of the grass from the tree  stock image:

Copy and paste it onto our document and put the new layer below the Tree layer, resize it to fit the size of the rock base, change the blending mode to “overlay”, you will have the following effect:

Step 4

I feel like adding more tree images on the rocks for more details. So load the “Tree 2″ texture into Photoshop. Use the same channel masking technique to cut out the tree from the stock image, paste it onto our document, into the the following positions:

Top Left

Add the following Curves adjustment layer on top: (make sure to select “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Bottom Right:

Add the following Curves adjustment layer on top: (make sure to select “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Step 5

Load the “Hawk” image into Photoshop, cut out the hawk and paste it onto our document, resize it to a very small size:

To add some motion for the hawk, duplicate this new hawk layer once, apply the following motion blur settings to the duplicated layer:

Change the blending mode the duplicated layer to “Hard Light”, drop the opacity to 30%:

Adding more details, we can also put aonther hawk on the left side of the rock:

and here is the overall effect so far:

Step 6

Ok we’re almost done! For some final adjustments, I added the following two things:

• Lens flare – not a popular option in Photoshop, but in this occasion I think it brings extra effect and color into the image
• Cloud texture – for the surrounding environment

To add the lens flare effect, we can create a new layer on top of all previous layers, fill the new layer with black color, then apply the following Lens Flare settings:

You will have the following effect:

Change the blending mode of this layer to “Screen”, you will have the following effect:

You can move, duplicate this Lens Flare layer for more effect:

For the cloud texture, you can either use cloud brushsets or stock image to achieve it. I painted some cloud on the top and bottom of the canvas:

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

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and learn something new!

In this post, I will showcase you 25 Absolutely Amazing (Fresh) Fantasy Digital Artworks, hand-picked from deviantart.com for your inspiration. Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as I did :)

Here goes the list, enjoy!

If you like those works, then show those awesome designers some support! Click on the image to visit the author’s flickr page and drop them a comment :)

That’s it for this post! Hope you enjoy this showcase and find it inspirational! Till next time, have a nice day!

If you have been following my tutorials for a while, you will notice that I very rarely publish anything that is black and white – I love colours, but I think sometimes black and white style can produce effect that colour can’t – for example, a sense of dark and gloom.

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

PSD File Download

You can download the PSD File for this tutorial via the VIP Members Area for only $6.95/Month (or less)! You will not only get this PSD File, but also 70+ other PSD Files + Extra Goodies + Exclusive Photoshop tutorial there. Signup now and get exclusive :) Find out more about the VIP Members Areas

OK let’s get started!

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

Female model

Cliff

Tree

Cloud

Planet

Step 1

Create a new document size 1300px *700px. fill the background layer with black colour. Now let’s start laying the foundation.

Load the “Cliff” image into Photoshop and use the Rectangular Marquee tool to select a portion of the cliff:

copy and paste your selection onto our canvas, resize it and position it as shown below:

Name this layer as “Rock 1″, add a layer mask to it and on the mask, use a soft round brush (20% hardness) to erase the edges of the rock:

As you can see, I erased a large portion of the texture and left only a fraction of it – the reason I did it is because initially it was hard to judge what portion of the texture would be suitable, and I could only experiment with it until I get the right piece.

Add a black and white adjustment layer onto this rock 1 layer:

and you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Now duplicate this Rock 1 layer twice (along with the black and white adjustment layer), name the duplicated layers as “rock 2″ and “rock 3″ respectively. Drag the duplicated layer around and position them to the left and right of the Rock 1 layer, as shown below:

Adjust the mask on those duplicated layer by using a soft eraser to remove the edges, especially the parts where each rock joins together:

Step 3

Now we pretty much finished with the rock texture. Let’s add the tree image onto our canvas. Load the “Tree” stock image into Photoshop, cut out the tree and the grass texture using the following channel mask technique:

(you can use other method if you prefer, but I think channel mask here is the most effective one.)

On the background layer, click on the “Channel” tab on the layer palette, then click on the “Blur” channel (the reason is this channel provides the biggest contrast)

Duplicate this Blue channel once, apply the following Levels adjustment to the duplicated channel:

Use a black brush to fill the area:

Load the selection of this blue copy channel by going into Select > Load selection, then apply the following options then click on “OK”:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, name the layer as “Tree Right”, resize it and position it as shown below:

Erase the bottom part of the grass with a soft brush:

And the following two adjustment layers to this tree right layer: (make sure you tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Black and white

Curves

Curves Mask

and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate the Tree right layer once along with its adjustment layers (leave all adjustment layers as they are, apart from canceling the layer mask on the Curves adjustment layer). Name the duplicated layer as “tree left”, drag and resize this layer smaller, and position it as shown below:

Step 4

Load the “Female Model” stock image into Photoshop, cut out the model and paste it into the centre of our canvas:

Don’t worry if your selection is not perfect, it doesn’t really matter in this tutorial.

Name this layer as “Model Original”, duplicate it once and go to Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen Edge and apply this filter a few times on the duplicated layer:

As you can see this sharpens all edges of the model – an effect may look horrible right now, but will add extra details as we go deeper into the tutorial.

Duplicate the original model layer once more and drag it above the previous sharpen edge layer, make this layer a clipping mask  to the sharpen edge layer (right-click the layer, then choose “create clipping mask”), reduce the layer opacity to 80%, you will have the following effect:

Add the following image adjustment layers to it: (make sure you tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Curves

Mask:

Levels

Black and White

On the Black and white adjustment layer, use a soft brush eraser to do a single click on the spot where the flower is: (this reveals the flowers, adding a bit of colour to the image)

Duplicate the original model layer once more and drag it above all the adjustment layer, change the blending mode to “hard light” and opacity to 30%, you will have the following effect:

Step 5

Load the “Planet” image into Photoshop, cut out the planet and paste it onto our document. Name this layer as “planet”, resize and position it as shown below:

add the following image adjustment layer to the planet:

Black and White

Curves

We can also add some aura around the planet for more effect. To do this, load the selection of the planet layer (ctrl+left-click the thumbnail of the planet layer on the layer palette), apply the following refine edge option to it:

Create a new layer called “aura” under the plaent layer, render some cloud in it:

Duplicate this aura layer once, then use the Warp Tool (Ctrl + T then right-click choose warp) to manipulate it so it looks like dropping down from the planet:

Step 6

Load th “Sky” image into Photoshop, copy a portion of it and paste it onto our document, above all previous layers. Resize the layer and position it as shown below: (Erase the Edge with a soft eraser, if necessary)

Add the following two adjustment layers to it:

Black and White

Curves

Optional: it would be good to add variety onto the image by applying more cloud texture. Make sure you black and white them as you add them in:

Step 7

Now we’re getting into an interest part of the tutorial. As you can see the image so far looks ok, but it lacks that surreal, dreamy sort of effect. So to enhance those effect, we can use cloud warping, especially on the area just above the ground, below the model.

To do this, create a new layer above the last duplicated Model layer, use the Lasso Tool with 50% feather to draw a selection on this layer, render some cloud in it:

Then use the warp tool, manipulate the cloud as shown below:

You can them duplicate and re-size this cloud layer for more effect:

I also added some abstract brush effect on the background, mixing it with the Warp Tool for more effect: (There are tons of brushsets on qbrushes.net, or brusheezy that will do the job)

This is the overall effect so far:

Step 8

We’re almost done! In the last fine-tuning step, I add the following Reduce Noise Filter to make the image smoother:

with the following layer mask:

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

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you find it useful and learn something new!

Till next time, have a nice day!