PSD Vault - Extra Unique Adobe Photoshop Tutorials » city

Design an Epic Sci-Fi Style Urban City Scene in Photoshop

James Qu — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:51:56 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this Epic, Sci-Fi Sytle Urban City Scene (Montage) in Photoshop, by utilising a few simple photo manipulation tricks. Have a try!

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

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Ok let’s get started!

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

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200px * 1200px, fill the background layer with Black colour. Load the Ground stock image into Photoshop, select the lower half of the image with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas, as shown below:

Erase the top edges of the texture, as shown below:

Name this layer as “Ground”, apply the following Black and White adjustment layer to it:

and here is the effect so far:

Step 2

Load the City texture into Photoshop, select the building portion of the image as shown below:

Don’t worry if the selection is not precise, this is not important in this tutorial.

Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas, resize and position the new layer as shown below:

Now we want to hide certain portion of the city building. So we can add the following mask to this city building layer:

As you can see, here we not only used a soft round brush, but also the Watercolor Brushes we downloaded before for the edges of the building, plus a feathered rectangular marquee tool:

and here is the effect after the masking:

Name this layer as “City”, apply the following Black and White adjustment layer to it: (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

Load the Cloud Right stock image into Photoshop, copy the entire image, and paste it onto our canvas.

Put the new layer below the “City” layer, resize and position the new layer as shown below:

Add the following layer mask to this cloud layer:

Name this layer as “Cloud Right”, apply the following Black and White adjustment layer to it: (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Duplicate this cloud right layer once, apply the following motion blur to the duplicated layer:

This will smoothen the cloud and add a bit more motion into the image.

Apply the same black and white adjustment layer as depicted in the original cloud right layer to the duplicated layer, reduce the opacity of the duplicate to around 40%, you will have the following effect:

Step 4

Load the Cloud Left texture image into Photoshop. Select a portion of texture with Lasso Tool (50px feather) as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas, put the layer above the “Cloud Right” layer, but below the “City” layer, resize it as shown below:

Erase the excessive portion with a soft brush as shown below:

Name this layer as “Cloud Left”, apply the following Black and White adjustment layer to it: (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

here is the effect so far:

Step 5

Load the Girl texture image into Photoshop. Use the Lasso Tool to make a selection around the girl and the snake, as shown below: (set feather to 40px)

Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas, put the new layer above all other layers, resize and position it as shown below:

Name this layer as “Girl”, apply the following Black and White adjustment layer to it: (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

and here is the effect so far:

Step 6

Load the Cloud Overlay texture image into Photoshop, copy and paste the entire image onto our canvas, as shown below:

Name this layer as “Cloud overlay”, apply the following Black and White adjustment layer to it: (make sure to tick the “use previous layer as clipping mask” option)

Change the blending mode of this layer to “Screen” and opacity to 30%, you will have the following effect:

Cloud overlay is a perfect way to add lighting dynamics and increase the depth for your image. Experiment with it and you will find it very useful when it comes to add extra flavor to your design.

Step 7

Now we pretty much set the overall layout for this city scene. Now we add some more contrast and colour onto it to make it look sci-fi.

Add the following adjustment layers (and their relevant masks) on top of all layers:

Curves

Mask

Attention: for the following 2 colour balance adjustment layer, use the watercolour brushset on the mask for more painting and realistic effect.

Colour Balance Right (set blending mode to “soft light”)

Mask

Colour Balance Rest of the image

Mask

Levels

Mask

and here is the effect so far:

Step 8

We’re nearly finished! I decided to add more contrast to the left side of the image, especially on the left edge of the high-rise in the centre. So I further added the following two adjustment layers:

Hue and Saturation

Mask

Brightness and Contrast

Mask

and here is the effect so far:

You can see now the building is highlighted and as a result, the image has more lighting depth.

Step 9

I feel the right side of the image is a bit boring compare with the left. So I create a new layer on top the background layer, and use the water colour brush to paint some textures on the centre right portion, beneath the buildings:

And you will have the following effect as a result:

That’s it for this tutorial! I sharpen the image with the “Reduce Noise” filter and add some abstract lines on the girl, and here is my final result: (click to enlarge)

Lastly, I would like to stress that you will find the “Black and White” filter and the “Water Colour” style brushsets will be extremely useful when it comes to photo manipulation. Experiment with them :)

Till next time, have a great day!

Create a Distant Desert City Scene with Energy Ray Blast in Photoshop

James Qu — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:00:41 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I use to create this fantasy style, really cool distant desert city scene with an awesome energy ray blasting through the sky in Photoshop.

Along the way, we will be using tons of layer blending techniques, and I will show you how to merge the images together effectively and efficiently. We will also explore skills such as masking, filter effects and various custom brushsets.

This is an intermediate-level tutorial, have a try!

Here is a preview of my final effect for this tutorial: (Click to enlarge)

Alternative version

PSD File Download

OK Let’s get started!

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

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1280px * 800px, leave the background colour as White. Load the “Desert” stock image into Photoshop, copy and paste the entire image onto our document, position it as shown below:

Name the new layer as “Desert”, add a layer mask onto it. On the layer mask, use the “Mist Brushset” we have just download (any brush in the set), erase the top part of the image as shown below:

This will form a nice misty effect for the image and make it easier for the layer blending later on:

Now duplicate this “Desert” layer once and on the duplicated layer, go to filter > blur > gaussian blur and apply the following settings:

Change the blending mode of the duplicated layer to “Screen” and drop its opacity to 70%, you will have the following effect:

Now we have a very nice, dusty and misty desert scene with a lot of room to expand our imagination.

Step 2

To further adjust the colour balance and contrast of the desert, I add the following three adjustment layers on top of the previous two layers: (from bottom to top)

Color Balance

Curves

Levels

and you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Now I feel that only the desert is a bit boring, so I decided to add some object into it so to create some depth for the image. So let’s load the “misty rock” image into Photoshop, copy and paste the entire image onto our document and name the new layer as “rock”, apply the following mask on the rock layer:

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

Add a Black and White adjustment layer on top of this rock layer, make sure to tick “use previous layer as clipping mask” option:

Then duplicate the “rock” layer once and drag it to the top, change the blending option of the duplicate layer to “overlay”, you will have the following effect so far:

Step 4

Load the “Sunset Sky” image into Photoshop, copy and paste it onto our document and name this new layer as “sky”, resize and position it as shown below:

Add a layer mask to this sky layer, on the mask, use a soft round brush to gently erase the bottom part of the sky layer, as shown below:

and you will have the following effect:

Add the following two adjustment layers to the sky layer, make sure to tick “use previous layer as clipping mask” option:

Color Balance

Curves

Then duplicate the original Sky layer once and drag it to the top. On the first duplicated sky layer, apply the following motion blur setting to it:

After applying the motion blur filter, duplicate this layer once and change the duplicate layer’s blending mode to “Hard light”, you will have the following effect:

You can see now we have a very nice sky on top of the desert, which makes the image more vibrant.

Step 5

Load the Distant City stock into Photoshop, cut out the city bit with any selection tool you like to use, copy and paste the selection on our document, name the new layer as “city” and use a big, soft brush to erase the surrounding, and leave only the centre of the city selection as shown below:

Duplicate this city layer twice, change the first duplicated layer’s blending mode to “Soft light”, and leave the second layer’s blending mode as “Normal”, but drop the opacity to 45%.

You will have the following effect:

Step 6

Now we’re onto creating the energy blast. Firsty we can make some background highlight for the blast. To do this, create a new layer called “highlight” and grab a soft round brush with white colour, gently paint over the centre area above the city.

Make sure to set the blending mode of this layer to “Hard Light” with an opacity of around 35%:

Now on top of this layer, create a new layer called “laser”, grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool with a 10px feather, make a selection and fill it with white colour as shown below:

Apply the following layer blending option to this layer:

Outer glow

Inner glow

and you will now have this effect:

Step 7

Create a new layer called “Sparkle” on top of all previous layers, set its blending mode to “overlay”. Load the “Star Brushset” we download in and use it to paint around the laser line to create some sparkling effect:

Duplicate the “Sparkle” layer once, and apply the following Radial Blur setting to the duplicated layer:

Name this layer “Radial” and maintain its blending mode to “overlay” and duplicate it twice more, you will have the following effect:

Then duplicate those three layers together once, use the Free Transform Tool to transfrom them to the left side, as shown below:

Step 8

Now we want to work on to the top part (sky) of the laser energy ray. Create a new layer named “sky highlight” and again use a soft brush with white colour to paint over the top centre of the sky, and set the layer blending mode to “overlay”, with opacity around 40%:

Then create a new layer on top of all previous layer and name it as “light top”, fill the layer with black colour and go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare and apply the following settings:

Change this blending mode of this layer to “Screen”, use a soft brush to erase all areas expect the centre portion, as shown below:

Duplicate this layer once, and move it the bottom of the city and change the blending mode to “overlay”, you will have the following effect:

Step 9

Now we can add some lightning effec to the top for further effect. Load the “Lightning” stock image into Photoshop, copy and paste the entire image onto our document and use a soft brush to erase the outer portion of the image.

Change the blending mode of the new layer to “screen” and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate this layer once and free transform (Ctrl + T) the duplicated layer as shown below:

To futher touchup the image, we can add the following adjustment layers:

Curves

Color Balance

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

That’s it for this tutorial! Of course you can further enhance the image effect by mixing lighting effect, change hue/saturation settings, etc.

Here is an alternative version I have after I change a few things: (click to enlarge)

Hope you enjoy it! Drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Design an Awesome Watercolour Style “City on Cloud” Artwork in Photoshop

James Qu — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:25:58 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show the steps I took to create this really cool, watercolour style “City on Cloud” Artwork in Photoshop. I was experimenting the new brushsets and textures I downloaded today and thought I could combine them together and see what result they can bring :)

Along the way, we will be using a lot of photo manipulation techniques such as masking, filter effects, layer blending options, and custom brushsets.

This is an intermediate tutorial and some steps can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try :)

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

PSD File Download

Ok let’s get started!

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

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200px * 700px with White Background. Create a new layer on top of the background layer called “background texture”, and load the Dirt Brushsets into Photoshop, choose a mixture of those brushes and paint over this newly-created layer:

Make sure to set the brush flow and opacity to around 30-40% and colour to be Black, since we only want a light cover of the dirt texture as a background:

Create a new layer called “cloud 1″, paint some cloud over this layer using the Cloud Brushset we downloaded, in the position as shown below: (apply a slightly darker brush comparing with the previous step)

Step 2

Load the “Cloud Texture 1″ image into Photoshop. Copy and paste the entire image onto our document and name this layer as “Cloud Texture 1″:

Apply the following layer mask onto this “cloud texture 1″ layer:

and you will have the following effect:

Duplicate this cloud texture layer twice as shown below:

Change the blending mode of the “Cloud Texture 1 copy 2″ layer to “Soft Light“, and you will have the following effect:

Add a new Curves Adjustment layer on top of all previous layer with the following settings:

and you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Load the City image into Photoshop, copy and paste the whole image onto our document and name the new layer “city”, position it as shown below:

Add a layer mask to this layer, on the mask, erase the outer portion of the city image by using a soft, round brush, mixing with the cloud brush we just download for edge effects:

Here is what I have after the erasing:

I decided to alter the Hue and Saturation of the city layer a bit, so I added a new Hue and Saturation adjustment layer with the following settings: (be sure to tick “use previous layer to create clipping mask” option when adding the adjustment layer)

and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

Duplicate the “city” layer once and drag the duplicated layer to the top, change its blending mode to “Screen”, you will have the following effect:

Then I add a new Black and White adjustment layer with the following settings:

change the blending mode of this black and white adjustment layer to “Multiply”, and you will have the following effect:

Step 5

Duplicate the “city” layer three times, apply the following layer blending option to each duplicated layer:

On the “City copy 2″ layer, go to Filter > Artistic > Watercolor and apply the following settings:

On the “City copy 4″ layer, change the layer blending mode to “soft light”, and apply the following layer mask (use the Stroke Brushsets to paint the edges)

You will see now we have the right side of the image highlighted, therefore adding more depth to the image:

Step 6

To add more cloud effect on the bottom part of image, we can duplicate the “Cloud texture” layer twice and drag both duplicated layer to the top, change their layer blending mode “overlay”, and you will have the following effect:

To add some more watercolour effect onto the effect, we can simply create a new layer (set blending mode to “overlay”), and grab the “Stroke Brush” we downloaded, paint over the new layer with a light grey colour:

Step 7

For final adjustments, I added some floral brush painting and a new Color Balance layer with the following settings:

And add the following mask to this colour balance adjustment layer:

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

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it! Drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Cheers and have a nice day!

30 Magnificant, Simply Stunning Futuristic City Matte Painting Artworks

James Qu — Mon, 25 May 2009 04:12:23 +0000

Futuristic City Themed artwork is a style I always love looking at. I’m alwasys attached by the emotions that are expressed in those artworks, and this amazing creativity and telent those artists displayed in those artworks.

In this post, I will include 30 Magnificant, Simply Stunning Urban City Matte Painting Artworks for you to browse through. They’re wonderful works done by some awesome artists with tons of effort.

Hope you enjoy them and if you wish, share your thoughts with us : )

You can click on the images to view details on deviantart.com.

That’s it for 30 Magnificant, Simply Stunning Futuristic City Matte Painting Artworks! Hope you enjoy those works as much as I did and find them inspirational. I would love to hearing from you about what you think of those works, just drop a comment below :)

Thank you very much and have a nice day!

Create a Pop Art Style Poster with Urban City Background in Photoshop

James Qu — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 10:16:46 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the process I used to create this Pop Art Style Poster with urban city background in Photoshop by using a combination of Photoshop Filter effects. Again this effect is discovered by accident and I thought I can share it with you guys :)

Along the way, we will be using a lot of filter effects, masking technique, layer blending options, a number of selection techniques including the use of edge refining and magic wand. The steps are quite simple for this tutorial, however the end result looks good in my opinion. Have a try!

Here is a preview of my final image for this tutorial:

Black and White version:

PSD File Download

Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Firstly let’s download this wonderful model image and load it into Photoshop. Duplicate the background layer once and go to Filter > Artistic > Cutout and apply the following settings:

Name this duplicated layer as “cut out” and change the blending mode of it to “Hard Light”. Then make another duplication of this “cut out” layer and you will have the following effect:

Now you will see the the bottom part of the photo is completely black, which is not very nice in my opinion. To reveal the original image, we can add a vector mask to each “cut out” layer and grab a big soft eraser to erase the portion as shown below:

And you will see the original texture come back:

Step 2

Go back to the background layer and make another duplication of it. Drag the duplicated layer on top of all previous layer and go to Filter > Sketch > Chrome and apply the following settings:

Name this duplicated layer as “chrome” and change the layer blending mode to “soft light”. Then duplicate the “chrome” once more and you will have the following effect:

Step 3

Now we can add a light source (I chose from the top right) for this image so later on we can have some dynamic light effect. To do this, go back to the background layer and duplicate it once more. Drag the duplicate layer above all other layers, go to Filter > Noise > Median and apply the following settings:

Rename this layer as “Median” and add a vector mask to it, grab a big soft eraser and erase the portion as shown below:

And you will have the folloiwng effect so far:

Step 4

Now we can add a urban city background to the image. Download a copy of this city image and load it into Photoshop. Drag the entire image onto our canvas and resize until it covers the whole canvas.

On this newly created layer, apply the following adjustments:

Black and White

Then apply the following filters:

Halftone Pattern

Box Blur

Name this layer as “city” and you will have the following effect as a result:

Step 5

Go back to the background layer, grab the Magic Wand tool and make a selection of the white area:

Hit Ctrl + Alt + R and bring up the Refine Edge tool, apply the following settings:

Hit Ctrl + Shift + I and inverse the selection, go back to the “city” layer and go to Edit > Clear and you will have see the model image pop out:

Step 6

Duplicate the “city” layer once and on the duplicated layer, go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur and apply the following settings:

Change the blending mode the duplicated layer to “Screen” and you will have the following effect:

Make a duplicate of this duplicate layer, and change the layer blending mode to “color burn”. You will have the following effect:

Step 7

Now the upper portion of the image seems a bit empty and we can add a bit of cloud texture to it. So download a copy of this cloud brushset and simply create a new layer and paint some cloud over it:

Hint: to create a light source on the cloud, simply paint over the same position a few times. (In this case, it’s top right corner)

Step 8

To finalise the image, add two new adjustment layers as shown below:

Colour Balance

Shadow

Midtones

Curves

And you will have the following effect:

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 ) – Click to enlarge:

Black and White version:

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!

Design a Dark and Misty Mountain with Distant City Scene in Photoshop

James Qu — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:01:27 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps involved in designing this dark and misty mountain scene with a gloomy looking far-away city scene in Photoshop.

Along the way, we will use techniques such as layer blending and masking, adjustments layer, filters effects and a variety of image adjustment options. You will learn methods to seamless blend two (or more) images together and generate cinematic effect. This is a simple tutorial with just 5 steps, have a go!

Here is a preview of before and after effect:

Before

After

Alternative colour scheme:

Ok let’s get started!

Step 1

Download the following two stock photos from stockvault.net:

Mountain Image

New York City Stock Photo

Load the “Moutain Image” into Photoshop, duplicate the background layer once. The reason we duplicate the background layer is in case we mess up this duplicated layer, we can always delete it and go back to the original background layer.

We can firstly give this photo a nice and cool gradient effect. So after duplicating, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Fill, apply the following gradient settings:

Then set the layer blending mode of this adjustment layer to “soft light” and you will have the following effect:

Step 2

Duplicate the background layer once more and drag it to the top. Set the blending mode of this to “Screen” and go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer >Color Balance and apply the following settings:

Keep the blending mode of the adjustment layer as “normal” and you will see the following effect:

Step 3

Now we will add some more colour depth and make the image a bit darker. Firstly, we go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer >Channel Mixer and apply the following settings:

Then go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves and apply the following settings:

Lastly we go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels and apply the following settings:

And you will have the following effect so far:

Step 4

Load the “New York City Stock Photo” into Photoshop, use the Rectangular Marquee (M) tool to select a portion of the image as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document and name the layer as “city”. Resize the image until it fits the width of our canvas and position it as shown below:

Set the blending mode of “city” layer to “multiply” and erase (using a big soft brush, I used 1,000px with 0% hardness) the the bottom portion of the layer (use a layer mask if you would like to be safe)

Duplicate the “city” layer once and apply the following Gaussian Blur settings:

Set the blending mode of the duplicated layer to “screen” and you will add a glowing effect for the city far-away:

Step 5

Now we can render some mist/cloud for the forest and also add some uneven lighting effect. To do this, create a new layer called “lighting effect”, use the Lasso Tool with 80px feather to make a selection for the mountain forest, and render some cloud inside it (Filter > Render > Cloud):

Change layer blending option to “overlay” and you will see the following effect:

Duplicate the “lighting effect” layer and hit Ctrl + L, apply the following Curves Adjustments to the duplicated layer:

Change the blending mode of the duplicated layer to “color dodge” and you will see the following effect: (lighting effect towards certain area has been enhanced)

Duplicate this layer a few more times, drag each of the duplicated layers around the image to produce more dynamic lighting effect and misty environment: (keep the blending mode to “color dodge” for each layer).

Here is the effect after duplication:

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! As for my final image, I slightly adjusted the hue/saturation:

Alternative colour scheme:

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!