Author: James Qu

In this tutorial, I will demonstrate the processes I used to design this soft and smooth, fresh feeling text effect with leaves and stone texture in Photoshop. I was having a play with Photoshop on the weekend (when the site was down) and discover the interesting effect accidentally.

Along the way, we will be using and revising techniques such as masking, layer blending options, adjustment layers, and a quick way of creating uneven lighting effect. I will also show you how I create a light source in conjunction with the shadow effect on the text. Have a go!

Welcome to the fourth volume of “Creativity Fine-Tuning: Best of PSD Vault Flickr Group”, which is a showcase I run fortnightly here on psdvault.com featuring some fantanstic, highly-creative design works in the PSD Vault Flickr Group.

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 share them here, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group.

Welcome to PSD Vault Freebies section! As I mentioned in my previous new post, you can download stock photos and texture from PSD Vault’s freebie section for your own design purpose. There is no restriction for any files in the freebies section. All photos/textures are made by me.

This texture pack contains 16 high resolution natural textures, including a variety of grass, tree barks, leaves and cloud. Hope you enjoy them and use them wisely!

In this tutorial, I will show the steps I took to design this absolutely magical, floating Eiffel Tower scene in Photoshop. The inspiration of this tutorial came from this wonderful design done by matu02 in PSD Vault Flickr Group.

Along the way, we will be using a lot of layer masking techniques, blending options, selection technques, pen tool and dynamic brushes. Hope you enjoy it and find it useful and inspirational!

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes involved in making an old-looking, vintage car poster with grunge texture, font and brushset in Photoshop.

Along the way, we will be using a series of Photoshop techniques such as layer blending options, image adjustments, filter effects and masking. Some of the techniques can be a bit tricky (especially with the Pen Tool), but why not just have a try :)

Welcome to the third volume of “Creativity Fine-Tuning: Best of PSD Vault Flickr Group”, which is a showcase I run fortnightly here on psdvault.com featuring some fantanstic, highly-creative design works in the PSD Vault Flickr Group.

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 share them here, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group.

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I used to create this really cool “Mystic Dancer” scene by using natural grass texture in Photoshop. I came across the original image on the net and thought: what if I combine it with some natural pattern and texture?

Together we can explore various image adjustment tools, filter effects, layer blending mode, dynamic brush settings and more. Some parts of this tutorial can be a bit tricky, but why not have a try :)

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to make a Grunge-Style Abstract Typography using rusted metal texture in Photoshop. The inspiration of this tutorial came from a grungy metal image I came across on stockvault.net and thought I could have a play with it :)

Together we will explore some layer blending techniques, variuos filter effects, and an interesting method of making the text look 3D. Have a go :)

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to design this cool-looking, urban city photo-montage in Photoshop. You will learn how to combine several stock images together to achieve surreal photo effect.

This tutorial involves techniques such as layer blending options, image adjustments, tranformation techniques, filter effects and lighting effect rendering. The tutorial itself is quite simple but the end result looks good in my opinion, have a go!

Welcome to the second volume of “Creativity Fine-Tuning: Best of PSD Vault Flickr Group”, which is a showcase I run fortnightly on psdvault.com featuring some fantanstic, highly-creative design works in the PSD Vault Flickr Group.

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 share them here, you can simply join the PSD Vault Flickr group.

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I used to transform a daylight city image into a epic warzone scene in Photoshop. The inspiration of this tutorial came from a random war image I came across while reading a magazine.

Together, we will explore a variety of Photoshop techniques such as image adjustment option, a number of filter effect and some basic selection skills. This is an intermediate tutorial and some steps could be a bit tricky, but why not just have a go? ;)

In this tutorial, I will demonstrate the processes I used to design this snowy rock text effect in Photoshop. The inspiration of this design came from a snowy mountain photo I saw the other day, and I thought I could create a similar text effect which might look interesting!

Along the way, we will use various layer blending options and selection techniques, plus filter effects and brush dynamics. It’s a simple tutorial suitable for Photoshop beginners. Have a try :)

Welcome to Creativity Fine-Tuning: Best of PSD Vault Flickr Group Vol. 1! As I mentioned previously in my previous post, this showcase will be a ongoing series which I will run once every Fortnightly here on PSD Vault. For each post in this series, I will hand-pick some wonderful designs from the PSD Vault Flickr Group.

I hope they will help fine-tuning your creativity and inspire you along the way. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did :)

In this tutorial, I will show you the processes I used to transform an average daylight photo into a realistic lightning storm scene in photoshop.

Along the way, we will take about interesting ways of darken your image and reduce noise non-destructively, and also a simple way of rendering rain effect andmaking. water splashes. It’s a simple tutorial however the effect looks good. Have a try :)

In this tutorial, I will show you the process I used to design this refreshing, cool-looking natural text effect in Photoshop. I was having a walk in the nearby park and suddenly had this thought coming into my mind :)

We will be using techniques such as layer blending options, image adjustment tools and some simple selection tools. Have a go!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create a realistic nebula scene from scratch in Photoshop. We will be using techniques such as the Pen Tool, various filters for texture rendering, layer blending and some dynamic brushes.

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy new year and all the best for 2009! Thanks very much for visiting my blog and hope to see you again next year!

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to transform an ordinary mountain image into a realistic volcano eruption scene with lava effect in Photoshop.

The technique I used in this tutorial includes various image adjustment tools, a number of filters, layer blending options and some basic selection skills. This is a very simple tutorial with just 4 steps, however you will be amazed with the end result. Have a try :)

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to create this really cool, abstract style shattered text effect with Broken Glass Texture in Photoshop.

Together, we will explore various layer blending options, image adjustment and some basic selection techniques. I also included a nice link containing a list of “Clean Font” which you might find useful for your design project. It’s an easy tutorial, have a go :)