Tutorial - Logan/Veronica wallpaper
mary5958 and evie_0 requested a tutorial on my latest Logan/Veronica wall.
Today, we're going to do this:
I started out with:
Logan picture by Veronica Mars Sverige
Veronica picture by Kristen-b.net
Step 1. - Extract the people from their background.
I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut Veronica out of her background. In the picture with Logan, I cut out the whole couch as I want to place Veronica beside him. I resized the picture of Veronica and put them both in a new file of 1024x768px.
(Note: the background is see-through - not white.)
Step 2. - Positioning and clean-up
As you can tell, there's that ugly white watermark still on the sofa, which we need to get rid of. I used the clone tool (the clone tool is your best friend - remember that!) and used other parts of the sofa as reference.
As for Veronica, I postitioned her on the couch after some tweaking (notice that she is leaning back more). I masked the part of her leg and shoe that was supposed to be covered by Logan.
Also, I copied a piece of her hand and made it into a new layer. I tilted it so that she is touching Logan's thigh (while masking the hand in the original layer).
I masked things in both pics that the magnetic lasso tool didn't catch.
Step 3. - Matching the skin tones
Usually while making graphics, you need to brighten the pictures, but in my case, I wanted a dark and moody feeling and I settled on darkening them. Besides, Veronica's pale as a ghost, we can't have that. :P
I copied the layer with Veronica two times and set both on multiply, 59%. To match her skin tone with Logan's, I painted with #F8A504 over her face and legs on a new layer and put it on soft light, 40%. I also added some black (also on soft light, 59%) to tone her down a bit.
I copied the layer with Logan three times, set the first copy on multiply, 100% and the other two at soft light, 100%
Logan's face needed some more work when it came to lighting. I copied the part with his face onto a new layer and made it black and white. (Just to tone down that orange-red color his face had gotten.) I put it over the first normal layer with Logan (but underneath the multiply and the soft light), at 57%. I then used a soft airbrush and painted with white over his face (on a new layer), and put it on overlay, 100% to highlight where I wanted and give some extra lightning.
To show you what I mean, before and after:
The whole pic:
Step 4 - Shadows
Shadows is the key to any manip. Or you know, I've made like three manps ever, but I find them to be what makes a manip look real. :P
As I mentioned, the lighting is a bit fucked up in my piture, but I did my best to add realistic shadows. I used an airbrush, different size depending on what shadows I was adding, and painted on a new layer(s).
I also copied the pillow on the couch (in the pic with Logan) and made it into two new layers. I tweaked the color balance on both, to make it look like other pillows, and postitioned them underneath Veronica's arm, to give the impresssion that she's leaning against them.
Step 5 - Creating a background
For the floor, I used the following stock photo found at stock.xchng
I resized this picture to 1024x768px and put it underneath all of my layers, at the bottom. I then used the clone tool and bits and pieces of the original layer to get rid of things I didn't want in the background and to clear up the floor. I copied this layer and used the Blur>Guassian blur filter, and masked the parts of the floor I didn't want to be blurry. I also added some shadows on the floor with a large, black brush to make it darker.
I used these images to create the background curtains. I'm a bit ashamed to tell you I no longer know where I got them. If someone recongnizes them, please let me know.
First, I changed the colors in the second picture to my liking. Then I duplicated that layer and flipped it horisontically. I dupliated both layers and put the new ones at overlay, 100%. I masked what I thought needed masking. Looks like this:
I then used three copies of curtain picture #1. The first one set at multiply, 26%, the second at multiply, 100% and the third at overlay, 72%. I masked all three layers to make them blend into each other and added some shadows (in a new layer) to get rid of the white in the previous layers. Now looks like this:
Finally, some shadows to hide my bad blending and to 'frame' Logan and Veronica on the couch. (Also, tweaked some with V's hand - added a finger, but it's not very importnant.)
Step 6 - Coloring
Added a selective coloring layer on the top of all the others, with these adjustments:
Red
-100, +5, +12, 0
Yellow
+19, 0, -48, 0
Green
0, -38, 0, 0
Cyan
+83, 0, 0, 0
Neutrals
+97, +5, +6, 0
Also added a intensity/contrast layer with these adjustemnts:
Intensity: +8, Contrast: +4
Step 7 - Text
I used the font Georgia (standard?) at 13 pt to write the "It's you and me playing a part". (Gap between the letters put at 200). Put "you" and "me" in #690702, the rest in black. Used a glow around the edges in #FFD071, size: 1px, color burn, 24%.
Added more text underneath; black, 4pt.
The cross on the floor is a brush, although resized and flipped. I think the brush is by Ancient Secret, but since the site is no longer online, I can't be sure. Sorry!
Anyway, we're done! This is the final result:
To do all of the above, took me about four hours. It's a lot of work and a lot of experimenting before you get it right. Feel free to ask if you didn't understand a step (my PS is in Swedish so sometimes I mess up the names of stuff :P)
Hope this was useful for someone!
(If anyone missed it, my other LoVe manip is here.)
Today, we're going to do this:
I started out with:
Logan picture by Veronica Mars Sverige
Veronica picture by Kristen-b.net
Step 1. - Extract the people from their background.
I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut Veronica out of her background. In the picture with Logan, I cut out the whole couch as I want to place Veronica beside him. I resized the picture of Veronica and put them both in a new file of 1024x768px.
(Note: the background is see-through - not white.)
Step 2. - Positioning and clean-up
As you can tell, there's that ugly white watermark still on the sofa, which we need to get rid of. I used the clone tool (the clone tool is your best friend - remember that!) and used other parts of the sofa as reference.
As for Veronica, I postitioned her on the couch after some tweaking (notice that she is leaning back more). I masked the part of her leg and shoe that was supposed to be covered by Logan.
Also, I copied a piece of her hand and made it into a new layer. I tilted it so that she is touching Logan's thigh (while masking the hand in the original layer).
I masked things in both pics that the magnetic lasso tool didn't catch.
Step 3. - Matching the skin tones
Usually while making graphics, you need to brighten the pictures, but in my case, I wanted a dark and moody feeling and I settled on darkening them. Besides, Veronica's pale as a ghost, we can't have that. :P
I copied the layer with Veronica two times and set both on multiply, 59%. To match her skin tone with Logan's, I painted with #F8A504 over her face and legs on a new layer and put it on soft light, 40%. I also added some black (also on soft light, 59%) to tone her down a bit.
I copied the layer with Logan three times, set the first copy on multiply, 100% and the other two at soft light, 100%
Logan's face needed some more work when it came to lighting. I copied the part with his face onto a new layer and made it black and white. (Just to tone down that orange-red color his face had gotten.) I put it over the first normal layer with Logan (but underneath the multiply and the soft light), at 57%. I then used a soft airbrush and painted with white over his face (on a new layer), and put it on overlay, 100% to highlight where I wanted and give some extra lightning.
To show you what I mean, before and after:
The whole pic:
Step 4 - Shadows
Shadows is the key to any manip. Or you know, I've made like three manps ever, but I find them to be what makes a manip look real. :P
As I mentioned, the lighting is a bit fucked up in my piture, but I did my best to add realistic shadows. I used an airbrush, different size depending on what shadows I was adding, and painted on a new layer(s).
I also copied the pillow on the couch (in the pic with Logan) and made it into two new layers. I tweaked the color balance on both, to make it look like other pillows, and postitioned them underneath Veronica's arm, to give the impresssion that she's leaning against them.
Step 5 - Creating a background
For the floor, I used the following stock photo found at stock.xchng
I resized this picture to 1024x768px and put it underneath all of my layers, at the bottom. I then used the clone tool and bits and pieces of the original layer to get rid of things I didn't want in the background and to clear up the floor. I copied this layer and used the Blur>Guassian blur filter, and masked the parts of the floor I didn't want to be blurry. I also added some shadows on the floor with a large, black brush to make it darker.
I used these images to create the background curtains. I'm a bit ashamed to tell you I no longer know where I got them. If someone recongnizes them, please let me know.
First, I changed the colors in the second picture to my liking. Then I duplicated that layer and flipped it horisontically. I dupliated both layers and put the new ones at overlay, 100%. I masked what I thought needed masking. Looks like this:
I then used three copies of curtain picture #1. The first one set at multiply, 26%, the second at multiply, 100% and the third at overlay, 72%. I masked all three layers to make them blend into each other and added some shadows (in a new layer) to get rid of the white in the previous layers. Now looks like this:
Finally, some shadows to hide my bad blending and to 'frame' Logan and Veronica on the couch. (Also, tweaked some with V's hand - added a finger, but it's not very importnant.)
Step 6 - Coloring
Added a selective coloring layer on the top of all the others, with these adjustments:
Red
-100, +5, +12, 0
Yellow
+19, 0, -48, 0
Green
0, -38, 0, 0
Cyan
+83, 0, 0, 0
Neutrals
+97, +5, +6, 0
Also added a intensity/contrast layer with these adjustemnts:
Intensity: +8, Contrast: +4
Step 7 - Text
I used the font Georgia (standard?) at 13 pt to write the "It's you and me playing a part". (Gap between the letters put at 200). Put "you" and "me" in #690702, the rest in black. Used a glow around the edges in #FFD071, size: 1px, color burn, 24%.
Added more text underneath; black, 4pt.
The cross on the floor is a brush, although resized and flipped. I think the brush is by Ancient Secret, but since the site is no longer online, I can't be sure. Sorry!
Anyway, we're done! This is the final result:
To do all of the above, took me about four hours. It's a lot of work and a lot of experimenting before you get it right. Feel free to ask if you didn't understand a step (my PS is in Swedish so sometimes I mess up the names of stuff :P)
Hope this was useful for someone!
(If anyone missed it, my other LoVe manip is here.)