THE QUEEN OF POP - skylineillusions.net

If you would like updates about Skyline Illusions, please follow the Skyline Illusions Twitter account!
skyline twitter
If you would like to follow my personal Twitter account which is about my life, random things, and some updates about this site, please follow me - all visitors are welcome.
personal twitter

i. Sabryna - Disjecta-Membra
ii. Mandie- Whisper Wars
iii. Scott - Inhale This
iv. Ammy - Ego-Box
v. Shanelle - Overloaddd
vi. Diana - Faked Tears
vii. Cass - Love Zoo
viii. Ashley - Neon Cinema
ix. Kimmy -b Wolf Carnival

[view all/apply]

title: The Queen of Pop
version: 17
featuring: Madonna
issued: put in date

i. Sabryna - Disjecta-Membra
ii. Libbyann - Her Plagues
iii. Leah - Electric Skeleton
iv. Natalie- Starstruck
v. Jenny - Pour Aimer
vi. Kat - Intricate Wasteland
vii. Haley - Hollow-Faith
viii. Jozena - Sunday Riot
ix. Allie - Relinquish
x. Syd - The Guidance

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please e-mail me at spencer @ skylineillusions .net or instant message me on AIM at lipssofdeceittt and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

tutorials

photoshop 1

I don't exactly know what to entitle this tutorial...

This tutorial is described in steps for Adobe Photoshop CS2, but other versions are just as good, et cetera.

If you run into problems, feel free to e-mail me at spencer@skylineillusions.net for technical support.

If you use this tutorial please be respectful and linkback to this site on your credits/resources page so others can use it, too.

step 01

Open your photo in Photoshop. I will be using the photo below. You may follow along using the same picture, if you'd like, or using one of your own. You cannot post/submit my picture anywhere, though!

Click to enlarge.

step 02

In the layers window, right click on the only layer (background), and choose duplicate layer. Rename the new layer "basephoto."

step 03

THIS STEP MAY BE SKIPPED DEPENDING ON YOUR PHOTO.

Now, this is a quick and easy step just to touch up the photo skin-wise. I don't want those freckles in the photo, so in my toolbar I'm going to select the healing brush tool. It looks like a band-aid.

Then, on the photo I find a space of skin that I like (for example, party of the cheek where there are no freckles, or the forehead), hold down the ALT key, and click on the good section of skin.

Now I can continue by simple clicking on the freckles, which should be blended over nicely and look like they were never there in the first place.

This is not a major step, but the result is shown below.

Click to enlarge.

step 04

Along the bottom of the layers window, click the create a new fill or adjustment layer icon, which is the fourth icon from the left on my version.

Select levels and play with the arrows below the graph to your liking - for this tutorial, I made my photo darker by dragging the left hand arrow a bit to the right. The levels pop up box is shown below.

Click "OK."

This is the image I currently have.

Click to enlarge.

step 05

Along the bottom of the layers window again, click the same icon (create a new fill or adjustment layer), then choose curves.

Again, play around with this to your liking according to the photo you're using - again, I'll be making mine darker. Change the elements of the photo by changing the input and output values in the pop up window, you may do so by dragging the graph's endpoints either left or right or up or down. You can also pick a point on the line in the middle of the graph and drag it to adjust the photos.

The settings I've chosen are shown below.

As you can see, I moved the bottom point over and made two points in the middle shift a tiny bit; input is now 76 and output is 46.

Currently, the overall picture looks like this...

Click to enlarge.

step 06

THIS STEP MAY BE SKIPPED DEPENDING ON YOUR PHOTO.

I personally don't like how the hand is pink but the skin is a light orange/gold hue, so I'm going to fix that.

Using the eye dropper tool from the tool bar, while layer "basephoto" is selected, I clicked on the skin showing in the V of the shirt.

Now, control + shift + n, to create a new layer, or click the new layer icon in the bottom of the layer window.

With the brush tool selected, I'm just going to color in this beige color over the whole hand, including the nails and the writing. Yes, this looks insanely unrealistic and stupidly dark in comparison to the original skin colors shown.

In the layers window, select "soft light" for this layer, and set the opacity to 37%. Below is what the picture now looks like.

Click to enlarge.

step 07

Currently, the layers should be in this order from bottom to top: background, basephoto, layer 1 (the hand color in), levels 1, and then curves 1.

Select the background layer, right click > duplicate layer, name this threshold, and then drag the layer to sit between the hand color in and levels 1.

Go to image > adjustments > threshold. (Shown here.)

In the pop up, again, change the settings to your liking according to your photo. Try to get a good black/white balance so that you can still see what's in your picture and so that you may see even more shadows than previously.

The settings I chose are shown below.

Now, in the layers window, with "threshold" layer selected, scroll through the layer settings until you find one that you like for the picture - I, personally, like darken (a few look the same as darken), and soft light for this particular photo. I've chosen darken though.

Below is how the picture currently looks.

Click to enlarge.

step 08

Return to the "basephoto" layer, right click, duplicate layer, rename "posterize." Place this layer between threshold and levels 1 layer.

Go to image > adjustments > posterize. In the pop up, type in different values for the levels; I personally chose 11. Set this layer to pin light.

Below is how the picture currently looks.

Click to enlarge.

step 09

THIS STEP MAY BE SKIPPED DEPENDING ON YOUR PHOTO.

The lips look too faded out for me, so I'm going to make them darker and livlier by almost matching them to the color of red on the jacket's crest.

With posterize layer selected, choose the eye drop tool and click on the red on the jacket's crest (bottom right quadrant of the image.) Then create a new layer, select the brush tool, and in the new layer, color over the lips. Set this layer to color burn, 50% opacity, and drag it between the posterize layer and the threshold layer.

Below is how the picture currently looks.

Click to enlarge.

step 10

THIS STEP MAY BE SKIPPED DEPENDING ON YOUR PHOTO.

Again, this is a personal preference. I want the blonde hair to appear lighter, so with the basephoto layer selected, and the dodge tool from the toolbar, set to range: midtones and exposure: 50%, I went over the blonde hair once.

step 11

Between the posterize layer and levels 1, create a new layer and fill it with a gold hue (the color I chose is... R: 244, G: 198, B: 37.) Set this layer to soft light, opacity: 20%.

overview

Started with the one on the left, ended with the one on the right.

Click to enlarge.