Tutorial – The Iceman effect
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to generate an ice effect on a person, and who else better to demonstrate this technique on other than the Ice man himself, Chuck Liddell!
This is a very simple effect, yet a very strong concept to learn that can lead to other effects. The GSP burning effect I used for his wallpaper uses this same concept. PSD file here
1. Opening the PSD.
In the provided .psd you will notice there are two layers, one named “chuck” which is the original Chuck image you see below, and another layer named “ice” which is a layer in which the ice effect will take place. The ice layer is basically a cut-out feathered image of half of Chucks body.
2. Adding a gradient linear burn on Chuck.
Double click on the Chuck layer and the layer style menu should come up and add the following on the image below. Click on “Gradient Overlay” then add a simple white to blue gradient and on the “Blend Mode” option drop the menu down and select Linear Burn. This should turn half of Chucks body a slight dark blue color as shown in the image below.
3. Adding the ice effect in 3 steps.
Now we finally start working on the “Ice layer” and this is very simple, you just need to double click the layer to let the Layer Style menu come up and add three different styles on it.
- Choose color overlay – choose a teal or light blue color and choose “Color” on the Blend Mode.
- Check the “Bevel and Emboss” options and use the settings on the image below. Depth 225, Size 8, and soften 0.
- Check the texture box to add a texture to the image, this is basically like texture mapping, you can choose any pattern you want, I choose the default nature patterns that came with photoshop and use the settings below. You can play around with the settings to your needs.
4. Finished.
Now your image should look like the one below, see the texture I choose looks like it’s now part of Chucks skin, kind of like texture mapping.
5. Touch up.
As with all my tutorials I do touch ups and play around with the image more, in the included .psd there are layers which I’ve added blue eyes and icicles for Chuck for a more dramatic effect. Again I adjusted curves and highlights, then sharpened the image. Enjoy!
9:38 pm on June 9th, 2008
11:35 am on June 13th, 2008
4:26 pm on June 13th, 2008
This is a tutorial for this effect, are you familiar with Photoshop? If you are just download the PSD I provided and follow the steps I’ve laid out here. Hope that helps.
7:23 am on June 14th, 2008
okey bayyyyyyyyy
4:01 pm on July 11th, 2008
Awesome tutorial, thanks!
9:13 pm on August 26th, 2008
5:53 pm on February 16th, 2009
If I look in your .psd file, then there are two layers (the ice and the original part)
could you tell what tool did you use to make that two layers?
thank you
6:50 pm on April 7th, 2009
if you look at the tutorial you will be able to make this effect.
and probably on a second read you wont even need the tut anymore =)
3:19 pm on June 27th, 2009
Really Nice I’ll Try To Do It
12:39 am on July 29th, 2009
Where can I get the texture you used?
1:24 am on July 29th, 2009
9:12 am on July 29th, 2009
Oh, I dont have Photoshop 7+. My document size is 72. Should I get Photoshop 7?
8:09 am on July 31st, 2009
8:28 pm on September 6th, 2009
hey, unm i followed what you said but i keep missing out on something. the WHOLE body image is then ice. I have tryed putting the opacity down but that just made it look stupid.
please help, WHAT AM I MISSING?!?!?