Tutorial - Reptilian effect!

June 16, 2008

In this tutorial were going to morph part of a human face into a reptilian like creature equipped with eyes and skin, no texturing involved just a simple “Multiply” layer blend.

Download the PSD here.

The PSD contains three layers.

1. Orginal - which is the layer with the subject’s face.

2. Eye - Reptilian eye

3. Skin - Reptilian texture

Were basically going to combine all these three layers together while sustaining a realistic reptilian look.

This is really really simple, it shouldn’t take more than a mere 10 minutes to complete.
The most difficult part has already been completed for you which is finding the right subject, texture and objects.

You can duplicate this tutorial using any other texture whether it be wood, snake scales, dirt or concrete textures.

Remember to tweak it accordingly, make sure the skin tone, color overlay, look and feel of your image is correct so your outcome will look great!

Also remember to work with high quality images! Blurry pixelated images leaves a bad taste on my mouth! =P

1. Creating the face mask layer.

In order to place our “Eye layer” correctly on the image we will need to make what I call a face mask layer in which the eyes are hallowed out so that any image behind the eye will appear.

• Take the polygonal lasso tool and begin to draw out the eyes like the sample below.
• With a perfectly drawn selection go to “select” and “Inverse”. This will invert your selection.
• Copy and paste this layer on top of your original layer and name this layer “face mask”.

2. Eyes

Now you have a face mask layer with the eyes hallowed out.

• Go to your Layers pallet and make the “eye”layer” visible by checking the eye icon beside it. Now your image will appear to have a reptilian eye.

3. Face mask drop shadow

With the new eyes in place notice it just looks like it’s been cut and pasted on there, adding a drop shadow to the face mask layer will make it appear more realistic.

• On your Face mask layer double click the layer and open up the Styles menu. Add a drop shadow with the setting below. Since were making our skin green give it a green color and a blend mode of “Multiply”.

4. Reptilian skin

Here is the final part which is also the funniest part.

• Make the skin layer visible by checking the eye icon on the side.
• Give the skin layer a blend option of “Multiply”.
• Double click the skin layer and give it a Color Overlay of Green with a Blend Mode of Soft Light.

4. Final Product

• You final product should look similar if not identical to the one below.

Posted in: Photoshop tutorials