Home Photoshop Photo Editing Road Warrior Cinematic Scene

Road Warrior Cinematic Scene

Added: Jun 16, 2010 Level: Experienced Software: Photoshop

Author: Designer Freelance More by this author

Before We Get Started

For this tutorial you are going to need:

City

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1265521

Road

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1232000

Car

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1272054

Man Walking

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1158936

Texture

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/727540

Step 1: Extracting the main character

Open the main character image as is and double-click on the "Background" layer to make it editable.

To delete the background we will use two different techniques. For the body will use PEN TOOL making a path which then will become a selection.

For the hair we use the channels technique.

Step 2: Raincoat Enlarge

To give a more dramatic and heroic look we enlarge the raincoat.

First we select a section of the bottom of the raincoat

Copy the section and move down to the desired height

Warp use: edit> transform> warp to adjust the piece to the raincoat

To remove the edges use clone stamp tool with a brush of 65 pixels and correct soft edges.

We repeat the same steps with the other side of the trench.

Merge the layers

Step 3: Add dirt

He is very clean to be a road warrior so we will add spots to the raincoat.

Open the texture file

Drag and drop the file and scale it to adjust it

Set the blending mode to Soft Light

Ctrl-click the Layer Thumbnail of the warrior> select pixels.

Go to Select> Modify> Feather and enter a value of 0.5 px. Then go to Select> Inverse to invert the selection.

Select and delete the dirt layer

Using a soft-edged eraser, begin removing parts of this layer. Like in the hands, neck or face.

Step 4: Sword

Open the sword file and remove the background using pen tool.

Drag and drop it to the warrior file. As a reference for scaling the sword the handle must be the same size as the length of the face.

Move the layer to appear behind the sword in the back of the warrior

Although the handle of the sword is the right size I will enlarge the size of the sword guard for esthetic purpose, double the layer of the sword, eliminate the handle part of the copy, move the bottom to be larger than apparent.

Step 5: Adding a String (sageo)

With the line tool draw a line cord

With warp we distort to fit the body shape

Add bevel and emboss style Layer and a drop shadow

Delete the parts of the line that run under the lapel of the coat

Step 6: Increase the contrast

This is a very simple and great technique to increase the contrast and get a cinematic look.

Merge the layers

Duplicate the layers

Desaturate the new layer Image > Adjustments > Desaturate

Duplicate the desaturated layer

Change the Blend Mode Of The New Layer To 'Screen' And Lower The Opacity to 50%

Duplicate the Original Background Layer And Move It To The Top Of The Layers Palette

Change the Layer's Blend Mode to "Overlay" at 75%

Merge All Layers Onto A New Layer

Step 7: Create the background

Open the two images: the road and the city. The road image will be our main document; you don't need to modify the image size.

Drag and drop the image of the city to the road image and adjust its size and position

Adjust the layer to 70% transparency and delete the parts that do not require

With the polygonal lasso make a selection of the sky and delete it. Why polygonal lasso? Mostly we are selecting straight lines of buildings and it is easier to make the selection.

Step 8: Meteors

Create a new layer

Grab a white round brush with 10% hardness, do a single click on the new layer

Bring up the liquify fitler: filter> liquify, Left-click and hold, Then drag the liquify brush to Obtain the desire effect

Create a new layer below the head of the meteor and paints a new circle

To create the trail we use warp: edit> transform> warp.

Deform to get a good trail

Repeat to create three or four meteors

Step 9: Building explosions

Now we will create an explosion in one of the buildings

Create a new layer and paint it white

Filter > render > difference clouds

With the eliptical marquee tool create a marquee selection use a Feather of 20 pixels.

Select Edit> Define Brush Preset. Name it 'Smoke'.

Removes the layer where the smoke was created

Select the Brush Tool (B) and go to the Brush Engine (Window> Brushes). Select the 'Smoke' brushes, and activate the Following settings:

- Brush Tip Shape, select 25% Spacing.

- For Shape Dynamics use 100% for the Size Jitter, 75% for the Minimum Diameter, and select Flip X Jitter and Flip Y Jitter.

- For Scattering, use 135% for the Scatter and select Both Axis, use 10 for the Counter and 60% for the Counter Jitter.

- Select Color Dynamics and use 92% for the Foreground / Background Jitter, Then 50% for the Hue, Saturation, and Brightness Jitter.

- For use 100% Purity.

- Finally, select Other Dynamics and use 20% for the Opacity Jitter

Create a new layer

Paint with the brush giving two or three clicks to achieve the required blast

Click on Layer Style and select Gradient Overlay:

Blend mode: Color dodge

- Gradient of a dark orange to yellow

- Style lineal

As a last detail of the explosion: create a new layer below the explosion, draw a circular marquee with 40% feather. Select> Modify> Feather. Go to the gradient editor and adjust as follows:

Paint an angle gradient inside the marquee. Desaturate it, Image> Adjustment> desaturate. Set the blending to screen 50%

Step 10: Abandoned Car

Open the car file

Remove the background using pen tool

This car has many green leaves we must eliminate them as the car is in a desert landscape. We used clone stamp tool to remove most of the leaves in the front.

Drag and drop the car to the main file.

Scale and rotate it so it adapts to the landscape

It is very important to check the lighting direction of all our items. In this case create some light on the left side of the car with Dodge tool and darken some parts of the car with the burn tool.

Create a layer below the car. Create a selection that simulates the shadow of the car. Recalling the direction of the lights must be more pronounced to the right. Soften the edges of the shadow: Select> Transform> Feather and choose 20 pixels.

Now paint with a gradient from black to dark gray.