Step 1
Create a new doucment sized 880px * 1200px, leave the background color as White. Create a new layer called "texture", load the dirt brush into Photoshop and use it to paint some texture on it: (set the brush opacity to around 40%)
One thing you need to remember is when you paint this texture layer, try to use a combination of different brushes in the set, and experiement with different brush sizes as you go:
Once you finish the painting, duplicate this texture layer once and use the free transform tool to perspective it as shown below:
Reduce the layer opacity of this layer to around 50%, you will have the following effect:
Step 2
Load the model image into Photoshop, cut out the girl and paste it onto our canvas, name this new layer as "Model":
Add the following two adjustment layer to the model layer: (make sure to tick the "use previous layer as clipping mask" option when adding them)
Levels:
Layer mask on levels adjustment layer:
Curves:
Layer mask on Curves adjustment layer:
Add a new clipping mask layer for the model layer, grab a soft white brush and paint to the areas as shown below:
Change the blending mode of this new clipping mask layer to "Soft Light", and you will have the following effect:
I feel the hair of the model need to brighten up a bit, so I created aonther clipping mask layer and used a small white brush with 60% - 70% hardness to paint some white lines on the hair:
Change the blending mode to "Overlay" for this hair painting layer, reduce the layer opacity to around 80%, you will have the following effect:
and here is the overall effect so far:
Step 3
Create a new layer called "Curvy Line" and use the Pen Tool to draw a path as shown below:
Choose a 13px, 100% hardness brush:
Stroke the Path with this brush:
Make sure you tick the "Simulate Pressure" setting:
and you will have the following effect:
Duplicate the curvy line layer a few times, resize and rotate those layers, and position them as shown below:
Step 4
Now let's get on with the curvy line creation. For tutorial purpose, I made a new document in Photoshop.
Create a new layer and use the Rectangular Marquee tool to draw a seletion as shown below:
Fill the selection with a colour of your choice:
hit Ctrl + T and right-click on the rectangle, choose "Distort":
Then Hold the Alt key and Drag the bottm right corner of the rectangle to distort it as shown below:
Then duplicate this layer a few times, rotate and resize each layer as shown below: (use colour balance and hue adjustment tool for colour variation)
Then merge the duplicated layer together:
Hit Ctrl + T and right-click on the shapes, choose "Warp" option:
Warp the shapes as shown below:
That's it, you can use those warped shapes in your image. You can choose you own colour and size, no need to following the exact colour in my image:
Apply the shapes in different location will add depths and variety for your image:
Step 5
This step is optional. I personally feel like adding a bit more depth and variety to the image by have a "shadow" copy of the girl on the canvas somewhere.
Create a new layer called "Girl Shadow" just below the model layer, then load the selection of the model layer and fill the selection with Gray colour:
Resize this layer to a very small scale, flip it horizontally and position it as shown below: (erase the top right part of the girl so it blends into the background)
I added a new layer called "shadow" with "Soft light" blending mode, and use a soft black brush to paint some shadow on the foot area:
Optional: add some more abstract lines around the canvas with Pen Tool Strokes for more variety:
Now we can add some overall shadows and highlights on the image by create a new layer on top of all previous layers, use a soft brush with black or white colour, painting on the new layer as shown below:
and here is the effect so far:
Step 6
Now we can apply some final touches to the image. Flatten the image (save a layered copy before you do so), then duplicate the background layer once, apply the following Smart Sharpen filter to the duplicated layer:
We can also add some lighting effect to the image by duplicate the background layer once more, and apply the Angled Strokes filter to it, with the settings below:
Reduce the layer opacity of this angled strokes layer to around 40%, you will see now we have some really nice lighting effect as shown below:
On left leg:
Around the chest area:
I also add a color balance adjustment layer to image with the following settings:
and you will have the following final effect:
OK that's it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful and inspirational. If you have any question, drop a comment below and I will try my best to help you out.
