The Making of "The Birth of Venus" Digital Art Photoshop Tutorial

Step 1

Open the first picture from the cosmos pack and place it in the left upper corner.

Step 2

Create a new layer. Select the brush tool smooth edges and paint some of the areas like in the image below. You can find the colors code next to the image.

Step 3

Open the next cosmos picture and place it in the right . Create a layer mask and eraseall th edges with a black brush with smooth edges.

Step 4

Open the third cosmos picture and place it at the bottom of the file. We just need the little planet from this one since we are going to put the earth there.

Step 5

Now press CTRL+J and duplicate this layer so the little planet should be in the left.

Step 6

This is it with the cosmos background for now, so let's create the earth. Open a new file. We are going to use a lot of stock pictures for this one so open the first two ones and place them like in the picture below.

Step 7

Open the next two pictures and place them like I did in the image below.

Step 8

Now create a mask for the sea picture and erase with a black brush all the edges.

Step 9

Open the cliff image and place it in the left corner, then got o the thitd image that we have opened and CTRL+J it and flip it horizontaly. We just need the bottom part from this picture.

Step 10

Create masks for this 2 new layers and erase all the edges.

Step 11

Create a new layer and fill it with light blue. Create a maks and erase some of the parts like in the image.

Step 12

Merge all the layers by pressing CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E. Then go to File-Transform-Warp. Watch the picture below to see how to use the warp correctly.

Step 13

Drag the earth into the cosmos file. Place it like in the image. Create a mask and erase the top edges.

Step 14

Create a new layer . Load some cosmos brushes . You can fiind lots of greath brushes here or you can create your own brushes. Now place some stars in the lighter areas. This is a matter of taste so place as many as you wish.

Step 15

Next got o Filter-Render-Difference clouds. Create a mask and erase all the parts that are just to much - so the image will lock lighter.

Step 16

Cut the model out. Select a basic brush and paint some glitter next to her eye.

Step 17

Now we must create an action for the mesh wing. First draw a line similar to the one in the image below on a new layer. (1.) Then start recording the following things: Duplicate the line layer (press CTRL+J) and then transform the line (CTRL+T) by rotating the second line like in the image below (2.) After you're done with this stop the action.

Step 18

Then all you do is hit the play action button (for the action we created in the previous step) several times, untill it starts to look like in the image below. And it starts to look like a strange abstract wing. After you like the result select all this layers and merge them into one single layer (CTRL+E). You can try drawing longer lines or different shapes and apply this action for more abstract objects for different design projects.

Step 19

To change the color of the mesh, create a clipping mask for the mesh layer and just fill it with the color you want.

Step 20

Now we will create a different mesh we will use for the hair and legs. This is an easier action to make. First draw a line on a new layer, like in the image below (1.) Then start recording the next transformation: copy the layer you draw the line on (CTRL+J), then transform (press CTRL+T) and press the up key 4 times to move the line upwards. Stop the action and then hit play to repeat the transformations you recorded in this action (2.)

Step 21

After you merge all the paralel lines we created using the action in the previous step, copy this layer and using the transform function on the copy layer – rotate until the lines are perpendicular like in the image below.

Step 22

Using Transform/Warp we can curve the mesh around the earth, and erase where the cyber legs will be.

Step 23

Use different parts of the mesh for the legs as you see fit. Use the Transform/Warp to better curve the mesh around her legs.

Step 24

Create different meshes with edges like in the image below, using the technique at step 18. This will be used to create her fiery hair.

Step 25

This is really the part where your imagination is important. Position the red mesh over her hair and pain out on the mask the parts you dont want to keep. Duplicate the mesh layer and transform it until you have something similar to the result in the image below, or untill it starts to appeal to you.

Step 26

Change the color of the mesh to yellow (change the fill of the clipping mask to yellow) and position the parts you like on top of the red mesh to create a fiery look. You can use this cyber fire in a lot of other different projects.

Step 27

There are many different ways of creating a checkerboard in Photoshop. This is the way I did it since I had a different thing in mind when I started this piece. But in the end I only used the black squares for a more surreal look. First draw a square with the marquee tool and fill it with black.(1) Then duplicate the layer, select the transparancy mask and fill it with white, moving it to the righ – using the right key. (2,3) Merge the two squares in one layer, duplicate it and move it down and then transform/flip horizontal (4) Merge everything (5) Then start duplicating until you have a big checkerboard (6) Then merge everything into one layer and if you set the blending mode to multiply it will show only the black squares (7)

Step 28a

Open Adobe Illustrator, then using the brush or pencil draw a line similar to the one in the image below (1). Change the stroke width to 10 (2). At (3) in the image below we must use the 3d effect in illustrator – which I explain in detail in the step below - 28b. After you did step 28b then you can copy/paste the object in Photoshop where using the transform/warp tool you can adjust it the way you want it (4).

Step 28b

To make the line look 3D we must go to Effect/3D/Extrude & Bevel. Then use the information I used in the Extrude & Bevel panel, shown in the image below.

Step 29

Use dodge and burn for extra lights and shadow. Then selecting the transparency mask of that shape fill it with black and lower the opacity and move it like in the image below to make the shadow that object is casting on the model. Erase on the mask the parts where there should be no shadow (the shadow must be only on the model's back).

Step 30

Using the technique show in step 28a and 28b you can create more objects and integrate them in the image.

Step 31a

Get the splash image and mask around the splash. Dont worry about being to precise. We will fix the extra colors around the white water splash.

Step 31b

Create a levels clipping mask and enter a similar value for black in the output levels panel, like in the image below. This will bright up the dark areas in the splash image, making it look like some water splash vapors.

Step 31c

Multiply the splash layer, transform it, mask it etc. - to make a bigger splash effect.

Step 31d

You can use a hue/saturation clipping mask to colorize everything thats not white in the splash image in blue. That will integrate the splash even more.

Step 32

You can use some cloud brushes to create some extra water wapors around the splash and in the atmosphere of the planet to make it more cloudy.

Step 33

Now we add more colors to our work. This is a great trick to get more colors in any photo or manipulation. Merge all the layers we created in a new top layer (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E). Copy that layer a couple of times. Now go to Image/Adjustments/Variations and create different color variations of your work and if you like a certain part of the sky, earth, model in a certain color variation, mask everything else out.