In this tutorial, I'm going to show you some of the steps I took in making this image
There are a number of tricks and techniques people use when making an image of this nature, but I am going to show how I created this image using only the very basic tools. The same principles and process can be used on any animals, even humans, but I'm going to use a frog for my example because why not?
The first thing I did was gathered a few source images.
Finding a great subject source image to start with is one of the most important stages in the whole process. The reason I chose this particular image of a frog was that it was crisp, clean image with an interesting enough perspective, yet still be instantly recognizable as a frog even after we cover him in mechanical parts.
Now that we have our main subject and a few mechanical pieces ready, let's begin mechanicalizing him.
I tried to select segments of varying shapes, sizes, and texture in order to create a nice library of chrome and mechanical sources for our image
Now we need to cover more space using the same basic idea. By selecting basic segments from our chrome sources and free transforming them to fit the shape of our frog. Select segments of your mechanical parts that best resemble the area of the frog you're trying to cover. It may help you to start by applying the pieces furthest most from the camera first, then overlap pieces as you come closer and closer to the camera. At this point i'm not worried about covering the background or overlapping any of the original frog, as we can go back and add them in again later. For now I just want to lay down the basic structure of the figure.
Next, all I had to do was fine tune and clean up the pieces to sit right on our figure. I did this simply by using the Smudge Tool set at 70-80% in strength, and about 7-10 pixels wide. Then I proceeded to smudge and smooth out the surfaces of the chrome pipe and mold them to fit the curves and contours of the frog's original mouth.
Next, in order to further accentuate the shadows, we're going to add some simple highlights. Again by using the Brush Tool (this time set to white) set at 100% opacity, I painted in some basic highlights on the edges and areas I figured could use a little further bump in contrast on a new layer directly above each piece of our chrome layers.
Then just like the shadows, I then took the Smudge Tool set at 60-70% pressure to smooth and shape out our highlights to fit the curves of our figure.
Next, I wanted to give the skin some shadow. Selecting a darker shade of our original skin color, I roughly painted in the shadows. Then, using the Smudge Tool set at 60-70% pressure, I smoothed out the shadows just (as in Step 07) until I was happy with the general placement and shape of the skin
When I was happy with the look of the skin, the next step was to go back and return some of the orginal rough skin texture from the original skin. I did this by copying an area of the original frog skin and pasting it on a new layer directly on top of our Arm Skin layer.
I then set this layer with the "overlay" Blend mode. This gives our skin the rough texture. I then erased the edges of the overlay skin layer so as it covers only the necessary areas
For example, as in the image above, I started by Duplicating the layer with the metal valve. I then set the opacity of this layer to 50% then using the Transform-Distort Tool, I shaped and formed the element to fit onto the shoulder chrome segment. I used this same method for other surrounding areas like the leaf and areas where the skin overlaps a chrome segment.
I added the Motion Blue filter to the winged areas of the dragonflies to simulate motion.
And voila! Our image is complete! A robotic frog created using only the very basic tools of photoshop!
There are a number of tricks and techniques people use when making an image of this nature, but I am going to show how I created this image using only the very basic tools. The same principles and process can be used on any animals, even humans, but I'm going to use a frog for my example because why not?
The first thing I did was gathered a few source images.
Finding a great subject source image to start with is one of the most important stages in the whole process. The reason I chose this particular image of a frog was that it was crisp, clean image with an interesting enough perspective, yet still be instantly recognizable as a frog even after we cover him in mechanical parts.
Now that we have our main subject and a few mechanical pieces ready, let's begin mechanicalizing him.
meowza said 7 years ago
I needed to extract the usable parts from my
mechanical sources. Using the Lasso Tool, I roughly selected areas from
my mechanical sources I figured I could use, and saved these parts into a
new document for easy access later. I tried to select segments of varying shapes, sizes, and texture in order to create a nice library of chrome and mechanical sources for our image
meowza said 7 years ago
The first thing I needed to do was to assemble
the basic structure of the figure. Taking segments one by one, I started
the assembly process of the actual robot figure. After pasting a
segment of chrome onto our frog, we need to shape it. Using the
Transform - Distort Tool, I transformed and skewed the segment in order
to fit the contours of the frog's head. Making sure to always follow the
curves and contours of the frog in order to help keep the familiar
recognizable shape of the original frog.Now we need to cover more space using the same basic idea. By selecting basic segments from our chrome sources and free transforming them to fit the shape of our frog. Select segments of your mechanical parts that best resemble the area of the frog you're trying to cover. It may help you to start by applying the pieces furthest most from the camera first, then overlap pieces as you come closer and closer to the camera. At this point i'm not worried about covering the background or overlapping any of the original frog, as we can go back and add them in again later. For now I just want to lay down the basic structure of the figure.
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meowza said 7 years ago
In order to create the mouth area, I needed to do
something slightly different. I found a chrome pipe area on one of our
chrome source pictures. I decided to use this segment for the mouth, as
it was a nice long piece of chrome that I could transform into the shape
of the mouth. I copied and pasted this segment onto our frog and Free
Transformed it roughly in place until I was happy enough with the
positioning of it. I also added this segment onto the head of our figure
to create a median point on the figure.Next, all I had to do was fine tune and clean up the pieces to sit right on our figure. I did this simply by using the Smudge Tool set at 70-80% in strength, and about 7-10 pixels wide. Then I proceeded to smudge and smooth out the surfaces of the chrome pipe and mold them to fit the curves and contours of the frog's original mouth.
meowza said 7 years ago
When I'm satisfied with the positioning of all
the mechanical pieces, the next step was to apply some highlights and
shadows to separate the segments a little better. I started with the
shadows. Using the Brush Tool set at 100% opacity, I painted in the
black shadows on a new layer directly underneath each chrome segment
layer. Next, I took the Smudge Tool set at 60-70% pressure and smoothed
out the shadows. Following the contours of the underlying pieces, I
shaped the shadows. The shadows should give our figure more depth and
help to isolate each segment a little betterNext, in order to further accentuate the shadows, we're going to add some simple highlights. Again by using the Brush Tool (this time set to white) set at 100% opacity, I painted in some basic highlights on the edges and areas I figured could use a little further bump in contrast on a new layer directly above each piece of our chrome layers.
Then just like the shadows, I then took the Smudge Tool set at 60-70% pressure to smooth and shape out our highlights to fit the curves of our figure.
meowza said 7 years ago
You may still notice some remnants of the
original frog showing on the edges of the figure. This can be easily
cleaned up with a little work using the Clone Tool. At this point, it'll
be a good idea to hide all our layers except for our background layer.
Create a new layer directly above your original frog image. With the
Clone Tool selected, make sure you have the "select all layers" box
selected. Hold the "alt" key and select an arbitrary area of the
background to copy. Then it's all a matter of cloning the background in.
meowza said 7 years ago
In order to make the image look even more
interesting, I decided to create the illusion of the frog's skin being
pulled away to reveal the robot. On a new layer above our background, I
roughly painted the insides of the opened skin. Using the Brush Tool set
at 100% opacity set to a brown, skin-toned color, I mapped out the area
our skin would coverNext, I wanted to give the skin some shadow. Selecting a darker shade of our original skin color, I roughly painted in the shadows. Then, using the Smudge Tool set at 60-70% pressure, I smoothed out the shadows just (as in Step 07) until I was happy with the general placement and shape of the skin
I then wanted to add some of the original skin
from the frog to form the outside of the skin as well. I opened the
original frog image in a new File for easy access. Using the Lasso Tool,
I selected edges of the frog's original skin to copy. I copied this
selection and pasted it on to our robofrog document. Using the
Transfrom-Distort Tool, I transformed the skin to follow the direction
of the skin "pull". And like we did in our earlier steps, I proceeded to
add slight shadows and highlights to the skin to further accentuate the
"pull" effect.
meowza said 7 years ago
For the skin flaps on the arms, I did something
different. First I selected the original arm and copied it onto a new
layer. Then using the Smudge Tool set at 80-90% pressure, I smudged and
drew in the direction of the skin and folds of the skin. Then, using
darker and lighter shades from the original skin, I drew and smudged in
shadows and highlights again as in the previous stepsWhen I was happy with the look of the skin, the next step was to go back and return some of the orginal rough skin texture from the original skin. I did this by copying an area of the original frog skin and pasting it on a new layer directly on top of our Arm Skin layer.
I then set this layer with the "overlay" Blend mode. This gives our skin the rough texture. I then erased the edges of the overlay skin layer so as it covers only the necessary areas
meowza said 7 years ago
Next, I wanted to make the chrome look even more
like chrome. By adding reflections from surrounding elements, I hope to
add some more realism to the chrome. I did this by copying layers of
surrounding elements and forming them to create an illusion of
reflection.For example, as in the image above, I started by Duplicating the layer with the metal valve. I then set the opacity of this layer to 50% then using the Transform-Distort Tool, I shaped and formed the element to fit onto the shoulder chrome segment. I used this same method for other surrounding areas like the leaf and areas where the skin overlaps a chrome segment.
meowza said 7 years ago
Finally, I needed something to hold up the frog's
skin. I decided to use a couple of dragonflies for this effect. After
finding a good image of a dragonfly, it was then all a matter of
extracting him from the original file and pasting him onto a new layer
in our working document.I added the Motion Blue filter to the winged areas of the dragonflies to simulate motion.
And voila! Our image is complete! A robotic frog created using only the very basic tools of photoshop!
Posted by Unknown on Selasa, 10 September 2013 - Rating: 4.5
Title : The Making of a Robotic Frog
Description : In this tutorial, I'm going to show you some of the steps I took in making this image There are a number of tricks and techniques peop...
Description : In this tutorial, I'm going to show you some of the steps I took in making this image There are a number of tricks and techniques peop...