How to create a stylish mad lady in photoshop
by Sebastiano on 17/05/09 at 3:09 pm
Hi guys, welcome to another tutorial here at bestphotoshoptutorials.net. Today we will learn how to create a cool dark-style background to emphasize a model. We will use watercolor brushes, filters, the pen tool and a bit of illustrator.
Motivation behind the design: I was searching for inspiration surfing the behance network, when I discovered the amazing works of Roma Skripchenko. My attention was attracted in particular by the background of many works, full of abstract and geometrical elements, that grab the attention to the model with contrasting colors. Ok, ok, it’s time to start…
The final result:
Step 1 – The background
Let’s open a 600×600 pixels document and apply a radial gradient. I have used #3a3a3a (lighter gray, in the center) and black. Now create a new layer, fill it with black and apply noise (filter>noise>add noise) with amount 7 and uniform selected. Switch this layer blend mode to screen and opacity 50%. This is the result:
Step 2 – Watercolor Brushes
Select a watercolor brush set (I have used the hi-res watercolor brushes by Bittbox) and paint to crate a nice effect in the center of the canvas. Select “overlay” as layer blend mode.
Step 3 – The lady
Download this free image of a mad ballerine, extract her using your favourite technique (I always use the pen tool and the channel method to extract hair) and place the image on our background. Then press ctrl, shift and U to desaturate the image.
Step 4 – Watercolor brushes again
Apply again the watercolor brushes in a layer below the one with the lady. I have used the same brush set, but you can experiment with other brushes (i.e. ink and splatter brushes or…you could download these halftone brushes). The goal of this step is to emphasize the lady.
Step 5 – The contrast
Now I want to increase the contrast of the mad ballerine. There are many techniques: you could use the curves for example (ctrl+M). But I prefer to duplicate the image and switch the layer blend mode of this new layer to overlay with opacity 70% (as Collis teached 
This is not because I’d like to see themeforest as a sponsor of this blog………)
Step 6 – Illustrator
Open Illustrator. I want to create something that envelop tha lady, so I think there is nothing better than the blend tool. Create 2 curves, select the blend tool and click on the edges of the curves. See the image below in case of doubts:
Now paste the curve into the photoshop canvas and place it below the lady’s layer. If you want to change the color of the curve you simply have to right-click on the layer, select “blending options”, and select “color overlay”. I have also used the erase tool to erase the edges of the curve with a large soft brush (before you have to rasterize the layer: right-click on the layer>Rasterize Layer).
Step 7 – Lines
Now you can insert geometrical elements as squares, triangles etc etc. I have simply drawn some lines and I have used a grunge brush to erase some parts of these lines. But I’m sure you could obtain better results than me!
Step 8 – Colors
I’m observing the work. It needs something! So to complete I have created a new layer above all the others (fill it with a light brown #d68d37), and I’ve applied a linear gradient (right-click on the layer>Blending Options>Gradient Overlay). Be sure to switch the layer blend mode to overlay and choise the colors you prefer. Then switch the opacity to 45%.
Step 9 – We’ve Finished!
Take a look at the result. If you want to be updated with the best photoshop tutorials and brushes from the web, don’t forget to subscribe our RSS!
