Mar 04 2010 - Sci-Fi Butterfly

Here’s another design I came up with after playing around with the custom shape tool in Photoshop.

If it doesn’t look familiar, this was created from the butterfly shape in Photoshop, pictured below.

I used a stock photo of a butterfly to add veins to the wings.  Each wing is three layers deep with the vein texture on the bottom.

The rest of the effects in the image were basically trial-and-error experimenation with different blending modes and layer effects.  I was trying to make the wings look a bit more textured and shadowed to give them a more realistic appearance.

I tried out several different methods to create a glowing effect.  I did the antennae using one method, the abdomen (green rings) using another method, and the wings were done with a third method. The spots on the wings also have a bit of illumination to them.

I also added some highlights around the butterfly’s body, the inner part of the wings, and wingtips to give it some depth.