After I found the photo to use, I took a look at the shape of her face.  I decided to mirror one side of her face instead of using the original photo.  The left image below is the left side of the photo mirrored; the right side is the right side mirrored.

There wasn’t a whole lot of difference between the two, but I liked the way her chin looked in the right side mirror image.  It had more of a long, slender shape, better suited for the picture I had in my head.  Next came the shadowing and slight redefining of her facial features, especially the eyes.  I added some lighting and shadow around the eye sockets and blackened the eyeballs/pupils.

Next came the textures and more shadows.  The texture was actually a combination of two images…one of blue and green snakeskin I created in Photoshop.  The other was a dirt pattern to give the face a bit more of a rough and textured look.  I also added some red highlighting on the forehead to give the face a little more interest and depth.  Initially, the alien was female, so I added a shade of red to the lips to give it a more feminine appearance.

After watching a webisode by Bert Monroy, it gave me the idea to add some hair. There are about five layers of hair.  There’s a layer behind the blue lighting to give it a highlighted effect.  And several layers on top for the different hair colors along with more highlights and shadows.  I also added more shading in the face and gave the lips a green tint…a typical male in this alien civilization.  Click the image for a larger view.

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.

You can see the original shapes in the upper-left corner along with the revised shapes after I added some color and texture.  Click on the image to get a better view.

I don’t think I’d be able to pull off daily results, but I might be able to do the weekly thing.  Whether it’s something small and simple or a bit more complicated, I think it’ll be fun.  And since Valentine’s Day is approaching, I thought I’d use it in my first design.   Happy Valentine’s Day!

Step 1 – Choose the Photo

We need to select a photo.  I think those blurry photos everyone shoots at one point or another works well for this tutorial.  The blur adds a nice realistic touch to the finished photo.  You can always add some blur in Photoshop, but why not use it if it’s already there…one less thing to do.  I also chose a photo that was off-center to give it more of that amateur look.  It was also cloudy and rainy on this particular day which also helped with the overall effect.  If you would like to follow along using the same photo, you can download it here.

Step 2 – Prep the Photo

Out of habit, the first thing I always do is create a duplicate of the photo for safekeeping.  So double-click the background (in the Layers palette) to make this a layer and bring up the New Layer window.  You can name the layer whatever you want or just leave the default layer name, Layer 0.  Once you close that dialog box, right-click on the layer and choose duplicate layer.  Again, name the layer whatever you want.  It’s not that important for this tutorial.  You should now have two identical layers.  Lock the bottom layer if you choose for safekeeping.

Step 3 – Hue/Saturation

Next, I created a new Adjustment Layer by clicking the Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the layers window.  I selected Hue/Saturation… and used the following values.  Also be sure to check the Colorize box.

You should now have something similar to this.

Step 4 – Frame Your Photo

At this point, I framed the photo so I had an idea of what the final project will look like.  I scanned several old photos and cut out their borders to see what looked best and most realistic for the photo.  I thought this one looked the best.  Once you download the file, open it in Photoshop and drag it over to your photo, making sure it’s the top layer as shown here.  Rename the layer Frame.  At this point you will also need to resize the frame as you see fit and position it where you want it, essentially creating the final shot.

Step 5 – Brightness/Contrast

Next, I added a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer the same way I added the Hue/Saturation layer earlier.  Place the layer above the Hue/Saturation layer, but below the Frame layer.  I added the layer to make the plane look more washed out using the following values:

Brightness:  -47

Contrast:  100

Step 6 – Adding Scratches

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen an old photo that didn’t have scratches on it.  Go over to images.google.com and do a search for “scratch texture”.  I came across the image below, but any texture you find should work.  Open the image in Photoshop and drag it to your photo.  Again, be sure the texture is below the Frame layer and above the two adjustment layers.   Name the layer Scratches.

Once you add the Scratches layer, stretch the layer (CTRL + T) to fit the entire photo, change the Blending Mode of the scratches layer to Overlay, and make the Opacity about 50%.  I made 48% in the photo below.  You should now have something like this:

Step 7 – Get Creative!

This is where the creativity comes in.  Using the Burn and Dodge tools along with the Eraser, I edited the scratch texture to get it exactly how I wanted it to look.  The Burn and Dodge tools allow you to darken and lighten areas of the photo.  I find using a larger, soft brush works best here (Size:400, Hardness:0).  You can also add some Dodge and Burn to the Frames layer to make that look a little more worn.  As a final step, I moved my frame into a final position and cropped the photo.  Here’s what I came up with.

Now that you know how to make old from new, send me some links to your projects.  I’d love to see what you come up with!