Here is a little something that I created using Photoshop. I’m definitely a sucker for all things fantasy related. Fantasy art, movies, games, stories.. Magic, unicorns, faeries, wizards, elves, hobbits… You name it, I love it all! You can bet I’m super excited to see the new Harry Potter movie tomorrow! In this post I’ll go through all the stages that the above image went through before looking like that! Read on to see the progress from beginning to end. Enjoy! (:
These are the two photos that I started with, a nice forest shot and a pretty white horse. I found these stock images on DeviantArt.com. There are lots of quality stock images to choose from, and it’s free!
I was feeling that the photo of the forest was a little flat, so I’ve added the above forest photo to the background to give it a little more depth. Check out the differences below:
Big difference huh?!
After I was happy with the background image, I used the channel mixer to make the colors a bit more dreamy looking. Then I added in the white horsey in and adjusted the levels a little bit.
Here’s a closer view of the horse. Not looking very magical yet..
I added a white glow behind the horse, you can just feel it’s power amplifying. It’s about to go super saiyan on you! AHH!
The Horsey finally leveled up into Unicorn! I added it’s horn just by drawing it inside Photoshop and I’ve also added more white glow. At this point, I am finished with the unicorn and just need to add some finishing touches. I fixed up the colors a bit more by adding a gradient fill on top and then added a clouds layer on top of that to give it that misty look! Take a look at the final image below:
Do you believe in unicorns?
I do believe! I do!
Great post Tiffani!
I like the step by step breakdown, you did a really great job and I think it looks great. I do however kinda feel like the last step flattened the image a bit and I think maybe a bit of burning and dodging in a few areas after that last cloud layer is added would bring back the depth in the image and really make it pop!
I’m full steam ahead on my website now thanks to you, that last post about procrastination was really helpful. Thanks!
@Levin – Thanks for the comment! I’m glad to have motivated you to get started on your website! Also thanks for your feedback on the image, now that you mention it, it does look a little flat in the final image. I’ll take your advice and try to burn and dodge a few areas. Looking forward to see your site~