Create This Surreal Representation of the Mind Artwork in Photoshop

Preview of Final Results

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Surreal Representation of the Mind Artwork Photoshop Tutorial

Tutorial Resources

big blue sky stock – fahrmboy stock
old wood texture – kovik
bite me 5 – faestock
clock – mzacha
paper boat – selicula
suitcases – frozt stock
dummy series – drniels
old gauge – falsemaria
water pressure gauge – fantasy stock
paper texture 1 – wojtar stock
texture 119 – sirisu-sdz

Step 1: Create a Photoshop Image File

Now, let’s start by creating a new image file, go to the Menu bar and click File > New, and then input the following values on their respective fields:

Preset: Custom
Width: 2480 pixels
Height: 3508 pixels
Resolution: 300pixels/inch
Color Mode: RGB Color
Background Contents: Transparent

Step 2: Create the Sky

In this step, we will be creating the sky of our image. To start, open “big blue sky stock” by fahrmboy stock. Next activate the Rectangular Marquee Tool by pressing M on your keyboard.

Once activated, create a selection area around the sky as shown below:

Step 3

Now that you have the sky selected, left-click on it and drag that sky to our canvas using the Move tool (V). Position it as shown below:

Now, because of its size, we definitely need to reduce it to give the background a sense of depth and in order for us to resize the “sky”, we would need the Transform tool. Activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) and resize the image as shown below:

The result:

Step 4

Now, let’s darken the sky to make it look more dramatic. Start by left-clicking on the “sky” layer and then press Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N on your keyboard to create a new layer directly above the selected layer; once the box opens, input “darken sky”.

Step 5

Once you’re done with that, let’s now activate the Brush tool (B) but before we start, make sure that the active Brushes are the default brushes. The default Photoshop brushes are shown on the image below, if that’s not what you see, then follow the instructions below:

Right click the canvas while a layer is selected and while the Brush tool (B) is activated and then click on the button highlighted below:

Then click on “Reset Brushes” from the contextual menu.

Now, that that is done input the following settings for our Brush tool (B):

Brush size: 2500px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 15%
Flow: 100%
#: 000000

Note: The #: 000000 is the color of the brush. To change it to that, simply do the following:

Once the Color Picker box opens, input the following on the # box:

Now, we’re all set to paint, use the Brush tool on the following region on the darken sky layer:

The result of that should be similar to this:

Step 6: Create the Floor

Now, we will proceed to making the wooden floor to where the woman’s head is floating on. To start, open the stock image: “Old wood texture” by kovik. Once open, activate the Move tool (V) and drag it to our canvas. Put this layer above the “sky” layer and rename it to “floor”. To rename a layer, simply double-click on the words: “layer 1” (you can find that on the layer window) to prompt a text box to appear.

It should appear on the image like this:

Step 7

Now, we would want this floor to appear flat and not like a wall, to do that, we would need the help of the Transform tool. Activate the Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) and right click on the canvas to bring out the contextual menu. Once it is up, click on Perspective.

Let’s transform it to a floor now, see image below:

The result:

Step 8

Next, we will darken the floor to make the light more realistic. First, let’s create a new layer (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N) above the floor, name it “darken floor” and then activate the Brush tool (B), once open, input the following:

Brush size: 1500px
Hardness: 0%
Opacity: 15%
Flow: 100%
#: 000000
Now, let’s paint: