Create a Surreal Snail with a Grassy Shell in Photoshop

Fill this layer with black (Shift+F5) and convert it to a Smart Object. Flip this shadow vertically (Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical), then lower the opacity to 60%:

To soften the shadow, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 6 px:

Step 7

I used Color Balance to match the snail color with the background:

Step 8

I used Curves to darken the snail:

On this layer mask use a soft black brush to erase the upper part and make the dark effect visible on the back, the lower part of the snail:

On this layer mask use a soft black brush to erase the upper part and make the dark effect visible on the back, the lower part of the snail:

On this layer mask use a soft black brush to erase the back of the snail and create a nice contrast on his body:

Step 9

Make a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50% gray:

Active the Burn Tool (O) with Midtone Ranges, Exposure about 10-15% to darken the lowest edge of the snail body. You can see how I did it with Normal mode and the result with Overlay mode:

Step 10

Open the meadow image. Use the Retangular Marquee Tool (M) to select a grass part then place it over the snail shell, use the Free Transform Tool (Cmd/Ctrl+T) to tweak it a little:

Add a mask to this layer and use a black brush to erase the grass following the shape of the shell. To make the edge of the grass, I used a hard brush and the size about 3-4 px to trim (it’s better if you use a tablet pen):

Step 11

I used Color Balance to change the grass color:

Step 12

I used Curves to darken the grassy shell:

On this Curves layer mask I used a soft black brush to erase the upper of the grass to keep it brighter than the lower (it’s illuminated by the light):

Step 13

I created a new layer with the same settings like in the step 9. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool to define the light and shade of the grassy shell:

Step 14

Isolate the child from the background and place her onto the top of the grassy shell:

To change the form of her dress to fit the shell , go to Edit > Puppet Warp:

Step 15

Add a mask to the child layer and use a hard black brush with a smaiil size (2-3 px) to blend the dress bottom with the grass:

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