Create a Textured Bird with Smoke in Photoshop

Step 8

Now that we have the Blending Options all set on each of our shape layers things are starting to look a lot like the final result! But there are still a few things we can do to really make this shine! First we’ll add the metal texture to each layer using clipping masks. There are a few ways to do this, including the Pattern Overlay option in our blending options but I like clipping masks personally because of the level of control. To do this place the texture youd like to use in a layer over the layer or group you’d like it too effect as shown below. Right click on it selecting Create Clipping Mask. This will make it so that it only shows up on the layer below it, clipping masks can be stacked so they all effect the one at the bottom. Position and rotate your texture for each group or layer to give a unique look to each one, this will add a sense of depth and help differentiate one layer from another. Change the Blending Mode to SOFT LIGHT and adjust your Opacity to your liking though I kept mine at 100% so

Step 9

Getting close to the end! Now we’re going to bring in that smoke texture, I got mine from a stock I purchased for another project but many can be found on sites like Deviantart and Free Stock Exchange. Bring it in on a layer above your background group but below the main subjects group, for smoke on a black background set the blending mode to screen, this will show only the whitest parts and make the blacker areas opaque, a very useful blending mode for things like dust, fire, smoke, even water splashes. If the smoke is too transparent try duplicating the layer on top of itself and using the same blending mode.We’ll also be using a layer mask to mask it out around the edges of the subject or however you’d like to give it a bit of variation from from the stiffness of our main subject (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All) Using layer masks can be very usful and is covered in a lot of tutorials but for those that don’t know it allows you to paint layers transparancy on using a black or white paintbrush (Black being fully transparent and white being fully opaque.) without deleting the image like the eraser tool does.

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