Create a Vivid Alien Invasion Scene with Photoshop

Step 33

Make a new layer and using one of the tree brushes click once to make a tree like shown in the image below. Open the birds brushes and click once to paint some birds. Use black as foreground color.

Step 34

Make a new layer and using white as foreground color paint some clouds. Then select a soft white brush at 20% opacity and paint some fog on the river. Group these layers we made in steps 32-34 and group them. Name this group “Objects”.

Step 35

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and use the settings shown below. Add a gradient map and choose black to white than change it’s blend mode to Luminosity. This step will lower the saturation and increase the contrast.

Step 36

We want to obtain a surrealistic effect so let’s add some more contrast. Add a curves adjustment layer and use the settings below. Add another curves adjustment layer and drag the curve upwards to lighten the scene than fill the layer mask with black. Using a soft white brush at 50% opacity lighten the alien face and upper body.

Step 37

Let’s add a vignette. Make a new curves adjustment layer and and drag the curve downwards to darken the scene. Fill the layer mask with black and using a white brush paint the edges of our scene. Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to make a new layer from all visible and apply an Unsharp Mask. Add a layer mask then using a soft black brush at 50% opacity paint over the mountains so the main focus remains on our alien creature.

Final Results

Download the PSD

Alien Invasion Scene.zip | 97.3 MB
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Author’s Comment

In this tutorial we used some basic tools and pictures to create a surrealistic alien invasion scene. One thought for the Photoshop newbies out there: if you want to be good at Photoshop start learning and using Advanced Blending mode. It can save your day.