Post pobrano z: How to Create a Frog Princess Illustration in Adobe Illustrator

Everybody probably knows the story about princess frog, because many countries have similar stories. How do you imagine the frog princess? I imagine her as an adorable little frog princess like the one we’ll create today. This short tutorial is very easy to follow, and great for beginners.

For more amazing images of the frog princess, check out GraphicRiver. It’s interesting to see how other artists imagine this creature.

Once you are ready, let’s start!

1. How to Create a Vector Frog 

Step 1

Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document with 850 x 850 px Width and Height. We will start by drawing the head of the frog. Using the Ellipse Tool (L), draw an oval. In the image below, you can see which fill and stroke colors you need. On the Stroke panel, make the stroke Weight very thick, about 5 px. The stroke will give our final image a cartoonish look.

Next, we will apply the Inflate effect to this ellipse. Go to Effect > Warp > Inflate. Enter the options you see below, and press OK.

Expand this shape: go to Object > Expand Appearance. After expanding the shape and ungrouping it (right-click > Ungroup), you will notice that now you have two pieces instead of one: the stroke itself and the fill color by itself. To make it into one shape again, simply delete the stroke and make a new stroke color directly on the Tools panel, which is on your left (see the second image).

Step 2

Create an ellipse using the Ellipse Tool (L) using the same fill and stroke colors as before. Rotate it slightly to the left.

While keeping this small ellipse selected, take the Reflect Tool (O) and, while holding down the Alt key, click on the forehead. In the new dialogue window, select Vertical, Angle 90 degrees and press Copy. You should now have these two ellipses on the frog’s head.

Next, select all three of the shapes and, using the Unite button on the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder), unite them. Now, instead of three ellipses, we have one shape.

Finally, add two dark grey ellipses for the eyes.

Step 3

For the highlights on the frog’s eyes, let’s add some heart shapes. Because she is in love, remember? Start by creating a rounded rectangle by using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. But let me show you how to make it with the Corner Widget, which is available in the latest version of Adobe Illustrator. It will be easier to adjust the roundness of the corners by using this tool.

So create a regular rectangle by using the Rectangle Tool (M). Be sure to check View > Show Corner Widget. Now, near each corner of the rectangle, you have a tiny circle. Move these circles to the middle of the shape, and the corners of the rectangle will gradually become round. (Just for practice, try moving the circles out, and the corners of the rectangle will be sharp again.)

Rotate the rounded rectangle by 45 degrees. Next, while keeping it selected, press the Reflect Tool (O) and then the Enter key. In the pop-up window, enter Axis Vertical. and hit Copy. Arrange these two shapes as shown below. The orange shaded area on the image is the area that we want to keep. So we will need to delete the rest. For that, take the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M), select the two rounded rectangles and swipe on the orange marked areas, thus forming a heart shape. Using the same tool and holding the Alt key, click on the unmarked areas to delete them. Now you should see the basic heart, which we will use inside the eyes later on.

For older versions of Adobe Illustrator: select both rounded rectangles and press Divide on the Pathfinder panel. After that, right-click your mouse and hit Ungroup. Select those three parts of the rectangles marked orange in the image below, and press the Unite button in Pathfinder. Now simply delete the excess to get your heart shape. And your heart is ready!

Finally, place the two white hearts on the eyes. Remember that you don’t need the stroke (outline) anymore.

Step 4

Now we will create the mouth. We start by creating an ellipse. Remember to use the same stroke color and no fill color. Then take the Scissors Tool (C) and click on the marked anchor points to cut off the upper part of the ellipse. Delete this part, as you don’t need it.

Step 5

To create the body, place an ellipse behind the head. Place another small ellipse on the left side of the body—this will be the leg.

Hold the Shift and Alt keys together and move the left leg to the right. Now, you have the right leg, perfectly aligned.

Step 6

Now we will create the arm. Start with an ellipse. Now, hit the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move the handles of the anchor points to achieve the result you see below.

After that, take the Scissors Tool (C) and click on the path segment marked in the image below. This will be one arm, and we still need another. Place this arm on the left side of the frog’s body, under the head. While keeping it selected, hit the the Reflect Tool (O) and press the Enter key. Be sure that in the new dialogue Reflect window Vertical is checked, and press Copy. Using the Right Arrow key on your keyboard, move the newly created arm to the right.

2. How to Create the Arrow and Crown

Step 1

Make a new copy of one of the hearts that you placed on the frog’s eye. Change its fill color and set the same stroke color as before. On the Stroke panel (Window > Stroke), check Corner: Round Join.

Then delete the fill color, so that you only have the stroke color. Now, using the Line Segment Tool (\), draw a line.

Click on the heart to have in the AI memory the same fill and stroke
color as you have for the heart. Draw a rectangle using the Rectangle
Tool (M) on the other end of the line. Using the Direct Selection Tool
(A), select the two upper anchor points of this rectangle. Move them to
the right.

While keeping this rectangle selected, take the
Reflect Tool (O) and press the Enter key. In the new dialogue window, check Horizontal and press Copy. Move the new copy down. The arrow is
done!

For your convenience, select the whole arrow and group it (right-click > Group).

Place the arrow in the frog’s mouth. Be sure the arrow stays in the mouth, not over it. To achieve this, select the mouth, cut it off (Control-X) and place it in front (Control-F).

Step 2

Now we will create the crown. Leave the same stroke color, and change its fill color to yellow.

Then we need to make a cutter to cut off one part of the crown. For this, we need to draw a triangle: take the Polygon Tool and click on your artboard. In the new dialogue window, type 3 Sides with any Radius. Then click OK. Finally, turn it upside down, and place it as shown below. While holding the Shift and Alt keys, move this triangle to the left. You’ll get the second upside-down triangle. Select them and unite them: press the Unite button on the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder).

Keep this shape selected and select the yellow rectangle. Press the Minus Front button on the Pathfinder panel.

To finalize our crown, go to Effect > Warp > Bulge. Enter the options presented below and press OK. The crown is ready!

Place the crown on the frog’s head. Isn’t she cute?

3. How to Create the Lotus Leaf and the Reed

Step 1

Let’s create the lotus leaf where our frog will sit. Keep the same stroke color and change the fill color to blue, and then draw an ellipse.

Create a cutter again: this will be a triangle which you’ll make using
the Polygon Tool. Place the triangle (the cutter) on the ellipse as
shown below. Hit Minus Front on Pathfinder.

Now we want to make the edges of the leaf smoother. First, check Show
Corner Widget (View > Show Corner Widget). After that, using the
Direct Selection Tool (A), drag the outer corners inside and the inner
corner outside to make them smooth.

Step 2

A reed will be a nice addition to the lotus leaf. Start with an ellipse. To create a leaf shape of the reed, you’ll need to create sharp corners using the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C). Simply click on the top and bottom anchor points of the ellipse. And, yes, it’s the same fill color as the lotus leaf.

Delete the fill color and leave the stroke color as it is. Take the Arc Tool and draw a curve.

Set the fill color you see below and draw a rounded rectangle using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. The reed is ready!

Step 3

Place your froggy on the lotus leaf. Add the reed and, if you want, add a few more reeds by making copies.

4. How to Create the Background 

Step 1

For the background, create a light blue square with no stroke color and with 850 px Width and Height. To make the square, select the Rectangle Tool (M), click on your artboard, and then enter the options needed.

Step 2

Place the background behind the frog: select the light blue square, cut it off (Control-X), and put it behind (Control-B).

Step 3

Add a few water ripples: create a few ellipses with no fill color and with the stroke color presented below. They should stay over the background and under the frog.

Step 4

Make a new copy of the heart, set the fill color presented below, and delete the stroke color. Distribute the hearts around your froggy.

Conclusion

And we are done! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned
something new about using Adobe Illustrator. This image is perfect for
Valentine’s Day, and also perfect for anyone you love. Print it out, give
it as a card, or simply keep it where it is.

See you later!

Post pobrano z: How to Create a Fantasy Wolf Rider Photo Manipulation in Adobe Photoshop

Can you imagine traveling the wilderness on the back of your faithful animal companion, going on a fantasy adventure together? 

If you find such an image inspiring, I have something cool for you. In this tutorial I will show you how to place a rider on top of a huge animal with the power of Photoshop. You’ll learn all the basics of photo manipulation while working towards a beautiful end result.

What You Will Need

For the wolf rider:

• Running husky 
• Wolf head 
• Winter forest 
• Riding girl

For the outfit and tack:

• Medieval armor 
• Viking woman armor 
• Chainmail 
• Sword 
• Sapphire bracelet (optional)

1. How to Separate the Fluffy Dog From the Background

Step 1

Open the running husky image in Photoshop. It has a perfect pose, but the collar doesn’t really fit the concept. Let’s remove it!

Take the Patch Tool (J) and outline a part of the collar.

Step 2

Drag the selection towards the area that would fit nicely inside the selection.

Step 3

This method, though very powerful, is not flawless. Keep selecting smaller areas around until you achieve a convincing effect.

Step 4

Use this method to remove the whole collar.

Step 5

Use your favorite method to select the whole body of the husky. It doesn’t need to be a perfect selection with all the hairs outlined—we’ll take care of them in the next steps. You can learn about various methods of selection in our course Selections and Masking in Adobe Photoshop.

Step 6

Go to Select > Refine Edge. Change the View Mode to a black background to see the fur better, and then select Smart Radius and play with the Radius to make the edge of the selection smoother.

Step 7

Use the Refine Radius Tool to „paint” the fluff around the edges. It should do quite a good job at separating the hairs from the background.

Step 8

Finally, change the Output to New Layer and hit OK.

Step 9

A new layer with the isolated husky should appear—hide it. Go back to the original layer, duplicate it (Control-J), and hide it as well. Select the husky with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M). We’re going to remove it from the background!

Step 10

Go to Edit > Fill and select Content-Aware. Press OK.

Step 11

Like all the automatic functions of Photoshop, the Content-Aware fill is not perfect. Use the Patch Tool to remove any „seams”.

Step 12

This trick has removed the shadow under the dog’s legs, but we need it to keep the scene consistent. Show the copied background and add a Layer Mask to it. Fill it with black to make the content transparent, and then use a soft brush and paint with white to reveal just the shadow.

If this instruction sounds confusing, you can learn about using Layer Masks here:

• 
  Adobe Photoshop
  Quick Tip: Layer Mask vs. the Eraser Tool in Adobe Photoshop
  Monika Zagrobelna

2. How to Turn a Dog Into a Wolf in Photoshop

Step 1

Open the wolf head image in Photoshop and separate it from the background the same way as you did with the dog.

Step 2

Copy and paste it into the file with the dog (you can flip the whole image of the dog, or just the head). Lower its Opacity to see the dog’s head beneath, and then use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to resize it properly.

Step 3

Switch the Opacity to 100% again and use a Layer Mask to blend the wolf’s head with the neck. Then use the Lasso Tool (L) to remove the dog’s head.

Step 4

Obviously, our husky is colored in a different way than the wolf. Let’s fix it! Select the layer with the head, go to Window > Adjustments, and select Curves.

Step 5

Drag the curve to make the head brighter. Don’t forget to clip the adjustment to affect the head only!

Step 6

Select the body now and add the Color Balance adjustment.

Step 7

Play with the sliders to make the whole body colder in its shade—more like the head. Clip the adjustment, too!

Step 8

Add the Hue/Saturation adjustment.

Step 9

Clip the adjustment and lower the Saturation to remove the warmer parts.

Step 10

When you’re ready, select the body’s and head’s layers along with their adjustments and merge them (Control-E). Fix any obvious seams by copying parts of the fur, blending it with a Layer Mask, and merging it with the rest.

Step 11

Curiously, the faces of big animals have slightly different proportions. To make our wolf look huge, make its eyes and ears smaller, and the muzzle shorter and thicker. Go to Filter > Liquify to add these changes.

Step 12

Dogs like to keep their tails high up, but for a wolf this is not a normal position. Let’s put it lower! Select the tail, for example with the Lasso Tool (L). Cut it and place it under the body layer.

Step 13

Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to rotate the tail properly…

… and use the Warp Mode to reshape the tail. Merge the parts when you’re done.

Step 14

To make the wolf look even bigger, let’s modify its body even further. Use the Liquify filter to make the paws and torso thicker. You can also play with the facial features a little to give the wolf a more serious look.

Step 15

For me the whole wolf looks still a little bit too colorful, so let’s lower its Vibrance.

3. How to Put a Rider on the Wolf’s Back

Step 1

Our image with the wolf is not very big, so let’s resize it to have better access to details. Go to Image > Image Size and change the Width to 6000 pixels.

Step 2

Use the Crop Tool (C) to make more space.

Step 3

Open the image with the girl rider in Photoshop and cut it from its background as before. Include the saddle, too!

Step 4

Paste the girl into the main file and use the Free Transform Tool to adjust her size and position her on the back of our wolf.

Step 5

Crop the image for a better composition.

Step 6

The background is now bigger than the original one, so let’s use the Content-Aware Fill to fill the empty areas with snow.

Step 7

The girl on a horse had a different perspective, so let’s fix it subtly. Select the farther arm, cut it, and place it behind the body. Rotate it to better fit the perspective of the wolf.

Step 8

Use the Liquify filter to fix the torso, too. Merge the parts when you’re done.

Step 9

The Liquify filter will also help you adjust the saddle to the body of the wolf. Just make sure you use the backdrop with the wolf’s layer only.

Step 10

The girl has come from a differently lighted environment, so now we need to fix it. Add the Color Balance adjustment to make the girl colder in her hue…

… and the Hue/Saturation adjustment to make the colors less striking. When you’re done, merge the body layer with its adjustment layers.

Step 11

In the girl’s photo there was much more direct light, and our wolf is illuminated in a more ambient way. Brighten the dark shadows on the girl’s body with the Dodge Tool (O) in Shadows mode.

Step 12

The image with the girl had a high resolution, but the one with the husky didn’t—and we had to resize it. Because of that, the girl looks much sharper than the wolf, which breaks the illusion we want to achieve. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur to fix it.

Step 13

To make the whole scene more interesting, let’s add a new background—a winter forest. Place the image behind the girl and the wolf, and resize it properly.

Step 14

Apply Gaussian Blur to the background to give an impression of depth.

4. How to Add the Accessories of a Fantasy Rider

Step 1

We have a girl riding a wolf, but it doesn’t look very convincing. Let’s give them both special fantasy outfits to make the whole illustration more interesting.

Open the chainmail image and place it inside the main file. Cut the part you need.

Step 2

Lower the Opacity of the chainmail to see the saddle beneath, and then adjust it to the shape of the blanket.

Step 3

Use a Layer Mask to reveal the saddle and the girl, keeping the chainmail over the blanket only.

Step 4

Open the image with the armor and cut its breast element the same way as before.

Step 5

Put this armor part over the neck of the wolf.

Step 6

Cut the parts that don’t fit the perspective.

Step 7

The lower part of the armor will be useful, too! Copy it…

… and put it over the back of the wolf.

Step 8

Copy it, put the copy beneath, and transform it to give more segments to this element.

Step 9

Open the image with the leather armor now. The armor looks nice, but there’s so much hair in front of it! Use the Patch Tool (J) to „clean” it.

Step 10

Cut the armor from its background the same way as before. Then copy the fur part as well, refining its edge carefully.

Step 11

Place the fur over the shoulder of the girl.

Step 12

Place the rest of the armor under the fur, transforming it to fit the girl’s torso.

Step 13

Use the Liquify filter to modify the armor even further. Pay attention to the perspective!

Step 14

Open the image with the sword and copy it to place it on the side of the girl.

Step 15

Our wolf needs a bridle, too! Open the image with the horse and copy parts of its head gear step by step, always refining the edge of selection first to make it softer. Place it in the main file and adjust the shape to the wolf’s head, trying to keep it all functional.

Here you may need to copy a part of the band to make it longer:

Step 16

The reins will be a bit tricky. Copy them as before…

… paste them and resize in the main file. To reshape them in a controlled way, use Edit > Puppet Warp. Uncheck Show Mesh to make the image clearer, and then place pins all along the length of the reins.

Step 17

Drag the pins to reshape the reins. Press Enter when you’re done.

Step 18

You can use the same method to decorate the reins with sapphires.

5. How to Make the Photo Manipulation Consistent

Step 1

All the elements are in place, but it doesn’t take a detective to tell that it doesn’t look realistic. We need to spend some time tweaking all the parts carefully using the same methods as before.

First, adjust the torso of the girl. Make sure the leather has a proper shape and that the sweater is beneath it.

Step 2

Adjust the color of the armor to make it as cool as the background and less contrasting.

Step 3

Add some Gaussian Blur to hide the sharp edges.

Step 4

Add another Hue/Saturation adjustment and brighten it strongly. Then fill the mask of the adjustment layer with black to hide the effect.

Step 5

Use a soft brush and paint with white on the mask to reveal the brightness around the sides of the armor—this will give it a proper ambient lighting.

Step 6

Add another Hue/Saturation adjustment to color the whole girl brown. Check Colorize for a better result.

Step 7

Fill the mask with black, and then paint on it with white to reveal the parts you want to color brown. This will give a more traditional look to the outfit.

Step 8

Use the same method (an adjustment layer with black mask, painting with white) to paint the shadows on the chainmail.

Step 9

Darken the saddle the same way, too.

Step 10

Use this method to give a more fitting shading to the armor. You can use the Hue/Saturation and Levels adjustments to create both shadow and light.

Step 11

Desaturate the whole bridle to fit its color to the whole scheme.

Step 12

Use the Levels adjustment to give more contrast to the bridle.

Step 13

Shade the bridle with the Hue/Saturation adjustment.

Step 14

There’s one more thing we need to add for more realism: the straps. Copy them from the image with the medieval armor.

Step 15

Use Puppet Warp to adjust the shape of the strap to the wolf’s neck.

Step 16

Remove the rest of the strap with a Layer Mask.

Step 17

Use the same method to attach the sword with a strap.

Step 18

I’ve also noticed that the girl has been copied with a soft edge from her previous background. If you have the same effect, remove it carefully with a Layer Mask.

Step 19

The bridle should sink a bit into the thick fur on our wolf’s face. To achieve this effect, copy a part of the fur from the wolf’s layer and place it over the bridle.

Step 20

Right click the fur layer and select Blending Options. Drag the upper black marker to remove the dark parts of the layer. Hold Alt to split it for a smoother effect. You can learn more about this great tool from the tutorial below:

• 
  Digital Painting
  Quick Tip: the Magic of Photoshop’s Blend If
  Monika Zagrobelna

Use the same technique to add covering fur wherever necessary.

Step 21

Time to add some shadows between the gear and the wolf’s body. Do it carefully and sparingly to avoid an airbrushing effect.

6. Final Tweaks and Adjustments

Step 1

Our photo manipulation is almost complete now, so let’s take a closer look at it as a whole to find any inconsistencies.

First, metal, even when it’s old, is reflective. That means it reflects both the brightness and colors of the objects around to a certain extent. To simulate this effect, create a New Layer over the metal parts, use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to pick the color of the surroundings, and carefully paint over a part of the metal. Clip the layer (Control-Alt-G) to keep the effect to the boundaries of the layer below.

Step 2

Use the Blending Options to remove the color from the dark crevices by dragging the lower slider.

Use this trick for all the metal parts.

Step 3

Take a good look at all the elements. Does everything cast a shadow as it’s supposed to? Make sure there are no missing shadows in your scene.

Step 4

To make the scene more dynamic, we can add some blur. Go into Quick Mask Mode (Q) and paint a part of the hair with a soft brush. Then go out of the mode (Q), Select > Inverse, and hide the selection (Control-H).

Step 5

Now you can use Filter > Blur > Motion Blur on the selection.

Step 6

Use the same trick in other places you want blurred. Just remember not to select too many at once, or they’ll seem flat.

Step 7

We’re going to add snow to the scene, so let’s give a snow-mist to the background by increasing the Lightness in the Hue/Saturation adjustment.

Step 8

If you are sure you don’t want to fix any more details separately, select all the layers and merge them (Control-E). Duplicate this merged layer (Control-J) and apply Filter > Blur > Motion Blur to the copy.

Step 9

Add a Layer Mask to the copy and reveal the most important parts of the scene. The ones you leave will stay blurred, giving the whole silhouette a sense of motion.

Step 10

Time for the snow! It will not only add a special atmosphere to the scene, but it will also unify all the elements. You can learn how to create realistic snow from the tutorial below. Just remember to add more blur than normally (especially motion blur), because our characters are moving fast.

• 
  Digital Painting
  Harness the Elements: Paint Frozen Water in All Its Forms
  Monika Zagrobelna

Step 11

One more look: is anything missing? At this point, you can add special details like snowflakes on the hair or reddened cheeks. It’s up to you how you decide to finish it!

Step 12

To unify the scene for the last time, change the Color Balance of the whole image to something cold.

Step 13

After you merge the layers again, you can add Filter > Noise > Add Noise to unify the level of noise across the picture.

Good Job!

This was a long tutorial, but I hope you enjoyed it and learned something about creating a fantasy photo manipulation in Photoshop today. If you want to learn more, you may be interested in these tutorials as well:

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  How to Create a Crime Encounter Photo Manipulation With Adobe Photoshop
  Jenny Le

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  How to Create a Photo Manipulation of a Cat and Flying Fish With Adobe Photoshop
  Jenny Le

• 
  Photo Manipulation
  How to Create a Floral Portrait Photo Manipulation in Adobe Photoshop
  Jenny Le