!!!PHOTOSHOP TUTORIALS!!!

[Ruubstr94Ls]

CARTOON EFFECT



Start with your picture, probably one that is full of reflections but optional.




Make any modifications that you want to in the image right now. It's a best bet to shave the door handles and the emblems, because they are a pain to "cartoonify."




Make sure you select the line tool and set it at black and start outlining the car, the panels, and the major reflections. Like the picture below. You can add the lines on a different layer if you'd like, but I did not choose to...




Then select the Polygonal Lasso Tool and select an area between the black lines that you made. Or select an area with a similar color, not necessarily one that is between black lines. Like so...




Select the eyedropper tool as illustrated above, and sample a color within that area of your selection and fill it with the paintbucket. If you do not know where the paintbucket is, it is under the gradient tool, just right click and it should reveal the paintbucket tool. Alternatively, you can press ALT+Backspace, and it'll fill it just fine.




Just repeat this to the other parts of the car. Here's a look at the "cartooning" in process. You might want to make the windows black, it'll save you a lot of time. Also I used a gradient for the side windows because the original windows looked similar to that. Make sure, everynow and then zoom out and make sure everything looks right.




Keep in mind if a section that you filled with color looks like crap, then leave it alone. For example lights such as the headlights should be generally left alone unless you have some extreme patience. It's amazing how one section of the picture can make the car look like crap.

Here's the final result. When you save as a jpeg, go to File>Save for Web and put the quality at whatever you want, preferably the highest, and set the blur to 0.5, it'll produce a nicer result without as many jagged edges.

[Ruubstr94Ls]

NITROUS PURGE


First, find a suitable location for the valve.




Create new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and then use the line tool (set on a white colour) and begin drawing lines like on the left.




Smudge tool (R) time! Select quite a large brush set it on 50% and begin smudging out those lines.
Complete..

[Ruubstr94Ls]

ADDING EYEBROWS



This shows the light before any modifications.




Now we need to create a new layer. This is basically another "see through" film that we can draw on/remove at any time. This is done by pressing the following key combination: Shift+Ctrl+N.
The lasso tool (L) should then be selected and the shape of the eyebrow you want drawn over the light (as shown opposite). Remember to leave out the black panel gaps between the lights and the bodywork. This acts like masking tape so we can fill in the area with the airbrush.




Using the pipette (I) suck up the colours around the eyebrow and begin airbrushing (B) in the appropriate colours




You can add a bit of noise to it, by going to Filter>noise>add noise, so that it matches the quality of the picture.




Just a case of adding a single black line to the underneath of the eyebrow using the one pixel line tool. We are complete

[Ruubstr94Ls]

CONVERTIBLE



First, we need a donor open top car in the same position as the car we are converting.

Here, we can fit the Astra Convertible onto the Toyota Corrolla.




Draw around the convertible area like so, with the lasso tool. Copying it, then pasting it onto the car to be modified.




Ok.. once you've done that, hit Ctrl+T and transform, skew, resize etc etc until the roof fits the rest of the bodywork. Then use the eraser tool (E) to slowly blend the roof into the bodywork.




Next up, we need to successfully colour match the bodywork to the car, to do this, select the appropriate areas with the lasso tool, and then go to image>adjust>variations and adjust the levels until a perfect match is found!

Ok, once the roof looks part of the car, we can move on. Flatten all layers (Ctrl+Shift+E) so it looks like the piccy on the left! The thing that looks crap about this image is the messed up background and the sections in the windows. This can be cured by creating a new backdrop.




Get a new background backdrop.. such as a field, or a sky.. (try searching on "Google image search" for "landscape" or "backdrop" etc. and then paste it over the top half of the picture.




Adjust the opacity of the new layer (using the layer box in bottom right) to around 50% so you can see through to the background.




Right, now delete the areas where you wouldn't see the background (hashed out on image).




Almost complete now.. change the opacity back to 100. As you see, the area around the window looks strange. This is due to the fact that the window changes the colour of the background.




So, use the lasso tool, and select the areas as shown.




Then go to image>adjust>brightness/contrast and adjust the sliders until the image looks correct behind the window. and your done! In this case, I lowered the contrast and increased the brightness.

[Ruubstr94Ls]

BODYKIT SWAP


In this tutorial we'll add a side skirt to the side of this 206.




Next up here's the donor skirt off a Porsche Hamman car.




Grab the Lasso tool (L) and draw closely around the edges of it. And then copy it.




Paste it onto the 206 and then press CTRL+T and begin skewing it and altering it until it fits the car well.




Rather bad colour match but we'll sort that out later on.

Eraser tool time (E) and gently rub out the body kit into the main body of the car. You'll see on the next pic what I mean




Nicely smoothed. Now.. to get it colour matched well!




Hit Ctrl+Shift+U to remove colours.




We need to adjust the saturation of the skirt as it is currently too blue. Go to Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturation.




Colour MATCHED! Do this by lowering the Saturation and adding more green to it (HUE). There we go.

[Ruubstr94Ls]

LOWERING THE WINDOWS






Go around the top of the window using the Lasso Tool.




Go to Image>adjust>Brightness/contrast, and lower the brightness and contrast about the same settings.




There, now its complete.

[Ruubstr94Ls]

AIRBRUSHING VENTS






Next select the area you want to be a vent, and make it a new layer. make sure that is in perspective with the car or it wont look good.




Now select that layer and take your paintbrush and paint the whole selection black.




With the vent layer still selected take out the polygon lasso tool and hold down Alt so you can deselct some of the vent. We do this because we will paint here and give the vent a 3d look. leave just a little room to paint in, dont make it too thick or it wont look real. Also on the bottom, you will want to add to the selection a little (look at the pic and you will see what im talking about) now make sure you click on the backround layer and then make a layer. now drag that layer above the vent layer.




Now the actual painting. Select the layer you just created, and grab your airbrush tool. Now in order to paint this section and make it look 3d, you will have to select colors that are lighter than where your vent is, and you can find those colors all over the car. you will also need to make a small glare at the bottom of the slection, use the brightest color that you can find on the car for this. at the top of the selection you will want to paint it a darker color . After you finish, add some noise to it, use around 2%-4%
Note for this step: on a real car, as you get further away from the glare, the colors gradually become darker so you will need to do this when airbrushin this part.




Now switch to the actual vent layer and get out a SOFT edged eraser, erase any parts that you feel u dont need.




Switch to the backround layer and make a selection similar to this, but you can make it as big or small as you want. The longer that you make it, it will look more realistic. We are doing this to make a shadow for the vent. make a new layer with this selection.




Next load the layer you just created get out your airbrush tool and select the color to be black. now you will want to lower the opaccity, so it looks like a shadow. make it get lighter as you move further from the vent.




Now merge those 3 layers into one. Make any nessecary adjustments with the size and shape by transforming.




You will end up with something like this.

[Ruubstr94Ls]

NEON LIGHTING


Stage 1: After selecting your picture, using the lasso tool go round the area/s that you want neon lighting to appear underneath. After youve done this, make a copy of it.




Step 2: After youve done this, then draw, again using the polygonal tool, draw out (on a new layer) a kind of neon shape, and then colour it the neon color you want. Remember to place it where a neon light would go.




Step 3: Then, making sure you are on the right layer, right click it and go to blending options. Then go down to outer glow, and change the properties to what you want, size, spread, colour, opacity etc. untill you feel it looks right.




Step 4: Finally, move the neon layer to under the section we copied earlier, this way the neon shines from underneath but none is spread onto the car as such. You can also re-shape it etc. to fit and make any changes.



Step 5: Its really the same principal for everything, like interior neons, just make sure their is none going onto the car.

[Ruubstr94Ls]

ADDING SNOW/RAIN

Open the car you want to add snow to.




Create a new layer. Fill it with black, now go to filter>noise>add noise. Amount = 70, gaussian and monochromatic. Next, go to filter>blur>gaussian blur. Radius = 1.5 pixels




Now, go to image>adjustments>levels (or press control + L)
Channel = rgb Input levels = 90, 1.00, 120 Output levels = 0, 255




Set the 'snow' layer's blending mode to 'screen' (this is done on the small layers box in the bottom right hand corner).
If you want it to be more intense, then duplicate the layer again




If you want it to be a bit rainy, then go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. On that menu, you can adjust the angle and speed of rain.

[Ruubstr94Ls]

ADDING Z3 STYLE VENTS



Choose the car you want to use.




First you need to find a suitable donor image. There are a few after market ones about, so try looking for those on modified car pics. Just for you, I have got a little collection of them for you to use! Just right click them, and save to an area of your hard drive.




Righty.. Copy and paste the required vent onto the car! And transform it, so it looks correct on the car.
The Transform option is accessed using Ctrl+T. It's a basic grab handle system (hold the shift key to skew it).

It SHOULD look like summit on the left! Just make sure it looks part of the car (same angle and perspective etc!)




Lower the opacity of the layer to about 50% (using the layers box (bottom right).
Then, use the eraser tool (E), and begin blending it into the bodywork. Select a suitable brush size for the application.




Increase the opacity back to 100%.
Now we can begin to colour code it. So, desaturate it




Then head for Image>Adjust>Variations.
In this case, I wanted a hell of alot of blue, so I added loads of blue.




Next you go to image>adjust>hue/saturation... and FINE TUNE the colour so it matches perfectly. In this case I needed to adjust the colour slightly and the intensity of the colour. This is done by sliding the adjustment bars.
Ok, once you've done this, adjust the opacity slightly to around 90% so it blends in nicer!




Complete.

[Ruubstr94Ls]

MESH GRILLES



Mesh up the front of this Citroen.




First grab the mesh pattern and copy and paste it onto the image.




Got to the layers box in the bottom right hand corner, and set the transparency to around 50%. Then move the mesh over the grille.




Then, using the eraser tool (E), thn rub out the bits you just don't want! Just like this.... =D
You can use different size brushes to rub out the bits of mesh on the thinner parts of the bumper.

Adjust the opacity if you feel it necessary! I like to rub out the bits where there would be shadow, eg, the bits under the vents.

Finished!

[Ruubstr94Ls]

EXHAUST



Choose vehicle of your choice.




Find a suitable donor exhaust. Maybe try looking on www.carandmodel.com, or have a good search on google.
Use the lasso tool - select, then copy and paste the exhausts onto the car they are to be fitted to.




Hit Ctrl+T and use the grab handles to flip, skew or change the shape of it to fit in with the car. Hit enter once you're happy with it. Then place it where you want it to be using the Move tool (V).




Use the lasso tool to select and delete (delete key) the bits that you don't want... Ensure you leave a bit of the original bumper gap from the donor exhaust.. this looks like a cut out in the bumper.




If you want to make it look more real, you can add some depth to the cut out. Make a selection like the one on the left.




Select a dark shade of the car colour, in this case a darker greeny/blue, and, using the airbrush tool, make a small dot of colour, like on the left..
Then hit Ctrl+D to deselect.




Done.