CHARACTER WALLPAPER

I was asked how I did my recent Rory Gilmore piece.
This tutorial will take you through every step of how I made this piece, it is not very complicated, mostly just layers and layers of textures, filters and gradients.

I wanted to make a Rory piece for a challenge over at BuffyForums and was browsing Pretty As A Picture when I found the perfect image of Rory s1!

So this is the image I want to work with. I place it on my 1024 x 768 blank canvas and adjust the size a bit.
I pick a color from the background, and flood fill the background layer with it. I pick a darkish green next to Rory's hair. I then add a layer mask, pick a brush (from Zugma's 'cloudy' set) and set it at around 60% opacity and mask out the black border and some of the background.


Because I am lazy, I can't be bothered to actually clean cut the image (which I have a tutorial on) but I also know that I will have some textures covering up my sloppy blending, so I'm not too worried about it. Leaves me with this
Some of the background is a lighter green so I add a layer inbetween my main image and the background, pick the lighter green color and again use a brush from Zugma's 'cloudy' set to "stamp" the color in areas I think it looks best. I'm not too worried about it because I will add textures and gradients but I really like the colors of the background to sort of 'flow'.
Leaving me with this.

I now duplicate all layers (shift + crtl + alt + e), duplicate the new layer (crtl + j) and add median to the new layer (filter > noise > median) at a 2px radius. I add a layer mask and mask out parts I don't want too blurry, in this case it is eyes, lips and parts of hair but it really depends of the specific image. I do think however, that median takes too much away from the eyes, which is why I always mask the median'ed layer on the eyes.

Anyway, when I am happy with my median layer, I duplicate all layers again and set the new layer to 'soft light' at opacity 58%. Again, duplicate all layers, desaturate the new layer and set it to 'soft light' at 100%.
Making it look like this:

Now I want to add some color to the piece. The reason I keep the desaturated layer on top is because I think it adds nice contrast to the piece when you add textures and gradients underneath. Anyway, I'm now adding my first gradient map, you do this by clicking the little black and white circle that appears underneath the layer list.
The first one I add is from Oxoniensis Art.


I set that to Soft Light at 100%.
Then I add a couple of my own textures: This - set to screen at 85% and This - set to Luminosity at 63%.
To both I add layer masks and mask out the parts that cover Rory's face, hair and some of her body.
Then I add another gradient, this time (I think) it's from Black Lagoon. I set it to overlay at 45% and this time I mask out most of the parts covering Rory because I only want this effect on the background. I keep the brush opacity at around 60%.


I now have this:

I then duplicate all layers (shift + crtl + alt + e) add Fragment (filter > pixelate > fragment) and set the layer to Soft Light at 100%.
I duplicate all layers again and copy the new layer. Now I do something I learned from Daydreaming. Using the 'dodge' tool and a soft round brush the size of the eyes at around 50%, I brush gently over the eyes and lower lip (using a smaller brush) as well as one stroke across the face with a very large soft round brush.
Ends up looking pretty, no?

Now I duplicate the layers again (I do this a lot, I guess it's because I like to have the opportunity to drag a layer on top to add filter if I need to).
I now add a stock image that my friend took while flying over Greenland (I'd rather not share this one since it isn't mine to share but I am sure there's a similar one available on stock sites. It looks like white cliffs, taken from above). I set it to Luminosity at 8%.
I add a gradient, I can't remember where it is from (it's not tagged but I never make my own so I know I got it somewhere. If you recognise it please let me know)


Now, I feel Rory's face is actually too bright (funny, since I brightened it myself). I want to darken it a bit to add some atmosphere, so I add a Curves layer. This leaves the background very dark, so I mask out most of that using a brush at a low opacity (I think around 40%). I always use the default round brushes or Zugma's 'Cloudy' brushes for masking.
These are my settings:


And now I have this:

So, even with the nice looking background, I feel like the piece is a bit empty. So I duplicate the layers once more and copy the new layer. I move the top layer around a bit, finding a good position for it and fade to 24%. Add a layer mask and mask away parts I don't want so that the image feels part of the background.

Now for my favourite effect! I duplicate the layers (yet again lol) and add Glowing Edges (filter > stylize > glowing edges). I can't remember my setting because i always use different ones. Set this layer to screen and fade to an opacity to your liking. Mine's set to 31%. I mask out the bits I don't like.

I feel the background needs some depth so I add a stock image of columns and archways that I found at Zammstock, set it to luminosity at 8%.
I add another texture, this one from Colorblinded. I use Romain's textures quite often, especially this one. Here, I set it to Soft Light at 100% and only mask out a little bit next to Rory's face.
Now I feel as if the background is a bit too yellow now so I 'untick' the layer making it invisible, and duplicate all layers so that the texture appears underneath the new one. I desaturate the new layer and set it to Soft Light. I make the texture visible again and now it looks better.
Now it looks like this:

I feel as if the background and the main image aren't really connecting so I untick the top desaturated layer, duplicate the visible layers and add Motion Blur (filters > blur > motion blur) Angle at -90 degree and Distance around 500 - 600.
Set this layer to Screen at 100% and keep this layer under the (now visible again) desaturated layer. Looking better already.

I add another gradient from Oxoniensis Art:

Set it to Hard Light at 76%.
Duplicate all layers again and add Lighting Effects (filter > render > lighting effects), which is another favourite of mine. I always have the same settings when adding this filter because I find they work the best and I just play with the angle.


You can play with the settings if you want to, I have just found that these work best for me.
I mask out parts of the dark edges at a low opacity and all of Rory's face at a higher opacity.
That leaves it looking like this:

Duplicate all again and add another filter, this time Halftone Pattern (filter > sketch > halftone pattern) which adds little dots all over. Before doing this, I have chosen two colors from my piece, a dark one and a lighter one.
These are my colors: and my settings:
I set the filtered layer to Soft Light at 58%


Duplicate all, add Fragment (filter > pixelate > fragment) and fade the filter to 60% (crtl + alt + f), set it to Soft Light at opacity 91%


Duplicate all layers (for the last time, I promise) and add Paint Daubs (filter > artistic > paint daubs) at low settings:


Lastly I add some text, I wanted to keep it simple so I chose Century Gothic but looking at it now, I feel it may have been a little too plain.
And that's it, we're done!!

These are my layers, for reference. I always have a lot of them and even if some of my steps seem pointless, I like working this way. I feel that it's the many steps of the way that creates depth and life in a final wall.



I really hope this tutorial was helpful.
If you have any feedback or questions about this tutorial, you can email me at: line@escaping-madness.net.