Photoshop Tutorials – Overclockers HQ

When you start out, Adobe Photoshop may feel kind of awkward. It's a big professional tool that doesn't seem to help you make anything because of how complicated it is. I've known people to whimper at the sight of the layer effects menu alone. That's why there are different stages of tutorials to help you on your way to expertise. This Photoshop tutorial shows you something you can make easily. A city. All it involves is the marquee tools, some layer know-how, and as much imagination as you can pour into it. The method is a tad simple but very satisfying and adaptable. It's a very entertaining process for all skill levels. Click read more to check it out... Step 1: Open up for yourself a blank document in photoshop. It should be in the shape of a long rectangle. The bigger the better, just don't make it too big that it bogs down your system. Make a new layer and draw a crisp line along the bottom of the canvas. This will be the base or coastline of your city. You can do this with a brush, or you can use the rectangle marquee tool from your toolbox and fill it in (alt+backspace). Most of the time I just use the marquee tools to create fill areas. Holding shift allows you to select more, holding alt allows you to subtract from your selection. Step 2: On the same layer, use a combination of marquee tools to select, and then fill an area. These will be your buildings. What shapes you use are up to you. As an example, I will be using the polygonal lasso tool to make the type of loony tune of the building shown below. The smaller the building, the more you will be able to fit in. The tallest should come about a third of the way up the canvas. Draw buildings across the entire page. Try to make them look rather random, and leave plenty of room between buildings to fill in later. Step 3: After you are done that, make a new layer and place it underneath the layer you were just working on. On this new layer, do the same style of building in the gaps and then make them all lighter. What you're doing is layering buildings in the foreground and background. As the buildings get further away, it may look better to make them taller to stick out. Your choice. Repeat this step as many or as few times as you want then proceed to the next step. It should look similar to or better than mine is shown below. Step 4: Really now, you're pretty much done. All that's left to do is add some color (Image/Adjustments/HueSaturation) and some flashy things like windows, sunlight/moonlight, people, helicopters, or perhaps a reflection of the city in the ocean. Dump some imagination on it. Maybe it would look cool on fire, or with meteors coming down to destroy it. Maybe retro, maybe futuristic. Whatever pretties your cities. Just try to fit your theme. My finished product is shown below, along with another one I've made in the past for a PSP screen. Hope you like it/learn from it. Until next time... Enjoy yourself.