Photoshop Tutorial - Add a Tattoo

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In this video, Mahalo's Photoshop expert Justin Zagri demonstrates how to add a tattoo to someone's arm.

Photoshop Tutorial - Add a Tattoo
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This tutorial will show you how to add a tattoo to one of your subjects. The technique is similar to the one used to change the look of a character's clothing.

Start by conducting a Google image search for something you would want to appear as a tattoo on someone's arm. Open that image in Photoshop. 

Grab the Magic Wand Tool and click anywhere on the canvas
around the image area. 

Right-click on the selection and choose Select Inverse.

Right-click again immediately after and choose Select via Cut.

Go ahead and turn off the background layer now, and you'll be left with a nice, isolated image in its own layer.

Navigate back to your character's Smart Object canvas. Select one of the layers and press Ctrl+J (Command+J for Mac) to Duplicate it. 

Unlink the mask from the layer and get rid of the mask by dragging it to the trash icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. 

While still on the duplicated, unmasked layer, grab the Pen Tool and mask your character's arm. 

Right-click on the masked arm when it's fully selected and choose Create vector mask. This will isolate the arm as a separate mask on the layer.

Move the tattoo into your Smart Object and rename that layer Tattoo.

With the tattoo selected, press Ctrl+T (Command+T for Mac) to Transform it. Rotate it as needed to line it up with the arm. Press and hold Shift as you drag one of the corners to either make the whole tattoo smaller or larger. This will keep it constrained to its original proportions. Press Enter when you're satisfied.

To make the tattoo better fit the arm, select the tattoo and press Ctrl+T (Command+T for Mac) again to Transform the object, then right-click on it and choose Warp.

Use the grid pattern tools to warp and shape the tattoo in order for it to conform better to the angles and contours of the arm. Press Enter when you're finished.

With the layer still selected, change to Mode to Multiply in the drop down menu. This will make the tattoo fit the arm almost perfectly. You can also increase or decrease the Opacity of the tattoo by adjusting it in the Layers panel.

You'll notice, however, that the tattoo may still run off the arm and into undesirable locations. To get rid of this, select the arm layer's mask and Ctrl+click (Command+click for Mac) on the layer. Left-click on the Tattoo layer that is at the top of the Layers panel and choose Add layer mask.

Grab the Blur Tool if you want and perform a light brush over the tattoo at 50% to help the tattoo blend in better.

Read more by visiting our page at:
http://www.mahalo.com/photoshop-tutorial-add-a-tattoo/

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Education

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