This is what my leaf looked like at this point:
8. Turn off your background layer and "merge visible", then turn your background layer back on. (The background layer is there to help you see what you´re doing in this next part, we'll delete it later.) Do not de-select! Activate the leaf layer and go to Effects>Artistic Effects>Brush Strokes. Use these settings:
9. Now, go to Effects>Texture Effects>Fur and use these settings.
Blur=27
Density=34
Length=18
Transparency=10610. Let´s use the retouch/smudge tool to give our leaf some dimension. Try to think of the smudge brush and your mouse as an extension of your own hand. Smudge from the center out and try to curve your strokes to follow the shape of the leaf. Brush one stroke at a time and watch as the colors blend into each other. You may want to increase the size of your brush if you find it easier to work that way; however, I find that if the brush is too large, I tend to "Overblend". The objective is to get the leaf looking as realistic as possible, so use the darker colors to provide depth to the image.
11. Add a new layer. Select your brush tool, click on the custom brush box, select custom and then choose the leafveins-ns brush.
Using your lighter green color (which should still be your foreground color), left click once on the image. Use your mover tool to position the leaf veins. Your image should now look something like this:
12. Go back to your Smudge tool and lightly blend the leaf veins into the leaf, like this:
Yes, there really is a difference in the two images, trust me, it´s just hard to tell after you turn it into a JPEG. :O)
13. Delete your background layer, we´re done with it. Now, merge Visible. Add a new layer, then go to Effects>3D effects>Cutout and use these settings:.
Vertical=8
Horizontal=8
Opacity=70
Blur=27.14
Shadow color=Black (#000000)14. Merge Visible, then copy and paste as a new image. At this point, you may want to duplicate your image and save your original image in PSP format because later on, I'm going to show you some examples of what the leaf can look like with various PSP effects applied. For right now, take a break and then, when you come back, we will build our plant. (Well, I did warn you that it was a long tutorial...I hope you´ll think it´s worth it
)
I´m going to get a cup of coffee. Anyone else want some?
BRB.....
This tutorial is my own creation, any similarity to any other tutorial on the Internet is unintentional. It is copyrighted by Nightshadow and is not to be copied or reproduced in any way under penalty of law. Graphics lists, please e-mail me for permission to post my tutorials and don't forget to send me a link to the results page....I love to see how people interpret my tuts
NOTE: Any image you make using this tutorial is completely your own property.
