Back in the day, car ads were probably really plain and simple. But what if they had Photoshop back then? This tutorial explores that possibility. We created a print ad for the (completely made up) ’48 GT-R which shows just how tough this baby is, as neither a volcanic eruption nor an earthquake gets in its way!
Final Result:
Step 1:
Open this image and duplicate it (Ctrl+J).
Image ID: 2370654 © tupungato 123RF.com
Step 2:
Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) and rename it ‘Hole’. Make a selection similar to as shown.
Step 3:
Feather (Ctrl+Alt+D) 1-2 pixels and fill it with black.
Step 4:
Copy a portion of a landscape image into your workspace.
Image ID: 6190309 © rvc5pogod 123RF.com
Step 5:
Transform it to match the perspective of the road (hold down Ctrl and drag the points while in free transform mode).
Step 6:
Place it on top of ‘Hole’, covering just about half of the black hole.
Step 7:
Obtain your selection from the ‘Hole’ layer (Ctrl+click on the layer’s thumbnail) and mask away/erase the excessive areas.
Step 8:
Repeat Steps 4-7 for the other side of the ravine.
Step 9:
a) Now select the ‘Hole’ layer and duplicate a copy.
b) Apply the Motion Blur filter.
c) Apply the Un-sharp Mask filter.
Step 10:
We should get this result. Mask away the excessive portions.
Step 11:
We’re gonna add more darkness towards the end of the crack. With ‘Hole’ selected,
a) Make a selection similar to the example shown.
b) Feather it.
c) Fill it with black.
Step 12:
If the texture appears to be a little too dark and dull, we can always duplicate the ‘Hole’ layer, and set blend mode as Overlay. This should increase its brightness. Combine ‘Hole’, the rocky texture, and the background image into one.
Step 13:
We are now going to create the impression that the road is protruding from the ground. Make a rectangular selection.
Step 14:
Duplicate and transform it.
Step 15:
Mask the areas similar to the example below off.
Step 16:
Import a crack texture. Desaturate and rotate it.
Image ID: 242416 © Darren Hester 123RF.com
Step 17:
a) Erase the extra areas.
b) Drag blending sliders, and set blend mode as Overlay.
c) Erase portions of the white line that fall on the crack.
d) Result.
Step 18:
Import this image of a volcano into the workspace. Remove the clouds using the patch tool. Make a selection around the clouds and move that selection to a clear area.
Image ID: 662770 © Rosmizan Abu Seman 123RF.com
Step 19:
Remove the bottom portion of the image by using a layer mask. Carefully mask the area where the road is protruding.
Step 20:
Adjust the color of this layer as it is too saturated with blue. Refer to the settings below.
Step 21:
Use the magic wand to select the area above the volcano. Then, invert the selection (Shift+Ctrl+I). Use the soft burn tool to darken the tip of the volcano, as shown below.
Step 22:
Create a new layer. Set its layer style as shown below, and then change the brush settings. A graphics tablet is preferred while performing this step. Use a white brush to draw the lava burst. To ease drawing the lines, use swift and light pen strokes, then erase or mask accordingly following the contours of the volcano’s mouth.
Step 23:
Use a smaller brush to draw even more lines.
Step 24:
Over the next few steps, we are going to create smoldering rocks and lava on the volcano tip itself.
a) Copy another instance of the volcano and desaturate it.
b) Use levels to change the contrast.
c) Drag on the blending slider to remove unwanted areas. Create a new layer and merge it with this one, thereby flattening it.
d) We can then copy the lava burst’s layer style and paste it here.
e) Apply Gaussian Blur.
f) Add some random lines that look like flowing lava.
g) Create a new layer, and use a soft brush to draw a red circle at the magma burst area.
h) We should now have lava bursts, smoldering rocks, lava flow, and a layer of glowing red. Group these layers together (Ctrl+G), and set the group’s blend mode as Color Dodge.
Step 25:
a) Copy out the smoke from the image.
b) Trim away a little bit of the sides.
c) Set blend mode to Overlay.
d) Adjust contrast.
Image ID: 6666122 © Warren Goldswain 123RF.com
Step 26:
a) Using the same layer style as the lava bursts, draw streaks similar to that of a lava stream.
b) Transform and place them as you see fit. Flatten this layer first (by creating a new empty layer and merging it), so that we can add more red glow to it by using outer glow in the layer option again.
Step 27:
Next, we’re gonna insert the car, the star of this ad. I managed to find this picture, but it looks a little bit flat.
Image ID: 3020528 © Sascha Burkard 123RF.com
So I decided to give it a little more dimension. Duplicate the car and fill the copy with black. Place this layer below the car. Make it smaller, so that it appears as though we’re looking at the front tires. Once done, we can add in basically any texture that passes off as a chassis.
Image ID: 3731794 © Andrei Merkulov 123RF.com
Set the chassis’ blend mode to Linear Light. Refer to the image below.
Step 28:
Creating simple fireballs and flamesa) Create a new layer and enter these settings in its blending option. Then use a soft white brush and just draw a circle.b) Next, go to Filter > Liquify. Warp the circle using various brush sizes, densities, and pressure settings to achieve the shape you desire. Here, I’ve created two general shapes. Change the blend mode of the flames to Color Dodge.
Step 29:
a) Copy this image of a meteorite.
b) Change its contrast and color.
c) Apply Gaussian Blur.
d) Place the flame created earlier on top of it.
Image ID: 4026234 © Sergey Gorodenskiy 123RF.com
Step 30:
I’ve also added numerous flaming rocks and a wrecked car with smoke.
Image ID: 3251789 © Anna Sematkina 123RF.com
Step 31:
Add more glow to the hailing rocks, and give the entire picture a tune in overall contrast and color.
Step 32:
Increase the car’s width, and finally throw in some radial blur as well as some text for this end result.
The ’48 GT-R. It’s one seriously solid car. If only folks from the 40’s could have seen this ad!