How to create a Ying Yang Inspired Poster in Photoshop

How to create a Ying Yang Inspired Poster in Photoshop

Today we will create a poster inspired by the all-known symbol, Ying and Yang. We will try to create the same balance from the sign in a more elaborate illustration.

Difficulty: Intermediate
Completion time: 1-2 hours
Tools: Adobe Photoshop CS3

Resources:

Girl from Katanaz-Stock
Birds from Fairiegodmother
– Designious splashes brush pack 1
– Designious paint brush pack 1
Smoke brushes from Falln-Brushes

What you’ll be creating

final

STEP 1

Create a new document of 1920×1080 px in RGB color mode at 72 dpi. I usually make it larger, because I can crop it later on.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 1

STEP 2

Open the “girl” picture. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer (CTRL+J), then go to Filter > Other > High Pass. Set Radius to 1.1 px and hit OK.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 2

STEP 3

Go to Window > Layers (F7) and set Blending mode to Overlay. Select all layers and to to Layer > Merge Layers (CTRL+SHIFT+E).

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 3

STEP 4

Go to Channels window (Window > Channels) and click-drag the Blue channel onto the “Create New Channel” button. A “Blue copy” channel will appear. Click it.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 4

STEP 5

Go to Image > Adjustments > Curves (CTRL+M). Set the graph similar to mine.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 5

STEP 6

Repeat STEP 5 using an aproximate setting. The idea is to create a high contrast so we can load a precise selection from the “Blue copy” channel.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 6

STEP 7

Grab the Brush Tool (B), press D to set Foreground to pure black and paint over the girl’s body.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 7

STEP 8

Grab the Burn Tool (O), set it to Shadows and press “0” to set it to 100%. Darken all the lighter areas on the girl.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 8

STEP 9

Go to Image > Adjustments > Curves (CTRL+M) and adjust the curve similar to mine. We do this to remove the light gray areas from the channel.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 9

STEP 10

In the Channels window, CTRL+click the “Blue copy” channel thumbnail to load a selection. You will see a “marching ants” contour. Click the “RGB” channel and turn off visibility of “Blue copy” channel.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 10

STEP 11

Double-click the layer thumbnail in the Layers palette (F7) and hit OK to make it editable. Hit Delete.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 11

STEP 12

Go to Window > Arrange > Cascade. Now click-drag the layer thumbnail into our document. Go to Edit > Free Transform (CTRL+T) to enter Transform mode and click drag one of the corners while holding SHIFT key to preserve proportions. Hit Enter.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 12

STEP 13

With this layer selected, go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. Now grab the Brush Tool (B), press D to set Foreground to pure black and paint over the girl’s feet.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 13

STEP 14

Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer (CTRL+J). Do this twice.

STEP 15

In the Layers palette (F7), select the original layer. Now grab the Smudge Tool (R), set a round, soft brush and adjust Strength to about 60%. Start doing strokes on the edges of the woman. Try to maintain the same direction.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 15

STEP 16

Repeat STEP 15 for the second layer, but do a bit shorter strokes. Also reduce Strength a bit.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 16

STEP 17

Go to the Layers palette (F7) and click the “New Layer Group” button.  Name it “girl” and click-drag all the layers with the girl in the layer group.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 17

STEP 18

In the Layers palette, create a new layer above all the layers in the “girl” layer group. Open the “Designious paint splash 1” brush set. Use settings similar to mine.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 18

STEP 19

Paint over the edges like I did. Simply hold ALT key to pick random nearby colors from the girl’s body. Also increase and decrease the size of the brushes using “[“ and “]” keys. There’s no need to draw strokes, just click around or tap your graphic pen.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 19

STEP 20

Create two new layers above the splatters layer. Select the first one and grab the Brush Tool (B), set Hardness to 100% and paint three or four colors: bright yellow, orange, red and bright red.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 20

STEP 21

Decrease the size of the brush to 5-6 px, select the next layer above in the Layers palette (F7) and start painting random, curvy shapes. Use the dark red color – pick it with ALT+click.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 21

STEP 22

Select the orange color and roughly try to follow the lines drawn with the bright red color.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 22

STEP 23

Do the same for the rest of the colors. This is how the final result should look like.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 23

STEP 24

Open the Brushes palette (F5) and change it to a splatter. Make a very small sized bush and as in previous steps, add random color spots of different colors.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 24

STEP 25

Create a new layer above the top-most layer with the girl and set Blending mode to Soft Light. Then grab the Brush Tool (B) and pick the orange color (ALT+click), set Hardness to 0% and press “5” to set the brush’s Opacity to 50% and paint some bright lights on the girl’s body.

ALT+click between these layers when you are done.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 25

STEP 26

Create a new layer above the bottom-most layer. Name it “paint”. Open the “designious paint scratch pack 1”, select a brush and use the settings below.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 26

STEP 27

Grab the brush tool and paint two brush strokes, one light gray and one midtone gray.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 27a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 28

STEP 28

Go to Layer > New layer. Name it “smoke”. Use the same settings as with the paint brushes, hit D key and paint 2 smoke strokes.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 28

STEP 29

Grab the Ellipse Tool (U), click on the canvas and hold SHIFT key to draw a perfect circle. Give it a white color fill. Make sure it is set on Shapes. Set Blending mode to Soft Light in the Layers palette (F7).

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 29

STEP 30

Repeat STEP 29,  but use a dark gray color and set blending mode to Multiply.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 30

STEP 31

Create a new layer (CTRL+SHIFT+N). Now create white shapes of your choice: draw them, create random triangles, circles, squares… go wild! Set Opacity to 40%.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 31

STEP 32

Open the “birds” .psd file, grab the Lasso Tool (L), select a bird of your choice, copy it (CTRL+C) and paste it in our document (CTRL+V). Also go to Edit > Free Transform to make it smaller. Hit Enter. Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (CTRL+SHIFT+U).

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 32

STEP 33

Repeat STEP 32, but this time go to Image > Adjustments > Invert (CTRL+I). Grab the Dodge Tool (O), set it on Shadows with 25% Exposure and lighten the dark areas.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 33

STEP 34

Select the second copy of the “girl” layer. Now grab the Pen Tool (P) and draw a shape similar to mine and use white as fill color. Set Blending mode to color.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster34

STEP 35

Select the bottom-most layer and go to Layer > New > Layer. Open the “concrete texture”, select all (CTRL+A), copy it (CTRL+C) and paste it in our canvas. Resize it to fit and set Blending mode to “Hard Light”.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster35

STEP 36

Create a new layer (CTRL+SHIFT+N), grab the Brush Tool (B), select a dripping splash and click under the bottom side of the girl’s body.

a Ying Yang Inspired Poster 36

Done!

27 Comments on “How to create a Ying Yang Inspired Poster in Photoshop

  1. Nice tuts!! But,

    When did u change the background to grey? (after step 16)
    & The Background looks grungy!
    Where is the concrete texture?

    It could have been better if you could have the shown the full images where the changes take place!!

    Anyways, helpful tutorial!!

  2. i don’t know how open new document…where…???….please help meeee…..because this final photo is very amaizing….pleaseeee…helpppp

    • Try using a similar stock photo, the effects applied are basically the same. If you need any assistance with the new photo, please ask in the comments.

  3. Thanks for the Great Post. Knowledge Plus is a Registered Training Organisation meeting strict nationally recognised quality control for Training and Assessment. Knowledge Plus has won numerous awards in recognition of their outstanding Customer Service. We specialise in Workplace-Based Training, Management Development, Change Management, Project Management, OHS and IT Training and have provided superior training to over 1600 professionals.

  4. This is what I was looking for from last week. Great work done. :)

  5. Excellent work has been shown. In 36 steps, the work has been shown so beautifully that it is much better than any other medium. Thanks so much for the creative work.

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