Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how create the classic, retro-style cover art of the Grand Theft Auto video games.
Before we begin, if you're not already a subscriber to Blue Lightning TV, click that small "Subscribe"
button at the lower, right corner to let you know as soon as I upload new Photoshop tutorials.
I provided this image that you can use for your background.
Its link is in my video's description or project files.
Feel free to use another background if you like.
Just make sure it's 72 pixels per inch to ensure that your results will look similar to mine
Open a photo of someone that you'd like to use for this project.
I downloaded this one from Shutterstock.
The first step is to separate the subject from its background by making a selection around the subject.
There are many ways to do this and covered them all in my tutorials.
Because we want our subject to have perfectly smooth edges, we'll use the Pen Tool or, for
versions CC 2018 or later, we'll use the Curvature Pen Tool.
I did in-depth tutorials showing how to use each of them, so to save time, if you'd like
to watch them, I provided their links below, as well.
Once you've drawn paths around your subject, to convert them into a selection, place your
cursor directly on a path and right-click or secondary click on it to open the fly-out list.
Click "Make Selection".
The “Feather Radius” should be 0 pixels.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask of the selection next to your subject.
To place your subject onto the background, press "v" to open your Move Tool and drag
it onto the tab of the background.
Without releasing your mouse or pen, drag it down and release.
To resize and position your subject, open the Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T.
If you're using a version earlier than CC 2019, go to a corner and when you see a
diagonal, double-arrow, press and hold Alt or Option + Shift as you drag it in or out.
If you're using CC 2019 or later, just press Alt or Option as you drag it.
To reposition it, go inside the Transform's bounding box and drag it.
To accept it, press Enter or Return.
We'll convert our subject into a Smart Object, so we can modify it non-destructively and
modify or change the effects that we'll be adding to it at any time.
To do this, click the icon at the upper, right corner of the Layers panel
and click "Convert to Smart Object".
First, let's brighten the darkest values of our subject.
Go to Image, Adjustments and Shadows/Highlights.
I'll make the Amount: 70%, the Tone: 60% and the Radius: 30 pixels.
Feel free to adjust these amounts.
I'll leave the Highlights and Adjustments at the their default settings.
Go to Filter, Stylize and "Oil Paint".
Make the Stylization: 2, the Cleanliness: 10 and the Scale: 3.
Make sure "Lighting" unchecked.
The "Bristle Detail" is irrelevant, since the bristles are only visible when Lighting is checked.
Go to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Click "Poster Edges".
Make the Edge Thickness: 0, the Edge Intensity: 1 and the Posterization: 3.
To smooth out the texture of your subject, go to Filter, Blur and Smart Blur.
Make the Radius: 4, the Threshold: 25 and the Quality: Low.
Go back to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Click "Cutout".
The Number of Levels is 8, the Edge Simplicity is 1 and the Edge Fidelity is 1.
Double-click the Blending Options icon next to the top smart filter,
which is the "Cutout" filter we just added.
Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light and its opacity to 50%.
Next, we'll add a thin border and a soft inner glow around its edges.
Double-click an empty area of the subject's layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Inner Glow" and the color box.
In the hexadecimal field, type in FFB400.
Make the Blend Mode "Linear Dodge" and the Opacity is 40%.
The Technique is Softer, the Source is "Edge", the Choke is 0% and the Size is 30 pixels.
Click "Stroke".
Make the Size: 2 pixels and the Position: "Outside".
The Blend Mode is Normal and the Opacity is 100%.
Click the color box. and pick a very dark color that relates to the colors of your subject.
I'll type in 001D2C.
Next, we'll transform the background.
Scroll to the bottom and make the background active.
We'll copy the Smart Filters from our subject to the background.
To do this, first make the background into a Smart Object.
Place your cursor on the word "Smart Filters" and press and hold Alt or Option as you drag
a copy of it onto the background layer.
Click the arrow to open the list of Smart Filters
and scroll down to see them.
Double-click "Shadows/Highlights" and if you see this message, just click OK.
Change the Shadow amount to 65% and the Tone to 50%.
Double-click "Oil Paint" and click OK.
Make the "Stylization" 1 and the "Cleanliness": 5.
Click the eyeball icon next to this filter, which will hide the "Poster Edges" effect.
Many of the Grand Theft Auto covers have backgrounds that have color casts to them, as well as
have light contrasts.
To re-create this look, double-click an empty area of the background layer to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Color Overlay".
Make the Blend Mode: "Linear Dodge" and the opacity: 60%.
Click the color box and pick whatever color you like.
For mine, I'll type in: 0084FF.
Lastly, open the Grand Theft Auto logo I provided.
Drag it onto the tab of your cover art and without releasing your mouse or pen,
drag it down and then, release.
Drag it to a location that works for your cover.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!