Design a Ying-Yang concept with Photoshop and Illustrator

Today we will create a concept design based on the Ying-Yang symbol using stock photos and vectors. We will try to achieve the ideas that this symbol stands for: perfection, simplicity, harmony and self-sufficiency. You will learn to manipulate pictures, skin retouching and body reconstruction, along with creating a concept design.

Difficulty: Intermediate
Completion time: 1 hour
Tools: Adobe Photoshop

Resources:

- model from mjranum-stock
- Floral Vector Pack 78 from Designious.com
- Flower Illustration from Vectorious.net

STEP 1

Create a new document of 1680×1050 px in RGB color mode at 72 dpi. If you intend to print it, set it to CMYK color mode and 300 dpi.

STEP 2

Open the “model” picture, copy it (CTRL+C) and paste into our document (CTRL+V). Go to Edit > Free Transform (CTRL+T) and resize it to fit the image, just like below. Hit Enter.

STEP 3

Grab the Pen Tool (P) and trace the body, leaving out the legs and the cloth. Then right-click > Make Selection, grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and right-click > Layer Via Copy. Now you should have an extraction similar to mine.
Now we will begin to reconstruct the body. We need to bring up the idea of perfection by removing parts that refer to primal instincts, such as hair, feet and fingers. Hair refers to animal nature and basic instinct; fingers, nails and feet refer to claws, the need to grab food and physical motion, so we will remove all these elements and build others instead.

STEP 4

Go to the Layers palette (F7) and click the “Add Layer Mask” button. Then grab the Brush Tool (B), hit D to set foreground color to pure black (#000000) and paint over the girl’s head. Notice that the layer mask is selected, and not the layer itself. If somehow you paint over with black, then you’ll know you have the layer selected and not the layer mask.

STEP 5

Click on the layer thumbnail in the Layers palette (F7), grab the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and select the right arm. Then right-click > Layer Via Copy. Go to Edit > Free Transform (CTRL+T) and rotate it like below. Also right-click > Flip Horizontal. Hit Enter to exit Free Transform mode.

STEP 6

Grab the Pen Tool (P), select the layer with the girl and trace the left thigh. Then right-click > Make Selection, grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and right-click > Layer Via Copy.

STEP 7

Go to Edit > Transform > Warp and re-shape it like below. We need the exaggerate the pose to a near-impossible one, to add more expressiveness. Hit Enter.

STEP 8

Go to the Layers palette (F7) and add a layer mask. Then paint the area shown below using a hard brush, like in STEP 4. Use a soft brush to blend this piece nicely into the rest of the body.

STEP 9

Select the layer with the copy of the right hand. Grab the Clone Stamp Tool (S), hold ALT key to set the source, then release the key and click in the area shown below. This process is all about trial and error, so don’t let it get to you if you don’t get it from the first try.
Try using multiple source points of the same skin tone.

STEP 10

In the Layers palette (F7), select the body’s layer mask, grab the Brush Tool (B) and mask the area shown below. Do the same for the other hand.

STEP 11

Let’s reconstruct the head  and the neck! Grab the Pen Tool (P), select the layer with the body and trace the area like below. Then right-click > Make Selection, grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and right-click > Layer Via Copy.

STEP 12

Grab the Selection Tool (V) and place this piece where the head should be. Then go to Edit > Transform > Warp and distort it to make it rounder. Also add a layer mask to it to hide the rough areas from the cutout.

STEP 13

Repeat STEPS 11-12 for the neck. Do not worry about the tones yet, just roughly put the pieces together.

STEP 14

Select the layer with the body and grab the Clone Stamp Tool (S), hold ALT key to select the cloning source, then cover up the skin imperfections. Again, this is a process of trial and error, so be ready for a few minor mistakes. Also mask the original body’s left thigh.

STEP 15

With the body layer still selected, go to Filter > Liquify and make the waist, the right thigh and the right arm a bit thinner. I’ve marked below the respective areas. The hands however will look very weird, but don’t worry, we want it to be that way!

STEP 16

Go to the Layers palette (F7) and select the top-most layer, then hold SHIFT key and click the bottom-most layer. Then hit CTRL+G to create a layer group. Name this group “body”.

STEP 17

Click-drag the layer group onto the “New Layer” button to make a copy of it and turn off the visibility of the original layer group. Expand it to see all layers (click the small triangle near the thumbnail). Select the layer with the skin (use the “Auto Select Layer feature of the Selection Tool (V)).

STEP 18

Go to Filter > Blur > Surface Blur. Use settings like mine of feel free to use your own. Don’t overdo it though, else it will look really awkward.

STEP 19

Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and set it to 1% Uniform. Hit OK.

STEP 20

Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen.

STEP 21

Repeat STEPS 18-20 for the neck, head, left thigh and right arm.

STEP 22

Select the top-most layer in the group and go to Layer > New > Layer. Then go to the Layers palette (F7) and set Blending mode to Multiply.

STEP 23

Grab the Brush Tool (B), hold ALT key to pick a dark color from the skin, press “2” to set its Opacity to 20%, then paint over the shadows of the body. make sure Hardness is set to 0%. I’ve marked with red the areas that need extra shading. Use a layer mask to cover the extra painted areas.

STEP 24

Select the mask of the layer with the body, grab the Brush Tool (B), hit D to set foreground color to black and paint over the extra areas that go over the body parts’ cutouts. This step is optional if so far you have any sloppy areas.

STEP 25

We will now retouch the skin’s tones to bring them to a neutral level. Select the body layer (not the layer mask!) and go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Use the settings below or similar.

STEP 26

Do the same for the other body parts. This is more of how you see them fitting in, so play around with the cursors till you obtain the wanted result. Select the top-most layer and go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast. Use the settings below. Then select all the layers below it and go to Layer > Merge Layers.

STEP 27

Hold ALT and click between the adjustment layer and the layer below it. You will notice the layer thumbnail will move a bit to the right and an arrow pointing down will appear. This means the adjustment layer will use it’s properties only on the layer below it.

STEP 28

With the adjustment layer still selected, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White. Use my settings or similar. The skin does not have any blues, cyans or greens in composition, so I set it to 0% as a mark, to leave them as they are. The picture is not affected if these values are modified.

STEP 29

Grab the Pen Tool (P), set it on Shapes and draw two shapes like below. For color, pick a light color from the body (#d5bfb2). Notice that I followed the axis of the spine and it’s not a random curvy line.

STEP 30

Create a new layer mask for the body, then grab the brush tool and paint over the area shown below to mask it. Use the Pen Tool (P) to mark the area alot easier.

STEP 31

Open the “Designious Floral Vector Pack 78”, select a flower and paste into our drawing, like below. Do this with multiple flowers and use the layer mask to hide the overlapping leaves or flowers. Place these into the top layer group.

STEP 32

Click the “fx” button in the Layers palette (F7) and select “Color Overlay”. Click the red color and input the following color code: #d5bfb2. Hit OK. Then you can ALT+click-drag the “fx” icon from the layer to the other floral layers.

STEP 33

Create a new layer (CTRL+SHIFT+N), place it below any other layer (CTRL+SHIFT+[ ), grab the Paint Bucket Tool (G) and fill it with #0d0c0b.

STEP 34

Grab the Path Tool (P) and draw a shape like below, then fill it with #e6d5c9.

STEP 35

Open the “Flower illustration” from Vectorious.net, import it into our document and place it above the light side of the background. Resize it, rotate it and mask the unwanted parts. Set Blending mode to Multiply.
Done!

You can download the source file from the link below.

  vectorious-ying-yang-concept-tutorial.zip (2.4 MiB, 30 hits)