RCMedia: How To: Zombie Photoshop

In this How To, you will be using Photoshop in order to create a scary ‘cracked’ effect that can be loaded over a portrait in order to give the appearance as though the face itself has actually cracked. Here is what the overall image should look like:

Importing the image

Once you have found the image that you want to use to create this effect, you will need to import it. This is done by going to File > Open > and then selecting the specific image that you want to use.

Blacked Out Eyes

First we need to create a layer mask. Selecting the button in the bottom right hand corner does this.

We must focus on making the eyes black in order to enhance the effect you are trying to create. We do this by selecting the polygonal lasso tool on the left hand side of the screen.

We then click around the outside of the open eye section by section, in order to make the shape as smooth as possible.

In order to get the very smooth eye outline that we need, press Select > Refine edge. This will open a box that looks like this:

This is where it comes down to your personal judgement. Play around with the slides of “Feather” and “Contrast” until you achieve a smooth, oval shape for the eye itself. I have chosen to put mine on the following settings as it achieved this for me.

We can now make the filter of the eye black. Having your chosen area and selecting the paint bucket tool on the black colour do this. Click on your selected area and it should fill in with block black.

Insert a new layer mask, (as you did before) and now we need to pick out the highlights in order to make the image seem more believable. (Your chosen area should still be selected). Go to Select > Colour Range.

Make sure you have selected “Selection” at the bottom of the window, allowing the highlights to be picked out within the eye only. The highlights will then become highlighted on your screen.

Take the paint tool on the left side of the screen and make sure the colour white is selected – allowing you to colour the highlights white.

Once you have done this to the highlights, make sure both layers are visible and then should have a finished product that looks something like this:

Complete this on the other eye to gain a matching pair.

I then needed to choose a cracked image in order to add this to her face, to give it the cracked effect. This is the image I chose:

I then over laid this image on top of my model’s face and resized it to cover her entire face. To change the size of the image press “CMD + T” in order to resize the image.

There is then a button on the left hand side of the screen called “Normal”. Select this and change it to “Multiply”. This will make the cracked image translucent. So although the colour has disappeared, the cracked are still visible.

We now need to get ride of the cracked in her hair and within her eyes. If you select the “Erase” tool on the left hand side of the screen, you can then begin to rub these unwanted areas out.