Learn how to create a fantasy-inspired photo-manipulation of two warriors: a werewolf wielding a burning sword and a human with a regular longsword. You will learn how to turn a human into a werewolf, create a flaming sword using a few brush strokes, and how to use adjustment layers to alter the color of the image.

Preview of Final Results

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Werewolf Warrior.zip | 37.18 MB

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How to Create a Werewolf Warrior Wielding a Flaming Sword in Photoshop

Resources

• Stock 5 - UmbraDeNoapte Stock
• Knights - jmjvicente
• Wolf 2 - dyet
• Flame Brushes - Sugar Breezy

Step 1: Create a New Image File

We will start by creating a new image file, go to the Menu bar and click File > New, and then input the following values on their respective fields:

• Presets: International Paper
• Size: C6
• Width: 114 mm
• Height: 162 mm
• Resolution: 300 pixels/inch
• Color Mode: RGB Color; 8 bit
• Background Contents: White

Step 2: Create the Background

In this step, we will be creating the land for our background. To start, let's open the stock image: "Stock 5 by UmbraDeNoapte Stock. Next, activate the Move tool by pressing V on your keyboard; left-click the image while the Move tool (V) is activated and then drag that image to our canvas.

Move and position it in this manner:

Once you've done that, rename the layer you had just created/moved to "Background". To rename a layer, simply double-click on the words: "layer 1" (which is our layer - "Stock 5") to prompt a text box to appear. Once that appears, you may now rename the layer.

See sample below:

Next, we will then resize the layer to fit our canvas. To do that, make sure that the "Background" layer is active and then simply press Ctrl/Cmd + T to activate the Transform tool. Once the Transform tool is activated, resize the image as shown below:

The result of that should be similar to this:

Next, we are going to make the further part of the background a little foggy. To start the process, we would need to duplicate the "Background" layer by pressing Ctrl/Cmd + J. After doing that you'd notice that the layer has been duplicated because it says "Background Copy".

Now, activate the Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) because we would need to select the region we plan to create fog.

Now that you have it activated, create a selection area around the region shown below:

Once the selection area is complete, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and then set the following:

• Radius: 12 pixels

Once you hit OK, change the "Background copy" layer's Opacity to 70%.