Learn how to create this super cool neon tiger poster in Photoshop! You’ll learn how to get neon colors using Gradient maps and learn some over-painting techniques to bring the whole image to life.
Preview of Final Results
Download the PSD
Neon Tiger.zip | 4.26 MB
Psychedelic Tiger Illustration Photoshop Tutorial
Resources
- Tiger – sxc.hu
- Paper texture – sxc.hu
- Ink and Bleach Brushes – Wegraphics
- Fireworks – sxc.hu
Step 1
Open a new file in Photoshop.It should be 5100×3300 pixels with a resolution depth of 300dpi.This size is perfect for keeping as much details as possible.
Unlock the background layer by double clicking on the layer thumb and using the Paint Bucket tool (G) select black as your foreground color and fill the layer.
Step 2
Drag the Tiger stock image to your canvas.Using the Pen tool (P) we are going extract the animal from the background.Draw the path a little bit inside of the tigers face.We don’t need to be specifically exact here because we are going to draw all the hair we cut out again.
Once you close the path, right click and select:Make selection. On the feather radius use an amount of 10 pixels.This feather will make it easier for us to blend the hair we are going to paint on the sides of the face.
Step 3
Now we are going to manipulate the head to deform it so that the tiger appears more symmetric and so it has a double snout that goes with our psychedelic concept.Select the head layer and duplicate it. Then go to .
Add a layer mask on the duplicated layer and using a soft (0% hardness) medium (300 px) Brush (B) with Black selected as your foreground color,paint over the left side of the face to reveal the other layer under it until both faces are blended.
Step 4
Select both layers and merge them together (Ctrl+E). Now we are going to do a few adjustments to the tiger face before we add our gradient map and star painting over it. Go to and apply the filter 3 times (Ctrl+f) to remove most of the blur on the image.
Now add some contrast by going to the menu and apply the next settings:
Our image now has better contrast but still need to be darkened a little bit more.Go to (Ctrl+L) and apply these next values:
