My Entry to Benny's Spooky Edit War 2021! | Halloween Photoshop Art

oh did i jump scare you what are halloweens for anyways last year i participated in benny's halloween edit contest and created something like this from the limited stock images given this year ben is again back with another halloween edit contest and so am i and trust me this year it will be a whole lot bigger better and creepier now this composition took almost 30 hours i guess this is my longest edit so far so i'll be skipping the common stuff but will be giving you helpful tips throughout the video on various important topics like placement and perspective aerial depth texturing highlights clipping and masking rain effects etc so be sure to watch the entire video and not skip any part of it before getting started i just want to mention my biggest inspiration facerunner you must have already seen his work his last year's winning entry from the same contest was pivotal in my photoshop journey and it changed my outlook towards photo manipulation after seeing what he created with the given stocks i understood that the limitation is actually with one's own mind and the endless possibility lies far beyond the stock images it's all about one's imagination and how you can use the tools at your disposal into something epic so this year fully inspired i will attempt something big and daring i hope you will like it now according to the rules of the contest participants must use all given stock images and cannot use any other extra images adding my mood board over here i had some pumpkin monsters in mind with a creepy and cinematic environment i thought of adding some retro vibes and also would go for one of the classic horror movie color palettes without wasting any more time let's create i started by sketching everything out on the canvas i love doing traditional paintings so it is really relaxing for me to scribble with the brush i will create a pumpkin monster that is picking up pumpkins and adding them to itself at this point it kind of looks like the mind flare from the stranger things and it's one of my favorite shows so i will better keep it as it is once the sketch is done i place the card filled with pumpkins i quickly masked it out and used the straight edges in it to create the perspective guide i used the pen tool to create the first two lines lining them up with some straight edges in the card itself then where they intersect that will be our vanishing point i drew a line parallel to the ground and moved it to pass through that vanishing point this will be our horizon now i created some radiating lines from that vanishing point and they will act as a guide for any other objects that we place in the scene i followed the same method to create some vertical guides i made them look converging towards the sky to make the viewer look very close to the ground this will make the sky look more expansive and the monster bigger i took samples of grass from the same image to create the foreground i also distorted the patches of grass to give a feeling that they are converging at a distance i started adding other objects like the gravestones and the tower [Music] this mansion doesn't fit my composition so i will take different parts of it to create my custom houses and barns i had to pay attention that they are aligning with the perspective guides [Music] next i had to create the forest this was not straightforward so i used the trees in the mansion and the graveyard image i used quick selection for the rough outline then went into select and mask and used refine hair to fine tune the edges the refined hair also somewhat works with the tree selections so you can use it the left side was a bit tricky so i used the channel separation method i duplicated the layer and added a channel mixture adjustment layer as a clipping mask then checked the monochrome check box and played with the slider to make the trees very black and the sky close to white also used levels in combination to boost the contrast then use the previous selection you can use anything like a magic one quick selection and then refine it just to select the black area and use it as a mask on the original image to separate out the trees once the distant forest was somewhat done i used the same technique to select the trees from the graveyard image and frame our composition [Music] i felt that the horizon was too high up so i dragged it down a bit but that in turn messed up the perspective of the card so i had to slice up and add just every faces accordingly i did the same thing with the tower as well i tried to create more variations so i cut out the pillars from the mansion and used them to create a fence now it's time to start working on the pumpkin monster i brought in the image of these pumpkins and separated them out into new layers i'll be creating new faces so i use the healing brush tool to remove the existing cuts these three pumpkins will create the three heads of the pumpkin monster i squeeze them and more of them accordingly i drew some basic shapes but i'll be mixing them up in the future now i will start creating the body of this monster using the hill image i started blocking out the body's shape and i'll be using the textures as clipping masks on top of it this way it will be easier to cut move and do all sorts of transformations and i don't have to worry about them going out of bounds since i'll be using clipping masks they will always be tied to the shape that i am drawing i also added some atmospheric haze to see where this is all going and give myself some visual cues once i was satisfied with the drawing i brought in the hill image took different samples from it and used them as clipping masks at the same time i used a grungy brush to mask and adjust the sharp cuts and blend them roughly i tried to pay attention to the source image and take samples from specific parts so that the form and lighting match somewhat with the final form and lighting that we will have on our monster so for texturing i highly advise you not to use any continuous textures but cut and break them up according to the form and shape of the main object next i tried to add more character to the monster so i sampled different parts from the graveyard and the mansion image and blended them in i tried to give a feel the monster has risen from the ground and it has taken up everything along with it then i used two of the sky images and created a patchwork to create my custom sky i used free transform and warp wherever necessary to create a dynamic feeling i also tried to create that lower down angle of the viewer and the more expansive feeling of the sky as i mentioned it during the perspective alignment i put the dark clouds at the back and the colorful clouds on top and i use the luminosity blending mode to remove the color and blend the top clouds with the bottom dark sky image i created a blank layer and changed the blending mode to soft light i painted with a dark gray color on the top and light gray color at the bottom to create a certain gradient next i brought in the lightning image took different samples of it and added them into the composition this will be one of the sources of light so i am keeping that in mind as well as the composition is more or less done i proceeded with the color grading i used curves on various objects to darken them up and hue saturation to wash the colors as it will be a nighttime scene [Music] in the meantime i added some fog in between the tree layers and tried to create some depth and a spooky environment i used the same curves and hue saturation combination to darken up the other objects and slightly desaturate them i used the manual method to darken the parts of the monster precisely here i corrected the textures on the forearms the image was looking too dark so i increased the brightness to improve the visibility now i will start making the monster creepier and a little disturbing so i brought in the image of the card full of pumpkins took different samples and placed it on the monster for almost two hours to create that look i had in my mind the story was something like all the pumpkins have come alive and clubbed into a monster so i tried to create a creature with an alien-ish feel it's like a hive mind all pumpkins are together forming this monster the placement is just an artistic choice and it all boils down to personal preferences [Music] the fingers were still not done so i had to spend some hours finding perfect textures from the hill image and aligning them perfectly to form the fingers i mostly used free transform warp distort and puppet warp tool [Music] next i made the pumpkin faces glow i used the same pumpkin textures flipped and darkened them up and added them as clipping masks on top of the faces i drew i used curves to create a red color cast i pushed up the slider in the red channel and at the same time brought down the curves on the green channel and they will introduce some magenta also drop the blues in the blues channel and they will bring in some yellows and the magenta and the yellows together will create a very bright red along with the boosted up red channel for the interior of the pumpkins i use the pumpkin texture because it is a hollow object and the internals will be somewhat visible so when you create hollow objects whose internals are visible like a house or something like this i suggest you do not fill it with a single color but try to show the interior a bit here i tried to create the thickness of the pumpkin walls that will be visible and fine tune them a bit now comes the most interesting part and the entire mood changed once i turned the sky bright red it now looks even more like the mind flare from stranger things but i experimented with different color choices and the red seems to fit the best over here i realized the pumpkins looked too shiny so i took the samples from the same hue image and overlaid them on top of the pumpkins to make them look gritty and rotten here i also warped it to fit the shape of the pumpkin and masked it out at places to break the continuous pattern i did the same with the other pumpkin heads here i added some edge lighting on the cut walls of the pumpkins in the meantime i started adding shadows to add depth to the various shapes on a monster i spent a couple of hours to fine tune and color correct individual pumpkins that i added [Music] next i cranked up the alienish feel by making some of the pumpkin clusters glow red i used curves for the red color cast and painted with white on a layer mask filled with black on the required areas i started adding the red haze and light from the bottom to create an ominous feel this will also create the atmospheric perspective and depth that would help make distant objects look further away if you want to know more about this concept i have a dedicated video on aerial depth and perspective i will put the link in the description section i think you will like it i worked a bit on the sky and experimented a bit to create some interesting shapes the warped clouds with a hint of vortex on top will add up to the sinister feel i'll be going for a red teal color combination so i quickly changed the color of the lightning to some teal sheds using curves i cranked up the curves in the green blue channels and they will mix to form the teal color i used the puppet warp tool wherever necessary to mold the bolts of lightning painted some sharp highlights on the clouds as the lightning is piercing through them the thickness of the pumpkin walls were looking a bit thin to me so i made them thicker and due to that i also had to redo the edge lighting that i did previously [Music] next i started painting the highlights i used curves again to create a teal color cast and painted with white on a layer mask filled with black to create the highlights well recently i discovered that curves are really awesome for highlights so maybe i'll make a video on that pretty soon but previously i used to use solid color fills in linear dodge blending mode for the highlights and i have a dedicated video for that as well so if you want you can check it out the link should be in the description section painting the highlights take a whole lot of time it's just a matter of accuracy and patience i started adding a red color cast using the curves and we'll use that to create red highlights because of the red light coming from behind and bottom [Music] i added a solo pumpkin that this monster is picking up this will add up to the story that the pumpkin monster is selecting the pumpkins and absorbing them i created some variations on the house so that they don't look repetitive [Music] okay i overdid it here with the number plate and i changed it to read bp h263 does that ring a bell alright next i started painting some highlights on the pumpkins i used the same curves adjustment layers to create bright teal color cast and painted with white on black layer masks for the highlights well this bottom portion is looking a bit dark so i started adding some red ambient light this will break up the monotony and create interesting color variations i give the same treatment to the house and the tower i took a remaining image of the cloud and warped and flattened it out i will use it to create a mist on the ground i added a teal color casting using curves and masks that required areas [Music] i could not find a better place to fit this smoke image so i thought about adding it on top of the mansion and creating a scene where lightning strikes and the smoke is coming out [Music] here i also made use of this particle texture to create the sparks i put the texture on linear dutch blending mode with a teal color casting using curves and then used the smudge tool to create a sense of motion on the particles [Music] adding some overall shadows i started placing the smoke image and warped it into place to create a spooky environment i used curves to color correct all along as per the rules we have to use every single image and i was left with this one the ghost did not quite fit my composition so i decided to use the grass instead i used the channel mixer technique to separate out the grass this time i took an alternate route than before i went into the channels tab and checked which one have the better contrast and duplicated the channel layer and added labels to increase the contrast then i selected the black pixels and used it as a mask to separate out the grass i added the crush on the very foreground darkened it up and added some blur for the bokeh effect next i added the other particle textures to add some dust particles in the foreground i really wanted to add the ghost so i added it below the card maybe like a hanging stuffed toy i used the previous smoke image and warped it to create some clouds just to give a feeling that the monster is coming forward dispersing them i felt the left hand claw was a bit unnatural and not matching the right hand so i added an additional finger and repeated the same texturing and lighting processes i also added some teal ambient light on the foreground and mid ground object to give that dual color variation i'm adding the tea light only in areas opposite to the red light and finally i decided to take things further by adding the rain effect i used this particle texture and used clone stamp to remove these bigger brighter spots as they might create some nasty big droplets i desaturated it and boosted the contrast [Music] then i used the path blur from the blur gallery to create the dynamic motion of the droplets i will advise you not to use the motion blur here but use the path blur instead as it can create a tapering realistic look i removed the blur from one of the end points but added it on the other point unchecked the centered blur checkbox and played with the taper and speed values to create the dynamic tapering look of the droplets [Music] i changed its blending mode to linear dodge and spent almost an hour fixing any drops that looked thicker i also skewed the rain according to the vertical perspective lines that we said at the beginning i also masked the rain image as required then i created another variation of the rain with a scaled down version this will help create the distant droplets and add a depth to our scene things get more complicated with adding the rain now i have to make everything look wet for that i took a snapshot of the whole image and went into the filter gallery and applied the plastic wrap filter hopefully this will help achieve the wet look i desaturated it and changed its blending mode to color dodge added a black mask and patent on required areas with white to reveal it [Music] we were still left with the scattering droplets and water drips so i started painting them by hand i could have added more details but it already took so long maybe some 3-4 hours so i decided to call it a day finally it's time for some overall color grading i added some noise by creating a blank layer and filling it with 50 gray then added some noise from filter noise add noise blurred it slightly change the blending mode to soft light and reduce the opacity on the color trading part i added the curves layer and boosted only the highlight parts i also added another curves layer and lifted the blacks but darkened the shadow areas i added some overall sharpening but mask them only on the nearby objects as the distant objects will have lesser details due to the atmospheric depth and they won't be that sharp again you can find all these concepts in my atmospheric perspective and depth video [Music] so after spending some more hours fine tuning every details here goes the final result of my this year's entry to benny's halloween edit contest do let me know what you think about it in the comments below if the video helped you in any way please be sure to like it and share it with your friends and if you are liking my overall content please don't forget to subscribe to my channel as that would greatly motivate me to create more videos like this well then i will see you in my next video wish you a happy spooktober and as always enjoy creating [Music]

Channel: Encreate

Views: 106,218

Keywords: halloween, all hallows eve, hallows, spooky, spooky season, bennys edit war, bennyproductions, photoshop editing, digital art, speedart, speed art, photoshop tutorial, break down, stranger things, pumpkin monster, monster, magic, spooktober, october, horror, pumpkin, creepy art, halloween photoshop tutorials, halloween photoshop manipulation, photoshop halloween tutorials, photoshop halloween art, halloween photoshop art, encreate, letsencreate, bennys spooky edit war, spooky art

Id: TZgWqPeRqQg

Length: 21min 23sec (1283 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 17 2021