Dark shadows around hair (was: How to create a black smokey aura effect?)

[Zeack]

Hello everyone,

So I am working on an art project and i was trying to create a dark aura effect like this



I failed terribly so is there anyone who could help me with recreating something like this?

Thanks

 

[MrToM]

Try Flame Painter.
The online 'free' version obviously has its limitations but it may be enough for what you want to do.

http://www.escapemotions.com/experiments/flame/



Regards.
MrToM.

 

[Zeack]

Thanks a lot! I will try using this.

 

[MrToM]

No worries.

You should be able to get a good 'White' smoke on black which you can save from the 'free' online version.

You can download the DEMO of the full version but the BG is watermarked.....the online is good enough though.

Once you have your 'White' smoke on black, take it into PS and invert it.
Set its layer blending mode to 'Multiply' or 'Linear Burn'....the 'White' (Which is now the BG) should disappear.

If the 'smoke' is a little 'thin' just duplicate the layer......if that makes it too 'thick' adjust the opacity of one of those layers.

You should get somewhere close....hopefully...



If not its still fun playing with Flame Painter....the hours I've lost!

Do let us know how it goes.

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[Tom Mann]

I can think of several different ways to do this.

Two approaches come immediately to mind: (a) use an Orton Effect (Google it); (b) If you are good with a brush, paint over the wild swirly hair with a dark, wide, soft edged brush at very low opacity. For the latter, you can try options like setting the brush to "darken only" or "multiply".

If you don't like either of those approaches, a very straightforward approach is to use a couple of applications of the layer effect, "drop shadow" in a selective way. For example, I started with this stock image:



Since I didn't want to take the time to make up some realistic looking swirly hair, I just added some clip art curlicues:




Next, I applied a drop shadow effect to the curlicues:




And finally, another drop shadow effect to the outline of the woman:



This approach isn't perfect, but it's very fast and easy to understand. The Orton method, selectively applied and fine tuned to this particular image will likely give you a result closer to the example you posted, but I don't have time at the moment to illustrate this.

HTH,

Tom M

 

[Zeack]

I tried using both methods but unfortunately it didn't work. The Flame Painter's resolution was too low for my image so i couldn't use it. The Orton effect unfortunately didn't produce the kind of effect i wanted. If there are any other methods you could recommend i would be grateful, or else i will start searching the internet once again (but i doubt i will find something as i couldnt find anything on the first try)

 

[MrToM]

...The Flame Painter's resolution was too low for my image so i couldn't use it...

Use multiple images and 'build up' the effect.

You don't have to do it all in one go.

Its a pretty random pattern anyway so you'd get away with it, and there's no reason you can't mask off any hard edges if you need to.

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[Tom Mann]

Don't give up on Orton -- There are a LOT of ways the Orton effect can be tweaked, as does the drop shadow effect. If worse comes to worse, painting will always work, but requires very good brush skills. If I get a chance tonight, I'll throw something together using Orton.

Tom M