How would I recreate this Beck album?

[Forladi]

Wondering if anyone has an idea on how to recreate the "smokey" looking effect under Beck's eye and coming from his head. Got the other effects recreated well, but struggling to figure out how to do the final effects. If anyones got a good idea, please let me know!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Please post the image you want to edit thusly. 

I expect some Smart Filter applications (Gaussian Blur seems like a probable choice) should prove useful. 

Filter > Blur Gallery > Field Blur would also be an option, probably superior in some ways, but it might not prove extremely convenient. 

And allow me an attempt at humor: If you want to recreate the album you probably need pretty solid musical capabilities, if you want to recreate the album cover artwork that’s something different … 

[Forladi]

Haha, I'll have to take some singing lessons. I've got the blur just fine, I was mostly talking about the colored "smokey" lines (I probably should've clarified that, my bad). I've tried creating shapes and liquifying them a bit, but it hasn't worked out too well.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I do apologize, my mistake. 

The brush stokes are likely based on actual brush strokes (scanned or photographed) and the clipped an layer masked. 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

That’s not to say they can’t be created purely on computer. 

[Forladi]

Okay, I kinda figured that they might've been real brush strokes. Your digital ones look nice, what brushes and methods did you use/recommend?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

For the big ones I actually used the Pen Tool to create Shape Layers (and then apply a Layer Mask to a Group containing all three). 

For the small ones I couldn’t say for sure which ones I used. 

I would recommend you check out Kyle T Webster’s dry_media, gouaches, art_markers, … 

Do you have those already installed? 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I forgot to mention; I painted on Layer Masks for Solid Color Layers. 

If you may want to change the colors for multiple strokes of one color later on, but that you want to keep on separate Layers (for stacking on transforming reasons), you could use a Smart Object of a Solid Color Layer and mask instances of that. 

[Forladi]

Awesome, thanks a lot for helping me out! I'll have to check out those brushes that you mentioned and just mess around with the tools. Hopefully I can get it as close to the album as possible, thanks again!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Those brushes are available here 

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/brushes.html

but you probably can get some »mileage« out of the default brushes, too. 

[Forladi]

Wonderful, thanks a bunch!

[c.pfaffenbichler]

It may be necessary to add noise, either with a Filter or with a Pattern Overlay. 

[Trevor.Dennis]

It looks pretty straight forward if I am understanding you.

Make an elliptical selection and fill it will your colour of choice on a new layer

[EDIT]  This forum drives me crazy sometimes.  I spent the last 30 minutes making a detailed post with lots of screen shots, and when I clicked on Post most of it disappeared!  It would be hard to express just how unimpressed I am right now!  👿👿👿

[c.pfaffenbichler]

So you started with elliptical shapes and the liquified them? 

Would sound like a good option. 

[Trevor.Dennis]

I am buggered if I am going to do it all again, but I still have the screen shots

My suggestion for the coloured lines was to use stroked paths to get highly acurate and repeatable strokes.  I just used the one workpath, and stroked separate layers with different colours, and used Free Transform to align things.

This shows using Fade to get a tapered path stroke

And a finished version grouping the right side of face brush strokes and copying and Free transforming them to the left side of face.  Then using layer masks on the groups to run black to transparent gradient from the bottom up.

I am not going to write it all out again, so just ask if you need anything clarified.  My goal was to give you the tools to make your own creative version of a Beck lbum cover (is that what they call them nowadays?)

If the forum stuffs this up again, you'll hear me scream from 12,000 miles away in New Zealand.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

[Trevor.Dennis]

I'll stop holding my breath now.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Wouldn’t you call it an »album cover«? 

[jane-e]

---

@Trevor.Dennis wrote:

This forum drives me crazy sometimes.  I spent the last 30 minutes making a detailed post with lots of screen shots, and when I clicked on Post most of it disappeared!  It would be hard to express just how unimpressed I am right now!  

👿👿👿

---

Trevor, that's happened to me before, sometimes due to my error.

Not too long ago, I started getting this delightful message about autosaved content when it happens, which brings all (or almost all) of it back when I click "Load". 

I forced it this time so I could get a screenshot for you by starting a Reply, then switching to another tab in my browser, then returning and clicking Reply again.

~ Jane

[Trevor.Dennis]

Jane I have seen the autosave message, and I did look for a reload option.  But it was all just gone.  I know for sure that I have clicked on cancel instead of post sometimes, with predictable results, but I don't thank that is what happened this time.

OK, I just tried Ctrl clicking the OP's name to load their profile in a new tab, so I could ask if we have been able to help them.  Instead of opening in a new tab it loaded in this tab losing what I'd posted so far.  But this time when I clicked on reply again, I DID have the option to reload, and I got all the text I'd already typed.

Forladi I hope we have been of some help, and please ask if you need clarification or something else altogether.  That was I won't feel so bad about hijacking your thread with my rant about the forum.

[Forladi]

No worries! I'll have to play around with your methods too, see what works. Thanks for helping me out, I appreciate it!