Create An Amazing Car Illustration in photoshop

I will show you how to create an fierce car illustration. In this tutorial, you will using many different tricks and tips together to form an amazing composition

Resources

This tutorial partially relies on brushes, I have provided all the links to each brush pack + a mega brush download pack for this tutorial. If you don’t have any brushes then I recomend you download it. The types of brushes you will need: Grunge, Abstract, & Floral. You can find all the brushes & more at QBrushes

Download Brush Megapack (489)

Step 1 – Background

Since we are using the blending mode color dodge 90% of the time to achieve cool effects we need a good gradient background so our colors stand out. Create a new document (make sure its not too big or the car wont fit properly), mine was 1304×516, create a gradient with colors Yellow -> Red -> Black (All dimmed though).

Now, if we use this gradient for color dodge it will be way too bright so we need to dim it. Create a new layer ontop of the gradient layer and fill it with black, set the opacity to around 80%. By adding this layer it allows more flexibility.

Step 2 – The Car

For your benifit, I’m providing you with the already cutout version of the audi. Consider yourself lucky! Place the car around the middle of the post. (If you copy & paste the image, you’ll get a white background so you need to save the image and open it within photoshop.)

Step 3 – Fractal Background

In the links provided there were quite a few fractal brushes, create a new layer underneath the car layer and set the blending mode to color dodge. Select a fractal brush with a VERY LIGHT pink/red color. Then create some fractals coming out around the car like fire. The gradient should take car of the color. Example of color you should use for the brush: #fffbfb (notice how light it is).

Make sure with the fractals that only 1-2 layers are used. This will produce the fiery effect coming out from the car.

Step 4 – More brushes

Add more brushes on different layers to increase the intensity & complexity. Use color dodge and some other blending modes to achieve the effect you desire. This step is all about experimentation.

Adding the arrows

Grunge splatters around the car

Subtle glow underneath car

Floral brushes with opacity

More grunge lines added

Step 5 – Fiery Outline

With the standard photoshop brushes you get, there should be a brush which has spikes coming out. Try and find this brush, it looks like the image below.

Use this brush on a seperate layer underneath the car layer. Brush around the outside of the car to achieve a flame effect. (It doesn’t have to exactly like fire, just wifts of it)

Open the blending options for the layer and apply a gradient with fiery colors. I also used the smudge tool to add extra effect.

Step 6 – Shadow & Reflection

Now we need to apply a shadow. Create a new layer underneath the car layer and draw a shadow with a black brush. Free transform and then distort the layer to make the shadow the right perspective.

For the reflection duplicate the car layer and move it beneath the shadow layer. Go into free transform mode and flip the layer vertically.

Apply a layer mask to the reflection layer and with the brush tool use the color black to erase the bottom part. Make sure the brush is 0% hardness and is quite big. After you’ve done that set the opacity of the layer to around 70%.

Step 7 – Car Grunge

Create a new layer above the car layer and set the blending mode to overlay. With a black brush apply some grunge to the car.

Step 8 – Text

Find a good font and type some text you want, I created a layer to make sure the text is visible with some grunge brushes.

Step 9 – Texture

To make this illustration more fiery, create a new layer above your main layer of fractals. Use a paper texture and set the blending mode to Vivid Light. Note: If you want some good textures go to deviantart.com and search for paper textures, you’ll get loads.

Finish

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