Vector effects

Last week I had posted an article about Photoshop Masters, it was really good to see their works and how they used the tool to achieve those amazing effects. I really like the style of some guys there, particularly Adhemas Baptista, Eduardo Recife and Nik Ainley.

Now in this post, I created a really cool design mixing a photo with vector elements using Photoshop (lots of brushes) and Illustrator. Pretty much everything needed was downloaded for free on the internet in sites like magurno and brusheezy.com.

This tutorial may look complicated and long, but in reality it is really easy to do and follow, you'll only use brushes and masks.?

1- Choose a cool photo: This can be the most complicated part, in this case I was lucky, a photographer friend of mine had taken some pictures for a website really cool called UDOX and he allowed me to use one of those photos.

Choosing the right photo

2 - Adding some vector elements: The first symbol I got from a cd that came with the computer arts magazine.

Adding vectors

3 - Mixing

Color Overlay
Apply a color Overlay on the Layer Style preferences

4 - Using the first Brush: First you paint over the photo, and after that you start deleting some parts. It'll give the imprresion that the elements are sometimes in front and other times behind of the guy

Paint over the photo
Apply a layer mask and delete through the mask

Use layer maks to hide some parts of the elements
Here I wanted to put the pink element behind the legs.

5 - Adding more colors and elements: As with the previous element, we used another brush and deleted some parts to put it behind the guy.

Green element

Choosing the right photo

6 - One more: All of these elements are from the Vintage by in Vogue brushes, you can download them here.

Masked green element

7 - Some Illustrator: Adhemas uses this effect a lot, basically it is a Blend between two elements, and it can be done pretty easily in Illustrator.

Blend
Just create two elements and blend them together

Blended
You see that it creates a path

Curve blended
Edit the path with the pen tool

Blend Options
Double click on the blend icon and you have the Blend Options, where you can edit the blend properties

8 - We need some blue: I added another element beneath the guy's foot.

Foot print

9 - Final refinements: Now it's time to refine the design, delete some parts of each element to make them look like they are mixed.

Refinements
Sometimes the orange element goes in front of the blend, other times it goes behind, the same applies to the others

More refinements

10 - Now we need some light: Duplicate the orange element, create a new folder in the layers pallet, put it inside this folder, set the folder to Color Dodge, and add a Gaussian blur to the element inside the folder.

Using colo dodge to create the light effect

Final Result:

The final piece

All files used can be downloaded.

AttachmentSize
vectors.zip132.63 KB
AI_file.zip1.35 MB
PSD_file.zip2.27 MB
abduzeedo_wp.jpg146.95 KB

About author

User picture

My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through abduzeedo.

Sponsored Links:

thanks for the tip! i love it (:

yellowjellybean. haha.'s picture
yellowjellybean. haha. (not verified) 10/06/2008

Simply amazing. Very cool. Thanks

Ady's picture
Ady (not verified) 10/02/2008

I found many interesting photoshop tutor in this web. Thanks for your great web

liteview's picture
liteview (not verified) 09/25/2008

outcome is so kool i'll try with for myself but its a little pro, the final image is so cool and thanks god its widescreen i am going to use it as wallpapers =)

MOin's picture
MOin (not verified) 09/10/2008

I know its an old tutorial but i just followed now :) great stuff.

qvector's picture
qvector (not verified) 09/09/2008

really nice ilove vector fxs thanks you

iddaa's picture
iddaa (not verified) 09/08/2008

??????:)
I like all of your cool effect:
lomo,fire,vector.etc lifelike

Jerry's picture
Jerry (not verified) 08/30/2008

wow..this is awesome work bro !!!

mbah gundul's picture
mbah gundul (not verified) 08/29/2008

Thanks for lesson :) Great works abduzeedo. Use this tips for rfid tag and rfid system poster.

rfid's picture
rfid (not verified) 08/27/2008

nice work, usefull

sp's picture
sp (not verified) 08/12/2008

Thank you for sharing. Those are great !

Toni's picture
Toni (not verified) 08/11/2008

Awesome resource man, finally a vexpert who's willing to share the tricks of the trade!

ffxi gil's picture
ffxi gil (not verified) 08/07/2008

Nice tutorial dude!!
http://webspot.olympe-network.com

kovilen's picture
kovilen (not verified) 07/16/2008

its a wonderful site .. i learned alot..

dias's picture
dias (not verified) 07/14/2008

Its to complicated, vector art should be simple an attractive
but still its a nice work...

adlt's picture
adlt (not verified) 07/04/2008

really nice ilove vector fxs thanks you

yasicool's picture
yasicool (not verified) 06/26/2008

Very helpful, thanks!!

leave air force ones's picture
leave air force ones (not verified) 06/20/2008

good design and site

kart's picture
kart (not verified) 06/20/2008

Muy buen trabajo, gracias por el dato, sigue adelante

Dark Geo's picture
Dark Geo (not verified) 06/16/2008

Final Result Effect to be good

bedava oyunlar's picture
bedava oyunlar (not verified) 06/13/2008

I think it looks terrific, you did a great job!

Flat Fee Realty's picture
Flat Fee Realty (not verified) 06/13/2008

thanks for all.

accutane's picture
accutane (not verified) 06/01/2008

Thanks for the wonderful tips. I like the play between the vector and bitmap work.

iddaa's picture
iddaa (not verified) 05/29/2008

Do you know what issue of computer atrs that vector graphic came from?

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) 05/19/2008

thanks for share

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) 05/14/2008

I think this looks a lot easier than it is. Very nice!

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) 05/04/2008

Great! Awesome tutorial!

media's picture
media (not verified) 04/24/2008

This is such excellent online reading... Great website. Thanks from all of us at

Flat Fee MLS For Sale By Owner Discount Realty

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) 04/18/2008

Great effects!

jwoehrl's picture
jwoehrl (not verified) 04/13/2008

This is such excellent online reading... Great website. Thanks from all of us at

Chicago Flat Fee MLS

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) 04/13/2008

I just cant find the brushes/vectors you used. I really want to do somthing like that.

Online's picture
Online (not verified) 03/25/2008

amazing effect, amazing tutorial congr really good work

Anonymous (not verified) 03/18/2008

I really like your tutorial. I will have to do this in my Suzuki Wheels. I have it as my wallpaper.

Brian Mitchell's picture
Brian Mitchell (not verified) 03/18/2008

Wow the end result is very professional, quite nice and relatively simple. The hardest part is creating the vector images to use.

Internet TV's picture
Internet TV (not verified) 03/18/2008

I am fond of vectoring stuffs. From the very slim strings of a guitar up to the complicatedtoyota parts of my baby!

dfarah's picture
dfarah (not verified) 03/18/2008

Cool! Thanks for the tutorial! I will try vectoring my Honda Accord. Thanks!

Honda Accord's picture
Honda Accord (not verified) 03/18/2008

looks quite nice

computer jobs (not verified) 03/16/2008

Wow some awesome designs on this site!

vinyl siding

Jakeman's picture
Jakeman (not verified) 03/14/2008

Awesome skills brother!

dual action cleanse

Tim's picture
Tim (not verified) 03/14/2008

Vectors are sometime dream. Thanks for sharing PSD file.

Zoznam Horoskopy's picture
Zoznam Horoskopy (not verified) 03/09/2008

How do u download vectors? In which folder do u place them?

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) 03/09/2008

thanks for share

drivers's picture
drivers (not verified) 03/07/2008

thanks
nice picture

digital's picture
digital (not verified) 03/07/2008

Man you are to good at this. I wish I had more time to practice with this program. It is addicting and I always spend way to much time on it when I get started.

Atlanta Relocation's picture
Atlanta Relocation (not verified) 02/28/2008

Holy crap! That's awesome!
You're really talented. Keep up the good work!

Dan's picture
Dan (not verified) 02/25/2008

Adds new meaning to photos and makes them more beautiful.
I wonder how beauty flows from mind to canvas, with photos.

Nothing beats Pixelmator!

Photo sharing and beyond's picture
Photo sharing and beyond (not verified) 02/22/2008

Great tutorial. You are truly talented.

Dream expert's picture
Dream expert (not verified) 02/21/2008

Just WOW - great skills.

paruresis's picture
paruresis (not verified) 02/15/2008
Allan's picture
Allan (not verified) 02/07/2008

Fantastic tutorial. It is amazing the things we can do today with technology.

Gem Globes's picture
Gem Globes (not verified) 01/27/2008

Good work. It helped me. Keep it up.

Justin

WAN Acceleration's picture
WAN Acceleration (not verified) 01/23/2008

this is really nice but once you get good with adobe illustrator this is the most simple thing to make. :P but it still looks nice.

THE BEAST OF ALL BEINGS!!!!?!!!!'s picture
THE BEAST OF ALL BEINGS!!!!?!!!! (not verified) 01/13/2008

it's awesome, i just cant find the brushes/vectors you used. i really want to do somthing like that. please some one comment back with link for download please!

Help (not verified) 12/08/2007

is the vectors are for MACOS only?! :(

Anonymous (not verified) 12/06/2007

this is nice tutorial again, thanks guys for sharing this another fantastic job here in your tutorial, nice one again.

Mark H. Abucayon's picture
Mark H. Abucayon (not verified) 12/05/2007

Fantastic job here well done

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) 12/03/2007

Great tutorial! Very useful for me :P

Andy's picture
Andy (not verified) 11/30/2007

Your illustration are tight, I have learnt something. I very interested in this type of artwork...

Ashlee Nhiwatiwa's picture
Ashlee Nhiwatiwa (not verified) 11/15/2007

ty man, awesome work !

srag (not verified) 10/30/2007

good stuff....pretty cool...
thnx fer the info on the brushes...
keep em coming...
cheers!

B21's picture
B21 (not verified) 10/14/2007

Thanks for the wonderful tips. I like the play between the vector and bitmap work.

Anonymous (not verified) 09/13/2007

awesome duds!!!!!

Anonymous (not verified) 09/04/2007

great tutorial, nice one mate...express yourself.

4shizzlemynizzle's picture
4shizzlemynizzle (not verified) 08/28/2007

XLICONS.com offers original vector designs in CDR or AI format for book art, screen printing, glass etching, sign and stencil cutting, digitized embroidary and laser engraving. Best of all the designs are royalty free, with extremely fair pricing.
I appreciate your feedback.

Koti's picture
Koti (not verified) 08/25/2007

amazing. im really thanks for this tutorial. i really really like it ;D

disa4ever's picture
disa4ever (not verified) 08/24/2007

yes gimp is gay, definitly no match for pshop

Anonymous (not verified) 08/16/2007

Its to complicated, vector art should be simple an attractive
but still its a nice work...

Vector Composer (not verified) 08/09/2007

i dont like it all.doesnt it look stupid?sorry

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) 08/01/2007

good creation, let your inspiration flow

Anonymous (not verified) 07/13/2007

Really great tutorial! It helped me a lot!

Rockart's picture
Rockart (not verified) 07/05/2007

you arent explaining how you put the image on the poster! that entire step is missing.

Anonymous (not verified) 06/18/2007

Great and Nice Tutorial May bee it solve my Probs

Mushahid (not verified) 06/18/2007

Thanks for all comments...

abduzeedo's picture
abduzeedo 05/21/2007

I like it professional looking good tutorial

Steve's picture
Steve (not verified) 05/09/2007

Just discovered, really great. The Blend tool is one of the most forgotten tools in Illustrator, but it just rocks!

Jaime's picture
Jaime (not verified) 05/03/2007

hey, cool, obrigado, but i´m new at this, and i don´t quite understand how do brushes work in the photoshop once you downloaded them, could someone please give some help about it? thnx very much!

ana (not verified) 04/30/2007

Great tutorial. why do the comments show up twice?

Motorcycle Guy's picture
Motorcycle Guy (not verified) 04/27/2007

Dude, what mag released this vectors?

Gabriel Tadeu (not verified) 04/22/2007

Nice style and tips. I will try to make this type of artwork soon.
Thanks

Piyal's picture
Piyal (not verified) 04/17/2007

Awesome tutorial! I LOOOOVE Brusheezy.com! Thanks for sharing! :)

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous (not verified) 04/16/2007

farf

oompa (not verified) 04/14/2007

Great job.... `grats... :)

Ghost-Rider (not verified) 04/13/2007

wow =D> vey good =D>

Anonymous (not verified) 04/13/2007

;= () blah

Anonymous (not verified) 04/13/2007

you are fantastic. thanks for share ;)

gfx's picture
gfx (not verified) 04/12/2007

Really liked your tip.

By the way, The Gimp Sux. PS Rulz!

1R4D0 (not verified) 04/12/2007

Pretty nice and interesting tutorial!

Webstandard-Team's picture
Webstandard-Team (not verified) 04/12/2007

Um... use The Gimp.

Anonymous (not verified) 04/12/2007

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