Carlos Valenzuela is a professional illustrator and comicbook cover artist from Chile. He has worked with companies in the entertainment field like Fantasy Flight Games, SQP Publishing, Comics Buyer’s Guide, Pyranha Bytes, Avatar Press, Overcast Studios, Arcana Comics, etc. Working on projects from book cover illustrations, posters, interior book art through artwork for collective card games.

A huge fan of the sci-fi and horror movie genre from the 40′s and 50′s, Carlos is heavily influenced by master illustrators Frazetta, Corben, Wrightson and Elvgren plus the classic publications from EC and Warren.

So ladies and gents please regard me as I present you with this vintage and retro feature, enjoy! (And don’t forget to share!)

Retro and Vintage

Terror from Outer Space

The Curse of Dracula

The Curse of the Vampire Queen

Sleep Well, Sleep Forever

Queen Amidala

The Huntress

Jessica Rabbit

Late Edition

The Visitor

A Bat-Note

Super Heroes and Villains

Heroes Attack

Gotham Girls

Fantastic Four

Enter the Green Goblin

The Usual Suspects

Batman

Gotham Babes

DC Heroes

M.O.D.O.K.

Marvel Heroes 3

Horror and Fantasy

Homage to Lovecraft

Red Sonja II

John Carter of Mars

Classic Monsters

The Mummy Rises

Do not enter

Soulrender

Waiting in the Dark

The Barbarian

Princess of Mars

If you’ve enjoyed Carlos Valenzuela’s master pieces you can have the chance be a proud owner of his prints or why not commission him to incorporate you in a classic rendition of a horror or crime noir movie poster, just head on over to his portfolio site to find out more. (Don’t forget to share this article with your friends.)

Where to find Carlos Valenzuela on the web

Portfolio: @artworkfolio.com, @deviantart.com

Social Networks: Google+

What we will be making

Setting up the stage

Create a new file and name it “cork” give it a 500 x 500 pixel dimensions.

Now go to your color palette and set the Foreground color to a nice warm brown color like #af7749 then a darker brown hue for the Background color something like #77451d should be fine. Fill the stage (Layer 1) with the background color using the paint bucket tool or the much simpler approach Ctrl + Backspace. (Note: Alt + Backspace fills your stage with the Foreground color)

Although were still just working on the background that would hold our featured button let me show you a few tricks to jazz it up a bit. First let’s give it some Noise, go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise, and give it the following adjustments Amount 5% | Distribution: Gaussian, tick on Monochromatic

What we are trying to achieve is a nice wood finish, let’s add some Motion Blur, Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set Angle to 90° and Distance to 15px. We could add some imperfections in the wood finish, like swirls and waves using the Filter > Liquify tool to make it more realistic but you can do that on your own if you want.

Let’s continue and start adding some lighting effect with the Blending Options, Right Click on your “Layer 1″ then click on Blending Options… add a Gradient Overlay. Then give it the following settings Blend Mode to Overlay, Opacity: 75% then tweak the gradient color (Note: By Default the gradient is set in Black, White) we need to replace Black with “White” and the White with our dark brown background color #77451d. Then change the following- Style: Radial | Angle: 90°. That’s it!

Time to cork it

Create a new layer and rename this layer “cork-texture”, then go to Filter > Render > Clouds. You should have something like this.

Now we will add some fiber effect, Filter > Render > Fiber, give it some Variance: 20 and Strength: 4.0 so your clouds will turn into something like this.

Then finally here’s the “Pièce de résistance” we just need to add the last filter, this time go to Filter > Distort > Glass, make the following adjustments. Distortion: 15 | Smoothness: 1 | Texture: Frosted | Scaling: 100%.

Now take the Rounded Rectangle from your Shapes Palette, make sure it’s set to Shape layers, with Radius: 20px and drag a nice rectangle Width: 350px and make the Height: 140px. We have just created a new layer which we can rename and call “outline”.

Keep it centered with the Horizontal and Vertical Align tools. Then turn it into a selection (Ctrl + Click). Make sure the “cork-texture” layer is selected then go to the layers panel options and Add Layer Mask. You can now hide the “outline” layer by poking the eye next to it.

Details

With the “cork-texture” layer still selected right click on it to bring up Blending Options… menu. You can just follow my settings.

Let’s add another layer this time below the “cork-texture” layer and rename it “shadow”, turn the “outline” layer into a selection and fill it with #000000. (Note: You don’t have to turn it on to create the selection from it just hold Ctrl + Click the layer.)

Apply a gaussian blur filter, Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, set the Radius: 2.0px click OK then reduce the layer Opacity: 50%.

Content

Select the “cork-texture” layer then grab the Rounded Rectangle from your Shapes Palette again, drag it inside the “cork-texture” layer while holding the Shift key, this would help you create a new layer that’s a perfect square with rounded corners on top of the cork. Then give it the following Blending Options… settings. And don’t forget to rename this layer “button”.

Well be including a “down arrow” shape and place it inside the “button” layer. You can use any arrow shape you want but in case you’re interested I got mine from Shapes4FREE’s – 120 Arrows Photoshop Shapes. Just drag the arrow shape and make the size fit inside our “button” layer, rename this new layer “down-arrow”, keep it horizontally and vertically centered.

Turn this “down-arrow” layer into a selection. Then make sure the “button” layer is selected now Add Layer Mask. You can now just hide the “down-arrow” layer as we are done with it.

Finally we can add some content. Use your judgement to position them inside our “cork-texture” layer. Right + Click the “button” layer and choose Copy Layer Style, now Right + Click on your “Text” layers and Paste Layer Style.

And were DONE!

The main idea of this project is to create a deck of 54 unique playing cards. Artists and illustrators pick a card each and design it in their own style. When all designs are submitted, the deck is printed in a strictly limited number of copies, which are distributed between the members of the project. In short “The Creative Cards Project” is 54 unique playing cards from 54 top artists with one addition for the backside!

It’s the brainchild of the guys at digitalabstracts.com whose aim is to create something useful, collectable, pretty and unique. For artists and designers to collaborate on an interesting project and show off their unique style and techniques.

Two of Diamonds by Jonathan Foerster

Author’s Website

Three of Spades by Raphaël Vicenzi

Author’s Website

Four of Diamonds by Kervin W Brisseaux

Author’s Website

Five of Hearts by Matt Jones aka Lunartik

Author’s Website

Six of Clubs by Vitalik Sheptuhin

Author’s Website

Seven of Spades by Brand Nu

Author’s Website

Eight of Clubs by Andreas Preis

Author’s Website

Nine of Hearts by Hello Monday

Author’s Website

Ten of Spades by Simplevector

Author’s Website

Knave of Hearts by Jonathan Wong

Author’s Website

Queen of Clubs by Lucas de Alcântara

Author’s Website

King of Clubs by James White

Author’s Website

Ace of Clubs by David Delin

Author’s Website

Joker by Kenny Lindström

Author’s Website

As of this posting the contest that would decide whose design would be used for the backside of the entire deck is still ongoing but will soon end on March 23, 12:00 GMT.

Based on the highest Facebook likes this design seems to be in the lead…

Backside by Giga Kobidze

Author’s Website

Visit Vote for your favourite backside! to check out the competition and make it count by voting for the design you think should win.

The CGSociety is the most respected and accessible global organization for creative digital artists. They support artists at every level by offering a range of services to connect, inform, educate and promote digital artists worldwide.

Aly Fell

A freelance concept artist and illustrator from the U.K. He’s into drawing pin-ups, flying things, winged things and spooky things, and Steampunk!

Pirate Girl

The Absinthe Fairy

Lady Frances Drake

Glen Angus Tribute

Judith and Holofernes

Visit Aly Fell’s Website

Jeff Miller

Jeff is a Freelance Character Artist from the U.S. he has an extensive experience in the entertainment industry. With clients that includes Apple, Microsoft, Lucasfilm, Ubisoft and more. His work has graced the pages and covers of publications such as Wired Magazine, 3D World, and 3D Artist.

Brute Chieftain #2

Cover: Ghost Recon for Wii

The Black Eyed Peas tour poster

Cobra Commander

Sparrow

Visit Jeff Miller’s Website

Jaime Jasso

Jaime Jasso works as a digital matte artist for ILM in San Francisco, USA. Enough said!

A Spiritual City

Roman Stone Temple

MULTI CITY

Thekno City

Mayan City

Visit Jaime Jasso’s Website

Steven Stahlberg

With 11 years cg experience Steven was born in Australia, lived in Sweden, Hong Kong, USA, Malaysia, 3 years art school, a freelance artist that has an accumulated experience of 21 years.

Psycho Girlfriend

Squishy (and Girl)

Fairy And Snake

Ghost Child

3d School Ad

Visit Steven Stahlberg’s Website

Soa Lee

Soa Lee is a 3D artist from Korea but is currently working in the US.

Tears

Angel’s time

Taurus

Grace of the snow

Suphia

Visit Soa Lee’s Website

Jean-Sebastien Rossbach

French Illustrator, Concept artist, and author of the book MERLIN (Soleil)

MERLIN cover

Succubus Blues

all the windwracked stars

the Vixen – InQuest Gamer #137 cover

Hrolf Kraki

Visit Jean-Sebastien Rossbach’s Website

Visit CGSociety for more mind numbing inspirational digital works of art. Or if you think you have what it takes or passionate enough about your digital master pieces why not join the society and maybe your work will grace our pages in the near future. Goodluck!

What we will be making

If you want get updated on what’s happening here at Prodigal Concepts make sure to be one of us and LIKE us on facebook OK?

Step 1 – Setting the stage

Open Photoshop and create a new document with a 500×500 pixel dimensions let’s name this file “glassy-orb”.

Step 2 – Background

First thing we will do as create a nice looking background, make your “Foreground #badff7″ and the “Background #02578e” then with the Gradient Tool (G) selected set the gradient to Foreground to Background and style to Radial Gradient.

Now go to the center of our work area and drag it diagonally going towards the bottom right. Rename this layer as “main-bg”.

You should have something like this.

Add some noise to give it more character, go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise adjust the following settings Amount: 2%, Distribution: Gaussian, tick Monochromatic.

Step 3 – the Orb

Create a New Layer and rename it “orb” then grab your “Ellipse Tool (U)” from your shapes pallete and drag it across our work area while holding the Shift key to keep it proportion to make a nice circle. Fill it with the foreground color. Keep it centered on your work area by making a selection of the outline (Ctrl + A) and using Align vertical center and Align horizontal center buttons.

Right click the “orb” layer and go to Blending Options to access Layer Styles then give it an Inner Glow with the following settings, Color #01a8fe

Add a Gradient Overlay and choose the default black and white. But replace the black with #00506d and the white to #152128.

You should now have something like this.

Step 4 – Details

Turn the “orb” layer into a selection Ctrl + click on the layer, then create a New Layer and name it “bottom-glow”. Use the foreground color #01a8fe and with your Gradient Tool (G) selected set the gradient effect to Foreground to Transparent and style should be Radial Gradient hold the Shift key and drag your gradient from the bottom going up, stop before you get to the top of the orb. Repeat this step on a new layer and rename it “bottom-glow-2” exactly the same settings except for the gradient style which should be Linear Gradient.

Add another layer and rename it “top-gloss” turn the “orb” into a selection again Ctrl + click on the layer then make the foreground color #ffffff keep the last gradient settings except for the color and drag it, this time from the top going down. Then use the Transform Tool (T) and pinch it a bit on the sides. You may need to pinch it vertically as well just use your judgement here.

Then align it to top and keep it horizontally centered. Turn down the Opacity to 50% and give it a little Gaussian Blur 1-2% Radius should be enough.

Finishing touches

After that you can incorporate any logo or object you want but for me I used the Facebook logo I found on hdicon.com I used the dark Facebook blue for the color, flipped it vertically to create a subtle reflection and added a hint of shadow with the marquee tool. Remember to insert all of these below the “top-gloss” layer.

Finally with the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) selected again I created a New Layer on top of the “main-bg” layer and called it “shadow”. Just drag it across to create a nice elongated shape, fill it with black and center it to your stage, make sure it clears the orb. Then give it a nice Gaussian Blur with a radius of 5% then a Motion Blur Angle 0 deg, and Distance 50.

And you’re done

Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines.

I’ve gathered a few celebrity caricatures because they are easily identifiable wherever you’re from and the masters behind these works are also celebrities in their own right.

Celebrity caricatures by John Kascht

John is among a handful of caricaturists whose work is collected by The Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. His work is included in several monographs about caricature and portraiture, notably: “The History of Caricature” and has also appeared on book covers, billboards, Broadway marquees and more than a few cocktail napkins.

John Kascht’s satirical drawings can also be found on the pages or covers of: Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Reader’s Digest, Forbes, W, Oprah, Glamour, and MAD magazine, to name a few.

Keith Richards for Entertainment Weekly

Woody Allen for Reader’s Digest

Whoopi Goldberg for The National Portrait Gallery

Joni Mitchell for Rolling Stone

Jack Nicholson for GQ

Jay-z for Entertainment Weekly

Eminem for Entertainment Weekly

Daniel Radcliff for Entertainment Weekly

The Beatles for Entertainment Weekly

If you are hungry for more of John Kascht’s creations head over to his website johnkascht.com or bring him along anytime and anywhere you want to go with “Above & Beyond: John Kascht” app available on iTunes!

If you think that was awesome, sit back because there’s more! I just can’t let you go wandering off without seeing the rest of what the internet has to offer.

More celebrity caricatures from around the web!

Mr. Bean by mazhear

James Hetfield by Steveroberts

Dr. Gregory House by macpulenta

Dr. Jones by crisdelara04

Meryl Streep by Nelson Santos

Clint Eastwood by fillengroovy

Bruce Lee by AndrewMok

Agent Smith by mazhear

Joan Jett by Nelson Santos

Inglorious Basterds by Nelson Santos

What we will be making

Setting up the stage

Open Photoshop and create a new file, Ctrl + N and make the dimension a nice large square of 600 pixels x 600 pixels name it “lady-bug”. Fill it with white and name that layer “bg”.

Step 1 – the body

For the body we will use our Ellipse Tool, but first set your Foreground Color to #497e59 and make sure the Ellipse Tool (U) is set to Shape layers. Now drag your mouse on your work area and create a nice vertical ellipse. Like a nice egg shape around 265px width and height 340px. Rename this layer “body”. If your Ellipse Tool (U) has been properly set to Shape Layers then you should have something like this. Align your layer Vertical Center and make sure we have enough room on top for the head.

You can also just turn your path into a selection Ctrl + Enter and fill it with our foreground color if you find it easier.

Add some detail on the body by creating a new layer and rename it “abdomen”, change your Foreground Color to a darker shade of green like #092a13.

Now go to your shapes pallete again but this time use the Custom Shape option, then in your custom shape menu navigate to the Symbols pallete and pick World shape. Drag it across the work stage, we need it elliptical like our “body” layer but make sure it would fit snugly inside the body so make it a few pixels smaller and properly centered.

We will have to reduce the thickness as well so turn this layer into a selection Ctrl + click (with your mouse) then go to Select > Modify > Contract > Contract by: 5 then apply a layer mask. Don’t worry if the lines are not proportion just give it a light blur Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur set the Radius to 1 and reduce the Opacity to 45%.

Note: Group this layers together and rename it “body” (simply select both layers and drag them to the folder icon at the bottom of the layers pallete).

Step 2 – the wing

Create a new layer and name it “wings-outline” (change your foreground to any red color to make it stand out from the body) then with your Ellipse Tool (U) make a nice circle by holding the Shift Key while dragging, make it around 320 pixels or just make sure it’s smaller than the body by 10 pixels more or less. Keep it Vertical Center and Top Align to the body then turn it into a selection.

Create a new layer name it “wing-gradient” then choose a light red color for your foreground #fd0d18 and a darker shade of red for your background #950101 then select the Gradient Tool (G) make sure it’s set to Foreground to Background and the style should be Radial Gradient. Drag it lightly from the top left going down to the bottom right of your selection.

Step 3 – wing detail

Hide the “wings-outline” layer for now, just poke the eye of this layer while we add some details to our wings.

We need to separate the left and right wing, for this we will use some guides, so get your rulers out Ctrl + R the Vertical guide should be centered to our wing while the Horizontal guide should be a quarter from the top of the wing.

Time to practice with the Pen Tool (P), start from the intersection of our guides then make a diagonal line going to the bottom left of the wing, give it a nice curve and make your way to the other side of the guide just try and match the curve. Turn it into a selection Ctrl + Enter and invert your selection Ctrl + Shift + I now make sure you have “wing-gradient” layer selected then add a layer mask.

Ctrl + N a new layer below the “wing-gradient” layer and call it “shadow” then Ctrl + click the “wing-gradient” layer (thumbnail) and fill it with black #000000, don’t forget to duplicate the layer mask as well Ctrl + click the “wing-gradient” layer (thumbnail mask) to turn it into a selection and add a layer mask to the “shadow” layer. Finally give it a gaussian blur, Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > Radius: 5px.

Start adding random black dots all over the wing area with the Ellipse Tool (U) make sure you create these above the “wing-gradient” layer.

Now add a new layer on the very top of the black dots and call it “gloss”, turn the outline of the wing into a selection make your foreground color white #ffffff. Select the Gradient Tool (G) and set it to Foreground to Transparent style should be Linear Gradient. Drag it from the top going down, it may look better if you start from outside of the body so we get a nice soft gradient.

Transform this layer Ctrl + T highlight the width first, bring it down 80%, then the height to 70%. Align it Vertically and to the top of the “wing-gradient” layer.

Add another layer and call it “glow” repeat the steps we’ve done for the “gloss” effect but the gradient style here should be set to Radial Gradient and then drag it starting from the bottom going up. Clean up using a layer mask to replicate the space between the wings.

Note: Group them together and call it “wings”.

Step 4 – the head

Remember the “wings-outline” layer we turned off earlier? Duplicate that and place it between your “wings” group and your “body” group, turn on the copy and rename it “head”.

Move “head” into position at the top of the work stage then transform it Ctrl + T, select Maintain aspect ratio it’s the chain “link” looking button between the width and height then highlight the width and use Shift + Arrow Key Down to bring its size to around 40%. Deselect the option Maintain aspect ratio and then highlight height and this time just with the Down Arrow Key bring the height to at least 35%.

We will repeat the steps we used to create the “wing-gradient” layer. First turn your path into a selection Ctrl + Enter. Then choose a nice gray color for your foreground #484748 and black for your background #000000 then select the Gradient Tool (G) make sure it’s set to Foreground to Background and the style should be Radial Gradient. Drag it lightly from the top left going down to the bottom right of your selection.

(Note: if in doubt refer to the “wing-gradient” images)

Then give a “gloss” effect similar to what we have also done for the wing.

All that’s left now is the antennae.

Step 5 – the antennae

Create a layer below the “head” and call this new layer “antennae-left”, then with your brush tool selected, I will be using a Hard Round brush around 10px, create a dot anywhere on our stage we will position it later. Then reduce the diameter of your brush to around 7px using the left bracket [ key you can just stroke a curve line freehand if you like, but I will use the pen tool to create mine, starting from the dot going straight down then curve. Now go to the Path Tab and right click on the path we just created, choose Stroke Path make sure Simulate Pressure is not ticked, then click OK.

Right click the layer and go to Blending Options > Bevel and Emboss > Inner Bevel set Angle 90° and Altitude 45°. Now position this on the “head” use Transform Ctrl + T to rotate it to an angle that would look good. Duplicate this layer and rename it “antennae-right” and move it to the opposite side.

And that’s all I have to say about that

Hmmmn, how about some shadows? and a background?

For the shadow just group all the files in one folder and call that “main”, duplicate it then Right Click and Merge Group, then turn it into a selection. Ctrl click the layer and fill with black #000000 bring it below the “main” group then Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, Radius: 7px and bring it down a bit with the Arrow keys.

As for the background I’m leaving it all up to you and your creativity! Enjoy!

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com tutorials…

Jeremy Saunders has 9 years worth of Key Art experience under his belt and I would like to take this opportunity to share some of them with all of you. But first what is “Key Art”?

A little bit of history

Movie posters have been and still is a big part of the industry since the earliest public exhibitions of films. What began as placards listing the programme of (short) films to be shown inside the hall or movie theater in the early 1900s evolved to featuring illustrations of scenes from each individual film or an array of overlaid images from several scenes. Other movie posters have used artistic interpretations of a scene or even the theme of the film, represented in a wide variety of artistic styles.

What is KEY ART?

Key art is a film poster used to advertise a film. It will be what the viewer remembers about the film long after the film’s original release date. There may also be several versions for one film, with variations in regards to size, content and country of production of the poster. It usually contains an image, or multiple images, composed to tell the story of the film. The titles are often designed to go with the artwork and often the names of the main actors are designed, as well. It might also include a tag line, billing block and contractual logos.

Key art can also be used to advertise a television show. Much of network advertising’s main artwork is known as key art and is used for advertising on web sites, billboards, magazines, city buses, bus shelters and banners. (Source – joseph-rey.com)

And now without further ado, here’s Johnny!

Burning Man

BURNING MAN is the reckless, sexy, funny, moving and ultimately life-affirming story of Tom, a British chef in a Bondi restaurant, who seems to have decided there are no longer any rules he needs to obey. Whatever Tom is up to, his actions seem to be tolerated by those around him.

As Tom descends into darkness, fragments of a different story begin to emerge. All the women in his world are trying in their own, very different ways to help put him back together.

Starring: Matthew Goode, Bojana Novakovic, Essie Davis, Kerry Fox, Rachel Griffiths (Source)

Che

Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline. Part One is entitled The Argentine and focuses on the Cuban revolution from the landing of Fidel Castro, Guevara, and other revolutionaries on Cuba to their successful toppling of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista two years later. Part Two is entitled Guerrilla and focuses on Guevara’s attempt to bring revolution to Bolivia and his demise. Both parts are shot in a cinéma vérité style, but each has different approaches to linear narrative, camerawork, and the visual look. (Source)

We Don’t Live Here Anymore

We Don’t Live Here Anymore is a 2004 drama film directed by John Curran. It is based on the short stories We Don’t Live Here Anymore and Adultery by Andre Dubus. (Source)

Here I Am

Karen is a beautiful woman with a dark past, but she’s got potential and she knows it. Upon her release from prison she realises the hardest person to forgive is herself. (Source)

Animal Kingdom

ANIMAL KINGDOM is a powerful crime drama exploring the tense battle between a criminal family and the police, and the ordinary lives caught in the middle.

Starring BEN MENDELSOHN, JOEL EDGERTON and GUY PEARCE, LUKE FORD, JACKI WEAVER, SULLIVAN STAPLETON and introducing JAMES FRECHEVILLE. (Source)

Antichrist

A grieving couple retreat to ’Eden’, their isolated cabin in the woods, where they hope to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse…

Starring: Willem Dafoe & Charlotte Gainsbourg (Source)

Beautiful

Searing and luscious, BEAUTIFUL tells the story of Daniel, a shy and introverted 14 year old boy residing in Sunshine Hills, a suburb living in the grip of fear following the rumoured abductions of three teenage girls. Daniel’s two main obsessions are photography and Suzy, a 17 year old Lolita, a dangerous combination of youth and sexuality. But what starts out as an innocent summer holiday becomes anything but, and they’re drawn into a web of seduction, murder and deceit, from childhood fantasy and into the harsh reality of the real world… (Source)

Lucky Country

1902….the Australian Federation is a year old. Twelve year-old Tom’s beloved father, Nat, has dragged him and his sister, Sarah, to an isolated farm at the edge of the woods. But Nat’s dream of living off the land has died and he is losing his grip on sanity. When three ex-soldiers arrive at their cabin one night Tom, like his father, believes they are providence. But their presence becomes more menacing when one of them reveals a secret: he’s found gold. As the lure of gold infects everyone around him the cabin becomes a psychological battleground in which Tom’s loyalty is put to the ultimate test. (Source)

The White Ribbon

A village in Protestant northern Germany. 1913-1914. On the eve of World War I. The story of the children and teenagers of the choir run by the village schoolteacher, and their families: the baron, the steward, the pastor, the doctor, the midwife, the tenant farmers. Strange accidents occur and gradually take on the character of a punishment ritual. Who is behind it all? (Source)

Candy

A poet named Dan (Heath Ledger) falls in love with an art student named Candy (Abbie Cornish) who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle – and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair. (Source)

Suburban Mayhem

Katrina (Emily Barclay) is a 19-year-old single mum who’s planning to get away with murder. Katrina lives in a world of petty crime, fast cars, manicures and blow-jobs. A master manipulator of men living at home with her father in suburban Golden Grove, Katrina will stop at nothing to get what she wants – even murder. When her father threatens to contact social services and take away her child, Katrina sets in motion a plan to wreak suburban mayhem that will leave a community in shock and make Katrina infamous in a way even she never dreamed of. (Source)

Good Night, and Good Luck

Good Night, and Good Luck. is set in 1953, during the early days of television broadcast journalism. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and his dedicated staff—headed by his co-producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) and reporter Joseph Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.) in the CBS newsroom—defy corporate and sponsorship pressures, and discredit the tactics used by Joseph McCarthy during his crusade to root out Communist elements within the government. (Source)

The Motorcycle Diaries

In 1952, a semester before Ernesto “Fuser” Guevara is due to complete his medical degree, he and his older friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist, leave Buenos Aires in order to travel across South America. While there is a goal at the end of their journey – they intend to work in a leper colony in Peru – the main purpose is initially fun and adventure. They desire to see as much of Latin America as they can, more than 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) in just four and a half months, while Granado’s purpose is also to court as many women as will fall for his pick-up lines. Their initial method of transport is Granado’s dilapidated Norton 500 motorcycle christened La Poderosa (“The Mighty One”). (Source)

Related readings:

Key Art – The Art of The Process

50 Beautiful Movie Posters

Movie Poster Gallery

Key Art Designs

Where to find Jeremy Saunders on the web

Website: jeremysaunders.com

Blog: Jeremy’s Blog

Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook

He was cool enough to sit down with Prodigal Concepts over digital coffee and it’s a treat I’m sharing with all of you a short Q&A with Jirka Väätäinen.

Q: Can you give us a brief bio of how you got into design?

Ever since I was a little kid, I have always done a lot of arts related stuff. Being creative and designing is what I am most passionate about, so it was a natural choice for me to get a higher education degree in design and turn my interests into a career.

Q: And who were your inspirations if you have any? People you look up to for inspiration?

There are so many talented people, and so much inspiring stuff out there that I don’t think I can just name a few people! Different people have inspired me at different times.

Snow White – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Q: Aside from your creative imagination where do you go to or what do use to stimulate creativity?

I draw inspiration from all areas of design and visual culture, whether it is movies, fashion, photography, graphic design or so on. So give me anything visual really, and I am good to go!

Princess Aurora – The Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella

Ariel – The Little Mermaid

Q: What was your creative design process while working on the Disney characters?

The design process has been very casual, since the project was self-initiated and it was just something I explored for fun. Being familiar with all the characters and having a clear idea on what I was looking to portray, the process has simply involved finding appropriate inspiration from real life people and photos, and then just working towards achieving my vision in photoshop!

Ursula the Sea Witch – The Little Mermaid

Belle – Beauty and the Beast

Meg – Hercules

Q: Can you share with us (*aspiring creatives) some words of wisdom on how we could harness our creativity and standout from the multitudes of creatives out there?

I would just suggest everyone to have fun and find out what the things are that you genuinely enjoy doing – since after all, standing out will require you to do your own thing!

Jasmine – Aladdin

Esmeralda – The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Pocahontas

Mulan

Rapunzel – Tangled

Tiana – Princess and the Frog

I hope you guys enjoyed this post as I have enjoyed working on it, be sure to share it with your friends. And I would like to thank Mr. Jirka Väätäinen who has been generous enough to share his time and his work with us today.

Where to find Jirka Väätäinen on the web

Portfolio: @Behance.net

Blog: Jirka’s Blog

Social Networks: Twitter, LinkedIn

That being said let’s get down to business.

What we will be making

What we need for this project:

• Castle from imageafter.com
• Hot air balloon from pixmac.com
• RA2 Kirov from cncguild.net StoneDragon.jpg from EA forums
• Elephant from pixmac.com
• PSD file from the skyscape tutorial

“Previously on Prodigal Concepts” we found and used this landscape stock image that we got from pixmac.com

and with the help of Photoshop we duplicated, flipped and cloned parts of the image to make it look like one single shot that would fit nicely in our 2560px work area so that we could finally have this

after that we populated the heavens with stars, planets, clouds and colorful gasses.

So finally we are almost at the end of our journey and moving on to the last stages of our composition. But before we continue make sure you group the previous layers accordingly “landscape” and “skyscape” you can do this by selecting the layers you want to group together then drag them to the folder looking icon at the bottom of the layers panel.

Update the water reflection

Now check out the reflection of the sky and mountain on our body of water. It’s not the same sky right? So first thing we will do is take care of that problem.

If you have your “Ninth Planet” .PSD file open. Create a new layer at the very top of the layers panel and rename it “reflection-sky” then simply Select All or Ctrl + A and make a copy of the entire file or merged layers Ctrl + Shift + C then paste it Ctrl + V to the “reflection-sky” layer we’ve just created, this will be the first layer on the third group which we will call “realm”.

Flip the “reflection-sky” layer image vertically Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical, then reduce the Opacity to around 50% or less so we can see through the image. Start moving it downwards Shift + Down Arrow until the mountain edges of the reflections align, it’s not going to be perfect so just try the closest you can get.

Now let’s add a layer mask to “reflection-sky” layer and with a soft brush tool, brush off all the excess areas that is not part of the water reflection. Use the Blending Mode “Stroke” to help you trim the edges, like what we did for the sky of the original background in the “skyscape” tutorial. Don’t hesitate to zoom in if you need to. Turn Opacity back to 100% when you’re done masking.

Apply Filter Effects

Our “reflection-sky” layer desperately needs some texture. To give it that ripples effect, like there’s a very light breeze running over it. We will add some “Smart Filters” to create this effect, Smart Filters is a non destructive way to add a filter to your images. It will help us preserve the quality of the original image and will give us the option to make adjustments to the filter settings later when we need to. So while the “reflection-sky” layer is still selected go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters, then click OK. Our layer is now converted to a “Smart Object”.

Now go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Sprayed Strokes and make the following adjustments.

Next lets give it some “Plastic Wrap” filter, go to Filter > Artistic > Plastic Wrap and use the following settings.

For an extra touch add Filter > Blur > Motion Blur, set Angle: 0 and Distance: 2

You should have something similar to this.

Adding details

Now for the fun part, placing the last elements that would finally complete this project. If you guys haven’t done so, you may begin downloading the required stock photos and extract the images from their backgrounds I suggest starting with the “Castle” photo.

Castle

Place the isolated copy of “Castle” photo on our working file, make sure it’s at the top most layer rename the layer “Castle”. Reduce it’s size a bit, I suggest 18% – 20%, and place it on the right hand side just by the edge of our lake.

Lets tweak it a bit, click on the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” button, select “Curves…” click OK then clip it to the “Castle” layer (hold ALT then click on the line between the two layers) open “Curves…” again (double click on the adjustment layer) and try to match these settings.

It doesn’t have to perfect. Your monitor might show a different result anyway so use your judgement here. Click OK. What we are trying to achieve is to make it blend with our background’s exposure.

OK now zoom in near the bottom of the “Castle”, notice the way I cut it out of the background left it with some really sharp edges that doesn’t look nice. For this grab your Smudge Tool (R), but if you placed your “Castle” image the same way I did which is File > Place… (location of the image) chances are your “Castle” layer is in “Smart Object” state. Right click on it first and then select Rasterize Layer now it’s just a regular image and ready for our Smudge Tool (R).

By the way before you click on Smudge Tool (R) make sure your Brush (B) tip is set to Soft Round use the Brackets [ ] keys to increase or decrease the brush tip whenever necessary.

Start smudging, try to stay close to the edge and smudge away. Maintain random strokes and spaces. Spot the difference? After smudging the bottom edge looks more blended to the ground.

Duplicate the “Castle” layer (don’t forget to include the curve adjustment layer.) Select both layer copies “Castle-copy” and “adjustment layer-copy” then Right Click > Merge Layers rename it “Castle-ref” and drag it below the original “Castle” layer.

Now flip it vertically, Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical and move it down, Shift + Down Arrow right before a gap shows between your two images.

Then repeat the steps we made in “Apply Filter Effects”. Add a Layer-Mask so we can Brush off excess of the reflection that’s not touching the water. Like the left part of the “Castle-ref”.

Do the same for the rest of our images. Unless they’re not supposed to be seen from the reflection on our “Lake”.

I will be placing a couple of elephants on the field, I will give some shadows with the help of brushes and the elephants outline selection.

The hot air balloons will be on the top left hand side. I gave it a dash of clouds from the “cloud” brush pack by JavierZhX, we’ve downloaded from deviantart that we used on the second part of this tutorial.

The rest is just some last minute changes, I went back to the “skyscape” group and using a large soft brush I dabbed on the top most left hand side. Using yellow, purple and green respectively. Gave it a Blending Mode: Overlay, and Opacity: 90%.

After my new year wallpaper tutorial I’ve decided to give this final piece some Optic Flare effects for extra character, that you can get from psdbox.com’s optic flares. Since I’m still in the “skyscape” group folder anyway I figure it’s a good time to include these effects.

And finally we’re done

Finishing touches: Ctrl + (N) a new layer, then get your “Gradient Tool” and set the Foreground color to #5e758c and the Background color to #165a9e now drag it across diagonally starting from the bottom right ending at the top left corner. Set the Blending Mode: Soft Light to give it a more dreamy feel.

Concluded: Part 3 of 3

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