Avatar Image

Alien Transformation

In our first assessment, we were asked to create an avatar from the movie "Avatar" by James Cameron or something using the same tools that were used to create that affect. I went with an alien transformation. Here is what I came up with. Below the image is a tutorial of how I got to this result.

Grab the Eraser Tool (E) and erase the eyes. Now use the Clone Stamp Tool (S) to clone parts of the cheeks over the nose. It'll look like the nose is erased. Use the Healing Stamp Tool to fix any not natural looking parts on the place where the nose first was.

Go to Filter > Liquify Tool (Shift+Ctrl+X) and a new window will show. Use the Forward Warp Tool (W) in this window to stretch out the empty place where the eyes first were. I used a brush with a size of approximately 30 pixels. Stretch it until it has the shape of an alien eye. Press OK to accept the changes.

I used some alien eyes that I created before (Source file) and pasted them in the layer behind the face. Scale the eye using Transform (Ctrl+T) until it's at a right size. Use the Burn Tool (O) to make the areas around the eyes a little bit darker so it will look more realistic.

Get ready to change some colors using Color Balance (Ctrl+B). Play around with the Color Balance and Tone Balance until you think you have something alien-like.

I used these settings: shadows: 0,20,0; midtones: 0,20,0; highlights: 0,40,0.

Grunge your face. On a new layer, cover the face with a grunge pattern using Transform (Ctrl+T). Set the Blending Mode of the grunge layer to Color Burn and the Opacity around 25%.

Mask the face. In the grunge layer that was just created, add a black mask by (Alt+click) on add vector mask. Grab the paint brush with the color white and simply brush around the face to reveal the grunge pattern that was just applied.

Draw facial lines on a new layer using the Brush Tool (B). These lines can be used for detail. Select the lines on the layer and go to Blending Options. In this new window, go to Bevel and Emboss. Use the standard settings but change: Style: Pillow Emboss.

I used these values: depth: 51%; size: 1px; soften: 1px.

When satisfied, press OK to save the settings. Grab your Burn Tool (O) and burn the lines so that it'll look more realistic.

Adjust the levels of the image by opening the Levels panel (Ctrl+L). Change the levels of the image until you have a nice, realistic looking face.