What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial I'll show you how to use Adobe Photoshop to create a surreal piece featuring a giant fish trying to swallow the moon.

First, we'll build the base scene of the sea and add the fish. After that, we'll add the moon, paint the bubbles, and create the water's splashes. We'll use several adjustment layers to complete the final effect.

Tutorial Assets



The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

1. How to Build the Base Scene

Step 1

Create a new 2000 x 1289 px document in Photoshop with the given settings:

The background color should be #1a2635 .

Step 2

Open the sky image. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to select the sky only, and drag it into the main canvas using the Move Tool (V). Place it in the upper half.

Step 3

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance and change the Midtones values to make the sky blue.

Step 4

Create a Curves adjustment layer to darken the sky.

Step 5

On the sky layer, click the second icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a mask to this layer. Activate the Brush Tool (B) and select a soft round one with black color. Lower the brush's Opacity to 10-15% to reduce the cloud's texture on the upper section of the sky.

Step 6

Create a Color Fill layer and fill with the color #20374c . On this layer mask, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the upper half of the canvas. Turn the foreground to white and press Delete to reveal the lower part of the water.

Step 7

Make a Curves adjustment layer above the Color Fill layer to darken the water and set it as a Clipping Mask. On this layer mask, use a soft black brush with Opacity of about 20-25% to reduce the dark effect on the top of the water part, as we're aiming to add some light above these areas.

2. How to Make the Water's Surface

Step 1

Open the sea image and select the sea part. Place it in the middle section of the main canvas, above the water. Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to transform the sea part a bit.

Add a mask to this layer, use a soft black brush to remove the hard edges of the background, and use a medium-hard black brush to paint on the lower part of the surface.

Step 2

Make a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and alter the Master settings.

Step 3

Create a Curves adjustment layer to darken the surface. On this layer mask, use a soft black brush with Opacity of about 10-15% to reduce the effect on both sides of the water.

Step 4

Make another Curves adjustment layer with the same purpose. Paint on the background of the surface to reveal some lightness there.

Step 5

Create a new layer on top of the other layers and use a small brush with the color #d5deee to paint the contour of the lower part of the water's surface.

3. How to Retouch the Fish

Step 1

Isolate the fish and add it to the main canvas. Use Control-T to turn its head up and the tail down.

Add a mask to this layer and use a medium-hard black brush to remove the part of the fish that covers the lower part of the water's surface.

Step 2

Make a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate the fish.

Step 3

Add a Color Fill layer and pick the color #0861a4 . Use this layer to erase the higher part of the fish which is out of the water. This step is to make the lower part of the fish blend better with the water.

Step 4

Make a Photo Filter adjustment layer and pick the color #167fb6 . On this layer mask, paint on the top and bottom of the fish's head to reduce the color's effect there.

Step 5

Create a Curves adjustment layer to darken the fish. Use this layer to decrease the dark effect on some areas of the fish: the head, mouth, and fins.

Step 6

Use another Curves adjustment layer with the same purpose, especially for the lower body of the fish. The selected areas show where to paint on the layer mask.

Step 7

Make a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100%, and fill with 50% gray.

Activate the Dodge and Burn Tool (O) with Midtones Range and Exposure about 15-30%. Paint highlight/shadow on the fish's head, fins, and the details on its body. You can see how I did it with Normal mode and the result with Overlay mode.

Step 8

Make a new layer and use a soft brush with the color #d5deee to strengthen the highlight on the fish's head. Alter this layer mode to Overlay 100%.

4. How to Add the Moon

Step 1

Cut out the moon and add it above the fish's mouth. Use Control-T to resize it to be smaller than the mouth. Add a mask to this layer and use a hard black brush to erase the part of the moon outside the mouth of the fish.

Step 2

Make a Color Balance adjustment layer to turn the moon's color to blue.

Step 3

Create a Curves adjustment layer to brighten and decrease the contrast of the moon. Use a soft black brush with Opacity of about 30% to reduce the brightness on the right side of the moon.

Step 4

Add a new layer on top of the other layers and use a soft brush with the color #acafb1 to paint some glowing light for the moon. Change this layer mode to Soft Light 100%.

5. How to Add the Bubbles

Step 1

Make a new layer on top of the other layers and turn the brush to the bubbles one. Change the foreground to #d7e7e7 and select the brush you like (I've chosen the one numbered 93). Press F5 to alter the settings for this brush.

Use this brush to paint tiny bubbles around the lower part of the fish, below the surface. Hold [ and ] to change the size of the brush while painting.

Step 2

Add a mask to this layer and use a soft black brush to reduce the bubbles' visibility, making them blend better with the dark water.

Step 3

Create a new layer and paint bigger bubbles, reducing their visibility with the same techniques.

Step 4

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 4 px. This step is to increase the depth of the water.

6. How to Create the Water's Splashes

Step 1

Drag the splash 1 image to find the angle you want. You can see the screenshot below to know which one I've chosen. Place the splash below the water's surface.

Duplicate this layer to make the splash clearer, and duplicate it again and move it higher as shown below:

Step 2

Add a mask to each of these layers to erase the unwanted details and make the splash effect appear very subtle, as shown below:

Step 3

Select all of these splash layers and hit Control-G to make a group for them. Change this group mode to Normal 100% and use a Color Balance adjustment layer to give the splash's color more blue.

Step 4

Open the splash 2 image and use the Lasso Tool (L) to select the splash to add it to the fish's area. Duplicate this layer and flip it horizontally (Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal).

Change the mode of these layers to Screen 70% and use layer masks to erase most of the hard edges. We'll use several adjustment layers to remove the remaining ones later.

Step 5

Make a group for these layers with Screen mode 100%. Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate the effect.

Step 6

Use two Levels adjustment layers to delete the unwanted edges of the splashes.

Step 7

Make a Color Balance adjustment layer to give the effect's color a bit of blue to fit the rest of the scene.

Step 8

Open the splash 3 image and use the Lasso Tool to select a part to add to the fish's area. Change this layer mode to Screen 100% and use a layer mask to erase the hard edges around it.

Step 9

Select different parts of the splash 3 image to add around the fish. Alter these layers' mode to Screen 100% and mask off the unwanted edges.



Step 10

Use a Levels adjustment layer to remove all of the remaining edges.



Step 11

Add a Color Balance adjustment layer to change the color of the effect to blue.

7. How to Make the Final Adjustments

Step 1

Go back to the sea's surface. Make a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100%, and fill it with 50% gray. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool to paint more highlight/shadow for the water's surface below the moon's area where it gets light from the moon.

Step 2

Make a Curves adjustment layer to darken the edges, especially the bottom of the water. Paint on the upper section so it won't be darkened by this adjustment layer.

Step 3

Create two Photo Filter adjustment layers and pick the colors #00d9ec and #5f86f5 .

Step 4

Add a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the moon and fish areas. Use a soft black to erase the rest to keep its darkness and contrast.

Congratulations, You're Done!

I hope that you've enjoyed the tutorial and learned something new for your own projects. Feel free to share your results or leave comments in the box below. Enjoy Photoshopping!

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