Preparation:

You will need to first gather an image you wish to wrap and a texture you want to wrap it with. It is good if you can find a seamless texture to use, but not completely necessary. For this tutorial I will be using the the photo and snake skin texture seen to the left. My texture is not seamless, but it is large enough to cover the area of my object that I wish to wrap (the woman's face), so it will work out.

Open your image and set it up like mine is with the object on top and texture below it. We are going to need to make a displacement map so Photoshop knows the contours of the object we are going to map. Go to Image>Duplicate, check the Duplicate Merged Layers Only box and hit OK. Next, go Image>Mode>Grayscale to convert your new image to grayscale.

Now you need to blur your image a little so the distortions will be less extreme. Go Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use a radius of 2 pixels. Save the image as "facemap.psd" by going File>Save As. Remember where you save it.

Close the gray image and go back to your original one. Move the texture layer above the object by going to the Layers Palette and dragging Layer 2 above Layer 1. Ctrl+click (Mac: Cmd+click) on Layer 2 to load it as a selection. Go to Filter>Distort>Displace. Choose 10% Horizontal and 10% Vertical Scale, Stretch to Fit, and Repeat Edge Pixels. Click OK.

Find your "facemap.psd" file in the window that pops up and click Open. Your texture is now distorted to effectively wrap your object.

Now you need to select the area of your image that you wish to apply the texture to. There are many ways to accomplish this. The Example image is fairly difficult to select, so I will use a quick mask to select the woman's face. Hit the Quick Mask button () then select the Air Brush Tool (). Zoom into your image to make it easier to work with my hitting Ctrl++ (Cmd++) 2 or 3 times. Hide the top texture layer (Layer 2) and click Layer 1 in the Layer Palette. Make sure the Foreground color is set to black (it should already be) and begin air brushing the area you want to wrap (the woman's face). You will need to switch to smaller brushes to get into tight areas. Make sure to only color in the skin areas and not the woman's eyes, mouth, etc. The filled in areas will turn red.

Click the Standard Mode button () to create a selection. Click on the texture layer (Layer 2) in the Layers Palette and hit Delete. The only area of the texture that will be left is the part that is over the area you just masked. You should now be looking at the exquisite being to the left.

Deselect you selection by hitting Ctrl+B (Cmd+B) Go to the Layers Palette and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. For different objects, different modes may look better. Feel free to experiment with them. You might way to also play with the Opacity level to decrease the strength of the texture. I chose 90%. That's it. You now have yourself a lovely Snake Girl!

Tutorials: Photoshop

Title/Description

Level

3D Globs
Make those big trendy 3D globs using nothing but Photoshop.

Beginner

Actions and Batching
Save your precious time by automating tasks by using Actions and Batching.

Beginner

Box Art
Learn how to turn 2D artwork into a 3D software box, hardcover book, or other object.

Intermediate

Brushes
Create custom brushes and learn to use Photoshop's powerful brush engine.

Intermediate

Chromage
Make oh so smooth chrome effects.

Advanced

Colorburst
Learn how to make simple, eye-catching colorbursts.

Beginner

Colorize
Colorize is a artistic effect used by a lot of graphic designers to detail pictures.

Intermediate

Fire Text: Tutorial
Set your text ablaze with burning wrath.

Intermediate

Grunge: Tutorial
Create grungy background effects.

Intermediate

Ice Text: Tutorial
Learn who to chisel your own ice text.

Intermediate

Keyboard Shortcuts: Tutorial
Find out about all of Photoshop's lovely shortcut keys.

Beginner

Lighting Effects: Tutorial
Create realistic-looking plastic objects by using powerful lighting effects techniques.

Intermediate

Masking: Tutorial
Hide parts our your layers with style by using Photoshop's powerful masking features.

Intermediate

Micro Buttons: Tutorial
Learn how to make micro buttons in Photoshop.

Beginner

Neon Glow Text: Tutorial
Make neon text like that often found on commerical signs.

Intermediate

Outlines
Create suave outlines the old-fashioned way.

Beginner

Paths: Tutorial
Use paths to create smooth and editable selections.

Beginner

Seamless Water Texture: Tutorial
Make a very stylish and useful water texture.

Intermediate

Texture Wrapping: Tutorial
Learn how to realistically wrap a texture around an object.

Intermediate

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