photoshop tutorial - making gradients (easy)
photoshop tutorial :) i am using ps cs4 but theyre all pretty similiar. this is a relatively short tutorial and its not very difficult :) enjoy!
in this tutorial i am going to teach you how to add gradients! i will teach you how to add gradients to clothing as well as adding eyeshadow to a sitemodel :)
i am going to be using this picture
1) get your lasso tool ready and make sure it is on polygonal lasso. if you're not sure if its on polygonal lasso, right click the icon in the toolbar and select it :)
2) now select the shirt. you're going to select it by taking the polygonal lasso tool and going all along the shirt. i am not going to select her sweater - just the inside shirt.
3) now that her shirt is selected, youre going to want to copy the selection onto a new layer. do this by pressing ctrl + j
4) now double click the layer with just the shirt on it and the blending options window will come up. go to gradient overlay.
5) now make your gradient. you can use any angle and setting that you want. im going to make my gradient have these settings:
here is the setting that my actual gradient looks like
the purple color is 8765aa ; and the blue color is a5dcdd
now press okay until the blending options window is closed, and you now have a gradient on the shirt!
now its time to add some eyeshadow. make a new layer by pressing ctrl + shift + n and name the layer eyeshadow.
get your polygonal lasso tool and zoom in the photo by pressing ctrl and the actual + sign
i usually zoom in 2 or 3 times. however you like it.
now lasso around the upper part of her eye where you want the eyeshadow. i started on her eye toward the left of the picture. now go to your marquee tool, or press M. right click and go to fill. fill it with any color. black white orange lime green. it really makes no difference :)
now deselect that area and do the same thing to the other eye (polygonal lasso, press m, right click, fill, deselect) now, open the blending options window on the layer titled eyeshadow.
right when you open the blending options window there is a part called "advanced blending" the "fill opacity" is currently set to 100% - make it 0% (it will look like your eyeshadow is gone, but it will be back in the next step :)
now go to the gradient overlay box. (if you want your eyeshadow to just be one color, skip this next step)
make your gradient how you want it. typically i would use the same colors that i made the shirt so that it all matches. when youre happy with your gradient, set it to overlay.
if you just want your eyeshadow to be one color (no gradient) check the 'color overlay' box instead. when you are happy with the color you selected for the eyeshadow, set it to overlay.
now press okay until the blending options window closes. and you're done! here is my final result.
