Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

In this Photoshop tutorial, I will show you the process of creating this Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop. We will practice a number of layer masking techniques and image adjustment tricks along the way, as well as applying some interesting filter effect to our image.

This is an intermediate level tutorial so some steps can be tricky, but why not have a try!

Note: The Photoshop tutorial is done in CS6 – therefore some screenshot may have slighting different layout as in the earlier version. Some brushes are exclusive to Photoshop CS6.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

cracked face rock flatten 550x300 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

OK Let’s get started!

To complete this tutorial, you will need the following stocks:

Model by faestock

Painted Wall with Crack

Rock Texture

Grunge Brushset

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1280px * 700px with white background. Grab the gradient fill tool and fill the background layer as shown below:

1 fill1 550x300 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Load the model image into Photoshop and copy and paste its facial area into our document:

1 face 550x296 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Select the eraser tool with a grunge brush set:

1 grunge 550x143 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

 

1 erase Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this face layer:

Levels

1 lvs Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Curves

1 curves Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

and here is the effect so far:

1 effect 550x340 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Step 2

We can apply the crack texture to the facial area. Load the wall stock image into Photoshop and select a portion of the image as shown below:

2 sel 550x599 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Copy and paste the selection over to our image and place it above all previous layers. Adjust its size slightly with the free transform tool, and set it as a clipping mask to the layer below:

2 paste Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Apply the following layer mask on this crack texture layer to reveal the eyes, nose and lips area:

2 mask Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

and you will have the following effect:

2 effect2 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Add another 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this crack layer:

2 lvs1 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Curves

2 curves2 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

and here is the effect so far:

2 effect 21 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Step 3

Let’s add the abstract pattern into the image with the help of the rock stock image we downloaded at the beginning of this tutorial. Load the image into Photoshop and select a piece as shown below:

3 sel1 550x331 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Copy and paste the selection behind the face as shown below:

3 paste1 550x342 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Apply the following layer mask over the rock texture layer:

3 mask 550x375 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

You will have the following effect:

3 effect1 550x452 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Add the following 2 adjustment layers to this rock layer as clipping masks:

Black and White

3 bw Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Levels

3 lvs Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Let’s add another piece of rock texture on top of the face as shown below:

3 paste 21 550x307 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Slightly adjust the contrast of this new piece of rock with the following settings:

3 lvs 2 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Optionally, we can add some small particles by selecting a few small pieces from the wall stock image:

3 sel samll piece 550x316 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

And copy and paste them over to our image:

3 particle1 550x399 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Step 4

We will draw a few curvy lines onto our image to spice up the effect a bit. Grab the Line Tool from the toolbox:

4 lines Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Set its fill color to light blue with no stroke:

4 fill 550x455 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

and draw a thin line as shown below:

4 draw Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Then go to Filter > Distort > Wave:

4 wave 550x359 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

You will have the following dialog window pop up, just click on “OK” to proceed:

4 raster 550x305 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Use the following settings for the wave filter:

4 wave set 550x433 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

and here is effect for the line:

4 effect1 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

We will add a small piece of flyer rock to the end of the line:

4 rock 550x339 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Repeat the process above to add a few more of the lines and rock to our image, as shown below:

4 rock 2 550x346 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Step 5

We’re almost done! For final touches, we can add some cloud effect behind the facial area:

5 cloud 550x352 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

We can also paint some extra abstract patterns onto the canvas:

5 paint 550x391 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Once you’re happy with the overall effect, flatten the image and duplicate the background layer, apply the following Wave filter to the duplicated layer:

5 wave 550x432 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

Add the following layer mask to the duplicate layer to reveal the background layer:

5 mask 550x307 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

and here is the effect so far:

5 effect1 550x296 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

I further enhanced the image by adding some color effect with the color balance layer, and here is the final effect: (click to enlarge)

cracked face rock flatten 550x300 Artistic Photo Manipulation with Cracked Face Effect in Photoshop

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy going through it and find it useful. Drop me a comment below if you have any question.

Till next time, have a great day!