Creating an Avatar of yourself

[Jaaa!&]

Step 1: IntroductionComment on this step

Blue faces, kitty lookin' eyes, everyone loves Avatar! Okay, I admit I know nothing about the movie. But the characters sure do look cool!

 

In this tutorial, I'll be showing you how to turn a portrait of a young lady into a Na'vi inspired character.

 

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Final Result Preview

 

 

Step 2: EyesComment on this step

The first step was to enlarge the eyes.

 

To do so, I selected the Freeform Selection Tool and dragged a selection around the eyes.

 

Then, I copied (Edit > Copy) and pasted (Edit > Paste) this selection onto a new layer.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Eyes, Part 2Comment on this step

Rather than enlarging the eyes and deteriorating the quality of the image, I chose to shrink the rest of the image and keep the eyes at their initial size.

 

I selected the original source image layer from the Layers Menu and selected the Transformation Tool. I dragged one of the corners from the bounding box and shrunk it down until I was happy with the size of the eyes in relation to the head, then pressed Enter.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4: Eyes, Part 3Comment on this step

To blend the eyes onto the resized face, I selected the Eraser Tool with the Hardness set to 0 and erased around the eyes to create a smoother blend onto the face.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5: Eyes, Part 4Comment on this step

I then wanted to give a green tint to the eyes. To do so, I created a new layer and selected the Paintbrush Tool with the color set to a lime green, Hardness set to 40 and proceeded to color around the iris area of the figure's eyes.

 

I set this layer's blend mode to Overlay to achieve this look.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6: RhinoplastyComment on this step

Next, I wanted to flatten and widen the nose on the character's face.

 

To do so, I made a selection around the nose using the Freeform Selection Tool and copied this selection to a new layer. Using the Distortion Tool, I stretched out the nose to create this effect by dragging the bounding corner boxes, then pressed Enter when I was satisfied with the amount of distortion.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 7: Cleaning Your NoseComment on this step

Then, as I did with the eyes, I selected the Eraser Tool with the Hardness set to 0 and erased around the rough edges of the nose to create a smoother blend onto the face.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 8: Tip of the NoseComment on this step

I wanted to retain just the tip of the original nose, so I selected this area from the original image and copied it onto a new layer on top of the Layers Menu.

 

Then, I used the Eraser Tool to clean the edges of the selection in a shape of the tip of a kitty's nose.

 

Then, I selected the Hue & Saturation Menu from the Image tab and slid the hue slider slightly to the left to create a pinkish hue. I selected Ok to apply the adjustment.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 9: Cheeks and ChinComment on this step

I noticed the characters in Avatar had a sunken appearance to their cheeks, where the shape of the face is more pointed towards the chin.

 

This effect can be applied to photos in Aviary by using the Liquify Tool. I selected the Liquify Tool and dragged into the cheeks to sink them in, and dragged outwards from the chin to create a slightly pointier shape to the overall face.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 10: EarsComment on this step

I also noticed that the characters seem to have very cat-like ears as well.

 

In order to achieve this look on our character, what better route to go than to use actual kitty ears!

 

The fur on cat ears seem to really get in the way, so I decided to use a source image of a hairless Sphynx cat for my creation.

 

I imported the new image into my document (File > Import File) and used the Freeform Selection Tool to select the ears from the image. Then, Icopied and pasted the ears onto a new layer.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 11: Blue FacesComment on this step

Next, I noticed the characters seem to have blue faces. Yes, I am so very observant.

 

To give our figure this color, I created a blank new layer on top of the Layers Menu and selected the Paintbrush Tool. I set the foreground color to a dark navy blue tone and painted over the skin of the woman.

 

Then, I set this layer's blend mode to Hard Light to colorize the figure.

 

 

 

Tip: Use the Hue & Saturation Menu from the Image tab to fine tune the color of your figure.

 

 

 

 

Then, I used the Eraser Tool to clean up the blue surface area.

 

 

 

 

Step 12: HighlightsComment on this step

This effect may sometimes create a flat effect on your figure. One way to remedy this is to enhance the naturally existing highlights and shadows .

 

I created a new layer for my highlights and selected the Paintbrush Tool with the Hardness set to 0, Alpha to 7%, and the foreground color set to white. I set this layer's blend mode to Overlay and proceeded to paint over the figure's nose, forehead, chin, and anywhere else I needed to enhance the highlights.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 13: ShadowsComment on this step

Then, I applied the same method to paint in shadow enhancements. Instead of using white as my foreground color, I chose black and painted in the darker areas of the image to strengthen the shadows.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 14: SpotsComment on this step

To create a sparkly spots on the figure's face, I simple selected the Paintbrush Tool with the foreground color set to white and the Alpha set to 50% and painted in the speckles by hand.

 

Then I set this layer's blend mode to Overlay.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 15: MarkingsComment on this step

You can take this one step further and add in all sorts of your own stripes and patterns on the face using various colors and blend modes. The best method is to experiment with your own settings to find out what effect works best for your photos.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 16: BackgroundComment on this step

And finally, I imported in a background of a forest-y scene to complete my image. I flattened the entire image first (Layer > Flatten Image) and then selected File > Import File to import my background scene. I dragged my flattened Na'vi character layer on top of the background layer then used the Eraser Tool to extract the figure from her white background.

 

 

 

This tutorial just touched upon tips for creating the actual character. For more tips on blending characters into new backgrounds and matching lighting, please check the Matching Lighting tutorial here.

 

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Final Result

 

Note by admin: Above tutorial as been copied from other website.

Reference : http://aviary.com/tutorial?tutorial=creating_an_avatar_inspired_character&singlepageview=1

[SkyeDarkhawk]

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[daredevil]

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If not, I'm sure the copyright holder would like to know about this plagiarism.

 

Note by admin added on the tutorial page.