The “Doppelganger” series is one of many artworks that I have started working on since April, and communicates and illustrates the idea of your “shadow self, adapting your existence into an environment that you are not really used to.” The adaptation of your shadow self or your alternate version of you follows along the lines of “Love styles” originally developed by John Lee. He identified six basic love styles—also known as “colors” of love—that people use in their interpersonal relationships with others. Love styles are models of how people love, even if the situation is not something they are regularly exposed to.

You can download the wallpaper and mobile versions HERE.

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Tip: Clicking on any of the images during this tutorial will enlarge its view.

1. The first step is to load up the picture that you want to change. You can get any picture you want but photographs with good lighting to outdoor lighting works the best. One thing to remember is that in dark lighting, the blending mode “MULTIPLY” works best instead of “SOFT LIGHT” that I will be using here. Of course using a picture of a model that does not have any make up will be ideal. There is no point of applying digital make up to somebody already wearing make up. The above picture is what I will be using, with the 2nd picture being the final result we are going to achieve.

2. Now the first thing to do is make a new layer folder called “Make up”. This is where all the make up effects are going to go.

3. We are going to create a new layer called “eye brow darken”. The first step is going to darken the models eye brows (if needed). But let’s just say that you do need to put some boost to their eye brow.

4. We are going to choose absolute black to darken the models eye brows. Color in their existing eye brows with a thin black brush. I know it looks silly at the moment but we will make it blend in with the photograph.

5. We are going to apply a “soft light” layer blending mode after you color in their eye brows. (Remember that “multiply” layer may work better than the “soft light” blending mode depending on the lighting and color of the picture. Please experiment for the best results.) Go in with the eraser tool after the blending mode change and erase excessive marks you made with the brush tool.

6. The before picture (1st pic) and after picture (2nd pic). The slightest change makes a big difference.

7. Now make a new layer titled “Eye Shadow”. Drop it below the eye brow darken layer.

8. Now we are going to choose the color for our eye shadow. This can be any color you want as long as it works out for your photograph. After that is done, choose a brush tip with 0% hardness. Start coloring in around the models eye area with the color you chose. Again, it looks silly at the moment but you know we will make it blend in after.

9. We are going to apply the “soft light” layer blending mode now.

10. Now, we want to add a hue and saturation adjustment layer so we can adjust the saturation and the color if we need to later on. Do so by selecting the small icon at the bottom of the layer palette and then select hue and saturation. Remember to make sure that the adjustment layer is right ABOVE the eye shadow layer. After that is complete, you want to apply a clipping mask just for the eye shadow only so it does not get applied to anything below that layer. Do this by right clicking on the hue and saturation adjustment layer and hitting “create clipping mask”.

11. Result so far…

12. Now we are going to create a new layer called “Eye liner”. After you make that layer, place the order like you see on the screen above. After you create that layer, we are going to choose absolute black again and then choose a good brush size. Then start to color around her eyes. Again, it looks silly but we will make it blend in.

13. Now this is the tricky part. Pay attention to where the red circle is. First off, apply the soft light blending mode on the eye liner layer just like the other layers. Then you want to go and erase out excessive black lines you colored in. To reach a sense of realism behind the eye liner digital make up, you want to apply it just like any make up artist would. The eye liner thins out in certain area’s of the eyes. The depiction of this changes based on your photograph but in my case, I started to thin out where the circle is.

14. Now you may want to tone down on the darkness of the eye liner depending on the darkness or color of your eye shadow. I started to play around with the fill settings of the eye liner layer. I decided to change the color of the eye shadow after this step, and thank god for the adjustment layers we applied earlier on the eye shadow layer.

15. Now create a new layer called “eye shadow dark”. We are going to create a sense of depth using this layer. Select a slightly darker color of your initial eye shadow color with a good brush size and color in the outer area of the upper eye lid and the inner part.

16. Now as you can see it looks a bit blotchy. We are going to fix this by applying a Gaussian Blur under Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Blur the “eye shadow dark” just a little bit and then apply a soft light or a overlay. (Depends on the picture).

17. The result so far. Make sure that the layer is applied like you see above.

18. Now we are going to apply lipstick to our model. Create a new layer and put it on the very top of your layer order. Name this “Lipstick” and select a color of lipstick that you want to apply. After this is all done, choose a good size brush and color over the models lips like I did above.

19. After that is complete, apply a soft light blending mode to the lipstick layer. Now we are going to apply some gloss onto the lips of this model. Make a path onto the model by selecting the Pen tool in Photoshop. Trace out the models lips with the pen tool as accurately as possible. It does not have to be 100% perfect but closer the better.

20. Now go to your paths tool palette. You should see your new path you created with the pen tool in there. Select the little icon on the upper right corner of the palette and select “make selection” or you can just hit the little dotted circle button in the bottom of the palette.

21. Now when that selection is made, you need to select the main portrait layer. Then you want to press CTRL + C (Command + C for Mac) and then CTRL + V (Command + V for Mac) to paste it right on top of it. It should paste right on the same spot but if not you want to adjust it so it is directly over the lips of the model on the original layer. We just now cut out just the lips only. A bit freaky I know…

22. Now once you pasted the lips and a new layer is created, you want to go to FILTER > ARTISTIC > PLASTIC WRAP. On the Plastic Wrap dialog box, you want to mess around with the settings like you see on the 2nd screen shot. You want to over all achieve something like you see on the image directly above.

23. After you get a result you like, you want to apply a “screen” blending mode to the lips layer. Now you’re going to see a cut out border around the lips. You want to erase and fade around the lips a bit, leaving the gloss as best as you can. The result should be something like the first image. You might want to adjust the brightness and contrast of this layer to blend in with the lips. Brighten up the contrast to heighten up the highlights of the gloss a bit more or darken.

24. My result so far. Kind of hard to tell that the gloss is there but the final result of this tutorial will show the difference better.

25. Now create a new layer above the eye shadow layer and eye shadow dark layer. It is important that this goes above the two eye shadow layers. Now after that is created, you’re going to want to color in around the eyes again with a similar color as your eye shadow you applied to the model.

26. Now you want to go to FILTER > NOISE > ADD NOISE. Mimic the settings in the image above. It might work with different settings depending on the photo. Play around with it.

27. After that is applied, you should see something like the above image. You are going to erase out around it and anything excessive to make it look as natural as possible.

28. Result so far.

29. Now you are going to create a new layer titled “blush”. This layer goes above all the layers we have created so far. After that is done, choose a color similar to the color picker image above. We want to find a good color tone that matches our models skin. Color over all of your models face or especially where there is highlights on her skin. (Or his skin if you are choosing to apply make up to a male face). Apply yet another soft light blending mode to that blush layer.

30. My result after blush application.

31. Now the next step is the hair dye application process. I create a new folder called “hair dye” and within it a new layer called “hair dye 1″. I do this because I decided to have my model have two different hair colors to make it more interesting and pop rock star like. After you create this layer, I want to grab a color that will fit in with the model and her make up. I chose the color red at first. I brush up her hair where I want to make the changes like the image above. After that is complete, yet again, I apply the soft light blending mode to the “hair dye 1″ layer.

32. Now to get it looking like it’s realistic, I mess around with adjustment layers over and over again. Using the Brightness and Contract / Hue and Saturation combo works very well here. Saturating the color a tad bit helps in most instances and will bring out a realistic blended look with hair.

33. And here it is, the before and after shot.

24. If you want to see the final result in full detail, click on the image above to bring up the full size.

The “Doppelganger” series is one of many artworks that I have started working on since April, and communicates and illustrates the idea of your “shadow self, adapting your existence into an environment that you are not really used to.” The adaptation of your shadow self or your alternate version of you follows along the lines of “Love styles” originally developed by John Lee. He identified six basic love styles—also known as “colors” of love—that people use in their interpersonal relationships with others. Love styles are models of how people love, even if the situation is not something they are regularly exposed to.

You can download the wallpaper and mobile versions HERE.

1. This tutorial is going to cover a gold text effect that is different from other gold text effects out there. This was hugely inspired by the luxurious look Las Vegas hotels have on their hotel names. The above screenshot is the final result we are going to achieve.

2. We are first going to start off with the background color. Although this not mandatory, but it sets the mood for the tutorial. So, I first create a background using the radial gradient effect using layer effects with a bluish green and black background. I created a nice spotlight effect.

3. Now we are going to create a text layer above the background. Try to choose a Serif font (i.e Times New Roman, Garamond, Caslon, etc…) as it works best with this tutorial. Lay the text layer down with white text.

4. You should have two layers like the screenshot above.

5. Now lets apply the first gold effect onto the type layer. Try to mimic the screenshot above in terms of settings. The gradient color is achieved using 4 different color swatches. We are going to try to layout the gold blend evenly on the top of the text and bottom.

6. This is the result you should have so far.

7. Now go back to the text layer effect window and click on the STROKE option. We are going to apply a unique settings to this layer effect. Again, try to mimic the screenshot above on your settings. Notice the fill option has a gradient selection applied. Make sure to do this on your version.

8. Now we are going to apply a lot of details here. Try to copy the screenshot above in your gradient selection of your STROKE option of your layer effects window. You might have to play around with the palette placement for your gradient based on the size of your text, font, and spacing. Keep practicing!

9. Try to mimic the screenshot above yet again. We are now applying a bevel to your text. Again, this may take a few tries depending on the font, size, and other things that you chose.

10. We are now going to apply a faint drop shadow to our text. These settings can be different yet again for you, but it shouldn’t be that different drastically.

11. This is my result so far. We are going to apply some glow and bells and whistles.

12. Now make a new layer and name it “glow”.

13. Now we are going to choose an appropriate size brush with no hardness around the edges. We are going to make some glowing balls around the text like you see on the above screenshot.

14. Now make a new layer called “sparkle”. We are going to create some sparkles inside the glowing balls. First thing first, choose a brush size of “1″ with blurry edges. Look at the screenshot above of the brushes palette for the settings I have. After you make the new layer, get the pen tool and draw a diagonal line like the screenshot above.

15. After you do all that, right click on the path you just drew and hit STROKE PATH in the right pop up menu.

16. After you do choose that option, a window should pop up with options. Mimic my screen shot 100%. You want to “simulate brush pressure”.

17. Now duplicate the layer you just created by right clicking on the “sparkle” layer and selecting “duplicate layer”. We are going to take that layer and EDIT > TRANSFORM > FLIP HORIZONTAL. Your sparkle should now look like a star, if not, cross the sparkle line together to make it look like a cross.

18. Merge the layers together once you feel like you have the best looking sparkly star. Once you merge the layers, you should be able to resize, rotate, and move them around together as one single unit like you see on the screenshot above.

19. Apply a Gaussian Blur after you composed all the sparkles where you want it to be. This makes the sparkle look more brighter.

OPTIONAL: You can create a duplicate layer of each sparkle and stack it exactly on top of each other. Then blur one sparkle that is UNDERNEATH the top sparkle layer to create a more brighter effect. This usually depends on how your composition is put together.

Final result.

The “Doppelganger” series is one of many artworks that I have started working on since April, and communicates and illustrates the idea of your “shadow self, adapting your existence into an environment that you are not really used to.” The adaptation of your shadow self or your alternate version of you follows along the lines of “Love styles” originally developed by John Lee. He identified six basic love styles—also known as “colors” of love—that people use in their interpersonal relationships with others. Love styles are models of how people love, even if the situation is not something they are regularly exposed to.

You can download the wallpaper and mobile versions HERE.

The “Doppelganger” series is one of many artworks that I have started working on since April, and communicates and illustrates the idea of your “shadow self, adapting your existence into an environment that you are not really used to.” The adaptation of your shadow self or your alternate version of you follows along the lines of “Love styles” originally developed by John Lee. He identified six basic love styles—also known as “colors” of love—that people use in their interpersonal relationships with others. Love styles are models of how people love, even if the situation is not something they are regularly exposed to.

You can download the wallpaper and mobile versions HERE.

Hello folks. I apologize again for the lack of updates but have been extremely busy with commercial work. But don’t fret, I have also been busy with a lot of my own work and I am writing today to expose to you the 1st wallpaper of many coming out within this year. This one is titled “Doppelganger: Mania”, and is a work that was done back in April. I have sat this work around wondering if I wanted to release it before the others of a series I am working on, but I decided to give it a go and release it beforehand.

The “Doppelganger” series is one of many artworks that I have started working on since April, and communicates and illustrates the idea of your “shadow self, adapting your existence into an environment that you are not really used to.” The adaptation of your shadow self or your alternate version of you follows along the lines of “Love styles” originally developed by John Lee. He identified six basic love styles—also known as “colors” of love—that people use in their interpersonal relationships with others. Love styles are models of how people love, even if the situation is not something they are regularly exposed to.

You can download the wallpaper and mobile versions HERE.

Source: Wikipedia

If you haven’t noticed, my portfolio page has been singled out and separated away from this domain a couple of months ago. This move was done through various reasons but mainly to promote myself as an independent freelance artist under my legal name instead of “Dream Infinity Studios”. But do not think that I have gone through all these months without having some sort of plan or an update schedule of some kind. Here are somethings I have been working on:

I have been working on a series of wallpapers titled “Doppelganger”, which is an artistic approach to the styles of love developed by John Lee and further explored by Clyde Hendrick and Susan Hendrick. (For more details: Click here) The wallpaper will be 6 different wallpapers based on these styles and some further exploration of my artistic approach to communicating science theories with typography and manipulation. Before I forget, the conceptual and imagery development was a collaborative work between myself and a good friend.

Nocturne Shiva v15.4.0

It was September of 2010, when I was coding a very intricate new version of my website. So many things have evolved with my studio and my design business that I can’t even pick up where I left off from. Nocturne Shiva, my next version and re-structure of dreaminfinity.com is in the works and I have so many exciting new changes in store, I am excited to share them. The only problem is that the lack of time for me is what is preventing me from updating my site and I am hoping that I can get this new version up and running by the end of this year.

Either way I am alive and I thank you very much for the patience. Doppelganger series will be released very soon.

Dream Infinity Studios will be closed for a day of silence tomorrow, March 18th, starting roughly around 12:00 PDT (-8 GMT). This is to mourn and remember the victims of the devastating earthquake in Japan that was followed by a Tsunami that destroyed a good portion of Northern Japan.

So far, Dream Infinity Studios has only closed their website down for one day, which was the September 11th terrorist attacks. We feel that this recent disaster is in the same level of heart break and devastation as 9/11, and feel it is appropriate for us to close it down to mourn and to remember the victims who have been affected by this devastation.

Thank you for your understanding and please donate if you can by clicking the image on this post. Any small amount of money counts!