Creating a Fire Breathing Dragon With Photoshop

When I was young I constantly doodled.  Ithe iguana into a more “dragonesque”
doodled a lot of things…but mainly I doodledlook. 
dragons.  Fast forward a number ofOnce again those tools can be used to convert
years…well…a whole lot of years…and mythe spines of the iguanas back into dagger-like
twin brother is showing me pictures of his petteeth and fangs.  The flap of skin under the
iguana…pretty cool looking creature….  Then itiguana’s jaw can be selected (again with a
occurs to me…what a perfect dragon the iguanaclipping path…I believe the most important
would make…and now I had the ultimate doodleselection tool in Photoshop), turned into a new
tool…Photoshop!layer, and then reshaped to become the
With PhotoSshop pictures of an iguana become adragon’s wings. 
photograph of a fire breathing dragon!Each element, be it a leg, claw, tail or whatever,
Photoshop is an incredibly powerful tool ofcan be selected with an appropriately hard edge
alchemy…given the right raw materials any new(usually a 1-pixel feather when converting the
photographic reality can be created.  Withoutclipping path to a selection) and then
those raw materials Photoshop can be an“faded” into it’s new adjoining part by
exercise in frustration and a road to mediocrity.using large soft brushes and a layer mask.
To make sure that I have the raw materials toI find it truly increases the effectiveness of an
create my photographic visions it helps to beginimage by using adjustment layers and their
with a sketch.  Once I have the sketch I canaccompanying masks to add shadow and lightness
systematically photograph those raw materials,to enhance the dimensionality of a given part.  I
comparing them with the sketch, until I know Imostly use “curves” (usually again with an
have the parts to complete my stock image.adjustment layer) to adjust the density of a part
My brother brought in his iguana to my studio andin order to match the part with its new
we did the necessary photography.  I also had aneighboring parts and environment.
pile of cobblestones that had been dug up formAn adjustment layer using Color Balance can help
the street in my San Francisco studio (I havewith fine-tuning color variations…and sometimes
since re-located to Sausalito).  I used those toHue/Saturation for major color changes. Of
create a “perch” or “roost” forcourse, throughout the project I use the clone
my dragon.  For the background I went throughtool as necessary.  A wonderful new feature of
my own stock files and found an image of thePhotoShop CS4 is the “preview” that is
Teton mountain range shot near Jackson Hole,shown through the brush as it is moved over the
Wyoming while on a family vacation.  For a finalarea to be cloned.  That alone might be worth
detail I found an image of a castle I shot in Spainthe upgrade!
to put in the distant background.Once the image is looking complete I “Merge
With all the raw materials shot and scanned (thisVisible Layers” with the option (Mac) key held
project was before digital capture had reacheddown thereby creating a new layer that is a
it’s now exalted state) I set to work.composite of all the visible layers.  This gives me
To create the long neck of the dragon the taila final image in one layer facilitating dust-spotting
can be manipulated by creating a clipping pathand other touch up work without losing the ability
around it, converting the clipping path to ato go back and revisit the underlying layers if
selection, creating a new layer from that selection,need be.
and then using the warp tool and the liquefy brushThe final result is a realistic photograph of a
to reshape it.  Free Transform can be used todragon breathing fire, a professional grade
position and size the new “neck”.   Thehigh-quality stock photo. You’d swear it was
same tools can be used to stretch the jaws ofreal.