Full Wallpaper walk-through tutorial

I will be explaining how I made this wallpaper. (Click thumbnail to view full size)

First, I gather my images I will be using. This wallpaper was made for a challenge, so the images are from Bloody Hell Blends. Image One, Image Two, Image Three.

Next, I paste them onto my canvas, and arrange them accordingly. (Click thumbnail to view fullsize)

I then use masking to delete the parts of the images I don't want. If you're not familiar with masking, Vrya has a great tutorial you can read about here. (Now I know the blending isn't the best, but it'll look better later.)


This is what the layers palette looks like after masking

Now is when I play around with textures ( I rarely use brushes, as I just can't get them to look right. I feel much more comfortable with textures).

I use:

From Tippy

Desaturated (Image>Adjustments>Desaturate) and set to 'Lighten' on 100%

From Tippy
 
Set to 'Hard light' on 100% (Note: I used the clone tool brush to clone out some of the black from the right side using the bright bit in the middle)

From Tippy

Set to 'Soft light' on 100%

From Infinitfan

Desaturated, set on 'Soft light' at 75%

From Tippy

Set on 'Soft light' 100%

From Tippy

Set on 'Soft light' at 100% and flipped vertically (Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical)

From Infinitfan
   
Desaturated and set on 'Soft light' and duplicated once (Layer>Duplicate Layer)

This is what your layer palette should look like


The wallpaper should like look this. It looks bad right now, and you can't see his face properly, but I'll show you a little tip to fix that now.

Duplicate the background layer (Layer>Duplicate Layer) Drag it to the top of your palette. Desaturate it, and set it on 'Soft Light' at 100%, duplicate it again.


This is how it should look now:

Now it's ready for text. Use the shape tool to create a rectangle for the text between the 2nd and last picture. I used colour #AB8C46 and set it to 'Hard Light' at 65%. I used 'Acquaintance' for the text in #FFFFFF, set on 'Soft Light' at 100%, and 'Overlay' at 100%. Play with different sizes, colours, blend modes, spacing until you get something you're happy with.

Merge all Layers (Layer>Flatten Image), press Ctrl+A to highlight the canvas. Then do Edit>Stroke. Select width as 1px, colour #000000, Location: Center, Blending mode: Normal and Opacity 100%. This will give you a thin black border around the wallpaper.

Voila! It's now finished.

I hope you find this tutorial useful, and feel free to email me or tag me if you have any comments about it.