With every year comes a large wave of great art, new techniques, and new artists on the scene, and this year was no different. In 2009 a lot of new trends emerged and a lot of new tutorials were made to show how to create awesome artwork.
So this roundup focuses on the fifteen best tutorials that were given to us in 2009. Five of these tutorials are the best of Psdtuts+, and the other ten are from other sources around the net. So lets check these amazing tutorials out and hope 2010 will be filled with even better ones.
Best Psdtuts+ Photoshop Tutorials for 2009
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The Making of “Constant Slip”
Wojciech Pijecki made a great visual piece using a simple 3D render and some amazing use of blending techniques. The final product is visually exciting, and the tutorial gives more guidance than procedural command to create this type of illustration. So this great tutorial is one of the best featured this year.
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Create a Funky Perspective of a Model Riding Digital Volume
Here we have another amazing photo manipulation tutorial that boasts a great final product. Marcel Pirosca shows us in great detail how to prepare the images and then shows unique ways of introducing different elements onto the illustration. The also featured instruction on how to create 3D shapes, which was a very big trend in this years tutorials. So this is another great tutorial featured on Psdtuts+ that everyone should have a second look at.
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Create a Steam Powered Typographic Treatment
Alex Beltechi delivers one of the best if not the best typographic tutorial we have seen this year. The sheer amount of detail in this typographic illustration is stunning and once again the result looks amazing. This is a difficult technique to master, but Alex gives you all the necessary knowledge to create your own steam punk typography. The popular mix of 3D and 2D objects is used in this illustration and it is explained in great detail in this tutorial.
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How to Turn Humdrum Photos into Cinematic Portraits
The next tutorial on our list shows how to take a standard stock photograph and add some drama and cinematic effect to it. The reason this tutorial is featured on the list is the dramatic before and after of the average photograph, the amount of detail added is stunning, and the transition from boring to dramatic is fantastic. The fact that it only requires some simple techniques makes it all that better. Some simple restoration, addition of stocks, and a few adjustment layers can really touch up a dull photo.
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Create Destructive Black and White Lettering with a Dramatic Splash Effect
Our last tutorial featured in the top five from Psdtuts in 2009 is another fantastic typography tutorial, this one was created by Wojciech Pijecki. Influenced by black and white artwork Wojciech took to creating a variation of a very popular style of typography. This destructive lettering technique was achieved in a crafty way by taking paint stocks and manipulating them onto the regular text. This great idea led to adding some scenery to the back to make everything blend together making for a great piece of art in the end.
Best Tutorials from the Web for 2009
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Explore and Combine New Textures
Now we are onto the best tutorials of the rest of the web, and kicking it off is a amazing tutorial that shows how manipulating textures can bring some great results to your art. The tutorial gives a simple explanation on how to get a certain look by mixing different textures with other simple techniques, such as the Burn tool, or Layer adjustments.
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Transform Your Doodles into Art
Our next best tutorial of the year focuses on taking your drawings, or doodles and incorporating them into your photo manipulation art. Craig Shields gives us a phenomenal looking final product and the necessary tools to create something similar to that. All you need is a nice stock to start out with, then the rest of the items you will be using will come directly from you. Draw up some of your own work, scan them onto the computer, and see how you can incorporate them into your work.
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Creating a Super Detailed Illustration
The title says it all for this one, the tutorial shows you how to create your own amazingly detailed scene with Photoshop and your drawing abilities. Now this is kind of a waste if you cant draw at all. For those who are handy with a pencil though can take some of your drawings and follow this great tutorial that shows you how to bring a simple drawing to life and add some amazing detail onto it.
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Create A Glossy Volt Icon
Our next tutorial featured is probably one of the best icon tutorials featured this year. The final result looks very appealing with a nice glossy finish, and the great part is that all this could be achieved in Photoshop. What's even better than that is that this can be applied to any other type of icon. The base structure is decided by you, whether you choose to make it a lightning bolt or something else its up to you. The tutorial doesn't go into heavy detail because it doesn't need to, as very simple techniques are used to create this cool icon.
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Create Frozen Liquid Effects
Our next tutorial is another submission from ComputerArts. This great tutorial focuses on showing you how to manipulate an image to give it the look of it being frozen. The creator of this tutorial discovered this technique when he was pressed for time and needed to use Photoshop instead of a 3D alternative. This tutorial show you how to get the frozen look down. So everyone should check this out and maybe with a twist or two you can develop something new yourself.
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Create Mile-High Type Art
This tutorial is another great typographic tutorial featured this year. The tutorial shows you how to create 3D text and then incorporate it with great photo manipulation techniques. Once again the techniques used are fairly easy but will take some practice to master.
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Bamboo Tablet Icon Tutorial
For those who wish to learn how to create icons of objects, this is the perfect tutorial to show you. The techniques learned here can be applied to create a realistic icon of pretty much any object you can find. The detail incorporated in the making of this icon is stunning and the tutorial is as thorough as it can get. There are ten pages of steps. Learn to make realistic icons with this tutorial.
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3D Text Shatter Effect
This typographic piece is made by creating text in C4D and then adding the final touches in Photoshop. The result looks great and can be manipulated to the designers needs to create something even better. Learn both the details of creating the 3D shatter effects and then polishing in Photoshop.
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Create A Slow Motion Bullet Shot Effect
This is one of the best tutorials featured in this roundup because of the
craftiness of the designer, and hopefully some of that crafty nature rubs off on the readers who try to create this effect. The resourcefulness of the designer led the artist to take a picture of a simple intact remote and with a little bit of Photoshop magic, shatter it with a bullet. The tutorial is also very detailed and should be read by everyone. -
Iphone Gift Ribbon Tutorial
Our last tutorial is a great rendition of Apples marketing ad for the iPhone. This tutorial shows you how to take a picture of an iPhone and gift wrap it with little icons. The tutorial isn't detailed, but the result looks great and it can be applied to a lot of other designs with a bit of ingenuity.
