How to Create an Abstract Portrait With Rocks and Lava in Adobe Photoshop

In this tutorial I'll show you how to use Adobe Photoshop to create an abstract piece featuring a broken woman portrait. 

First, we'll build the base background using several landscape and abstract texture images. After that, we'll retouch the model, add a mountain to the model's head, and import the abstract texture and crack effect. Later, we'll add rocks with lava effects and draw some lines. We'll work with an abstract texture again, using the Dodge and Burn Tool and several adjustment layers to complete the final effect.

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

• Landscape 1 
• Landscape 2 
• Abstract textures 
• Watercolor brushes
• Model 
• Rocks 
• Mountain 
• Crack texture 

1. How to Build the Base Background

Step 1

Create a new 3000 x 1790 px document with the given settings:

Step 2

Open the landscape 1 image. Drag this image into the white canvas using the Move Tool (V).

Click the second icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a mask to this layer. Select a soft round brush with black color (soft black brush) to remove the hard edges and blend the landscape to make it fade out into the white background.

Step 3

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation and set it as Clipping Mask. Bring the Saturation value down to -100.

Step 4

Place the landscape 2 image onto the existing canvas and add a mask to this layer. Use a soft black brush to remove the bottom of this landscape and leave the mountains visible softly and subtly in the middle of the canvas.

Step 5

Make a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (set as Clipping Mask) to desaturate the landscape 2.

Step 6

Open the abstract texture pack. Browse the folder of the colorful power backgrounds and select the first group. Take the image you like and place it onto the existing canvas.

Use a layer mask to erase most of this texture image, leaving some details visible subtly on top of both sides.

Step 7

Add a Gradient Map adjustment layer and pick the default colors (black and white) to desaturate the texture.

Step 8

Create a Curves adjustment layer and increase the lightness to make the effect more subtle.

Step 9

Open the abstract texture pack again. Browse the grunge folder and select one image from the fourth group to add to the main canvas. Use a layer mask to erase the bottom and make the effect visible mostly on the upper section.

Step 10

Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and reduce the Saturation value to the minimum.

Step 11

Use an Invert adjustment layer to make the effect more subtle.

2. How to Retouch the Model

Step 1

Open the model image. Cut out the model on the left and place her in the middle of the main canvas.

Step 2

Add a mask to the model layer and select a brush from the watercolor brush set. I've used the one numbered 2494 and pressed F5 to change the settings of this brush.

Use this brush to trim the hair and some details on her shoulders.

Step 3

Make a Gradient Map adjustment layer with black and white to desaturate the model.

Step 4

Create a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the model, especially the side of the model towards the background. Paint on the shadow and face of the model so they won't be affected or will be less affected by this adjustment layer.

Step 5

Make a new layer and use a soft brush with Opacity and Flow about 50% to reduce the shadow on the model's shoulder.

Step 6

Create a new layer, and use a soft brush with the color #808080 to decrease the light on the model's lips and teeth.

Step 7

Add a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100%, and fill with 50% gray.

Activate the Dodge and Burn Tool (O) to refine the light and shadow on the model. You can see how I did it with Normal mode and the result with Overlay mode.

3. How to Add the Mountain

Step 1

Open the mountain image. Select the big mountain on the right to add to the model's head. Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) with Warp mode to distort the mountain to fit the size of the head.

Step 2

Add a mask to this layer and use a hard black brush to cut the contour of the mountain to fit the head completely.

Step 3

Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate this mountain.

Step 4

Make a Curves adjustment layer to increase the contrast of the mountain.

Step 5

Use another Curves adjustment layer to brighten the mountain. On this layer mask, use a soft black brush with a lowered opacity (about 20-50%) to reduce the light to keep the mountain's contrast but still show some texture.

4. How to Import the Abstract Textures

Step 1

Open the abstract texture pack again. Browse the grunge folder and select one from the fifth group to add to the lower part of the canvas. Use a layer mask with a watercolor brush to remove the top and leave some jagged, crumbly effects on the model's body and both bottom corners of the canvas. Lower the brush's opacity if needed to get a better, more natural effect.

Step 2

Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate the effect.

Step 3

Make a Curves adjustment layer to strengthen the effect. On the layer mask, use a watercolor brush to reduce the dark effect in the bottom right corner.

Step 4

Duplicate this texture image and drag it above the top of the layers. Move it up and use a layer mask with a watercolor brush to remove most of the image, leaving some subtle abstract effects visible around the model's head and the bottom of the mountain to give it some details and texture.

Step 5

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to turn the color of the effect to black and white.

Step 6

Use a Curves adjustment layer to make the effect on the mountain more visible and on the background less visible.

5. How to Make the Crack Effect

Step 1

Move the crack image into the main document and change this layer mode to Multiply 100%.

Add a mask to this layer and use a watercolor brush to remove the areas outside the model.

Step 2

Use the Lasso Tool (L) to select a part of the crack image and place it onto the model's face. Activate Control-T to make it much smaller, and then use a layer mask to erase the parts outside the face.

Step 3

Select the crack layers and hit Control-G to create a group for them. Change this group's mode to Multiply 100% and add a Curves adjustment layer within this group. Decrease the lightness to increase the broken effect's visibility. On the layer mask, use a soft black brush to reduce the effect on the areas which are too dark after this step.

Step 4

Use another Curves adjustment layer to brighten the effect, especially the contour around the face and body. Paint on the shadow areas so they won't be affected by this adjustment layer.

6. How to Add the Rocks and Lava Effect

Step 1

Open the rock images pack. Select the meteor_11 folder and take one rock from this. Place it above the mountain's area and use Control-T to rotate it as shown below.

Use a layer mask to blend this rock with the existing surface.

Step 2

Add more lava effect to the head and model's body using different rocks.

Step 3

For the lava effects on the model's cheek and shoulder, use a Curves adjustment layer to brighten them as they're too dark now.

Step 4

Add one rock from the meteor_11 folder to our working document, and then go to Filter > Liquify. Select the Twirl Clockwise Tool (C) to tweak the rock so it looks different from the original form. Don't overdo it as it would look too strange and unnatural.

Use Control-T to scale it down and place it below the mountain area.

Step 5

Use the same method to tweak different rocks into different forms and add them around the ear area and above the forehead.

Use a layer mask to blend the upper part of the rocks with the forehead and break their tops to get the form of a headpiece (the rocks above the forehead include two rock parts; the smaller one is upper and the bigger is lower).

Step 6

Make a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light for the rocks on the forehead. On their layer mask, paint on the shadow area so they won't be brightened by this adjustment layer.

Step 7

Use the Liquify Tool to make some small twisted parts to decorate the eyes and forehead. Use a Curves adjustment layer if you feel any details are too dark or want to increase their visibility.

Step 8

Turn one rock into a similar result below and place it onto one of the model's shoulders. Duplicate this layer and flip it horizontally and move it to the other shoulder.

Add another rock to one of the shoulders to make the two sides appear different. On each of these three layers, use a layer mask to blend them with the shoulders.

Step 9

Create a Curves adjustment layer for each of these indicated layers to match their lightness with the background. Paint on the back side of the rocks if you feel this part is too bright.

Step 10

Use the same method to add more rocks on the background, and use Control-T with Warp mode to turn them into different sizes and forms. Place them vertically on both sides of the model.

Step 11

Group all the rock layers and use a Curves adjustment layer to brighten them a bit. The selected areas show where to paint on the layer mask.

7. How to Draw the Lines

Step 1

Create a new layer on top of the layer and activate the Line Tool (U). Draw five lines with black color and 1 px stroke along the rocks on the background. Hold the Shift key to make them go straight.

Step 2

Use a layer mask to remove some line parts on the rocks.

8. How to Do the Final Adjustments

Step 1

Add the texture used in section 4 to the top of the layers and use a layer mask to erase most of this texture image, leaving the grunge effect covering only the lower part of the model's body, especially the rocks on the shoulders, to make them integrated better with the background.

Step 2

Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate the texture's effect.

Step 3

Make a Curves adjustment layer to match the effect's lightness with the rest of the body and background.

Step 4

I want to desaturate and reduce some lava details to make them appear more subtle. Use the Lasso Tool to select one area on the neck (or any areas you want) and go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. Decrease the Reds and Yellows values.

On this layer mask, use a lowered soft black brush to recover some yellow details.

Step 5

Create a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100%, and fill with 50% gray. Use the Burn Tool to paint more shadow below the strokes of the crack effect on the model's face to increase their visibility, and use the Dodge Tool to brighten the model's contour.

Step 6

Add a Curves adjustment layer to increase the whole canvas contrast. Paint on the edges and the shadow areas of the model so they won't be affected by this adjustment layer.

Step 7

Make another Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the middle of the canvas. The selected areas on the edges and shadows show where to paint on the layer mask.

Step 8

Use another Curves adjustment to darken the edges more, to give the whole scene a better contrast.

Congratulations, You're Done!

I hope that you've enjoyed the tutorial and learned something new for your own projects. Feel free to share your results or leave comments in the box below. Enjoy Photoshopping!