Harness the Elements Paint Frozen

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This post is part of a series called Harness the Elements.

Harness the Elements: Paint Liquid Water in All Its Forms

DIGITAL PAINTING

Harness the Elements:Paint Frozen Water in AllIts Formsby Monika Zagrobelna 27 Jan 2015 19 Comments

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What You'll Be Creating

Water is a complicated structure. It is transparent, and despite it being so clear, we



can see it somehow. And even in its most "normal" state, liquid, water has manyforms, so different from each other. Although water looks so simpleand is simplein its constructionyou can't learn how to paint it once and for all. It's because youdon't really paint water, but the effect it has on the world seen through it.

In this tutorial I'll show you how to manage the most popular forms of frozen water:icicles, falling and lying snow, frost, ice, and hail. We're going to use a whole rangeof Photoshop tools to make the process of creation fast and easily repeatable.Layer Styles, custom brushes, Blending Modes, Filters, Patterns, and the MixerBrush Tool will all feature. Even if you're not interested in frozen water, check it outjust to see how creatively these tools can be used to give you the effect you want.

1. Paint an Icicle

Step 1Get yourself a nice background, like this. Transparent things can't exist without abackground! Create a New Layer and use the Lasso Tool (L) to draw the outline ofan icicle. You can easily do it with a mouse, because it should be a bit ruggedanyway.

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Step 2Fill the selection with any color using the Paint Bucket Tool (G).



Step 3Duplicate (Control-J) the background and put it over the icicle. Clip it with theClipping Mask (Control-Alt-G).



Step 4Click the original background layer and apply Gaussian Blur (Filter > GaussianBlur) to it to separate the background from the icicle.



Step 5Click the copied background and use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) toshrink it inside the icicle. It will simulate the lens effect going on in the ice. In somecases it's good to flip the image, too.



Step 6Press Control-M to open the Curves editor. Pull the curve down a bit to make theicicle darker.



Step 7Duplicate the icicle and drag the layer to the top. This is the layer we'll create thestyle on.



Step 8Double-click the layer. Drag the Fill Opacity to 0 to make the icicle transparent.Remember: the exact values we'll use here may depend on the size of your object,so instead of copying what I used, try to understand why I did it and modify theeffect to your needs.



Step 9Check Inner Glowit will define the edges of the icicle.



Use Overlay Mode to make the edges bright (1).Set white as the color (4).Play with the Size to place the glow right on the edges (5).Add a bit of Noise to imitate the bubbles of air trapped inside the icicle (3).Change the Opacity to strengthen or weaken the effect (2).



Step 10Check Inner Shadowit will add more volume to the icicle.



Set Overlay as the Blend Mode (1).Change the Contour to Cone - Inverted (4).Play with the settings to place the shadow nicely in the center (3).Add a bit of Noise (5).Change the Opacity to soften the effect (2).



Step 11Check Gradient Overlayit will add a frosting effect to the base of the icicle.



Select Screen as the Blend Mode (1).Click the Gradient, select the white marker, and drag its rhombus to the right,which will drag the whiteness up (3).Change the Opacity if you want a subtler effect (2).



Step 12Check Pattern Overlay to add a texture to the icicle.



Set the Blend Mode to Soft Light (1).Use the Satin pattern (of the set Patterns) (3).Scale the texture to avoid a flat, repeatable look (3).Change the Opacity if you want to modify the strength of the effect (2).



Step 13Check the Texture of Bevel & Embossit will add a final gloss to the icicle.



Select the same Pattern as before (1).Scale it to roughly fit the previous one (2).



Step 14In the main settings of Bevel & Emboss:

Select Ring as the Gloss Contour (2).Set the Shadow's Opacity to 0 (4).Play with the Size to get the perfect shape of the highlights (1).Change the Highlight's Opacity if you want to adjust the effect (3).



Step 15If you want, you can easily add some shine using the default Outer Glow from the



Layer Style.

Step 16



If you create a new Style based on what we've just done, you'll be able to reuse itas many times as you wish. Remember to create a new layer for every icicle!



2. Create a Falling Snow Brush



Step 1Let's create a brush for heavy snow. Create a New File and use the Soft Roundbrush to paint four to seven fluffy dots. Make them variable in size, with bigdistance in between. Then go to Edit > Define Brush Preset.

Step 2



Now open the Brush Settings (F5). First, make the Spacing bigger to avoidjamming. The exact value will depend on the size of your brush.



Step 3Check Shape Dynamics. Give the brush a small Minimum Diameter (the strokeswill be variable in size) and big Angle Jitter (every cluster of the brush will berotated for randomness).



Step 4Check Scattering and choose a value that fits you. Don't make it too big or you'lllose control over the stroke.



Step 5Check Transfer to make the brush variable in opacity.



Step 6Test the brush in a new file. It should work like a spray. If there's something not rightabout it, play with the settings. Then Save the brush by clicking the white card iconat the bottom of the F5 window.



Step 7We can use the same method to create a light snow. Create a New File and paintthree dots with the Soft Round brush. Give them a big distance in between. DefineBrush Preset as before.



Step 8Give the brush a big Spacing.



Step 9Add the Angle Jitter.



Step 10Make the brush heavily scattered.



Step 11Check Transfer.



Step 12Test the brush and change the settings if necessary. Then save the brush.



3. Paint Falling Snow

Step 1Creating the brush is relatively easy, but even the most professional brush will notgive you the effect you want unless you know what effect you want exactly.



That's certainly a scene with a falling snow, but is it what we want?



Perspective plays a big role in perceiving falling snow. Covering the whole scenewith white dots isn't the wayit will make it flat and unrealistic. To make it morenatural, we need to divide the scene into five areas:

1. The background: all the layers of the snow are so thick that together theymake a light wall, blending into a cloudy sky. To imitate this effect, simplycover the background with heavy mist.

2. A bit closer to us, single snowflakes are visible. They're very thick and small,like a spray of white dots.

3. The closer they are to us, the bigger the snowflakes appear. Because ofperspective they also seem to move faster. A little bit of Motion Blur will helpyou imitate this effect.

4. As we get closer, the snowflakes become very big, and not too dense,otherwise they would cover important parts of the picture. Their speed seemsto be even greater, and so is the blur.

5. This is the area right before your eyes, where one or two snowflakes are ableto cover your whole vision. Use them sparingly, with very strong blur; you canalso use the bokeh effect here, to pretend that some of the snowflakes havelanded on the lens of the camera.

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More or less stages can also be distinguished, depending on the perspective you use

Step 2Let's create a simple scene to present the effect on. It doesn't need to be anythingperfect, but just make sure that it has at least basic perspective, with thebackground, the foreground, and all the steps in-between.



Step 3Create a New Layer and paint a big white stroke with the Soft Round brush.



Step 4Lower its Opacity so that the background is whitish rather than blue.



Step 5Apply the Layer Mask and paint over the columns with black, so that they aren'taffected by the whitening effect.



Step 6Create a New Layer and cover the scene with dense, small snowflakes.



Step 7Again, use the Layer Mask to cut the columns out of its influence.



Step 8Create a New Layer and paint another layer of snow, this time bigger and lessdense.



Step 9With the layer selected, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Use a small Distanceand an Angle adjusted to the strength of wind in your scene.



Step 10Create a New Layer and paint another layer of snow, again bigger and less dense.



Step 11Again use Motion Blur to give a sense of speed. Use a bigger Distance, and youcan also change the Angle a bit to give more dynamism to the scene.



Step 12Create a New Layer and add the last layer of snow. It's not obligatory andsometimes it covers crucial elements of the picture, so experiment with it and checkif you need it.



Step 13This layer should have the strongest blur, since it's totally out of focus. You caneven add a bit of Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to strengthen thiseffect.



Step 14To stress the fact that the other column is farther from us, we can add a bit of aerialperspective here caused by heavy snow. Create a New Layer and paint a bigstroke with the Soft Round brush.



Step 15Use the Layer Mask to reveal the front column.



Step 16Lower the Opacity of the layer to give the other column a hazy look.



Step 17You can use the same method to create a light snow, much friendlier to the actualcontent of your picture.



Notice the difference between the most intuitive use of the snow brush and slightlymore sophisticated methods. But doesn't this last picture look a bit odd? Suchheavy snow in the air and none of it on the ground? Well, let's work on it!

4. Paint Lying Snow

Step 1Create a New Layer above your scene. Select the ground area and Fill it withbluish gray (# d6d8e3 ).



Step 2Use the Layer Mask (or the Eraser Tool, if you're feeling lazy) to reveal thecolumns, defining the snow-only area.



Step 3Fix the edges around the columns to make them more gentle.



Step 4Now we're going to use a neat trick, available for CS5 and higher. Create a NewLayer and use the Ellipse Tool (U) when holding Shift to draw a circle.



Step 5Create a New Layer and fill it with grayish blue (#6d85ad ). Use Control-Alt-G toclip it to the circle.



Step 6Use the Soft Round brush and a brighter version of the previous color (#e5e4ec )to shade the circle and make it ball-like.



Step 7Grab the Mixer Brush Tool (you can find it just where the Pencil tool) and change itto Dry, Heavy Load. Make sure that Sample All Layers is unchecked.

Select all the layers of the ball and Merge (Control-E) them. With the Mixer BrushTool active, take the Soft Round brush and change its Spacing to a very low (24%) value. Make the stroke big enought to fit the ball inside, and then hold Alt andclick firmly in the center.



Test it! If it's too slow, reduce the image's resolution or the Spacing of the brush.



Step 8Create a New Layer. Using our new 3D brush to paint small "waves" in thebackground.



Use a slightly bigger stroke for another layer...



... and bigger for another...



... and even bigger as we go farther...



... until we reach the foreground.



Step 9Clip (Control-Alt-G) the "waves" to the snow area. Reset the Mixer Brush Tool byselecting Reset Tool in its settings. Now you can use the same tool to blur thestripes left by applying a big Spacing.



Step 10Create a New Layer and Fill it with with blue picked (I) from the sky in our scene.We're going to use it to give a more fitting color to the shadows in the snow.



Step 11Double-click it and go to the Blend If section. We want to have the bluish shadeonly in dark areas, so hold Alt, grab the white marker, and drag it to the left side.



Step 12Change the Blending Mode to Soft Light to make the bright areas brighter.



Step 13With distance the contrast is decreasing, so we need to cover the shadows in thebackground with something bright. Create a New Layer, Fill it with any color, andthen double-click it to add Gradient Overlay. Make it a white-white gradient, andmake the part that's closer to us fully transparent.



Step 14Pick the color of the sky, create a New Layer and paint the columns' shadows.Adjust the shape of the shadows to the 3D form of the snow.



Step 15Change the Blending Mode to Multiply to reveal the snow beneath. Play with theOpacity, if it's too dark.



Step 16Create a New Layer. Grab the Light Snow brush we've made before, and sprinklethe snow with tiny strokes.



Step 17This glow of tiny crystals shouldn't be visible in the shadow, so use Blend If to fix it.



Step 18White strongly reflects every light, so a visible reflected light is going to be visible atthe back of the columns. Create a New Layer and paint a slight bluish glow with theSoft Round brush.



Step 19Use Blend If to remove the glow from the dark crevices. If the glow is too bright,change the Blending Mode to Screen and lower the Opacity.



Step 20 Create a New Layer and paint snow on the top of the columns using the HardRound brush with opacity. Pick the colors from the ground.



Step 21The sky is a bit too clear, so create a New Layer right above the background andpaint a big, white stroke with the Soft Round brush.



Step 22Lower the Opacity of this layer until the sky fits the lighting.



Step 23You can now add falling snow to make the scene complete.



5. Create a Frost Brush

Step 1Frost consists of many little ice crystals stuck together. To create a brush thatimitates this effect, we'll start with a single snowflake-like structure. Create a NewFile, Fill the background with black, add a New Layer, and draw this little star usingany hard brush you like.

Step 2Set the Opacity to 20 %.



Step 3Create a New Layer and sprinkle the star with white dots.



Step 4Merge all the layers, then Invert the colors (Control-I). Go to Edit > Define BrushPreset to save it.

Step 5Go to the Brush Settings (F5). Check Shape Dynamics and add a big Size Jitterand a bit of Angle Jitter.



Step 6



Add a little bit of Scattering.



Step 7You can check Transfer, though it's not obligatory.



Step 8Use the brush to outline the object you want to cover with frost. The bigger theobject, the smaller the stroke.



Step 9



The outline isn't enoughwe need the bottom layer, too! Create a New File andagain fill it with black. Create a New Layer and draw these little scales:

Step 10Change the Opacity to 40 %.



Step 11Add a New Layer and draw tiny dots to make it sparkle. Save it as we've donebefore.

Step 12Give this brush a big Spacing to keep the "scales" separate.



Step 13



Check Shape Dynamics and give it similar values as before.



Step 14Check Transfer.



Step 15Use this brush on the body of the object.



6. Paint Ice on a Lake

Step 1Start by defining the level of water according to perspective.



Step 2Create a New Layer, draw a rectangle with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) toselect the water area, and fill it with any color.



Step 3Use the Layer Mask or the Eraser Tool (E) to cut out the columns above the waterlevel. It will be our Clipping Mask for the future layers.



Step 4Duplicate (Control-J) the background, put it above the clipping mask, and clip(Control-Alt-G) it. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blurit will make the ice layerlook thicker.



Step 5The ice will have a reflection on it, and while it's very easy to reflect thebackground, more work is needed for the columns. Their reflection must follow theperspective! To achieve this effect, select one side with the Pen Tool (P), make aselection of it (Control-Shift-Enter), and Copy (Control-Shift-C) the content. Pastethe side and Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical, and then place it on the bottom.



Step 6Use the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to adjust the side to the perspective ofour scene. Grab the corners while holding Control to manage them individually.



Do the same with all the sides.



Step 7Duplicate the background once again, clip it to the rest, and Edit > Transform >Flip Vertical. Place it so that it looks like a reflection of the sky, and merge(Control-E) it with the reflection of the columns.



Step 8Go to Filter > Filter Gallery and select the Distort > Glass filter. It will give a nicetexture to the surfaceice is rarely perfectly smooth!



Step 9Select the Gradient Tool (G). Add the Layer Mask to the the reflection, and in thismode draw a black-white gradient vertically from top to bottom. It will make the areacloser to us less reflectiveit's a matter of the angle, and it's known as Fresneleffect.

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Step 10Change the Blending Mode of the layer to Screen and play with the Opacity ifnecessary.



Step 11Use the mask of the layer to paint the columns' shadowsshadows can't reflectanything.



Step 12Create a New Layer (still clipped) and Fill it with any color. Double-click it and giveit a Pattern Overlay, with the Wrinkles pattern.



Step 13Right-click the layer and select Rasterize Layer Style. Use the Free TransformTool (Control-T) and Control-drag the corners to adjust the pattern to perspective.



Step 14Apply Filter > Noise > Add Noise with a very small amount of noise. Add the LayerMask and use the trick with the Gradient Tool, this time drawing it vertically frombottom to top.



Step 15Change the Blending Mode to Soft Light and lower the Opacity.



Step 16Create a New Layer and paint scratches.


Harness the Elements Paint Frozen

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