How to Add Texture to Skin in Photoshop

In this Photoshop tutorial I will show you how you can blend texture with skin. We’ll use some simple techniques so even total beginners can follow this tutorial.


Final Image

How to Add Texture to Skin


Tutorial Details

  • Program : Photoshop CS3 +
  • Estimated Completion Time : 40 minutes
  • Difficulty : Beginner

Resources


Step 1

Open file “Woman”. Use the Quick Selection tool to select all the white around the woman’s face.

How to Add Texture to Skin 1


Step 2

Add a layer mask to the woman layer (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All). Press D to set the colors to default and click once on the layer mask to select it. Now press Alt + Backspace to fill the selection with black. Only the face should be visible now .

How to Add Texture to Skin 2


Step 3

Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and drag it below the woman layer. Choose the gradient tool and with black and white as foreground and background colors (press D to set them the foreground and background colors to black and white) create a gradient as shown below. You can hold Shift while dragging with the gradient tool to keep it perfectly vertical.

How to Add Texture to Skin 3


Step 4

Open file “Texture1”. Select all (Ctrl + A) and copy (Ctrl + C).

Go back to your document and paste the texture (Ctrl + V). Alt-click between the texture layer and the woman layer to clip the texture to the woman layer.

How to Add Texture to Skin 4


Step 5

Change the blending mode of the texture layer to Multiply.

How to Add Texture to Skin 5


Step 6

Add a layer mask to the texture layer (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All). Choose a soft brush and paint with black in the layer mask over the eyes, the mouth and the neck .

How to Add Texture to Skin 6


Step 7

Duplicate the texture layer (click on it to select it and press Ctrl + J) and drag it as shown below.

How to Add Texture to Skin 7


Step 8

Click on the layer mask and fill it with black. With a black brush reveal only the lower left side of the neck (as indicated below).

How to Add Texture to Skin 8


Step 9

Duplicate the texture layer again and this time move it up and right. In the layer mask reveal only the lower neck by first filling the mask with black and then painting with white over the areas you watn revealed.

How to Add Texture to Skin 9


Step 10

Create a new layer and clip it to the texture layers below. Select the clone tool and sample somewhere on the area above the woman’s left eye (from her perspective). Clone away the eyebrows.

How to Add Texture to Skin 10


Step 11

Open the file “Texture2”. Select all and copy. Paste the texture into your document. Clip the texture layer to the eye clone layer below and lower the opacity to 79%.

How to Add Texture to Skin 11


Step 12

Change the blending mode of the freshly pasted texture to Multiply. Add a layer mask and paint with a black brush over the eyes to mask them away.

How to Add Texture to Skin 12


Step 13

Open file “Texture3”. Copy all and paste into our document. Change the blending mode to Overlay and lower the Opacity to 48%.

How to Add Texture to Skin 13


Step 14

Add a layer mask to the newly pasted texture and fill it with black. With a white brush paint over the face of the woman in the layer mask to reveal it.

How to Add Texture to Skin 14


Step 15

Create a Curves Adjustment Layer ( Layer > New Adjustment layer > Curves ) and use the settings shown below to increase the contrast and the brightness.

How to Add Texture to Skin 15


Step 16

Create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation) and use the settings shown below to change the color and increase the saturation.

How to Add Texture to Skin 16


And We’re Done!

I hope you learned some useful techniques and enjoyed this tutorial.
How to Add Texture to Skin